‘They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.’

- Ernest Hemmingway 1

The technological advances of the post-war era in the machinery of warfare have made human suffering and death in conflict-zones acutely brutal. Innocuous sounding weapons used in the public lexicon such as ‘daisy-cutter’ and ‘rocket propelled grenade’ are weapons used in modern conflict to inflict heinous death and casualty. However, public perceptions of the reality of war have been consistently censured by the press – in this case the American media establishment – since as early as the American Civil War. While the obvious reason for this is to maintain public morale and support for life-threatening conflict, American military intervention since that civil war has been projected internationally. During the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the explosion of media communications technology has mirrored military R&D in that it has allowed instantaneous access to global conflict.

In three case studies that chart American intervention – the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, and the Second Gulf War – I will argue that the development of communications technology combined with traditional economic pressures in the Network News medium have reduced public perceptions of American intervention to a form of ‘entertainment.’ I will contrast the pressures and prejudices of journalists and producers on the ground with the economic pressures facing competing media networks to enlarge this debate. Specifically, this will address the ‘rolling news’ format that the Central News Network (CNN) established during the first Gulf War. Finally, the relationship between the media conglomerates and their target audience will be considered in reaction to the ‘entertainment’ label.

The emergence of the CNN Effect can be categorized as ‘the negative effect on the economy caused by people staying home to watch CNN or some other news source during a crisis such as a war.’ 2 It would be a misconception to place the ‘CNN effect’ as one simply referring to ‘rolling news’, a concept adopted by many international media outlets but pioneered by CNN in the first Gulf War. If one takes the CNN effect as an amalgamation of these two definitions, then the overall CNN effect has been to transplant Hollywood mentality onto a daily level, where producers denigrate genuine human suffering in favour of securing a wider audience from competing economic media giants such as CNBC; MSNBC; Fox; ABC; and Bloomberg.

In one example, it is widely held that the presence and reportage of CNN in Somalia prior to the October 3rd battle – where 29 U.S. soldiers were killed and up to 80 injured – pressured President Clinton significantly to intervene militarily and deploy Special Forces to that region. CNN knew what images would appeal to the American public’s conscience and how public pressure could convince an incumbent leader into intervening in humanitarian crises. So, while the economic benefit to CNN was an overriding concern, so too was the power to manipulate what in the Somali example was a highly complex international response to a highly complex national emergency. Then Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s policy of ‘assertive multilateralism’ involved actors and considerations reaching far beyond the humanitarian dimension of a Somali famine. Yet, CNN producers and executives chose only to present human suffering vis-à-vis the humanitarian dimension when presenting that particular conflict to the American public. In one assessment, the use of human suffering to influence foreign policy imbued in the Somali context had tragic consequences:

Even when the Mogadishu tragedy was followed a few days later by the outbreak of massive genocide in Rwanda – one that saw from 600,000 to one million men, women and children murdered – American public opinion did not criticize or challenge the contortions engaged in by the Clinton Administration to avoid intervening. 3

The U.S. media establishment, in the above, aided U.S. policymakers to secure public support for non-intervention in Rwanda, a decision which is universally recognized as irresponsible and an intervention which, unlike Somalia, could actually have benefited the country in question and stalled an unprecedented genocide. The concept of this distinction – between journalists as presenters and journalists as moralists – was discussed most ardently after the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. During the Nixon Presidency, the television and print media acted moralistically in its presentation of the Vietnam conflict and questioned the national interest by mobilizing the public:

‘The president couldn’t sleep. Long afflicted by insomnia, Nixon had special reason for distress on the night of May 8, 1970. He was being pilloried in the press and by the anti-war movement, first for ordering the invasion of Cambodia, then for reacting coldly to the killing of four Kent State students by National Guardsmen. Now protesters had descended on Washington and the capital was in a state of siege.’ 4

Nixon’s paranoia and megalomania saw the media establishment purely in political terms, with a grand liberal conspiracy engaged in machinations to destroy his Presidency. The Watergate scandal which ultimately broke Nixon’s Presidency was a watershed in American media history as the media saw themselves as the purveyors of that society’s morality. Established journalistic rules regarding political character attacks which had prevented Clintonian scandals in John F. Kennedy’s era had now been deemed redundant. The media, in short, had free license to report anything and everything. In Vietnam, this became evident in how the media reported the War. The depiction of violence was no longer censored by the media establishment; it was sensationalized to mirror the mood of a radical American public, morally appalled at the legitimacy of the Vietnam War:

Any viewer in the United States who watched regularly the television reporting from Vietnam – and it was from television that 60 percent of Americans got most of their war news – would agree that he saw scenes of real-life violence, death, and horror on his screen that would have been unthinkable before Vietnam. 5

The effect of this on the American public was obviously an integral tool to the anti-war movement. Correspondents did not question themselves when taking footage of self-immolating monks, as in response to President Diem’s pro-Catholic policies during the Kennedy Presidency. Appalling images such as those, designed to shock the American public and enhance the career of a correspondent, would re-emerge during the height of the war. De-sensitized to the everyday realities and horrors of a soldier in Vietnam, Americans such as Norman Morrison effectively questioned not only the legitimacy of the war, but the media’s representation of it. Morrison infamously set fire to himself outside Secretary of Defense McNamara’s Pentagon office in 1965, thereby inviting the American public to compare domestic, as opposed to foreign, representations of human suffering in conflict zones. Samuel Huntington, when describing the new world order as The Clash of Civilizations, also alluded to a domestic media’s perspective when describing foreign intervention:

A world of clashing civilizations…is inevitably a world of double standards: people apply one standard to their kin-countries and a different standard to others 6

It must also be considered that Nixon’s view of the media as conspiring against Republicans alone was misguided. The previous Democratic Presidents involved in Vietnam – Johnson and Kennedy – both endured a hostile press. In Johnson’s case, even Cabinet members defected to the press in an effort to discredit what they perceived as an unsteady Presidential leadership descending into chaos. In Vietnam, the television media establishment recognized the power of shock tactics to induce the government to relinquish control of ambiguous foreign policies not clearly in the national interest. However, the power of the media in Vietnam to influence public opinion has often been exaggerated, as James Hoge notes:

[As in Vietnam,] public attitudes ultimately hinge on questions about the rightness, purpose and costs of policy – not television images. 7

In the Iraq conflict of 1991, CNN established itself as the dominant American media network. This was due to the efforts of producer Robert Weiner, who urged that CNN should stay in Iraq to report the war Live From Baghdad, as the title of the book chronicling his experience suggests. Due in part to Weiner’s ability to secure a relationship with then Deputy Minister of Information Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi, CNN procured a ‘floor wire’, a device similar to that of a two-way radio. The advantage for CNN when air strikes on Baghdad became a certainty was that the ‘floor wire’ communicated directly to the Atlanta head office using underground communications cables. Thus, even in the event of U.S. air attacks striking traditional communications centres, the network would be able to broadcast live and uninterrupted. Once direct warnings emerged from U.S. embassy officials warning of an imminent bombing, the remaining international media networks pulled their journalists out of Baghdad, a move designed to protect journalists’ lives and the credibility of President Bush’s bombing campaign.

CNN engineered a historic moment in international broadcasting when veteran journalists Bernard Shaw; John Holliman; and Peter Arnett were flown in to report the first wave of U.S. attacks. ‘Rolling news’ had found both a niche and an audience, as few of us can forget the live images of U.S. air strikes combined with up to the minute reporting. In addition, the U.S. and global audience were simultaneously transported to live events and extensions of the Iraqi conflict by journalists as far as Tel Aviv and Jordan.

Weiner and his team were hailed as journalistic ‘heroes’ and the envy of the U.S. media establishment. During the first wave of U.S strikes, competing media networks could only feed directly into CNN’s broadcasting to retain a minor portion of the market. Americans tuned in live round the clock to watch the U.S. air strikes on Baghdad, yet the immediacy of the devastating effects on Iraqis went unnoticed by the American public. Additionally, the Executive Branch now had to contend with a competing information source, as the government was unable to counter military losses or Hussein’s aggression with pacifying statements to the public: the media now controlled the distribution and content of information.

Underlying this paradox is the concept that the CNN audience was becoming de-sensitized to the realities of a Patriot missile strike or Iraqi Scud launch to the extent that the choice of watching the war on television was not an exercise in information procurement, but a perverse and horrifying form of entertainment. Writing recently in Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Powell laments:

These days, it seems that an administration can develop a sound foreign policy strategy, but it can’t get people to acknowledge or understand it. 8

Secretary Powell refers here to reinvigorated U.S. government public diplomacy efforts to counter anti-Americanism. In the aftermath of 9-11, the Executive Branch established an Office of Global Communications (OGC) with the mandate: ‘the Office assists in the development of communications that disseminate truthful, accurate, and effective messages about the American people and their government.’ 9 In essence, OGC’s job is to monitor foreign media broadcasts and cultivate effective counter-attacks to perceived propaganda. However, OGC is also competing within a larger paradigm that sees CNN and Al-Jazeera as the principal methods of disseminating ‘truthful, accurate, and effective messages’ related to the demands of their audience. Al-Jazeera has a pro-Arab and anti-American stance, a position which invited their broadcasting (in mid 2003) of bloodied Iraqi carcasses killed by American armed forces.

This was not necessarily a ‘shock’ tactic. Al-Jazeera’s defence of its inflammatory journalism is that it is a network, like CNN, cultivating its content to the requirements and beliefs of its audience. It is the content of the message, however, which also reiterates the concept of mass media as entertainment. Al-Jazeera tailors its coverage of the current Iraqi reconstruction to favor its audience, often at the expense of its international credibility. However, Al-Jazeera also provides a balanced portrayal of events important to the Middle East region with the aim of countering purely Western portrayals of Arab conflagrations which include the Arab-Israeli conflict. 9-11 and the ‘globalization’ of mass media also contributed to an enhanced and increasingly complex relationship between a network and its audience. When assessing U.S. media presentations of 9-11 and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, one has to take into account that:

[Thus,] the difference between news coverage of terrorism inside and outside a target country is striking: when terrorists hit their enemies at home, they can inflict greater damage but they lose in the battle over media access and predominant perspectives. 10

In the U.S. media’s haste to assuage the nation’s thirst for justification and retribution in response to the 9-11 attacks, the legitimacy of intervention in Iraq – and the methods employed to gain that legitimacy – were not called into question by the media until too late. If the media does not exercise control on its moral obligations – as it did in Vietnam and Watergate, but only reacts to the government’s supply of information and their audiences need for military action to counter unlimited domestic terrorism, the public can only be expected to treat the media as another form of entertainment in their lives. Consider CNN’s article of May 8, 2003, reporting President Bush’s dramatic arrival on the USS Abraham Lincoln:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Several administration officials Wednesday defended President Bush’s flight on a Navy jet to an aircraft carrier last week, saying there was a minimal difference between the cost of the president flying to the ship in a jet versus flying in a helicopter. 11

This extract, and the subsequent article in its entirety, fails to acknowledge that the true cost of that political maneuver. The event was ‘staged’, much like a theatrical trailer, to enhance President Bush’s image as a war-time leader with previous combat experience in Vietnam. International media executives and producers could not simply exercise a moral high ground and refuse to cover the event: that would be tantamount to economic suicide. However, CNN et al. are inconsistent in their coverage of the Iraq war and reconstruction efforts by not pressuring Administration officials to reveal accurate casualty and death rates, or to cover with as much zeal and attention items such as President Bush’s visit to the relatives of deceased combat soldiers. The latter are not stories of success and triumph, yet for an audience to comprehend the nature of an all encompassing ‘war on terror’, the audience must be allowed a balanced portrayal of the realities of American intervention. In addition, the cost of American national security can only be understood in a wider context of universal injustices precipitated worldwide in the name of ‘terrorism.’

Appalling images of suffering in the world are interrupted by advertisements for car insurance: barbarism and banality, cheek by jowl. 12

If the American public becomes increasingly de-sensitized to violence, policy makers may well become less emotionally attached to human suffering. In terms of future American military intervention, this could prove beneficial when having to make decisive action in delicate operations, as the recent Haitian example suggests. However, sensitivity to human suffering – epitomized in how governments react to global conflict and international intervention of any description – is not only a fundamental aspect of participating in international affairs, but what legitimizes the foreign policies of mature western democracies. If continually editorialized media representations of war are promoted with the same guidelines as those used by producers to market programs such as ER or Friends, this moral conviction erodes. The increasingly belligerent undertone taken by the U.S. media television establishment in its efforts to secure economic stability should throw a caution to the prevailing wind that American intervention is always justified when the national interest is at stake. War and violent conflicts, however marketed, are not enjoyable enterprises for any potential actor involved. CNN and the larger U.S. media establishment may well benefit from this reminder.

Cited

Bunting, Madeleine. ‘Reasons to be Cheerless’, The Guardian

‘The CNN Effect‘

Goshko, John M. ‘Bush, Clinton, and Somalia’, in Abshire, David, ed., Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency: Seventy-Six Case Studies in Presidential Leadership (Praeger: Westport, CT), pp. 226-232

Greenberg, David. Nixon’s Shadow: the History of an Image (Norton: New York)

Hemmingway, Ernest. ‘Top Ten War Quotes‘

Hoge, James F. ‘Media Pervasiveness’, Foreign Affairs, July/August 1994, pp. 136-144

Huntington, Samuel P. ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72. No. 3, pp. 22-49

John King, ‘Administration Defends Bush Flight to Carrier‘, CNN

Knightley, Phillip. The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker from the Crimea to Vietnam (Andre Deutsch: London)

Nacos, Brigitte L., Terrorism and the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the World Trade Center Bombing (Columbia University Press: New York)

‘Office of Global Communications‘

Powell, Colin, ‘A Strategy of Partnerships‘, Foreign Affairs

1 ‘Top Ten War Quotes‘

2 ‘The CNN Effect‘

3 Goshko, p. 231

4Greenberg, p. 232

5 Knightley, p. 410

6 Huntington, p. 36

7 Hoge, p. 141

8 Colin Powell, ‘A Strategy of Partnerships‘ Foreign Affairs

9 ‘Office of Global Communications‘

10 Nacos, p. 47

11 John King, ‘Administration Defends Bush Flight to Carrier‘, CNN

12 Madeleine Bunting, ‘Reasons to be Cheerless’, The Guardian

Related:

• Gender Roles and the Media
• What is the role of Public Diplomacy to U.S. Foreign Policy?
• Grave Violations of Human Rights
• Hollywood and the Iraq War

Both authors recognize greed-driven and exploitative business dealings as a staple of American economics. Machtet describes the prairie merchants as “people of a special cast of mind and morality…whose entire task and goal is to make money without producing anything” (Prairie 32). He goes on to describe with amazement, tinged slightly by sarcasm, the business of buying goods in one area only to resell them in another, for ludicrously high prices (32). Thus, he highlights one of the ironies of capitalism: that one can make more money by skillfully manipulating the market than by actual productive labor. In other words, the man who actually produces a thing profits less than the man who simply buys it and sells it strategically.

Machtet then pauses to further explore the merchant phenomenon. Recognizing that the merchants engage in price-fixing, he explains their ability to avoid the usual decrease in prices resulting from competition (Prairie 32). His analysis of this situation points out one of the weaknesses of the “Invisible Hand” Theory¹: it presupposes fair play and “perfect competition”². The merchants Machtet speaks of capitalize upon high transaction costs³, as well as mutual agreements to keep the prices uniformly high, made possible by their already existing oligopoly⁴.

Machtet also recounts, rather humorously, but nonetheless critically, a company’s attempt to get President Grant to wear their socks, bearing their trademark (Frey’s 63). He notes that although the scheme outraged Grant, his vehement refusal generated publicity for the company (63). Again, Machtet mentions the merchant class, this time using the event of a political scandal to draw people to town and thus provide more business for themselves (65). Throughout, Machtet points out some of the negative conditions in America generated by the capitalist system.

Similar criticism occurs in Gorky’s essay, but here it becomes the main point of emphasis. Describing the “greediness of the Yellow Devil’s rich slaves,” Gorky portrays the vicious inequality that develops between the bourgeoisie and the “pitiful microbes of poverty,” the men and women whose labor feeds the city’s economy (Gorky 137). Through extended metaphors, Gorky describes the city itself as a type of inhuman monster, ruthlessly and insatiably devouring the lives, labor, and indeed the very souls of the people who work there (133). This personification artfully aims its cry of outrage at the people who own the grim factories and “the dark, silent skyscrapers…square, devoid of any desire to be beautiful” (133). Gorky’s constant references to gold, symbolizing the profit motive, recognize the private lust for more and more wealth, greater and greater economic growth, as the force which sets this monstrous machine in motion, imbuing it with life by transforming humanity into a mere tool used for its own purposes. The self-interested, short-sighted pursuit of profit by the few forces the many into a mechanical life of subjugation.

Gorky also provides a detailed description of the dehumanization and alienation resulting from the squalid conditions and bleak life of the proletariat (Gorky 137). He describes children fighting like wild dogs over scraps of food found in trash bins (137). Describing what those who live in the city often cannot see for themselves, he tells of the bitterly ironic illusions shrouding the vision of the people: “They have gotten used to their striving without a goal, used to thinking that there is a goal. In their eyes there is no anger toward the rule of iron, no hatred for its triumph” (135).

Machtet describes American democracy in glowing terms, praising the public involvement of the citizens (Prairie 26). He praises the democratic process by which the people adopted the Fence Law instead of the Herd Law, ignoring the fact that this decision, no matter how democratically reached, put the burden of extra time and work on those who were the poorest and newest to the community, those who had the least to spare (32).

Naively trusting in complete democracy, Machtet praises the mob “justice” that reigned in the prairie ( Prairie 47). With little chance to observe such things, let alone analyze and study them in a legal and statistical sense, Machtet comes to this conclusion not through reason or understanding of the facts, but from romanticization of life on the American prairie, and of the peasantry in general.

Gorky, on the other hand, takes a negative view of American democracy, seeing it as merely a transparent mask adorning the visage of a monstrous “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.” Using irony and personification, Gorky unmasks the hypocrisy of America, the destruction of the ideals it claims to represent, as he describes the statues of America’s founding fathers, neglected and ignored, all shreds of their former glory buried and forgotten beneath the glitz and grime or modern industrial capitalism (Gorky 134).

He goes on to further describe the so-called freedom of the masses, who despite suffrage and civil rights, still live lives controlled by their bosses, their companies, their economic status, still suffer under the horrid despotism of the time clock.⁵

The anti-capitalist stances of both Machtet and Gorky show through in their essays, but more openly and strongly in Gorky’s. Both have a political agenda in their writing. While Machtet praises American democracy, Gorky reviles it as just another trick of the ruling classes. The differences in the focus and content of their writing may largely generate from the difference in their politics and their experiences. Machtet, devotee of peasant socialism and visitor of the 1870’s American frontier, caught a glimpse of rural life which, at the time, remained more autonomous and freer from exploitation than city life. Also, Machtet envisions a form of socialism similar to the peasant commune. Thus, he focuses more on the methods of organization for these smaller, autonomous units, rather than the overarching governmental system, if there were to be any at all, ideally. Having looked to America as a possible spawning pool for socialist experiments, he seeks out possible opportunities and favorable conditions along that front.

Whereas Gorky, Bolshevik and visitor of an American industrialized city a year after the Russian Revolution of 1905, finds quite different conditions and takes a different political focus. While Machtet follows a more utopian socialist path, Gorky adheres to scientific socialist theory. Thus, he focuses on the class structure, the economic system, and the government resulting from it. His experiences show him the dark side of American life, the brutal economic inequalities that the market and democracy have both failed to solve. Having long viewed capitalism as a menace and America as a land engulfed by it, Gorky focused more intently upon the negative aspects of American urban life.

In the conclusion of “The Prairie and the Pioneers”, Machtet speaks of the Blue Valley meeting of clergy and worshipers (Prairie 50). Describing their diatribes against modern life and hopes for the future, he looks upon these people as good, pious, intelligent, and almost saintly. He concludes with the words: “And they say that they know this paradise and will show the way to it. There the sun shines eternally and there is neither sadness nor sorrow!” (50). Gorky’s essay, after pausing to notice a glimmer of hope in the existence of such men as a lone, rebellious thief, concludes with a final bleak personification: “The dismal City of the Yellow Devil raves in its sleep” (Gorky 142). In their journeys to America, Machtet saw the American Dream and Gorky saw the American Nightmare. One spoke of people like angels, the other of the devils of poverty and greed.

Works Cited

Gorky, Maxim. “City of the Yellow Devil.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 128-143.

Machtet, Grigorij. “Frey’s Community.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 54-82.

Machtet, Grigorij. “The Prairie and the Pioneers.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 16-53.

1 The “Invisible Hand” Theory, posited by Adam Smith, states that the diverse market forces within the self-interest-driven, capitalist system, counterbalance each other to create natural equilibrium and stability within the system.

2 “Perfect competition” entails a large market of many buyers and sellers, none of whom can individually manipulate the price of a product, as well as a homogeneous product, well-informed consumers, and the absence of transaction costs.

3 Transaction costs are the extra time, money, etc. spent in acquiring lower priced goods, due to fees, tariffs, having to travel a farther distance, etc. In other words, the relative inconvenience of attaining goods for a lower price.

4 An oligopoly is a market condition in which there are many buyers and only a small group of sellers for a given product.

5 “…it is only the independence of the axe in the carpenter’s hand, of the hammer in the blacksmith’s hand, of the brick in the hands of an invisible mason who, grinning slyly, is building one enormous but cramped prison for everyone” (Gorky 135).

Related:

• The Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920
• Marriage Equality in America
• Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola: A Web Marketing Comparison
• Failure of the Taisho Democracy

Rosie the Riveter is just one of the many examples. Rosie the Riveter appeared during World War II as a picture of a woman with her sleeve rolled up showing her muscle and saying “We can do it!” with a red handkerchief tied into a bow around her head. At the time, women were stay-at-home mom’s taking care of the children and the home while their husbands were away on the front lines. As more and more soldiers left the country to serve overseas, manufacturing jobs were left with no workers. America suddenly convinced its women that they could handle a man’s job building military equipment and riveting aircraft cowls, and soon enough women were not only joining the “Rosies” in the factories, they were joining their husbands in the wars also. “With some ten million men at war and the rest at work, America needed it’s women to go to work to build the planes, tanks, and ships needed to fight Hitler… so the government teamed up with industry, the media, and women’s organizations in an effort to urge [women] to join the labor force by telling them it was their ‘patriotic duty’ to go to work… slogans such as ‘Victory is in Your Hands,’ and ‘Women, the War Needs You!’ were all used to convince women that their country’s needs were more important than their individual comfort.” In order to respond to its extreme need for women in the labor force, America released propaganda advertisements which changed the female role forever. Since the time of Rosie the Riveter, less and less women have been choosing the now “old-fashioned” female job of being a housewife.

While Rosie the Riveter paved the way for an increasing female labor force, today’s advertisements seek to change women’s appearances. Every day we are attacked with numerous advertisements for weight loss, especially for women. Women on television are portrayed as thin, long-legged super models wearing a size six. What a drastic change since the earlier female beauty queen, Marilyn Monroe (size fourteen). Due to this advertisement pressure on women to be skinny, more and more females are going to health clubs, changing their diets, and doing literally anything they can to fight off those “excess” pounds. According to Naomi Wolf, “contemporary standards of feminine beauty have devolved to a point that can only be described as anorexic, and America’s young women are paying the price through a near-epidemic of bulimia and anorexia.” Wolf believes that today’s standards for female beauty are just a myth created by the media to control women by forcing them to be obsessed with their bodies.

Men are faced with the same kind of media pressure. Like women, men are also striving to shape their bodies according to the media’s standards. Men also run to the gym after work to pump iron and some are even removing their chest and leg hair and visiting tanning salons in an effort to become the California dream guy with big shiny muscles, a dark tan, and light hair. After the U.S. defeat in Vietnam, movies like Death Wish, First Blood, and The Hunt for Red October caused many American men to feel “unmanned” and powerless. “Millions of American men,” as James Gibson puts it, “began to dream, to fantasize about the powers and features of another kind of man who could retake and reorder the world.” Now men struggle to prove their manhood through muscles and mass.

As the media continues to represent men in advertisements more than women, our society continues to respect and represent men more than women in every aspect of our daily lives. Women continue to be paid less at certain jobs, and experience more discrimination than men. According to Robert Bartsch, this is linked to the fact that men are more present in television commercials than women and he believes “these trends are one measure of how society views women and men.” His studies show that “male voice-overs occur approximately 90% of the time,” and “the consensus of these studies is that there is unequal gender representation in commercials.” Going back to the household cleaning materials and beer, Bartsch also states that “there is a greater use of female product representatives for domestic products and… male product representatives for nondomestic products.”

The media definitely has a huge affect on the socialization of gender and can affect people’s attitudes and behaviors toward the opposite sex. I am Serbian, formerly known as Yugoslavian though we never quite referred to ourselves as Yugoslavian in the first place. Everyone has heard about the war in the Balkans since it has been an ongoing issue since the early 90′s. Though the war has been over for quite some time now, Serbian men are experiencing an intense amount of prejudice in the United States. Serbs are referred to as “rapists,” “savage,” and “killers.” Though this may be true for certain soldiers who fought in the war, it is not true for all Serbian soldiers and it is certainly not true for all Serbian men. I predominantly blame the American media for this impolite and ignorant behavior on the part of the Americans. Surely, rape and murder are not one sided in a war. The Muslims raped Serbian women and they killed Serbian children too, but the media hasn’t addressed this issue. During the war with the Croatians, Croat soldiers cut the fingers of Serbian men and women and wore them around their necks on a piece of string as a necklace. They took Serbian babies and jabbed them onto pitchforks. The media hasn’t addressed these issues. But CNN has exaggerated the Serbian offenses so much that Americans are convinced all Serbs are evil. This has caused many American women to fear dating men of Serbian descent, and American men to feel as if they need to be on defense-mode when being approached by the big bad Serb. And if tomorrow the news pronounced my country to be heroic and announced that Serbs are the best people in the world, the Americans would then praise my existence and they would be more than friendly. This is further evidence for Robert Bartsch that the media does in fact affect people’s behavior and attitudes. How sad it is that we, as the most intelligent being on earth, can so easily be lead by our television sets and our radios.

I don’t watch TV too often because I’m usually busy doing other things, but I find that whenever I flip through the channels there is always a lady on the Home Shopping Network selling jewelry or clothing or some unnecessary kitchen appliance people see and think they can’t live without. In the contemporary American society, shopping is the lady’s sport. Women like to “shop ‘til they drop” as many advertisements have said. But there is something even deeper than this. Since the media distinguishes between specific male and female roles by using only males for male roles and only females for female roles, we tend to find it disturbing when a man does something considered to be a woman’s task, or a woman does something we are familiar with seeing men do. Often, when we see a man hosting the Home Shopping Network, for example, we question his sexuality. I have personally witnessed this happen many times, and in fact, I find myself making this judgment more and more often. Remember Richard Simmons and his funny work out videos? I don’t know one person who doesn’t think Richard Simmons is homosexual. And those big, beefy, muscular women that compete in body building championships, how do people comment about them?

As these images become increasingly prevalent in the media, men become afraid of Richard Simmons workouts and his short shorts, and women become afraid of bodybuilding and continue to starve themselves to fit Wolf’s “Beauty Myth.” More than ever, people in America are coming out while others are doing everything they can to prove they are heterosexual. So, is the media trying to tell us it’s okay to be gay and paving the way for the homosexuality boom that is taking place, or is this just an attempt to finally loosen us up and help us realize that men don’t have to be Rambo and women don’t have to be supermodels? We have yet to find out through further advertisements.

Related:

• Gender Roles in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• How the U.S. Media Promotes War as Entertainment
• A Means to an End
• The Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920

The Human Rights Movement is constantly evolving, and universal respect for human rights has improved dramatically in the past century. Although the international community has progressed in it’s recognition and attempt to protect individual human rights,  it has been widely unsuccessful in it’s ability to prevent the violation of grave human rights, or to intervene and stop them when they do occur. At the same time, however, the international community has been successful in it’s actions to bring justice to those responsible for the violations, both in terms of state and individual responsibility. Three examples of the international community’s actions regarding the violation of grave human rights include those involving genocide, ethnic cleansing and starvation.

The gravest violation of human rights is genocide. In 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, or the Genocide Convention. It took effect in 1951,and  provided a legal definition of genocide and established genocide as a crime under international law. According to the Genocide Convention, any of the following actions, when committed with the intent to eliminate a particular national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, constitutes genocide:  killing members of the group,  causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group,  deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to kill, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, and  forcibly transferring children out of a group (powers, 57).

The most dramatic case of genocide was the Holocaust of WW II, in which the Nazi regime systematically murdered 6 million Jews and 5 million other “undesirables” (powers, 47). The Allies had abundant intelligence of Hitler’s Final Solution, yet almost no intervention was attempted to stop it. The policy of non-intervention was fueled by several issues, most importantly, the refusal to violate the sovereign power of the German state. Government officials and journalists also played down the intelligence, claiming they were not substantiated, and exaggerated. Allied leaders were also convinced that the most efficient way to stop the murder of civilians was by the military defeat of Germany. Most significantly, however, the vast majority of the population simply did not – or could not – believe the reports. It was almost impossible for a rational human mind to accept that it was possible for such revolting, inhuman and evil atrocities to be carried out against an entire race of people (powers, 32-45).

With the end of the war, and liberation of the concentration camps, the international community was forced to fully accept the carnage that had occurred. They demanded justice for the 11 million dead, as well as the survivors. An International Military Tribunal was established  in Nuremberg, Germany, to try leading the Nazi Party officials who were responsible for the planning and design of the Final Solution (powers, 48).

The term “genocide” wasn’t yet fully accepted by world leaders and the first indictments the Tribunal placed against the defendants were crimes against humanity, including crimes against peace, for starting an aggressive war (powers, 49).

The Tribunal was significant because it not only was holding individuals accountable for violating human rights, but also because it was the first time that government officials were held accountable and faced punishment, for crimes committed against their own citizens. The notion of state sovereignty was still highly valued, though, and the charges focused  on the crimes against peace, and prosecuted only those crimes that had been committed after Germany had initiated an aggressive war with the invasion of another sovereign nation (powers, 49).

The term “genocide” was included in the 3rd count. The defendants were accused of “…genocide, viz., the extermination of racial and national groups, against the civilian population of certain occupied territories” (powers, 50).

Determined to prevent such a horrendous event from occurring again, . In 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (powers, 57). That same year, The United Nations took the next dramatic step in 1948, when it adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It wasn’t adopted as a treaty – but rather it was meant to “proclaim a ‘common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” (burns, 25).

Despite the passing of the Genocide Convention, and the determination to never allow genocide to occur again, it did, and surprisingly, the international community once again stood by and let it occur. In 1994, Rwanda suffered a 100 day massacre of Tutsi’s by the Hutu’s, which left more then 800,000 dead (powers, 334).   Although Belgian UN peacekeepers were stationed in Rwanda, they were ordered to not intervene, and all foreign diplomats, etc. were evacuated. The world sat by and refused to intervene (powers, 364-385). After the genocide had stopped, and the true horrors could not be ignored, President Clinton decided to go to Rwanda to appease his nation’s guilt, explaining that the international community “did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror” (powers, 386). It can therefore be assumed that the international community didn’t fully appreciate the terror of the Holocaust, or what the promise of “never again” encompassed.

The United Nations did, however, make a substantial effort to bring the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide to trial. It passed a resolution to establish a Tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide, modeled on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague (powers, 484). Unlike the ICTFY, however, the process has been slow, few convictions have been made, and the success is still unsure (forsythe, 101-02).

Ethnic Cleansing is a strong example of a grave violation of human rights. The term was introduced in 2001 to identify and categorize the violations of human rights carried out by the Serbian military during the wars in former Yugoslavia.  The actions of ethnic cleansing include torture, murder, arbitrary arrest and detention, extra-judicial executions, rape and sexual assault, confinement if civilians in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilians, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, and wanton destruction of property” (powers, 483). The United Nations Commission for the former Yugoslavia further defined ethnic cleansing as “rendering an area wholly homogenous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups” (powers, 483).

The ethnic cleansing taking place in Bosnia, and later Kosovo, wasn’t a secret. In “A Problem From Hell“, Samantha Powers claims that “no other atrocity campaign in the 20th century was better monitored or understood by the U.S. government” (powers, 264). They had intelligence reports, photographs, even satellite imagery. Despite overwhelming evidence however, the U.S. Government, led by President George Bush, decided not to intervene militarily (powers, 264).

Pressure began to build however, as the reports and vivid images were widely introduced to the public. President Bush was finally compelled to make a public commitment to document Serbian aggression, and develop a plan to stop it (powers, 266). a UN-EU peace conference was scheduled, and the United States pledged humanitarian aid (powers, 281). In August of 1992, the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorizing “all necessary measures” to insure the delivery of the humanitarian aid (powers, 281). However, the International Community was still not prepared to intervene militarily. A small UN contingent of approximately 6,000 peace keepers were deployed. Ironically, several United Nations sanctions in place in the former Yugoslavia were actually aiding the Serbian forces in their campaign of violence. An arms embargo was in place, and this prevented the Muslim civilians in Bosnia to obtain weapons to defend themselves.

The United States decision of non-intervention was fueled by several factors. First, the belief was that the situation in Bosnia was a civil war, not a war of aggression. Government officials also felt that measures like lifting the arms embargo would actually cause more harm then good. Government leaders also did not want to risk the lives of American soldiers, and finally, the cost of intervention would be steep (powers, chapters  9 and 11).

By November 1995, the Clinton Administration was in the White House and domestic and Foreign pressure finally forced the U.S. government to take action. They supported NATO air strikes, and the Clinton administration brokered a peace accord in Dayton Ohio, the Dayton Accords. By this point, however, 200,000 people had already been killed and one out of every 2 people had lost homes (powers, 440).

Although the war in Bosnia was over, intense violence soon sprung up in Kosovo, which had long been a location of intense Serb – Kosovo Albanian hostility. NATO was quicker this time to launch a bombing campaign in Kosovo, hoping to force the Serbian violence to ease, as had happened in Bosnia. Yet this time, the Serbian military retaliated by severely stepping up it’s brutality against the citizens of Kosovo (powers, 450).

If the International community had failed to stop the ethnic cleansing from occurring, it succeeded in redeeming itself in the aftermath, with the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at the Hague (powers, 483). The Tribunal focused on individual responsibility, including holding Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on charges of crimes against humanity (powers, 458). Defendants from Military leaders to prison guards are being indicted at The Hague, and are being forced to take personal responsibility for their horrendous actions.

An example of a grave violation of human rights which receives less attention is starvation. In the 1930′s, Stalin and his Marxist regime in the Soviet Union were determined to crush resistance in the Ukraine. They decided that the most effective strategy was “mass terror throughout the body of the nation” (chalk and jonassohn, 291)., the body being the peasantry – and  they initiated a program of terror-famine in 1932 (chalk and jonassohn, 291).

The Soviet leaders began by demanding an increased percentage of the Ukrainian wheat harvest, even though the harvest had been low. Next, a decree was passed that all collective farm property including cattle and grain were considered state property and therefore “sacred and inviolable” (chalk and jonassohn, 293). The punishment for disobedience to this decree was execution. Searches were conducted and usually all food, livestock and valuables were confiscated (chalk and jonassohn, 293). The formal searched became routine, and those who did not appear to be starving found themselves under suspicion.

The famine intensified through the winter, when Stalin issued a new decree that all distribution of grain would be held from the peasants until the grain quotas he had demanded were delivered. Desperation accompanied the starvation, and high rates of suicide, murder and even cannibalism emerged (chalk and jonassohn, 295). Within only a short period, millions were dead – approximately one quarter of the rural population(chalk and jonassohn, 291)..

Intervention by the International community was not forthcoming. Although knowledge of the forced famine existed in western Europe and the United Sates, only slight pressure was placed on the Soviet regime – pressure which was ignored (chalk and jonassohn, 298). There has never been an official investigation of the mass forced starvation that occurred in the Ukraine in the early 1930′s (chalk and jonassohn, 298)..

Although the international community has progressed in it’s recognition and attempt to protect individual human rights,  flaws still exist in its to prevent the violation of grave human rights, or to intervene and stop them when they do occur. However, the international community has been successful in it’s actions to bring justice to those responsible for the violations, both in terms of state and individual responsibility. Examples of the international communities’ efforts, or non efforts, can be seen in the violation of the grave human rights of genocide, ethnic cleansing and starvation.

Works Cited

Burns, Weston. “Human Rights”. International Human Rights Overviews. Claude-Weston.
page 25

Chalk, Frank and Jonassohn, Kurt. The History and Sociology of Genocide. U.S.A. Yale University Press: 1990. pages 291, 293, 295, 298

Forsythe, David P. Human Rights in International Relations. Cambridge, United Kingdom. Cambridge University Press: 2000. pages 101-102

Powers, Samantha. A Problem From Hell. New York. Basic Books: 2002.
pages 32-45, 47-50, 57264, 266, 281, 334,  440, 450, 458, 483-4, 392-440, 248-327

Related:

• The Shaping of Human Rights in the Twentieth Century
• Contrasting Human Language With Animal Communication
• The Cold War Beginnings vs. The Start of Vietnam
• Gender Roles and the Media

The emergence of photojournalism created new opportunities for photographers. These individuals were now able to travel virtually anywhere to document objects and events because camera equipment was now faster and portable. The most significant benefit of photojournalism was its ability to push for social change by illustrating the problems associated with the society. In other words, photojournalism was the first medium to convey social issues to mass audiences through the use of news magazines and other publications. Many of these magazines focused on the victimization that war creates. One of the most influential photographers during this period was W. Eugene Smith. His photograph entitled Marines Under Fire, (Photograph 1), depicts the harsh reality of war and the toll it takes on soldiers. Choosing to show the gun and the men looking in opposite directions suggests a sense of confusion and a threat of approaching opposition. Smith was able to portray a strong sense of compassion through his social documentation of war.

In addition to war reportage, W. Eugene Smith also experimented with a new technique linked to photojournalism: the photographic essay. Since news magazines and other publications finally had the capacity to include photographs, many of them featured photographic essays. These essays are photographic documentaries that are accompanied by captions in order to tell the readers a story. One of Smith most memorable works is entitled Spanish Village (Photographs 2a-2e). This particular essay documents the lives of a poverty stricken Spanish community who still retain a strong sense of faith. Through sharp tonal contrast and dramatic detail, Smith was able to show the struggles of these people in a humanistic way. The prevalent underlying element in most journalistic photos is the undertone of humanistic ideals.

Developments in photojournalism were also beneficial to advertising and promotion. In fact, advertising and promotion were created by photojournalism. Before this time, there was no way for a company to show customers what they are selling. This type of photography was especially useful in showcasing products in magazines as an attempt to attract buyers. An example of such an advertisement is the photograph entitled The Veiled Reds, by Richard Avedon, (Photograph 3). This photograph is an advertisement for a new line of makeup. Through an innovative combination of text and photo, in addition to careful word choice, the reader becomes drawn to the photograph. The photographer’s ability to utilize color so effectively reinforces the connection between the vibrant color red and their makeup line. If color was not utilized, the viewer may not associate the photograph or the words with the company’s make up line. Photojournalism is evidently the best way to convey a message to the general public.

Photojournalism also had an astounding affect on the fashion industry and the photographing of celebrities. The commercialization of such interesting new subjects provided vast opportunities for individuals who were trying to break out into the field of photography. Photographers were able to hold true to their traditional strive for aesthetic quality, while enjoying the freedom of more creativity. These photographs were also highly visible because virtually any magazine would contain them. Photographs such as Donyale Luna in Dress by Paco Rabanne, by Richard Avedon (Photograph 4) depict the beauty and craftsmanship concerning a piece of clothing. It concentrates on both form and elegance. In addition, this medium also depicted celebrities such as famous actors and actresses of the time. This allowed people to read about their favorite celebrities and finally enjoy photos of these individuals. It also enabled agencies to promote celebrities in order for them to achieve higher statuses. In other words, photojournalism ultimately created a way for photographs such as these to have an impact on shaping the attitudes of individuals viewing these photographs. Before this time, these photographs would have not even been considered as an art form. However, through the popularity of photojournalism these photographs have had the chance to show that they document society and retain public interest.

Finally, the latest development of photojournalism as described in the textbook is the innovation of digital photography. The textbook states, “By the end of the 1980′s, digital imaging has emerged as a transformative technology, welcomed in the fields of product advertising, cinema, journalism. The ability to manipulate images through the use of computers enabled photographers to explore their creativity. It gives them more freedom to customize their photographs in order to look more visually appealing, thus more enticing to the prospective buyer. Digital imaging also assisted other techniques utilized in photojournalism, such as Montage. This process works well with montage pieces of work because it allows for easier manipulation on behalf of the photographer. This type of imaging ultimately helps the photographer stick to their journalistic roots, while allowing them to express themselves on a more personal level as well.

In conclusion, the emergence and development of photojournalism has proved to be extremely beneficial in a number of ways. Photojournalism was the first medium to depict social problems throughout the world to mass audiences. In fact, many people’s attitudes about society changed through the widespread commercialization of journalism. Also, Photojournalism provided advertising and promotion companies with new ways to attract buyers. Celebrities and industries such as fashion also thrived with the emergence of photojournalism, because it gave individuals and industries a way to become highly visible. Finally, photojournalism has utilized newer techniques such as color and digital imaging in order to display current technology and the benefits associated with such technology. Photojournalism evidently shows how the camera is an important means of illustrating life.

Works Cited

Rosenblum, Naomi. A World History of Photography. Abbeville Press Publishers. 1997. 695 pages.

Related:

• Alfred Stieglitz and the “Equivalent” Series
• The Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920
• Photography: Artistic Outlet
• Nature and Significance of Adam Smith’s: Invisible Hand

What are domestic partner benefits? What does it mean for our company? “Domestic partner benefits generally extend the same pension rights and health insurance to beneficiaries that married spouses would receive, although the range of benefits to survivors can vary.” (Marshall, pg. 1, 2005). It is meant for people of the same sexual orientation and or people that are living together for a number of years but do not wish to get married. Offering these benefits within our company will greatly enhance our companies profile and business. It will allow us to recruit and retain those employees that have and will be assets to our company. People rely on not just the hourly wage or salaries; they also look at what types of benefits are offered to them. By offering domestic partner benefits, we will be able to market ourselves as one of the few businesses that are moving ahead to the future.

The decision to offer these benefits to domestic partners is an asset to the company in more ways than one. While it is still a relatively new approach to Human Relations in the workforce it is starting to become a trend. “Five years ago, only about half of the fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city gave couples the option to sign up for benefits. Today, more than 80% of those firms offer the benefits.” (Marhall, pg. 1, 2005). These numbers require any successful business to take notice at what is motivating the change in the business world.

Considering the ever changing world of business, we need to make ourselves marketable to all prospective employees, including the gay and lesbian community. We need to be on the lookout for fresh new staff that will be able to give us ideas and take the company to the next level. In offering these types of benefits we will be able to attract people with diverse backgrounds and experience. This will enable the company to have a wide perspective on issues that arise in the company.

According to Robin Pierce (2003), by offering a domestic partner benefits program it enhances the overall morale of employees, resulting with an increased of production. Every company recognizes the importance of morale between employees and their employers’ relationships. The importance of attracting and keeping qualified, highly skilled employees are one of the major priorities in any successful company. For those employees who happen to be gay, lesbian or unmarried maintaining morale is even more essential to the overall success of any business. Maintaining morale in the company is very important. If your employees are not happy and have low morale it has a way of reaching all those employees within the company; not to mention those that deal directly with the company as well. Meaning, all it takes is one person to be unhappy within the organization to start the domino effect. The domino effect could result in unproductive employees and less accountability within the workplace. Low morale creates an environment that is hard to work in. All the staff that is experiencing these types of feelings will not be totally concentrated on the company or the work at hand. It creates an atmosphere that can be stifling to work in.

Frequently, benefits offered at no additional cost include but are not limited to, sick leave or leave of absence to care for a partner or their dependents. These are offered to employees of a heterosexual orientation without any reservation. When those that have a different sexual preference are not offered the same benefits. This could result in discrimination or feelings of inequality. “If one purpose of a benefits program is to provide a safety net for employees and their families, thereby enabling employees to focus better on work, a plan that does not include domestic partner benefits ignores a growing portion of the workforce.” (Pierce, pg. 3, 2005) If we continue to ignore the growing workforce how can we as a company grow and change with the times?

Contracts today negotiated with Chief Executive Officers and sports figures demonstrated a corporation’s attitude towards an individuals worth. If we would use the same mentality towards employees, it would send a positive message to the employees throughout the company. Negotiations open important lines of communication to know how or what employees think. Input boxes are strategically placed within the workplace to collect employee concerns, opinions and ideas. The ideas from the employees will also help and aid us in finding out what our current employees think about the new benefits program proposed.

A companies profile can usually be found on a website so that potential employees can see what the company has to offer. Employee comments and feedback can also be posted on the website. It can be seen throughout the corporate community and the affects of negative connotations on domestic partner benefits can cost a company future employees and clients alike. Would we be setting ourselves up for failure by not offering the same benefits to all associates in our company? The answer would be yes, because we would not be allowing ourselves to treat all employees the same with the same benefits. “Participation in benefits programs serving a diverse employee workforce exhibits a company’s commitment to recognize the importance of the relationship it has with its’ workforce.” (Pierce, pg. 5, 2005).

One of the main reasons why companies are hesitant to offer these benefits is because of the cost. Most companies believe that the cost of offering domestic partner benefits will be high. However, studies have shown it not to be true. A recent article found on Salary.com (2005), stated that “perceived cost remains the primary disincentive for employers when deciding to enlist domestic partner benefits, as they believe adding more enrollees to a plan will increase premiums and add further risk, however, it cost nothing extra. Same-sex couples tend to be cheaper.

A Hewitt Associates survey of companies offering them for the first time found that only 1.2% of employees signed up, compared with the 10% employers originally expected” ( Marshall, pg.2, 2005). The enrollment for these benefits is not as high as we once feared because of several reasons. One reason is that most gay and lesbian couples already have benefits from their current employers and do not need to acquire benefits their partner. “Privacy concerns and lack of comprehensive laws protecting gays and lesbians are also a contributing factor to keeping enrollment in these programs low.” (Pierce, pg. 4, 2005). It will not hurt the company financially to offer these benefits to the employees. It will actually be the opposite. In offering these benefits the positives outweighs the cost and the negatives that might be associated.

Most companies that offer domestic partner benefits require documentation for enrollment. These types of documentations vary from different companies. For example, some companies require that couples show proof of cohabitations such as a bill with both names or an apartment or house rented together. Other companies may require that the couple register with the city as a domestic partner couple. It is important to set a standard or criteria when offering these benefits. One way to do so would be in having all domestic couples that sign up for enrollment sign an affidavit. This way the company would be taking precautions against fraud and also ensure that the employee has met all the requirements required by the company to enroll in this benefit program. The person enrolling in the program should provide at least two or three documentations showing that they are indeed a domestic couple. While this is not a guarantee against benefit fraud it does hold the employee responsible for their actions in participating in this program.

The changing ways of our society and the way that we now define “family” compels us to rethink the existing benefits offered to our employees. Society is changing and the way that people think and view things are changing with it. We need to adjust our company’s benefits to meet the needs of our employees, both current and future hires. In offering these benefits to our employees we have the opportunity to be one of the few companies that are viewed as a diverse company to work for.

References

Hanneman, T. (2005). Benefits for gay partners more common. Workforce Management, 84(7), 24. Retrieved from Proquest Database.

Marshall, S. (2005). More benefits for gays. Crain’s New York Business, 21(26), 3. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database.

Moon, S. (2005). Making a business case for domestic partner benefits. Employee Benefit News, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Database.

Pierce, R. (2003). Domestic partner benefits. Retrieved August 6, 2005, from http://www.arbitratorwilliams.com/robynpierce.htm.

By the numbers: Domestic partner benefits. Deseret News. Retrieved from ProQuest Database.

Domestic Partner Benefits; Marginal to mainstream. Retrieved from http://www.salary.com/benefits/layouthtmls/bnfl_display_nocat_Ser78_Par167.html

Related:

• Designing the Modern Organization
• Evaluation of the Strategic Role of HR
• Safety Benefits of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS)
• The Nursing Shortage of Hawaii

The means by which Elliott and Kim have made their statements regarding gender are quite different but have for the most part come to the same end. Elliott has decided to fight her gender battles by forcing her way into what are generally viewed as musically male areas and boldly opposing the stereotypical female appearance. Seeing as how, “electronic sound tends to be coded as masculine (Shaviro 172),” Elliott’s executive involvement in the production of her popular and heavily electronic-based music is a perfect example of her reshifting the gender lines in hip hop. As Shaviro states, “[Missy] takes the boys’ futuristic, electronic sounds, and claims them for herself as a black woman (172).” This is also a good example of Shaviro’s confusion. Remixing and fusing entities such as musical genres is a postmodern characteristic, not the idea behind cyborgs.

Aside from his misinterpretation, Shaviro makes a good point that Elliott’s use of electronically synthesized sounds has served as a tool in bending racial lines as well as gender. “Digitally synthesized sound… connotes rigidity: a metronomic regularity and militaristic regimentation of rhythm. Nothing could be further from the off-rhythms and syncopations of swing and funk…Synthesized music is white in contrast to black (Shaviro 172).” If we accept this fact, than what Elliott is doing is simply, but effectively, blurring the lines between White and Black music.

When it comes to her appearance, brown-skin larger-than-average Elliott makes the common move of embodying the exact opposite of that which she is trying to oppose. It is a little more effective in this case only because of the rules of the arena in which she is fighting. The “near-anorexic…light skin (Shaviro 174)” image of females in hip hop culture is not only perpetuated by the males but by the females as well, which bring us to Lil’ Kim.

Kim, on the other hand, has completely surrendered to what is normally viewed as the degrading image of women in hip hop culture, which is that of the scantily clad, long hair, light-skin girl that is willing to do any and everything in (and outside) the bedroom. As Shaviro so kindly reminds us throughout his article, Kim is known for her no-holds-barred lyrics concerning sexual activities and describing exactly what she is willing to give and receive. It is here that the cyborg finally becomes relevant as Shaviro illustrates how Kim has packaged her ultra hip hop female persona in her “How Many Licks” video. “It presents Lil’ Kim as a doll…We also see an assembly line where the dolls are being manufactured: arms and legs are screwed onto the torso, and then Kim’s head is plopped on (178).” By presenting herself this way, many (not necessarily Shaviro) argue that Kim is making the stereotype obvious and then throwing it in the face of men by presumably using it to gain power over the very men she is supposedly opposing. Shaviro somewhat supports this theory by stating, “With her skimpy clothes and provocative poses, together with her frank and rapacious attitude towards sex, she’s a figure of … the very woman whom male rappers are always berating, and warning their listeners against…. In the process, she virtually reduces herself to the status of a cartoon (175).”

Kim has taken the above persona to new heights by embracing what Shaviro calls becoming-cyborg, which he defines as somewhere between “fashion [which] is infinitely malleable (171)” and “sex-change operations or a cyborg implantation [which] is not (171).” Her becoming-cyborg qualities of blonde wigs, blue eye contacts and numerous plastic surgeries have allowed her to play with the idea of identity. A testament to her success (whether it was purposeful or not) is her “big cult following among gay white men (Shaviro 176).” Kim’s becoming-cyborg state has left her looking like a drag queen, which explains why white gay men seem to love her so much, but it also brings up what I think to be the most interesting issue in the article, that of performing. Shaviro likens Kim’s über-woman persona to that of blackface (177). Of course the difference is that Kim, a female, is performing female while blackface is a white person performing a black person. The question still remains whether it is right or not. Is a black man in blackface acceptable? Shaviro doesn’t answer the question but it does show how Kim actions shine light upon the subjects of race, gender and identity.

No matter how or why these particular female hip hop artists have been able to bring up the above social issues, the fact is through postmodern methods, including the cyborg, they have been able to. I understand that Shaviro took the liberty of using a loose definition of cyborg in the majority of his article, but, in that case, placing the correct, and very specific, definition of cyborg at the beginning of his argument wasn’t a good idea. When it comes down to it, the whole idea of social commentary, which is what Shaviro is purporting these artists are doing, is in some ways the essence of postmodernism.

Related:

• The Accordion: An Instrument of Cross-Cultural Importance
• Gender Roles and the Media
• Alfred Stieglitz and the “Equivalent” Series

To make my explanation clear it is important to understand another theme of Arakawa and Gins, that of landing sites. They define landing sites as that which is noticed and noted, either subconsciously or consciously. When a person walks into a room they are immediately creating landing sites, and many of them. “Surroundings are for a person what comes of her ubiquitous siting: that is to say, they exist as a result of her having dispersed landing sites ubiquitously within a circumscribed area, leaving no square nanometer uncovered” (Arakawa and Gins 8-9). Therefore our architectural surrounds are only made up of that which we have realized through a landing site. Theoretically, things do not exist in an architectural surround for a particular person if that particular person has not noticed them.

In chapter four, “Architectural Surround,” Arakawa and Gins introduce the general definition of the term- its boundaries and everything in it. As it is presented here, it is a space filled with things. Things are constantly changing, and we, as humans, are almost always in the action of creating landing sites, or noticing these changes. It is only natural that as a result of these two facts, our personal architectural surround changes according to the new information we are constantly receiving. Arakawa and Gins describe the process as,

A rounding of multiple foci into a supposed whole occurs again and again, continually. One such surrounding of oneself follows upon the last, and there comes to be a layering of surroundings, a summing up of surroundings, into the singular plural of ‘the surroundings’ (41).

This is why two people will probably never see the same room in the same way or as Arakawa and Gins points out in describing a living room in relation to time, “recognizable as the type of room it is, but never read the same way twice” (43).

Because an architectural surround is basically a gathering of landing sites, it is possible to take away or purposefully place certain landing sites in order to guide ourselves in a particular thought process. For example, if I know I have to take a pill every day for seven days before I leave for class and I’m not used to having to take a pill, instead of leaving it all up to myself to remember to take this pill, I may decide to place the bottle of pills in front of my door the night before so there is no way I will be able to leave my room without seeing the bottle of pills, thus reminding me to take one. I purposefully placed the bottle, what became a landing site, in a place that would simply help me think in the morning. On the other hand, if I just broke up with my boyfriend and am trying my hardest not to think about him anymore, I may decide to remove any pictures I may have of him in my room. Therefore, there will be nothing for me to notice that will cause me to think of him. In both of these situations, I am changing my architectural surround through the manipulation of landing sites in order to force my surroundings to help me.

Arakawa and Gins illustrate this idea in chapter two through the story of Karl Dahlke, a blind mathematician who solved the seemingly unsolvable Polyomino puzzle. Because he could not see and this obviously was not a puzzle that could be solved in a matter of hours, he would have to remember where he left off and what he had done last every time he decided to take a break. The further along he got in the puzzle, the more he was forced to remember and the harder it became. Up until this point, Dahlke had been using what Arakawa and Gins call imaging landing sites, “an un-pinpointing way, dancing attendance on the perceptual landing site, responding indirectly and diffusely to whatever the latter leaves unprocessed” (7), which “act, for Dahlke, as stand-ins for visual perceptual ones” (16). Basically, because he could not directly see the puzzle, he had to create the next-best-thing in his mind using indirect information. Soon, Dahlke decided to use LEGO blocks to construct a model of his progress. The LEGO blocks, his landing site, meant he no longer had to remember every move he was making and he didn’t have to remember exactly where he was when he left for breaks.

There is also a way to use one’s architectural surround to help the thought process that doesn’t necessarily involve the manipulation of landing sites. If taking into account where the sun rises and sets, one can build a house so that a certain room receives light in a certain angle through a certain window towards a certain bed so that it wakes the person up at a certain time. If they are in fact the type of person who will wake up to sunlight, then there will be no need for an alarm clock and no need to think about time. Humans have come to build our rooftops so that most of us no longer have to worry about pockets of water destroying our walls and ceilings. We are placing electric sockets higher on the walls so that parents no longer have to think about keeping their little children away from them. Consequently, there are many ways to use architectural surround to help humans survive.

Our architectural surrounds have the ability to make life comprehensible and, according to Arakawa and Gins, everlasting. “Architecture, in anyone’s definition of it, exists primarily to be at the service of the body” (Arakawa and Gins xI). According to the two ways the term has been defined, that would mean that our space and everything in it, which would ultimately mean the entire planet, would have to be arranged perfectly and we would have to learn to use our architectural surround in the most efficient way possible through the use of landing sites and other elements.

Related:

• Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola: A Web Marketing Comparison

There are differing opinions on how the accordion was introduced into Mexican culture. Unfortunately, there is no official documentation and little research has been done on the matter. However, there is no doubt that a German named Friedrich Buschmann, who called it a Ziehharmonika, invented the accordion itself in 1822. Seven years later, an Austrian by the name of Cyrill Damian mass produced the instrument and dubbed it “accordion” (Gillespie).

There are two popular opinions on how the accordion arrived on the North American continent. One opinion is that it was introduced by the Europeans (mostly German, Czech, and Polish) who settled around the San Antonio area in the nineteenth century. Lured by the opportunities working on the railroad lines offered, the German immigrants moved toward Southern Texas and Northern Mexico, bringing with them the accordion and their traditional dances, the waltz and polka.

The second idea states that the accordion actually came from Mexico, brought by German immigrants who settled around Monterrey in the 1860’s. While neither theory has been proven correct, it is certain that by the 1890’s, the accordion had become widely used by the rural Mexicans on both sides of the border (Castro 63).

The introduction of this musical phenomenon serves as a key component to understanding the social organization of Mexicans in the late nineteenth century.

“The poor rural Tejanos took to it quickly since it could mimic several instruments simultaneously and it was cheaper to pay one acordeonista than an orquesta. The diatonic accordion had the capacity to produce both melody and bass parts, and the tuning and button arrangements are such that when two adjacent buttons are played together, they usually produce a third interval, the basic harmony of Mexican vocals” (Tejada and Valdez 4-5).

The accordion turned out to be the ideal instrument for poor, rural Mexicans. It was small, easy to transport from one place to another, easy to learn, and was a full orchestra in and of itself. It began to function as the main musical source for weddings and other festivities. By the early twentieth century, working-class Tejanos added a bajo sexto and a tambora de rancho, thus beginning the musical style now know as conjunto. It, along with the corridos and canciones, became the music of the common people (Tatum 240).

“By the late 1800’s…this music was being thoroughly adapted to the Tejano taste. At the turn of the century the locally performed polkas, waltzes and schottisches could truly be called Tejano or ‘Tex-Mex’ rather than European…Newspaper accounts show that by 1898 Tejanos in rural areas of South Texas were playing their Texas-Mexican polkas…on a one-row, one-key accordion” (Gillespie).

While the accordion was introduced into Mexican culture as early as the mid-nineteenth century, it took almost one hundred years (after World War II specifically) for it to become a distinctive, durable, and highly identifiable style of music (Tejada and Valdez 13). Although, by the late 1890’s the accordion had become so popular among the working class Tejanos that it began to replace more traditional Mexican sounds, it took the influence of Narciso Martinez, the father of conjunto music, to launch the accordion, and conjunto music, into the mainstream.

American recording companies know the 1920’s as the “watershed” years for Texas-Mexican music because of the emergence of widespread recording and distribution. Recording companies were set up in San Antonio and Dallas, as well as L.A. Along with the advent of Spanish-language broadcasting systems and electronically produced music, conjunto music slowly began to find its way into the American popular culture (Tatum 24). Martinez was the most celebrated musician of that genre throughout the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. Because he also came from a working class background, his music was that much more accessible to the Texas-Mexican population, and in time, he received a wider audience across the United States. “Known as El Hurrican del Valle (Hurricane of the Valley), he was a recipient of the National Heritage Award for his contributions to one of America’s important ethnic traditions” (Gillespie).

“Martinez’s first record, “La chicharronera” (flip side: “El tronconal”) was released in 1936. An instant success, it set the stage for the emergence of a definable and enduring conjunto musical style…Martinez’s technique is especially noteworthy with respect to the style’s subsequent development” (Tejada and Valdez 16).

Martinez worked hard to spread the influence of his accordion-based music throughout the Southwest United States. While other conjunto artists of the 1940’s remained relatively sequestered in the San Antonio area, Martinez toured extensively. His constant practice matured his style and set the standard for other young accordion artists of that time, such as Pedro Ayala. Because of Martinez’s tireless efforts, the polka became the quintessential expression of Mexican-American music in the 1950’s. The rural, working-class people identified so heavily, both socioculturally and economically, with the music and the musicians, that it can be said that the accordion integrated the entire class of people (Tejada and Valdez 18-19).

The accordion, as well as conjunto music, continued to be popular into the 1960’s. This was due, in part, to the continually rising population of working-class Mexican-Americans. The conjunto became especially popular among adults and working-class youth, particularly pachucos. There were many innovations made in the musical style, including adding more accordions to the mix.

During the 1970’s and 80’s, however, conjunto music declined in popularity. One reason for this was the lack of youth-based conjunto groups. The younger generations lost interest in accordion-based music in favor of electric guitars. Most conjuntos didn’t play contemporary sounds, such as soul, funk or rock. Conjuntos are traditionally polkas, and young Mexican-Americans grew restless. Yet, there was one short-lived spark amidst the lackluster, traditional conjunto: Steve Jordan (San Miguel 62-64).

“Steve Jordan y El Rio Jordan was different from all other conjuntos in several distinct ways. First, he played a variety of English and Mexican dance tunes. His repertoire was grounded in traditional polkas, rancheras, and boleros, but he expanded it to include other styles, including cumbias, corridos, rock, country, and even zydeco. As the accordion player in his group, Jordan also incorporated jazz and rhythm and blues into many of these songs. Second, he wrote songs with political lyrics and transformed English-language songs into Tejano music. Third and most importantly, Jordan played the accordion in such a creative manner that no conjunto artist could match his virtuosity. Because of his energy and intensity, Jordan was often called ‘The Jimi Hendrix of the Accordion’ (San Miguel 64-65).

Despite Jordan’s innovations, the majority of conjunto groups failed to change, thus interest in this sort of music continued to decline. However, in the mid-1980’s, Chicano activists briefly renewed interest in the traditional accordion-based conjunto music by promoting it as “the best-known and most clearly identifiable expression of Texas Chicano culture” (San Miguel 66).

In the 1990’s, one artist in particular was responsible for renewed pride in the accordion: Emilio Navaira y el Grupo Rio. He added a synthesizer to the traditional conjunto sound. He also dressed in an updated country and western style, much like Clint Black or Garth Brooks. His decision to do this reminded young Tejanos that they were the original vaqueros of Texas. New pride in their Mexican heritage began to emerge in the Chicano youth. Emilio also added a rock and country flavor to the conjunto. The combination of his look, sound and style helped the traditional accordion-based conjunto music to once again become part of mainstream Mexican-American culture. He made the accordion an instrument of pride and respectability, overshadowing the long-standing associations of backwardness and low-class status that the accordion had in previous decades (San Miguel 93-98).

After examining the various origins of the accordion throughout Chicano history, one must wonder where it can go from here. The accordion is certainly not the hokey, laughably kitsch instrument that Anglo popular culture would lead one to believe.

“The accordion is the central element of conjunto music and important to Cajun and zydeco music, tangos of Argentina, cumbias of Colombia, and many other regional music forms throughout the world. But to the United States, the accordion was, until recently, a joke, a corny Old World anachronism. After years of Lawrence Welk jokes, comedy bits about buxom female accordionists, and even a Far Side cartoon showing Saint Peter giving arriving angels harps while Satan issues accordions to his new charges, it seemed that the accordion would be laughed out of existence” (Tejada and Valdez 115).

As Chicanos in general, and Chicano music in particular is more accepted into American society, so too are the symbols of the Mexican-American people. The accordion is a cross-cultural symbol. It has been an important part of the lives of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans nearly as long as it has held import for Germans, Poles and other people of Slavic origin. It is an instrument that has proven itself to be beyond cultural definitions. It is as much a part of the jolly Slavic world of knickers and beer as it is a part of the contented, darker skinned realm of frijoles and sombreros. If anything, the accordion and the widespread affection it has brought to people all around the globe, convinces us that humans really are a single race of people who share the same goals and desires, no matter what ocean they are connected to, which continent they live on, no matter which hemisphere they call home.

On page 354 of the book, Tejana Proud, Isamael Dovalina, came to this same conclusion in 2001 after taking an accordion class from accordion aficionado, Santiago Jiminez, Jr. In his class were other students from different age levels, ethnicities and walks of life. Dovalina not only learned how to play the accordion. He learned how music unites people in a common language.

“All of us have one thing in common: we love the music. We look forward to the classes; the accordion is becoming part of our lives. We don’t discuss politics or religion, or gossip much. However, we freely share melodies and playing tips with each other. Together, we are creating an accordion subculture. After studying the accordion for just a few months, I realize that music is very multi-cultural. Music is a global crossroads where cultures meet, intertwine, clash, and yes, sometimes even blend. The accordion is a very international instrument.”

Works Cited

Castro, Rafaela G. Chicano Folklore: A Guide to the Folktales, Traditions, Rituals and Religious Practices of Mexican-Americans. Oxford: University Press, 2001.

Gillespie, Lex. Honky Tonks, Hymns, and the Blues: Accordion on the Texas Border. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/

San Miguel, Guadalupe, Jr. Tejano Proud: Tex-Mex Music in the Twentieth Century. Texas A&M University Press: College Station, 2002.

Tatum, Charles M. Chicano Popular Culture: Que Hable el Pueblo. The University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 2001.

Tejeda, Juan and Valdez, Avelardo. Puro Conjunto: An Album in Words and Pictures. Center for Mexican American Studies: University of Texas at Austin, 2001.

Related:

• Mexico’s Economy, FDI and Trade
• A Means to an End
• Photography: Artistic Outlet
• Alfred Stieglitz and the “Equivalent” Series