Segmentation of Music Industry

Music industry Segmentaion When attempting to segment a particular consumer base or population by personality or motivation, one must consider what personality traits the consumers posses. Of course there are serveral ways to group together personalities ex (fashionable, innovative, extroverted, etc). I have chosen to use Karen Horney’s theory of three personality groups for segmentation of the music consumer market. Karen Horney states that people can be grouped into three personalities; compliance, aggression and withdrawl.Since music consumers can be an almost entire population, it would be a good idea to segment this population into three broad groups. The first personality group, compliance, is can be defined as people who move toward others. This group has a need for affection and approval and a need to be liked by others. The complaint personality consumer would tend to veer toward popular current music or popular music within a certain genre. This is the consumer who w ould be listening to Justin Timberlake and Lady GaGa when they are at their peak.They would be drawn toward the â€Å"summer hits†, toward the songs that are played at clubs and they dance to with their friends. In terms of music consumers, they might be seen as between the ages of 10-40, and this is a very big market withing the music consumer industry. The second personality group, aggression, are considered those who go ahaist toher. This group has a need for power and for control over others. They have the need to be heard by others and fear of seeming stupid. This personality group would be the ones who view themselves as against the popular music, against very popular groups and singers.Maybe they would chose music with a bit more of an edge, harder rock, rap and hip hop music. Finally, the third personality group is knows as detached, and they move away from others. Consumers in this group have a need for self-sufficiency and independence and do not need to rely on any one. These are the consumers of many independent bands and singers, who see themselves as going against the grain and against society. Once the consumer base has been segmented into personality groups, it is easier to target each of these groups. Many artists and bands can be advertised in such a way that they can appeal to each of these groups.On the retail level, where consumers are in direct contact with the music industry, there are so many opportunities for consumption, ranging from digital/physical music and concert tickets to festival passes, ringtones, merchandise, clothing lines, band donations and nonprofit initiatives. For instance, when targeting the compliant personality consumer, would be easier to advertise towards since they are very conscious and respondent to others tastes. So, when promoting a new album of Adele toward this group, we would be very insistent with her new songs in all settings.Her songs would be played on all major radio stations, promoted in clubs and bars, and also promoted within social networking which has now become an extrememly important word-of-mouth marketing technique. Now, while reaching out to the detached personality consumer, we would use a different marketing approach. Since these consumers are the ones who are geared more toward indepndent music and anything that is specifically not main stream, there needs to be a careful marketing approach done so that they are unaware they are being advertised too. One idea could be promoting smaller, more intimate shows at local record stores.Also, encouraging these fans to support their local record stores instead of retail chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Since music sales have shifted toward digital downloading mediums, they could reach this consuemer base throught there as well. Another possible tactic could be to create album covers that visual appeal to this consumer base, maybe a loan aritist or a band in darker shades or seperated from society somehow, to appeal d irectiy to this personality base. Finally, the third peronality consumer group is that of aggression. A more tactful approach must be taken when advertising to this market segment.

The Book of Genesis vs. the Epic of Gilgamesh

Two Different Books with Similar Stories The Book of Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh have many clear similarities. One major, noticeable similarity is that in both stories, there are flood legends. There is the legend of Noah and the Ark in The Book of Genesis and the story of Utnapishtim in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In both stories, a higher power wants to wipe out the human race and decides to save one person who is then assigned to build an ark to hold himself, his family, and one of each animal. There are also many specifics about this flood that the two stories have in common, not just the basis of the tale.For example, both stories tell of a long storm. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, it says: â€Å"Six days and seven nights the wind and storm† (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 127). In The Book of Genesis, it says: â€Å"rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights† (Gen. 7:12). In both cases, the story is specific about the number of days the storm lasted. Noah and Utnapishtim make sacrifices to their respective higher power– Noah to God and Utnapishtim to Enlil. In the story of Noah and the Ark, it says that he â€Å"†offered burnt offerings on the altar† (Gen. :20) which is a sacrifice to God. In the story of Utnapishtim, it says that he â€Å"offered a sacrifice† (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 155) by pouring a libation to Ea, which is a form of spiritual sacrifice. These stories do not exist for entertainment, they serve the purpose of teaching people lessons about humankind and God or the gods. These flood legends tell us about a couple of different religious beliefs of the ancient people, one being that people are instinctually bad. A higher power wanted to wipe out the human race in both legends because humans were doing wrong.If humans were good by nature, the higher powers would not have wanted to destroy them all. The stories of these floods also show flaws in the high powers. Usually the gods or God are considered to be perfect, bu t in this story we see that the higher powers do indeed make mistakes. They made the mistake of creating an earth populated by flawed people. This is important because it shows that not even God or gods can achieve perfection, and humans certainly cannot. Even though this still makes the gods better than humans, no one is perfect.These two stories are also very similar in their views of humans versus animals. In both stories, the higher power assigns a man to build this ark and lead a new world with his animals. This shows his authority over the animals. Since he and his family are intended to be the only humans after the flood kills everyone else, this makes the humans the leaders of the living beings. The stories send a clear message that humans are above animals and humans have power over all animals. This tells us that animals are not viewed as equals and certainly do not receive the same respect as humans in either culture.This explains why people eat meat, have pets, farm, or anything else humans do to control animals and establish a higher power over them. Although there are very major similarities between The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis, there are also many differences. One of the main differences is the attitudes about sex. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh sleeps with all of the women in the town that he rules. Also, after a successful journey with Enkidu, they reward themselves by having sex with prostitutes. Prostitutes are also seen as mystical and powerful.Even more different from the other story is that the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh sleep with human beings. Sex is much more common and casual in this story. Also, because it is provided to the warriors as a reward for a successful journey, it makes sex almost a trophy. Overall, this tale makes sex out to be a spiritual, powerful, and pleasurable action. This is very different from The Book of Genesis. In The Book of Genesis, sex is not for pleasure. People are not supposed to h ave sex until marriage, and it is mainly for the purpose of procreation.This is very different from The Epic of Gilgamesh in which Gilgamesh sleeps with many women while unwed. The difference in sexual attitudes in the stories exemplifies how sex is viewed differently in different cultures. Some may see it as a form of pleasure, while others view it as a means for creating children. Another minor difference between the stories is the idea of immortality. In both stories, all humans are born mortal. Although Gilgamesh is 1/3 god and 2/3 human, he is still mortal because he can be killed. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is given immortality by the gods before flooding out the human race.However, in The Book of Genesis, God does not give anyone the gift of immortality. This shows how the Christian culture believes that humans are far less powerful than God and they can never be anywhere near as strong and wise as Him. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, humans can be granted special powers by the gods, and Gilgamesh himself is part god. This puts far less emphasis on the division between humans and gods than The Book of Genesis. The obvious similarities between The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis tell us that the people of the world coming from different cultures still have many mutual beliefs.The similarities in the stories also show how important these stories are to people, since the beliefs are so widespread that multiple different variations of the stories have been written. It is clear that the people of the ancient world believed that the world was created by a higher power in a number of days, that a higher power created the human race, humans are very flawed, and many other mutual beliefs that can be found in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis.

Tourism in Mexico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tourism in Mexico - Essay Example Mexico’s temperature and unique culture, which is a blend of European (predominantly Spanish) and Meso-American cultures, make good tourist attraction. Tourist season peaks during mid-summer, December, Easter holiday and Spring Break. Tourist season is not without brief surges over winter. WTTC notes that Mexico’s tourism consumer segment comprises mostly college and university students from the US and Canada. It indicates as well a burgeoning consumer segment of local tourists with the emergence of an affluent middle class in Mexico. Mission Statement According to Mexico’s Tourist Board, the mission statement is to elevate the country’s attractiveness to tourists through addressing a wide range of tourist needs. The goal is to make Mexico the leading leisure tourism destination through a comprehensive program of research, promotions, advertising, social media, public relations, Internet marketing, and other marketing strategies. Their mission statement al so includes promoting environmental sustainability under the auspices of the going green movement. (Wilkerson 47) Pillars of Tourism Mexico is endowed with enormous tourist resources ranging from historical artifacts and lavish beach resorts to geographical terrain and a unique culture. Mexico City, an ancient Meso-American city, is a major tourist attraction in itself with the National Museum of Anthropology and History, Metropolitan Cathedral and Mexican National Palace (Berger & Wood 78). On the Pacific coast lays Acapulco Bay and Cabo San Lucas, which are major tourist attraction sites. Sun bathers often frequent the beautiful beach resorts at the San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur stretching all the way Ixtapa and the Riviera Maya costal strip where they find the Playa del Carmen beach town. Meso-American ruins include "The Castle" of Chichen-Itza, which is one of the New Seven Wonders. Tourists have also expressed a growing curiosity to the unique culture especially as it relates to the love of football as a sport, mode of dressing and the unmatched traditional cuisine, which is an integral part of the Mexican culinary delights (World Economic Forum 1). Competitiveness Mexico emerges as a key player in the global tourism industry with its tourism sector registering an inflow of billions of dollars every year. The tourist competitiveness of any given country is a measure of the capacity of that country to create a higher proportionate growth rate and wealth capacity than other countries. Mexico’s competitiveness is thus the extent to which it can produce tourist services that overcome global market challenges under free and equitable market conditions while increasing the national income at home. In 2011, the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, which included 139 major global tourist competitors, highlighted Mexico’s competitiveness under the auspices of the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (World Travel and Tourism Council 1) . The TCCI is a measure of the factors that make a country a major tourist attraction by way of comparison of recent patterns and tourist trends and the factors responsible for such trends (Theobald 6). TCCI elaborates how these trends contribute to the tourism sector of the given country. Mexico’s Travel and Tourism

Writ ex 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Writ ex 1 - Essay Example Secondly, I find the myths concerning this forest unbelievable (James, 2008). However, myths do not illustrate lies. They entail symbolic issues that are communicated by stories. The myths also illustrate art which conveys adequate understanding of the human experience. It is falsehood to illustrate myths as lies. Adequate understanding of the myth concepts ensures appropriate analysis of the overall mythology. Hence, myths cannot be properly addressed without analyzing overall mythology. Myths cannot be separated from mythology. They should be whole or complete, so that the parts work together to ensure the life flow in the myths. Thus the usage of the word ‘myth’ is inappropriate. This shows the ignorance of the individuals and the organizations that misuse the term. But people should not be misused. This because the mythology concept is alive and actively applicable today inform of religion. The only challenge presently is that no single unifying methodology exists. The key religious organizations misuse the term to suit their interests. The multinationals also minimizes the thinking abilities of the individuals (James, 2008). Joseph Campbell illustrates the four key functions of myth. The functions are; metaphysical, pedagogical, cosmological, and finally sociological. The metaphysical function involves analyzing mystery and creation wonders. This enables adequate opening of the mind and also senses to develop awareness for the mystical being that is the origin of the entire phenomena. The cosmological function enables description of the shape of the universe or the entire world. Thus, the cosmos contained in the world becomes alive, with significance. Each and every rock, plant, animal has adequate meaning through the cosmological myth provided by the myth. The sociological function aims at forming ‘the law’. The law guides the moral and the ethical standards of individuals in a particular structure to adhere to. This assists in defining

Lab. report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lab. report - Essay Example There were two distinct kinds of images observed after the experimental procedure – the train images and the fork images. Both these original images obtained had high contrast with sharp edges and more detail. When some noise was added to the two original images, two types of noisy images for the train and the fork were observed. In addition, to smooth the images and reduce/ remove the noise in the noisy images, the moving average filter was employed on these particular images. The first span to smooth the noisy images was 10. The noise in both images was reduced, the images smoothed and the image details blurred when the first span was 10. With the moving average, however, the edges of both the images became blurred and when compared with the original images, the images with span 10 exhibited lesser contrast and detail. On the other hand, when the smoothed image with span 10 was compared with smoothed images with span 20 and 30, the smoothed images with span 10 exhibited the best results in terms of contrast and detail. The next span used was 20, where the noise in both images was eliminated and disappeared completely along with the images becoming smoother and the images edges more blurred hence a considerable difficulty discerning the image details. The resultant two images were, in addition, clearly more obscure. The third span used for both the image types was 30. Herein, the resulting images were smoother than the other images and more blurred too (in comparison with the other images). With span 30, the details of the smoothed images were unrecognizable with the edges more blurred than other smoothed images with span 10 and 20. Conclusively therefore, the moving average filter smoothes the image by blurring the image details with increase in average pixel value creating lower contrasts. In addition, smoothing reduces the noise level of the images. On the

Gender biases in the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gender biases in the United States - Essay Example The female victims suffer from low self- esteem. Other female victims lack the confidence to perform their daily tasks. Other female victims suffer from a feeling of helplessness. Additionally, society had impressed on women that their gender role is lesser in value to the male gender. Being informed that the female job applicant was not hired because the company needed a male sales representative is tainted with gender bias. Society had impressed on the female gender that the male masculinity is higher in value over the female gender’s less masculine physical built (Chin 125). Further, Robert Kail’s research emphasized that only ten percent of the top 500 corporation 2006 officers were women. Further, it was only in 1981 when Sandra Day O’ Connor was appointed Supreme Court Judge. The next female Supreme Court Judge was twelve years later, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Likewise, most of the faculty members of universities and colleges were male professors (Kail 443). Moreover, Robert Kail shows in the above table that gender bias had improved (Kail 441). The population of women had increased from 76 million in 1950 to 152 million in 2006. The same table shows that there were only 21 percent of women enrolled in high schools during 1950. However, the percentage had increased significantly to 86 percent in 2006. Because of the modern era where gender bias had been significantly reduced, 66 percent of women were married in 1950. The married women figure dropped to 47 percent. One possible explanation was that more women preferred to work outside the home instead of taking care of the family as plain housewife. The above table clearly shows that 29 percent of the women were working outside the home during 1950. However, the women working outside the home figure influentially rose to 60 percent in 2006. Historically, women were relegated to the home chores. Prior to the 1970s, women were characterized as mentally and morally lesser in

Reading and Writing Without Authority Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading and Writing Without Authority - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the reporter suffers the same predicament just like Janet’s. When he does a research, or even a simple paper, he just throws in information and data that the author thinks is relevant in the paper without really appreciating what the texts are trying to say.   This goes with class discussion where he blurts some information about a subject matter.   He guesses ever student has been through this awkward stage and eventually overcame it with efforts.  The reporter knows that this kind of learning is not effective because his claims are sometimes conflicting not to mention that it can be logically unsound.   It is also susceptible to mistake and error.This paper outlines that instead of merely getting information and throwing it in the paper, it would be better to understand and appreciate what the texts are really trying to say and enjoy it in the process.   After the initial write, it would also be effective to check whether hiscl aims are consistent after giving it a sleep and reading it anew with a fresher mind.   The reporter finds this approach very effective because he sees mistakes that he was not able to see before.   When the author fully understands it, he can then put it in the paper the way he understood it and it would appear in the writing.   Ideas will flow smoothly without awkward transitions not to mention that the final result of his composition reads great.   He will also practice so that he can write just like Roger’s in Reading and Writing Without Authority.

Issues in Retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Issues in Retailing - Essay Example Apart from the above issues there are ethical issues specific to particular retailers that also have a major role to play in the development of the respective businesses. This paper makes a report on the ethical issues being faced by Tesco, a major retailer in the UK. One of the key elements that have been identified in the ethical implications of the retail industry in the UK is with respect to the issues in the supply chain management especially those encountered by them in sourcing from overseas markets. Several groups of stakeholders have evinced greater interest in this phenomenon. "This interest by the media, investors, consumers, employees, the Government and NGOs has led companies to explore how they can best control and manage the ethical implications of increased sourcing from overseas markets."2 In order to ensure that the supply chain management of the retailers is an effective social compliance model from the ethical point of view the retailers specify that the manufacturers' facilities meet the local regulations concerning the compliances or they follow the codes of conduct specified by the retailers in this connection. For monitoring this, the retailers make use of the external agencies specialized in this area or some of them even employ their own full time specialist executives. This issue can as well be related to the term 'Ethical Trading'. Though there is no consensus on the definition of ethical trade at least in the UK context ethical trading refers to sourcing of products from companies that ensure better labour and human rights standards to their workforce which are part of the social compliance. Another key element in the ethical sphere that has a close connection with the retail industry can be identified in 'Fair Trading'. Fair trade has more development oriented specific aim of "[contributing]towards change in international relations in such a way that disadvantaged producers can increase their control over their own future, have a fair and just return for their work, continuity of income and decent working conditions through sustainable development."3 Though fair trading started with increased focus on the socio economic issues, with the passage of time there has been a shift in the focus towards meeting the environmental standards. Although the Ethical Trading Initiative (UK) does not mention anything about the environmental standards, several retailers have started to monitor the environmental performance of their suppliers. "For instance, through the Assured Produce scheme used in British agriculture and supported by many multiple retailers also involved in the Ethical Trading Initiative."4 It is often stressed that the ethical trading should not only focus on the socio-economic issues but also should cover the environmental

Content Area Instruction and SDAIE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Content Area Instruction and SDAIE - Essay Example Such equality, at learning institutions, can be tackled if educators offer well-designed assistance to their ELLs (Math Solutions, 2009). This paper will discuss the challenges English Language Learners face while trying to learn mathematics. A lot of educators share the misconception or myth that because mathematics applies a lot of symbols, then the subject is not associated or connected to any culture or language (Haynes, 2011). A majority of educators also supposed that mathematics is ideal for facilitating the changeover of recent immigrant learners into English instructions. To their disbelief, language has a significant role in learning mathematics. Educators apply language so as to explain mathematical ideas, as well as carry out mathematical procedures. When solving mathematical problems, students use specialized vocabulary such as subtraction, addition, sum and addend. Mathematics researchers have discovered that learners widen their math understanding through using languag e, as well as echoing on the concepts, which will cement their understanding. When students discuss their mathematical reasoning, it can assist them in improving their capability of reasoning logically (Haynes, 2011). The challenge or hurdle of teaching math to these ELLs lies not just in making mathematics comprehensible to the learners, but also in making sure that the learners have the language required to understand/interpret instructions. The challenge also lies in the fact that is it tedious to assist ELLs to express their understanding of mathematical concepts both in writing and orally (Math Solutions, 2009). English Language Learners have a duty of learning content, as well as English as a second language, at the same time. It is, therefore, difficult for them to understand both the content, as well as language objectives. Language can never occur if ELLs center only on subject matter, and same is the case for content knowledge. It can never occur if ELLs center only on und erstanding the English language. Another challenge that ELLs might face while studying mathematics is trying to understand unknown vocabulary. For instance, English Language Learners might become puzzled during a discussion or debate in case the math vocabulary has diverse meanings in its daily application. Such words include even, function and odd among others (Math Solutions, 2009). The ELLs might also be puzzled further than before when a similar math operation is signaled with various math terms for instance plus, and, add, sum or combine. A phrase such as "left" will be confusing to an ELL when used in a mathematical operation to ask how many individuals are "left". The ELL might confuse this left – remain – with the directional left. The phrases "whole" and "sum" also can create confusion since they carry nonmathematical homonyms – hole and some (Simmons, 2012). Another challenge is with a partial understanding of grammar and syntax. For instance, mathemat ical queries are frequently set in a language, which makes the problem difficult or unclear for the student. Such matter is explained below: John bought four bags of mangoes with eight mangoes in each bag. How many mangoes did John buy? The above problem employees both present and past participles of the irregular verb "to buy" in a single question. This might be difficult for an ELL to understand since they are not well in English. Another

Information Security Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information Security Proposal - Essay Example This includes the recovery from network downtime. It also includes the plans and security in place for the A paradigm can have various meanings. It refers to â€Å"your basic beliefs† and your approach to the world which affects the way you define your research and how you collect and analyse data (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). The research approaches used in the study comprises a mixture of both the â€Å"phenomenological paradigm† which is also referred to as a â€Å"qualitative† approach, and the â€Å"positivistic paradigm† also known as the â€Å"quantitative† approach (Collis & Hussey, 2003, p. 47). As the research will utilize interviews to collect data, it would be advantageous to use both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. This will be useful when conducting interviews, as the phenomenological paradigm helps the researcher to â€Å"get a feel for the key issues† and provides â€Å"confidence† in the accuracy and depth of the data collected as the main issues have been covered (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 98). Furthermore, working within the positivistic paradigm will assist in measuring the data and the correlation between the variables, and the quantitative research outcome could be measured against existing theory. Using a mixture of approaches and techniques has advantages, as all methods have pros and cons. This means using a triangulation approach, which as Denzin & Lincoln (2000) explain â€Å"has been generally considered a process of using multiple perceptions to clarify meaning, verifying the repeatability of an observation or interpretation† (p. 443). Using both methods will help ensure that the research outcome is accurate and this â€Å"will lead to greater confidence being placed in your conclusions† (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 99). It also reduces the â€Å"possibility of getting the answer wrong† (Saunders & Lewis & Thornhill, 2000, p. 100). For the research, data will be collected from two types of sources,

Coca Cola and Pepsi Essay Example for Free

Coca Cola and Pepsi Essay Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola has been in the cola wars for centuries now. They had strategies to stay in the business competitively; both companies did their best to stay up by making contracts with celebrities, making banners and posters, TV commercials. Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola has the same core benefit for their products, which is to quench the thirst of their consumers as well as selling a non-alcoholic soft drink. Core benefit is the fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by consuming the product or service. The Coca Cola products are constantly produced in a red background with Coca Cola writing. Conversely, Pepsi products are packaged with their blue writing. Brand knowledge is important for the health of the company. The Coca Cola brand was worth $79 billion in the year 2013 in comparison to Pepsi Cola brand, which was only $17 million worth. A consumer from a different country can identify a Coca Cola product, even though it’s in a foreign language and they may still recognize the product immediately. Coca Cola is much more widely available than Pepsi. Coca Cola creates a sort of convenience for consumers for being widely available thus getting the loyalty of the consumers. There is a higher demand for Coca Cola than Pepsi thus restaurants are more favorable towards Coca Cola. For example, McDonalds is providing Coca Cola, but KFC and Hardees provide Pepsi. Pepsi has always had the younger generation in mind. Their advertising and marketing strategies are fixed to target teens aged 14 or even younger with a fun and most often interlaced with music. This is evident over the years as Pepsi had musical celebrities like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and now Beyonce. Coca Cola also targets diversifying their audience and taking geographical aspects in high consideration as they target the world filled with different cultures. The ingredients of these products also can be differentiated as Pepsi has slightly more sugar, caffeine and calories while Coca Cola has slightly more sodium. Coca Cola is a much fizzier drink due to its high percentage of carbonation in comparison to Pepsi. In Kazakhstani market Coca Cola is preferred more than Pepsi. As it was already mentioned, everyone can find Coca Cola everywhere, even far from populated cities. Also, Coca Cola is open to present the process of its creation.

Does The Media Influence The Way People Think?

Does The Media Influence The Way People Think? It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies (Chomsky, 2008). In what way does information transmitted by the media influence the way people think? How we relate our values, attitude and beliefs about the world and others (Stuart, 2005). Fox News and the BBC are all well known examples of broadcast journalism (Hackett, 1999) and have been the focus of this research. The media plays a fundamental role in shaping societies opinions about significant issues (Asmal, 2008), the aftermath of 9/11 and 7/7 bombings medias impact still resonates throughout the world today, especially its impact on those who follow the Islamic faith. This paper highlights responses to media representations of Muslims and Islam in general. The main areas of interest for this piece of work will be the psychological explanations the current perceptions of Islam and its link to the media and whether factors such as religious background, gender and critical thinking skills have an ef fect on those for attitudes formed through the media. News Media Broadcasts Impact and Bias Broadcast journalism is a term that refers to news media in which information and current events are presented through electronic media, primarily through television news programs (disserbookblue). Media broadcasts such as these are responsible for the way news is gathered and transmitted, which is also relevant in political processes (Stuart, 2005).They tend to be a persuasive source of information, in the sense that it primarily has the potential to control to some extent the minds of the viewers, which in this case is the ultimate aim in exercise of power, usually indirect. Whilst the control of intentions, opinions, beliefs or knowledge acquired are that news can and ought to be a balanced objective reflection of social reality; the political attitudes of journalist or editorial decision makers are a major determinant of the news bias (Hackett, 1999). Chompsky,1987, felt that whilst it is the intended purpose to empower the public to voice their opinion and control the government this is not how it is always used. Instead he presumes that the American media industry consists of myth makes that shape and restrict information which move the public to apathy and detachment and as a consequence allow the elite to run the country as they please. Chomsky felt that values such as democracy and freedom must be mobilized to protect are but they are instead threatened by the unregulated control of those who own the media. (Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2009). Nevertheless media ownership is a very significant factor to keep in mind when considering media bias (Besley Prat 2004, Djankovet al. 2003). In the context of news, media bias is very well documented, a popular example that has been referred to very often is; American news broadcast channel Fox News. Findings from previous research such as . have found drastically different assertions from the war on terror and Islamic representation to recent political process in regard to Americas presidential campaign (Vigna and Kaplan, 2005). I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel.Rupert Murdoch (Salon, 3/1/01)The 24-hour Fox News channel is privately owned by Rupert Murdoch and was introduced in October 1996 to compete with CNN. By June 2000, 17.3 percent of the US population reported watching Fox News regularly (Scarborough Research data). Fox News coverage, however, is unique among the television media. Fox News is significantly to the right of all the other ma instream television networks (ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC) (Groseclose and Milyo, 2005). However media bias generated by ownership can simply be explained through news consumption, which demands media to provide news caters to different audiences. (Mullainathan and Shleifer 2005, Gabszewicz, Laussel and Sonnac 2001). Empirical evidence to support this notion was adopted by a survey conducted by Pollingpoint based on 73,969 online interviews with U.S. adults aged 18 and older carried out from the 1st of October to the 21st of October 2004. These findings roughly describe the relationship between the viewers and news broadcasting channels, especially in relation to political identity (democrat or republican) and their valuations of TV networks. Nine in ten Republicans stated that FOX News offers the best news coverage among television networks, whereas Democrats seemed to have divided their loyalty among PBS and CNN with nearly 70 % naming one of the two as the best news source. The chart highlighted different preferences for different news, there clearly seems to be a dem and for certain news by different segments of consumers. Therefore media firms provide professed bias to cater to this demand (Mullainathan Shleifer, 2005). Media bias tends to emerge in the form of optimal slanting strategies of news providers because their target audience want certain (albeit different) degree and direction of slant. Thus, the extent of media bias is mainly the result of consumer heterogeneity (dissimilarity). This is intuitive. After all, if there is a need and demand for biased news, privately owned media will have an incentive to satisfy that need. Apart from Mullainathan Shleifer (2005), Gentzkow Shapriro (2004) also argue that media bias may emerge from competing media catering to biased viewers beliefs but in their paper the mechanism is slightly different: viewers consider the news that are consistent with their prior expectations of high quality (Xiang 2005).

Intention of Life Interest

Intention of Life Interest 1. (a) The life interest of Parwinder which on the surface appears to be a vested, immediate and limited interest is coupled with a remainder interest for their daughters. In this instance, there is a problem with certainty of intention. Although technical words are not necessary,[1] problems arise when precatory words such as ‘in full confidence’ and ‘will respect’ are used in this provision. The wording of this provision is very similar to the wording of another provision featuring in Comiskey[2] which stated â€Å"in full confidence that †¦ at her death she will devise it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  between nieces as â€Å"she might see fit.† Therefore, following this judgment it is likely that the courts would construe from her words an intention to leave her estate to her husband with a gift over of the remaining property to be shared between her daughters according to his will and otherwise equally. However, if the court decides that intention cannot be derived from this provision, Parwinder will take the property beneficially and there is a resulting trust.[3] In this instance Parwinder will be appointed trustee of the estate thus, he can be compelled to carry out the trust. Should Parwinder become unable to allocate shares to his daughters the court will operate as trustee and distribute the estate if all certainties are found to be valid. If Parwinder is held to be a trustee, he must carry out the distribution of the estate as a trust is obligatory. Therefore, he must make a provision in his will allocating the distribution of the estate or else he must create an express trust making sure he includes valid certainties and follows the beneficiary principle inter vivos. This provision may also constitute a trust in conjunction with a power of appointment. According to Hanbury Martin, when a husband gives his estate to his â€Å"widow for her life, and after her death to their children† but allows the wife to decide the shares for each child it is a valid power to â€Å"appoint using her absolute discretion with a gift in default of equal shares â€Å"[4] Therefore, a special power exists whereby Parwinder must distribute the estate to a specified group of appointees[5] however, he is under no obligation to carry out his duty or even consider it as an obligation.[6] (b) Firstly, this provision may fail for lack of certainty of subject matter in that the size of each beneficial interest is not expressly declared.[7] However, the court may determine that the settlor has provided an effective method of determining the size of the gift therefore; the court will apply its assumption in order to prevent the gift from failing.[8] Should the courts be unable to determine any certainty of size of the beneficial interest the provision will become a resulting trust for the settlor’s estate. Assuming the share size may be determined by some means, it would appear that  £200,000 has been made over into a trust held by the trustees of the estate. However, the obligation to distribute the money to the first 100 applicants must be clarified as a discretionary trust or a power of appointment. According to Hanbury Martin it appears that the trustees who hold a trust for the benefit of â€Å"such members of a class of beneficiaries as the trustees shall in their absolute discretion select†[9], are in fact the trustees of a discretionary trust. The first requirement would then be to ascertain if there is certainty of objects using the test encouraged by the House of Lords, the Given Postulant Test.[10] The test requires the trustees to ask â€Å"Can it be said with certainty that any given individual is or is not a member of the class?†[11] Using this test it is valid to say that any postulant who has written in response to the advertisement in the Oxford Gazette and who have made a moral claim for a share will have to be considered a member of the class of beneficiaries. A slight problem arises if in response to the advertisement the following day 100+ letters are received making it impossible for the trustees to determine who the first 100 beneficiaries are as is clearly requested in the provision. This would result in administrative unworkability and the trust would become void and revert back to the settlor’s estate. (c) The wording of the provision would be construed to impose a fiduciary duty on the trustees and thus, produce an express trust. This is due to all certainties being very explicit and straightforward. Although Charles is in a coma and unlikely to recover, the trustees are still bound under the terms of the trust to distribute property to Charles according to the declaration of trust. Overall, the trustees are under a general duty to act even-handedly and â€Å"maintain equality between the beneficiaries†[12] especially in the context of successive interests. The trustees still maintain the legal title of the cars and Charles and the Oxford Motor Museum enjoy merely an equitable and beneficial interest. Therefore, it is possible for the Trustees to maintain the legal title to the cars and give the entire collection of cars to the Museum on trust as they will not automatically acquire the legal title to the cars. Should Charles die his equitable interest in one of the cars will succeed him and become part of his estate, however, if he were to recover he would still have an equitable interest in one of the cars which he could then take advantage of. Once he or a beneficiary of his estate has chosen a car the legal title of the car will be transferred to them through the appropriate procedure and the trustee’s duty to Charles will be fulfilled and the trust will end. The trustees will then hold the remaining cars on trust for the Museum. The final option available to the trustees is to make an application to the Court for Directions. As Charles is still living, he has an earnest claim on one of the vintage cars; therefore, if the trustees apply to the Court for direction and follow any subsequent directions of the court they will be protected.[13] This process has come into effect to allow difficulties in administration of the trust to be heard by the Court and alleviate the â€Å"risk of making decisions upon a false premise.†[14] 2. One of the main problems in the current law surrounding interests in the family home is in regards to the sometimes archaic nature of the law in respect to the more level field that man and woman now work and support themselves through their careers. Pettitt vPettitt[15] made clear that a women housework, childcare and contributions towards expenses do not equate to contribution towards the purchase price therefore, unless the wife demands the house to be conveyed to the spouses jointly, she may find she has no interest in the house upon dissolution of her marriage, however, the right to invoke discretionary powers of the court to distribute the property is still an option she has upon divorce. The main problem with the current law today is the lack of statutory power a court has when dealing with cohabiting couples who share a family home. Couples may often live together for years and have children and mutually contribute to the house via renovation, expenses and upkeep, however, often times the house is registered to one of the individuals only. However, a non-legal co-owner may have an equitable interest resulting in a constructive trust even where a direct financial contribution has not been made.[16] A constructive trust is another solution to this problem whereby the courts will consider contributions made to the mortgage payment by each party, refurbishment the house as this contributed to the maintenance and essential upkeep. This remedy comes into effect if one party has â€Å"acted to his detriment† in reliance on the assurance that he held a beneficial interest.[17] Lastly, and in most cases preferable is the remedy of proprietary estoppel or when the Courts â€Å"protect the expectations of the non-owner and may award the non-owner as much as a full ownership interest in the land if justice demands†[18]. The essential elements of proprietary estoppel exist where the legal owner of the property has encouraged a third party to believe that he has or will in the future obtain rights in respect of the property and the third party has acted in reliance of this assurance to his detriment.[19] This is the most just remedy available as it will consider mere oral declarations such as â€Å"the house is as much yours as mine† or â€Å"we share everything 50-50† as an assurance and the non-legal owner is likely to be granted an equitable interest in the property upon dissolution of the family home based on the amount of contribution made over the years of communal living. BIBLIOGRAPHY PEARCE, R AND STEVENS, J. (2002) The Law of Trusts and Equitable Obligations 3rd Edition London: LexisNexis Butterworth’s Tolley. PENNER, J.E. (2001) Mozley and Whitley’s Law Dictionary 12th Edition London: Butterworths. MARTIN, J.E. (2001) Hanbury Martin Modern Equity 16th Edition London: Sweet Maxwell Ltd. Footnotes [1] Paul v Constance [1977] 1 W.L.R. 527 [2] Comiskey v Bowring-Hanbury [1905] A.C. 84 [3] Watson v. Holland [1985] 1 All E.R. 290. [4] Martin (2001) page 173. [5] Re Gestetner [1953] Ch. 672. [6] Martin (2001) page 174 [7] Boyce v Boyce (1849) 16 Sim 476. [8] Re Golay [1965] 1 W.L.R. 969 [9] Martin (2001) page 175. [10] Re Gulbenkien’s Settlements [1970] AC 508 [11] Ibid per Lord Wilberforce [1971] AC 424 at pages 454-6. [12] Martin (2001) page 553. [13] Re Londonderry’s Settlement [1965] Ch. 918. [14] Martin (2001) page 550. [15] [1970] AC 777. [16] Lloyds Bank v Rossett [1991] 1 AC 107. [17] Ibid at page 536. [18] Penner (2001), page 281. [19] Gillies v Keogh [1989] 2 NZLR 327 at page 346 per Richardson J.

The Cruel and Bitter Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens :: Great Expectations Charles Dickens

The Cruel and Bitter Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens At one point in the novel, Dickens tells the reader that Miss. Havisham was a wonderful, beautiful woman and is considered to be a great match. In contrast, when the reader first meets her she is a frightful old woman who cares about nothing but herself. She is determined to live her life in self-pity and seek revenge on all men. In the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Miss Havisham is established as a cruel and bitter old woman trapped in the past, nearly a century ago, when she was abandoned on her wedding day, and is now raising an adopted daughter to seek revenge on all men by breaking their hearts however, near the end of the novel when she converses with Pip about his love for her daughter over the years, it is evident to her after that she has made a dreadful mistake and changes most drastically before she dies. "I had heard of Miss Havisham up town-everybody for miles round had heard of Miss Havisham up town as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers and led a life of seclusion." Even before meeting Miss. Havisham the reader is introduced to her and has an idea of what she is all about. Anyone who lives secluded from society for years is going to be considered eccentric. The town perceptibly gossips about her since everyone has heard of her. The first time Dickens has the reader meet Miss. Havisham is through Pip. The young boy is told to go visit her and play and as he sees the house he describes it in bleak detail. As he is led to Miss. Havisham through the dark halls by her daughter, Estella, the tone of the house is set. There are cobwebs, antique furniture, and clocks all stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Finally Miss. Havisham is introduced. She is seen in her once white, now yellow, wedding dress. All of this description, the old house, the clocks, the wedding dress, explains how Miss. Havisham was left on her wedding day many years ago and that was when her life stopped. She even says as Pip is leaving, "There, there! I know nothing of days of the week; I know nothing of weeks of the year. Come again after six days. You hear?" Dickens creates the house and Miss. Havisham as a unity. The condition and aspect of the house shows the gloom in her mind. The way the house is dark is just fuel for her desire to seek The Cruel and Bitter Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens :: Great Expectations Charles Dickens The Cruel and Bitter Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens At one point in the novel, Dickens tells the reader that Miss. Havisham was a wonderful, beautiful woman and is considered to be a great match. In contrast, when the reader first meets her she is a frightful old woman who cares about nothing but herself. She is determined to live her life in self-pity and seek revenge on all men. In the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Miss Havisham is established as a cruel and bitter old woman trapped in the past, nearly a century ago, when she was abandoned on her wedding day, and is now raising an adopted daughter to seek revenge on all men by breaking their hearts however, near the end of the novel when she converses with Pip about his love for her daughter over the years, it is evident to her after that she has made a dreadful mistake and changes most drastically before she dies. "I had heard of Miss Havisham up town-everybody for miles round had heard of Miss Havisham up town as an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers and led a life of seclusion." Even before meeting Miss. Havisham the reader is introduced to her and has an idea of what she is all about. Anyone who lives secluded from society for years is going to be considered eccentric. The town perceptibly gossips about her since everyone has heard of her. The first time Dickens has the reader meet Miss. Havisham is through Pip. The young boy is told to go visit her and play and as he sees the house he describes it in bleak detail. As he is led to Miss. Havisham through the dark halls by her daughter, Estella, the tone of the house is set. There are cobwebs, antique furniture, and clocks all stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Finally Miss. Havisham is introduced. She is seen in her once white, now yellow, wedding dress. All of this description, the old house, the clocks, the wedding dress, explains how Miss. Havisham was left on her wedding day many years ago and that was when her life stopped. She even says as Pip is leaving, "There, there! I know nothing of days of the week; I know nothing of weeks of the year. Come again after six days. You hear?" Dickens creates the house and Miss. Havisham as a unity. The condition and aspect of the house shows the gloom in her mind. The way the house is dark is just fuel for her desire to seek

The Signalman by Charles Dickens, The Adventure of the Speckled Band by

The Signalman by Charles Dickens, The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman People have written short stories for hundreds of years; however it was not until the 19th century that they really became popular. Short stories were the ideal form for writers who wanted to earn some immediate money and reach a wide audience. As more people were given the chance of receiving basic education, literacy rates improved and more were able to enjoy reading. As the technology improved printing became cheaper meaning that more people could afford to buy and read cheap magazines. This was in the days before television or radio when reading aloud was a much more popular form of entertainment. I have chosen to look at three short stories which were written in the Victorian age by different authors. They are â€Å"The Signalman† by Charles Dickens, â€Å"The Adventure of the Speckled Band† by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The story â€Å"The Signalman† takes place in an isolated railway cutting, where a traveller meets and befriends a lonely signalman who has a strange tale to tell. He is being haunted by a mysterious figure that lurks in the mouth of a rail tunnel, warning him of impending tragedy. He has appeared twice before and on both occasions the signalman witnessed terrible accidents; a train crash and a young bride falling from a speeding carriage. The signalman fears that the figure will return and some other tragedy will occur. Charles Dickens wrote this tale after being involved in a train wreck in which he narrowly escaped injury. The accident haunted him for the rest of his life. â€Å"The Yellow Wa... ... next? What will happen to her? The woman in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is very untypical of the normal subject in a psychological thriller. She at first seems to be a perfectly normal woman not really ill at all, but gradually we see her mind deteriorate and she slowly turns into a creature resembling a wild animal, prowling around her bedroom. â€Å"The Signalman† bears some similarities to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story in that there is a definite ending when the signalman is killed. There is a difference however in that the reader is then left with a question in their mind, which is similar to â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†. Is the narrator of the story a normal person or is he possibly the ghost? This is the typical ending of a mystery story; leaving the reader with a quandary to ponder over after they have finished reading, making them want to read it all over again.

Never Leave Your Past Behind Essay -- Essays Papers

Never Leave Your Past Behind I grew up in a low-income, single-parent family on the far south-side of Chicago. My sister and her family also lived with us. They needed a place to stay while they looked for a more affordable house. One thing my family doesn't do is turn our backs on each other. Sociologists who claim to be experts on non-white families have their own words for this type of situation. They derogatorily label this as a poverty-stricken, Black matriarchal extended family who lives in the ghetto. Yet all in all, we were happy because we helped each other. We were not the type of family who wondered what the next meal would be. We always knew we would have food on the table, but the type of food was a different story. Plain and simple, our goal was to survive. Survival to us was to get a job and hopefully wake up the next morning. I didn't think about college. Why should I? I didn't even like high school. But, somehow, somewhere an idea was instilled in me. "To be 'somebody,' I must go to college; if I didn't go, I would be a nobody." Because I believed this, I became more distant from my family and friends. I felt ashamed of my family because no one went to college right out of high school except for me. I felt my friends were not worthy of my time because I was in college and they were not. My biggest mistake in life was when I tried to leave my past behind me. It took me nineteen long, painful years to believe and learn never to be ashamed of who I am or where I came from. Since I lived in an area where there were only Blacks, I wanted to get away from them. I didn't want to witness another murder in front of my house. I couldn't tolerate another ten-to-twenty year old drug seller stopping me and asking, "... ... love myself and to love my family. After I knew my family supported me in whatever I did or said, my life began. Mentally, I grew stronger. I no longer felt ashamed of my family or friends. Most of all, I no longer was ashamed of being Black. In fact, I love myself because I am Black. I feel empowered because of what I have seen and experienced. I am proud because I am the first one in my family to attend college. I am happy because the people I love have helped me the best way they knew how. The only thing I needed to do was to love myself for who I am and where I came from. In order to do that, as my favorite high school teacher said, "You have to know where you came from before you know where you're going. And, you can't do that by acting like someone else." After all these years, I am proud to announce that I am a Black woman who knows where she's going.

Chapter 13 Mad-eye Moody

The storm had blown itself out by the following morning, though the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds of pewter gray swirled overhead as Harry, Ron, and Hermione examined their new course schedules at breakfast. A few seats along, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were discussing magical methods of aging themselves and bluffing their way into the Triwizard Tournament. â€Å"Today's not bad†¦outside all morning,† said Ron, who was running his finger down the Monday column of his schedule. â€Å"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures†¦damn it, we're still with the Slytherins†¦.† â€Å"Double Divination this afternoon,† Harry groaned, looking down. Divination was his least favorite subject, apart from Potions. Professor Trelawney kept predicting Harry's death, which he found extremely annoying. â€Å"You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?† said Hermione briskly, buttering herself some toast. â€Å"Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy.† â€Å"You're eating again, I notice,† said Ron, watching Hermione adding liberal amounts of jam to her toast too. â€Å"I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights,† said Hermione haughtily. â€Å"Yeah†¦and you were hungry,† said Ron, grinning. There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Harry looked up, but there was no sign of white among the mass of brown and gray. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed. A large tawny owl soared down to Neville Longbottom and deposited a parcel into his lap – Neville almost always forgot to pack something. On the other side of the Hall Draco Malfoy's eagle owl had landed on his shoulder, carrying what looked like his usual supply of sweets and cakes from home. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment in his stomach, Harry returned to his porridge. Was it possible that something had happened to Hedwig, and that Sirius hadn't even got his letter? His preoccupation lasted all the way across the sodden vegetable patch until they arrived in greenhouse three, but here he was distracted by Professor Sprout showing the class the ugliest plants Harry had ever seen. Indeed, they looked less like plants than thick, black, giant slugs, protruding vertically out of the soil. Each was squirming slightly and had a number of large, shiny swellings upon it, which appeared to be full of liquid. â€Å"Bubotubers,† Professor Sprout told them briskly. â€Å"They need squeezing. You will collect the pus -â€Å" â€Å"The what?† said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted. â€Å"Pus, Finnigan, pus,† said Professor Sprout, â€Å"and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves; it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus.† Squeezing the bubotubers was disgusting, but oddly satisfying. As each swelling was popped, a large amount of thick yellowish-green liquid burst forth, which smelled strongly of petrol. They caught it in the bottles as Professor Sprout had indicated, and by the end of the lesson had collected several pints. â€Å"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy,† said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. â€Å"An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples.† â€Å"Like poor Eloise Midgen,† said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. â€Å"She tried to curse hers off.† â€Å"Silly girl,† said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. â€Å"But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end.† A booming bell echoed from the castle across the wet grounds, signaling the end of the lesson, and the class separated; the Hufflepuffs climbing the stone steps for Transfiguration, and the Gryffindors heading in the other direction, down the sloping lawn toward Hagrid's small wooden cabin, which stood on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid was standing outside his hut, one hand on the collar of his enormous black boarhound, Fang. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents more closely. As they drew nearer, an odd rattling noise reached their ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions. â€Å"Mornin'!† Hagrid said, grinning at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. â€Å"Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this – Blast-Ended Skrewts!† â€Å"Come again?† said Ron. Hagrid pointed down into the crates. â€Å"Eurgh!† squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward. â€Å"Eurgh† just about summed up the Blast-Ended Skrewts in Harry's opinion. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. There were about a hundred of them in each crate, each about six inches long, crawling over one another, bumping blindly into the sides of the boxes. They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a skrewt, and with a small phut, it would be propelled forward several inches. â€Å"On'y jus' hatched,† said Hagrid proudly, â€Å"so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!† â€Å"And why would we want to raise them?† said a cold voice. The Slytherins had arrived. The speaker was Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were chuckling appreciatively at his words. Hagrid looked stumped at the question. â€Å"I mean, what do they do?† asked Malfoy. â€Å"What is the point of them?† Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard; there was a few seconds' pause, then he said roughly, â€Å"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things – I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer – I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake – just try 'em out with a bit of each.† â€Å"First pus and now this,† muttered Seamus. Nothing but deep affection for Hagrid could have made Harry, Ron, and Hermione pick up squelchy handfuls of frog liver and lower them into the crates to tempt the Blast-Ended Skrewts. Harry couldn't suppress the suspicion that the whole thing was entirely pointless, because the skrewts didn't seem to have mouths. â€Å"Ouch!† yelled Dean Thomas after about ten minutes. â€Å"It got me.† Hagrid hurried over to him, looking anxious. â€Å"Its end exploded!† said Dean angrily, showing Hagrid a burn on his hand. â€Å"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off,† said Hagrid, nodding. â€Å"Eurgh!† said Lavender Brown again. â€Å"Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?† â€Å"Ah, some of 'em have got stings,† said Hagrid enthusiastically (Lavender quickly withdrew her hand from the box). â€Å"I reckon they're the males†¦.The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies†¦.I think they might be ter suck blood.† â€Å"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive,† said Malfoy sarcastically. â€Å"Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?† â€Å"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful,† Hermione snapped. â€Å"Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?† Harry and Ron grinned at Hagrid, who gave them a furtive smile from behind his bushy beard. Hagrid would have liked nothing better than a pet dragon, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew only too well – he had owned one for a brief period during their first year, a vicious Norwegian Ridgeback by the name of Norbert. Hagrid simply loved monstrous creatures, the more lethal, the better. â€Å"Well, at least the skrewts are small,† said Ron as they made their way back up to the castle for lunch an hour later. â€Å"They are now,† said Hermione in an exasperated voice, â€Å"but once Hagrid's found out what they eat, I expect they'll be six feet long.† â€Å"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure seasickness or something, will it?† said Ron, grinning slyly at her. â€Å"You know perfectly well I only said that to shut Malfoy up,† said Hermione. â€Å"As a matter of fact I think he's right. The best thing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they start attacking us all.† They sat down at the Gryffindor table and helped themselves to lamb chops and potatoes. Hermione began to eat so fast that Harry and Ron stared at her. â€Å"Er – is this the new stand on elf rights?† said Ron. â€Å"You're going to make yourself puke instead?† â€Å"No,† said Hermione, with as much dignity as she could muster with her mouth bulging with sprouts. â€Å"I just want to get to the library.† â€Å"What?† said Ron in disbelief. â€Å"Hermione – it's the first day back! We haven't even got homework yet!† Hermione shrugged and continued to shovel down her food as though she had not eaten for days. Then she leapt to her feet, said, â€Å"See you at dinner!† and departed at high speed. When the bell rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Harry and Ron set off for North Tower where, at the top of a tightly spiraling staircase, a silver stepladder led to a circular trapdoor in the ceiling, and the room where Professor Trelawney lived. The familiar sweet perfume spreading from the fire met their nostrils as they emerged at the top of the stepladder. As ever, the curtains were all closed; the circular room was bathed in a dim reddish light cast by the many lamps, which were all draped with scarves and shawls. Harry and Ron walked through the mass of occupied chintz chairs and poufs that cluttered the room, and sat down at the same small circular table. â€Å"Good day,† said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney right behind Harry, making him jump. A very thin woman with enormous glasses that made her eyes appear far too large for her face, Professor Trelawney was peering down at Harry with the tragic expression she always wore whenever she saw him. The usual large amount of beads, chains, and bangles glittered upon her person in the firelight. â€Å"You are preoccupied, my dear,† she said mournfully to Harry. â€Å"My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas†¦most difficult†¦I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦.and perhaps sooner than you think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. Ron rolled his eyes at Harry, who looked stonily back. Professor Trelawney swept past them and seated herself in a large winged armchair before the fire, facing the class. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who deeply admired Professor Trelawney, were sitting on poufs very close to her. â€Å"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars,† she said. â€Å"The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle†¦.† But Harry's thoughts had drifted. The perfumed fire always made him feel sleepy and dull-witted, and Professor Trelawney's rambling talks on fortune-telling never held him exactly spellbound – though he couldn't help thinking about what she had just said to him. â€Å"I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Hermione was right, Harry thought irritably, Professor Trelawney really was an old fraud. He wasn't dreading anything at the moment at all†¦well, unless you counted his fears that Sirius had been caught†¦but what did Professor Trelawney know? He had long since come to the conclusion that her brand of fortunetelling was really no more than lucky guesswork and a spooky manner. Except, of course, for that time at the end of last term, when she had made the prediction about Voldemort rising again†¦and Dumbledore himself had said that he thought that trance had been genuine, when Harry had described it to him. â€Å"Harry!† Ron muttered. â€Å"What?† Harry looked around; the whole class was staring at him. He sat up straight; he had been almost dozing off, lost in the heat and his thoughts. â€Å"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn,† said Professor Trelawney, a faint note of resentment in her voice at the fact that he had obviously not been hanging on her words. â€Å"Born under – what, sorry?† said Harry. â€Å"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!† said Professor Trelawney, sounding definitely irritated that he wasn't riveted by this news. â€Å"I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth†¦.Your dark hair†¦your mean stature†¦tragic losses so young in life†¦I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?† â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"I was born in July.† Ron hastily turned his laugh into a hacking cough. Half an hour later, each of them had been given a complicated circular chart, and was attempting to fill in the position of the planets at their moment of birth. It was dull work, requiring much consultation of timetables and calculation of angles. â€Å"I've got two Neptunes here,† said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, â€Å"that can't be right, can it?† â€Å"Aaaaah,† said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper, â€Å"when two Neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure sign that a midget in glasses is being born, Harry†¦.† Seamus and Dean, who were working nearby, sniggered loudly, though not loudly enough to mask the excited squeals from Lavender Brown – â€Å"Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?† â€Å"It is Uranus, my dear,† said Professor Trelawney, peering down at the chart. â€Å"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?† said Ron. Most unfortunately, Professor Trelawney heard him, and it was this, perhaps, that made her give them so much homework at the end of the class. â€Å"A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart,† she snapped, sounding much more like Professor McGonagall than her usual airy-fairy self. â€Å"I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!† â€Å"Miserable old bat,† said Ron bitterly as they joined the crowds descending the staircases back to the Great Hall and dinner. â€Å"That'll take all weekend, that will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Lots of homework?† said Hermione brightly, catching up with them. â€Å"Professor Vector didn't give us any at all!† â€Å"Well, bully for Professor Vector,† said Ron moodily. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them. â€Å"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!† Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something. â€Å"What?† said Ron shortly. â€Å"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!† said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. â€Å"Listen to this! FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office.† Malfoy looked up. â€Å"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?† he crowed. Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on: Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers (â€Å"policemen†) over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of â€Å"Mad-Eye† Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene. â€Å"And there's a picture, Weasley!† said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. â€Å"A picture of your parents outside their house – if you can call it a house! You r mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?† Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him. â€Å"Get stuffed, Malfoy,† said Harry. â€Å"C'mon, Ron†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?† sneered Malfoy. â€Å"So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?† â€Å"You know your mother, Malfoy?† said Harry – both he and Hermione had grabbed the back of Ron's robes to stop him from launching himself at Malfoy – â€Å"that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?† Malfoy's pale face went slightly pink. â€Å"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter.† â€Å"Keep your fat mouth shut, then,† said Harry, turning away. BANG! Several people screamed – Harry felt something white-hot graze the side of his face – he plunged his hand into his robes for his wand, but before he'd even touched it, he heard a second loud BANG, and a roar that echoed through the entrance hall. â€Å"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!† Harry spun around. Professor Moody was limping down the marble staircase. His wand was out and it was pointing right at a pure white ferret, which was shivering on the stone-flagged floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing. There was a terrified silence in the entrance hall. Nobody but Moody was moving a muscle. Moody turned to look at Harry – at least, his normal eye was looking at Harry; the other one was pointing into the back of his head. â€Å"Did he get you?† Moody growled. His voice was low and gravelly. â€Å"No,† said Harry, â€Å"missed.† â€Å"LEAVE IT!† Moody shouted. â€Å"Leave – what?† Harry said, bewildered. â€Å"Not you – him!† Moody growled, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at Crabbe, who had just frozen, about to pick up the white ferret. It seemed that Moody's rolling eye was magical and could see out of the back of his head. Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the dungeons. â€Å"I don't think so!† roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again – it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. â€Å"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned,† growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. â€Å"Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ferret flew through the air, its legs and tail flailing helplessly. â€Å"Never – do – that – again -† said Moody, speaking each word as the ferret hit the stone floor and bounced upward again. â€Å"Professor Moody!† said a shocked voice. Professor McGonagall was coming down the marble staircase with her arms full of books. â€Å"Hello, Professor McGonagall,† said Moody calmly, bouncing the ferret still higher. â€Å"What – what are you doing?† said Professor McGonagall, her eyes following the bouncing ferret's progress through the air. â€Å"Teaching,† said Moody. â€Å"Teach – Moody, is that a student?† shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms. â€Å"Yep,† said Moody. â€Å"No!† cried Professor McGonagall, running down the stairs and pulling out her wand; a moment later, with a loud snapping noise, Draco Malfoy had reappeared, lying in a heap on the floor with his sleek blond hair all over his now brilliantly pink face. He got to his feet, wincing. â€Å"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!† said Professor McGonagall wealdy. â€Å"Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?† â€Å"He might've mentioned it, yeah,† said Moody, scratching his chin unconcernedly, â€Å"but I thought a good sharp shock -â€Å" â€Å"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!† â€Å"I'll do that, then,† said Moody, staring at Malfoy with great dislike. Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words â€Å"my father† were distinguishable. â€Å"Oh yeah?† said Moody quietly, limping forward a few steps, the dull clunk of his wooden leg echoing around the hall. â€Å"Well, I know your father of old, boy†¦.You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son†¦you tell him that from me†¦.Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?† â€Å"Yes,† said Malfoy resentfully. â€Å"Another old friend,† growled Moody. â€Å"I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape†¦.Come on, you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And he seized Malfoy's upper arm and marched him off toward the dungeons. Professor McGonagall stared anxiously after them for a few moments, then waved her wand at her fallen books, causing them to soar up into the air and back into her arms. â€Å"Don't talk to me,† Ron said quietly to Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened. â€Å"Why not?† said Hermione in surprise. â€Å"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever,† said Ron, his eyes closed and an uplifted expression on his face. â€Å"Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.† Harry and Hermione both laughed, and Hermione began doling beef casserole onto each of their plates. â€Å"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though,† she said. â€Å"It was good, really, that Professor McGonagall stopped it -â€Å" â€Å"Hermione!† said Ron furiously, his eyes snapping open again, â€Å"you're ruining the best moment of my life!† Hermione made an impatient noise and began to eat at top speed again. â€Å"Don't tell me you're going back to the library this evening?† said Harry, watching her. â€Å"Got to,† said Hermione thickly. â€Å"Loads to do.† â€Å"But you told us Professor Vector -â€Å" â€Å"It's not schoolwork,† she said. Within five minutes, she had cleared her plate and departed. No sooner had she gone than her seat was taken by Fred Weasley. â€Å"Moody!† he said. â€Å"How cool is he?† â€Å"Beyond cool,† said George, sitting down opposite Fred. â€Å"Supercool,† said the twins' best friend, Lee Jordan, sliding into the seat beside George. â€Å"We had him this afternoon,† he told Harry and Ron. â€Å"What was it like?† said Harry eagerly. Fred, George, and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. â€Å"Never had a lesson like it,† said Fred. â€Å"He knows, man,† said Lee. â€Å"Knows what?† said Ron, leaning forward. â€Å"Knows what it's like to be out there doing it,† said George impressively. â€Å"Doing what?† said Harry. â€Å"Fighting the Dark Arts,† said Fred. â€Å"He's seen it all,† said George. â€Å"‘Mazing,† said Lee. Ron dived into his bag for his schedule. â€Å"We haven't got him till Thursday!† he said in a disappointed voice.

Hippies and the Revolution of a Culture Essay

â€Å"Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out† was the motto of the hippie movement, a significant countercultural phenomenon in the 1960s and early 1970s that grew partially out of young America’s growing disillusionment with U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Hippies were mainly white teenagers and young adults who shared a hatred and distrust towards traditional middle-class values and authority. They rejected political and social orthodoxies but embraced aspects of Eastern religions, particularly Buddhism. Many hippies also saw hallucinogenic drugs, such as marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), as the key to escaping the ties of society and expanding their individual consciousness. The immediate precursor to the hippies was the so-called Beat Generation of the late 1950s, including the poet Allen Ginsberg, who became a hippie hero. But where the coolly intellectual, black-clad beats tended to keep a low profile and stay out of politics, the hippies were known as much for their political outspokenness as for their long hair and colorful psychedelic clothing. Their opposition to the Vietnam War became one of the most significant aspects of the growing antiwar movement throughout the latter half of the 1960s. To express their protests, and to â€Å"turn on† others, the hippies used art, street theater and particularly music. Folk music and psychedelic rock-the Beatles album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a prime example-were both crucial aspects of hippie culture. This culture reached its peak in the summer of 1967, when a concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park kicked off the start of the so-called â€Å"Summer of Love.† The event introduced the music and aesthetic of the hippies to a wider audience and inspired thousands of young people around the country to head to San Francisco, some wearing flowers in their hair, a reference to Scott McKenzie’s version of the John Phillips song â€Å"San Francisco,† a ubiquitous hit and a kind of hippie theme song. In 1969, more than 500,000 people attended the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in Bethel, New York, an event that for many epitomized the best aspects of the hippie movement. There was a dark side to hippie culture, however, and it went beyond the panicked disapproval expressed by conservatives about the â€Å"immorality† of the hippie way of life. A Time magazine article in 1967 quoted San Francisco’s public health director as saying that the city was paying $35,000 per month for treatment for drug abuse for the city’s 10,000 hippies. To Joan Didion, who wrote about her time in San Francisco for her acclaimed 1968 essay â€Å"Slouching Towards Bethlehem,† the hippies were â€Å"missing children† who were the most conclusive proof that â€Å"the center was not holding† in American society. To the hippies, their behavior was the one truly authentic reaction to the oppressive forces of consumerism, imperialism and militarism embodied by America in the 1960s. By the mid-1970s, the hippie movement was on the wane, though many aspects of its culture-particularly music and fashion-had worked their way into mainstream society. The fraught atmosphere of the 1960s that had created the hippie counterculture no longer existed, particularly after the Vietnam War ended, and with the advent of punk and disco music the earnest hippies were often seen as ridiculous. Still, their ideals of peace, love and community became the enduring legacy of the hippie movement, and even today there are a few â€Å"neo-hippies† to be found on college campuses and communes across the country and around the world. The Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a large-scale series of battles launched by the Vietnamese Communists (or Viet Cong) against American and South Vietnamese troops during the Vietnam War that resulted in both a military failure and a psychological victory for the Communists. The multi-part campaign was known as Tet because it was scheduled to start on January 31, 1968, the Vietnamese New Year holiday known as Tet. As a diversionary tactic, North Vietnamese units attacked the Marine base at Khe Sahn shortly before Tet and approximately 50,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were involved in defending the base and other sites nearby. Subsequently, the Americans and South Vietnamese were surprised by the Tet Offensive, in which over 100 cities and towns and several dozen airfields and bases throughout South Vietnam were attacked. However, the U.S. and its ally quickly fought back and the Viet Cong, who suffered massive casualties, were unable to hold most of the captured territory for long. In the United States, people were stunned by the intensity and widespread nature of the attacks. Graphic images of the fighting were shown on American television and for the first time, criticism of the war mounted on a national scale. General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. military operations in Vietnam, requested over 200,000 more troops, believing it would be possible for the U.S. to finally wipe out the enemy in their weakened condition. However, President Lyndon B. Johnsons new defense secretary, Clark Clifford, convinced the president to reject Westmorelands request and in March 1968, Johnson stated that the United States was committed to a de-escalation of the conflict. Johnson also announced he would not seek a second term as president. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launched additional Tet campaigns in May and August of that same year. American combat units finally withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 and South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam in 1975. Vietnam War Protests Opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War began slowly but grew steadily throughout the second half of the 1960s, eventually becoming the largest and most powerful anti-war movement in American history. By the time U.S. planes began regular bombings of North Vietnam in February 1965, liberal public opinion had begun to question the government’s assertion that it was fighting a democratic war to liberate the South Vietnamese people from Communist aggression. The anti-war movement then began in earnest, mostly on college campuses, as members of the leftist organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) began organizing â€Å"teach-ins† to express their opposition to the way in which it was being conducted. Though the vast majority of the American population still supported the administration policy in Vietnam, a small but outspoken liberal minority was making its voice heard by the end of 1965. This minority included many students as well as prominent artists and intellectuals and members of the hippie movement, a growing number of young people who rejected authority and embraced the drug culture. By the end of 1967, the Vietnam War was costing the U.S. some $25 billion per year, and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater sections of the taxpaying public. More casualties were reported in Vietnam every day, even as U.S. commanders demanded more troops. Under the draft system, as many as 40,000 young men were called into service each month, adding fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement. Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali was one of the more prominent Americans who resisted the draft system, declaring himself a conscientious objector and earning a prison sentence (later overturned) and a three-year ban from boxing. On October 21, 1967, one of the most prominent anti-war demonstrations took place, as some 100,000 protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial; 30,000 of them continued in a march on the Pentagon later that night. After a brutal confrontation with the soldiers and U.S. Marshals protecting the building, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested. One of them was the author Norman Mailer, who chronicled the events in his The Armies famous book of the Night, published the following year to widespread acclaim. By early February 1968, a Gallup poll showed only 35 percent of the population approved of Johnson’s handling of the war and 50 percent disapproved (the rest had no opinion). Joining the anti-war demonstrations by this time were members of the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War, many of whom were in wheelchairs and on crutches. The sight of these men on television throwing away the medals they had won during the war did much to win people over to the anti-war cause. After many New Hampshire primary voters rallied behind the anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy, Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. Vice President Hubert Humphrey accepted the Democratic nomination in August in Chicago, and 10,000 anti-war demonstrators showed up outside the convention building, clashing with security forces assembled by Mayor Richard Daley. Humphrey lost the 1968 presidential election to Richard M. Nixon, who had promised in his campaign to deal with the extreme elements of the population-namely the radicals and the hippies-more effectively than Johnson had. Nixon’s war policies divided the nation still further: In December 1969, the government instituted the first U.S. draft lottery since World War II, inciting a vast amount of controversy and causing many young men to flee to Canada to avoid conscription. Tensions ran higher than ever, spurred on by mass demonstrations and incidents of official violence such those at Kent State in May 1970, when National Guard troops shot into a group of protesters demonstrating against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, killing four students. By the time the war finally ended, after North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon in 1975, the plaintive anti-war slogan â€Å"What are we fighting for?† seemed a prophecy come true, as veterans returned home from Vietnam to find their own nation still bitterly divided. My Lai Massacre On March 16, 1968, a group of U.S. soldiers attacked the South Vietnamese village of My Lai, believed to be a Communist stronghold, and killed between 175 and 400 civilians as well as committing rape and other crimes. U.S. helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and two crewmen, who were flying a reconnaissance mission over My Lai, saw the dead bodies and stopped to investigate. In the process, they managed to rescue a group of Vietnamese civilians from American troops. Although Thompson reported the incident to his superiors, the American public didnt learn about it until over a year later, after a former soldier named Ronald L. Ridenhour wrote letters about what happened at My Lai to President Richard Nixon and other government officials. Ridenhour had found out about the events a month after they occurred from soldiers who were there. The Army eventually launched an investigation that led to the conviction of platoon leader Lt. William L. Calley, Jr., for the murder of 22 unarmed men, women and children. In 1971, Calley was sentenced to life in prison, which was later reduced to 10 years. Ultimately, he served three years under house arrest. The My Lai massacre left many Americans further disillusioned about the Vietnam War. People were horrified that U.S. soldiers had committed atrocities against innocent civilians and were angered at the potential military cover-up, as well as the fact that Lt. Calley was the only person convicted for the murders. Music and Hippies The American music scene during the first part of the 1960s was dominated by male vocalists such as Elvis Presley, Motown artists like Diana Ross & The Supremes and folk performers such as Bob Dylan with their acoustic-based protest songs. By the mid-1960s, though, psychedelic rock had taken root as an intrinsic part of the growing hippie movement. The Flower Power generation was interested in freedom and self-expression and the kind of mind-altering experiences that could be achieved through the use of psychedelic drugs such as marijuana and LSD. Psychedelic rock, which often used electronic sound effects and was sometimes influenced by music from India, attempted to recreate and enhance the feelings resulting from hallucinogenic drug use. Groups including Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company were pioneers of psychedelic rock. They all lived in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, which became the epicenter of the hippie scene. The Beatles were at the height of their popularity throughout the 1960s. After bursting onto the scene in their native England in 1962, the band made its first appearance on American television in 1964, on The Ed Sullivan Show, and generated a massive audience. By the second half of the decade, the band’s pop rock sound had become more experimental and psychedelic. In June 1967, the Beatles released their eighth album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, considered one of the most important records in rock history. Many of the album’s hit songs, such as â€Å"With a Little Help From My Friends† and â€Å"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds† were allegedly filled with drug references. One non-musician who was an important part of the ’60s music scene was concert promoter Bill Graham, whose San Francisco auditorium, The Fillmore, became a major venue for psychedelic rock groups such as Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Grateful Dead and Big Brother & the Holding Company, among others. In 1968, Graham opened the Fillmore East, which became a showcase for counterculture musicians in New York City. In June 1967, the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, the first widely promoted rock fest, took place in California. Over 200,000 people attended the event, considered a highlight of San Francisco’s â€Å"Summer of Love.† Jimi Hendrix and The Who made their first big U.S. performances at the festival, which also showcased performers such as Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and Ravi Shankar. John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas, who helped organize the festival, wrote a song, intended as a fest advertisement, called â€Å"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair).† Sung by Scott McKenzie, â€Å"San Francisco† became a Flower Power anthem.Monterey was a precursor to the Woodstock Festival, which took place in August 1969 on a 600-acre farm in Bethel, New York. An estimated half a million young people turned up for the event, which featured the key musicians of the time, including Hendrix, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Joan Baez, Sly and the Family Stone and Crosby, and Stills Nash & Young, among others. Woodstock later came to be viewed as one of the ultimate events of the hippie era. 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City Controversy surrounded the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City before the Games even began. Athletes were concerned about Mexico City’s high altitude and thin air. Human rights activists were outraged when the Mexican military opened fire on thousands of college students during a campus protest in Mexico City shortly before the opening of the XIX Olympiad. After the Games began, one of the most notable events was the Black Power salute by two African-American athletes during their medal ceremony. On October 16, 1968, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the men’s 200-meter race, and his team member John Carlos, the bronze medalist in the same event, stepped up to the podium shoeless and wearing black socks, civil rights buttons and one black glove each. The lack of shoes and black socks were meant to symbolize poverty among African Americans. When â€Å"The Star Spangled Banner† was played, Smith and Carlos bowed their heads and each raised a fist in the air, in a gesture of protest against racism in America. Australian Peter Norman, the 200-meter silver medalist, wore a human rights badge on the podium as a sign of solidarity. International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage, who believed the political gesture was inappropriate for the Olympic Games, an event meant to be free of politics, suspended Smith and Carlos from the U.S. Track and Field team and barred them from the Olympic Village. Back home in America, Smith and Carlos faced criticism and even death threats for their actions. However, others praised the men, both of whom went on to graduate from San Jose State, play professional football and later become track coaches. Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy, the crusading U.S. attorney general, senator from New York and presidential candidate, was instrumental in helping protect and shape civil rights law in America during the 1960s. Kennedy, born November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, attended Harvard University and University of Virginia Law School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He served as U.S. attorney general during the presidential administration (1961-63) of his elder brother John F. Kennedy. As attorney general, Bobby Kennedy championed social justice causes and later helped draft the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kennedy announced his presidential candidacy in March 1968 and spoke out against urban poverty and the Vietnam War during his short-lived campaign. In the early hours of June 5, 1968, after giving a speech to his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy, a father of 11, was shot by Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Bishara Sirhan. Kennedy died the next day and was buried near John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery. Democratic National Convention Politics turned violent when local police clashed with anti-war demonstrators and journalists at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which took place in Chicago from August 26 to August 29. The convention, held to select a Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency, occurred during an already tumultuous year that had seen the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as growing disillusionment with the Vietnam War by many Americans. During the convention, Democrats were divided over Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy, an anti-war candidate, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was associated with President Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam War policies. In a symbolic gesture, political activist Abbie Hoffman and his fellow Yippies nominated a pig called Mr. Pigasus for commander-in-chief. Humphrey won the nomination, but would go on to lose in the general election to Republican Richard Nixon. Following the convention, Democrats instituted reforms in the nomination process which overhauled the methods for delegation selection and put greater emphasis on primaries. hicago Mayor Richard Daley, a powerful, hardheaded figure known to dislike hippies, vowed to use whatever means necessary to control the crowds of demonstrators who had threatened to shut down the convention. Daley ordered a large police presence, instituted an 11 p.m. curfew and refused to grant permits for rallies and marches. The police took an aggressive stance, attacking and clubbing protestors and journalists on a nightly basis outside the convention hall and in nearby Lincoln and Grant parks. The violence was broadcast on national television, stunning Americans and leaving a black mark on the city of Chicago. Remarkably, no one was killed. A group of protestors that included Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden and Black Panther Bobby Seale and became known as the â€Å"Chicago Eight,† were arrested and charged with conspiracy to incite a riot. The men, later referred to as the â€Å"Chicago Seven† when Seale was tried separately, were ultimately acquitted or had their convictions overturned.