The important moment in the novel Lord of the flies Essay Example for Free

The important moment in the novel Lord of the flies Essay Lord of the flies focuses mainly on the corruption and inherent evil of humanity. Ralph, Jack and Simon are, in some ways, stereotypes of different aspects of human nature. Ralph is the obvious candidate for chief of the island, as he is of just nature and a commanding presence. We are also told that there was a stillness about Ralph that encourages the boys to elect him as their chief. Jack represents the darker side of humanity. Jack is not long in severing any links with civilisation. He heeds his savage, pre-historic instincts, and becomes dog-likeon all foursnose only a few inches from the humid earth. He is like an animal, his sole desire being to kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood. He enjoys the act of killing, announcing proudly that he had a smashing timeI cut the pigs throat. He laughingly adds that there was lashings of blood every whereyou should have seen it! His darker side gradually influences Ralph, who grows jealous of Jacks popularity and is envious of the fact that Jack is able to provide meat for the boys, while, he, as chief, cannot. The book reaches a turning point at the next, improvised, hunt of the boar. What started as a harmless exploration for the beast becomes a bloodthirsty chase of the boar. Ralph is delighted when he hits the boar and the spear stuck in a bit and he decides that hunting was good after all. Things take a more sinister turn when the boys decide to re-enact the hunt. After the first, successful hunt in which Jack kills the pig, the hunters replay events by forming a ring, Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the centre, and the hunterspretended to beat him. This is harmless game, during which the hunters dance around the pig, singing their hunting chant of Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in. The corruption of purity and goodness is seen when the boys play the same game after their next (failed) hunt. This time Robert is the squealing pig, trapped in the centre of circle, the hunters circling him, singing their warrior chant. The game soon ceases to playful, as Roberts mock terror turns to pain. The others are seized with a desire to Kill him! Kill him! uncaring of the fact that Robert is human, one of them, and not a pig. Robert was screaming and struggling, yet he ceases to become a person and is now merely an object by which their thirst to kill might be quenched. Jack was brandishing his knifeRalph was fightingto get a handful of that brown, vulnerable fleshthe desireto hurt was over-mastering, Golding causes this to be important incident in the novel, the beginnings of a full realisation of Simons belief that maybe there is a beastmaybe its only us, is not a comment to be jeered at, for it is a frightening comprehension of reality. Robert escapes with a few, physical injuries, crying out, in an effort to lighten to the situation Oh, my bum! Ralph tries to convince that it was just a game, like rugger. This uneasiness is justified when the boys discuss methods of improving their game. Robert believes that they want a real pigbecause youve got to kill him. Jack, not altogether jokingly, suggests that they should Use a littlun. This suggestion is made more disturbing by the reaction of the other boys, for instead of being horrified, everybody laughed. Goldings brief ending to the passage leaves us disgusted by the callousness of Jacks remark and of his flippant attitude to the murder of a fellow human being, but it is worryingly representative of the callousness humankind. Jacks joke warns us of the increase of evil on the island, for the idea of using a littlun, may soon stop being an idea and become a reality. The passage is disturbing because we see that the boys lust for blood and death is indiscriminate of whether their victim is an animal or human. Killing is not a means of providing food for the boys; it is a way of satisfying their longing to cause pain and destruction. They are desperate to kill, a mere pig is not enough, they are not worth the trouble of a hunt, and their next victim shall be a human, for it will increase the enjoyment of their game. The boys do not care for the adventure of the hunt. They want only the exhilaration of killing, the sight of the blood and the joy of controlling the existence of another being. In order for a pig to be killed, it must first be found. The hassle of a search can be avoided by substituting the pig with a human. It is almost inevitable that the boys gratify their lust with human blood, perhaps with the blood of a littlun. The game is a horrifying example of how evil humanity can be. The dark side of human nature thinks nothing of killing a friend. We are shocked by Ralphs longing to cause pain, Jacks desire to stab Robert with his knife and Roger fighting to get close. But the thing that frightens us the most is the fact that this is not a figment of Goldings imagination, Ralph, Jack and the other islanders are not irrelevant fiction, for human kind is capable of great evil. I feel that the passage in the book is disturbing because it shows us how horrifyingly able we are to be unfeeling and cruel.

The Glass Menagerie Essays -- Literary Analysis, Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams’s character Amanda Wingfield, in The Glass Menagerie, is a bold and persuasive personality devoted to the past. Amanda was forsaken by her husband, and faced with raising two children alone during the great depression. Haunted by the rejection of her husband, she is determined to keep her children close. Even if keeping her children close means using guilt and criticism to manipulate every aspect of their lives. Amanda’s domineering behavior drove Mr. Wingfield away, and is now steering her son toward a similar escape. Amanda is an assertive and convincing individual, not afraid to take charge of any situation to insure the outcome undoubtedly complements her desires. She is continually reminding her son, Tom, of his obligation to support the family, and the security his job provides. Amanda considers a woman on her own in the 1930’s to be unusual, and is constantly pleading with Tom to remain in his stale job to insure her daughter, Laura, is taken care of until she is married and independent. While at the same time, extinguishing any hopes and dreams Tom has for his own future (1646; sc. 4). Amanda’s main goal is to find someone to care for her emotionally fragile daughter (1638; sc. 3). Perceived to be a nurturing mother, she uses guilt to guide the very existence of her children. Amanda is crippling her children emotionally by continually critiquing their eating habits, career paths, social behaviors, how they should dress, talk, and entertain (1632; sc. 1). Insisting that Tom’s behavior is too much like his father’s, she believes his actions are keeping him from being successful. While believing that badgering him to behave the way she expects, will make a difference. Amanda tells Tom that h... ...hildren about the parties in the South help to explain the dissatisfaction with her present way of life. She is hopelessly fated to remain unchanged, and destined to repeat the same mistakes that drove her husband away (1632; sc. 1). In the climatic scene when Amanda realizes that Jim is engaged to someone else, she lashes out at Tom. Assuming that he knew about Jim’s fiancà ©e, Amanda hatefully says, â€Å"don’t think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister. Don’t let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure. Just go, go, go (1676; sc.7)†. Tom finally leaves. As a result of Amanda’s controlling nature, the Wingfield family collapses and Tom flees from his frustrated existence, but his escape does not give him the freedom he expects. He is forever tormented by Laura’s memory, just like Amanda is forever tormented by her long lost husband’s memory.

Kant’s Approach to Ethics and the Issue of Suicide Essay

The Renowned German philosopher, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was one of the most influential philosophers of the modern age, whose thought, with its emphasis on the subject, turned the wheels of western philosophy to a new synthesis of idealism and realism in the form of transcendentalism. His ethical theory, developed in his reputed book The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, has to be taken along with the spirit of philosophy that enshrines his three Critiques whenever one attempts a critique on ethical issues like suicide as a gesture of self-love. Body of the Essay (Can suicide be ethical? ) Kant holds the theory of intrinsic morality based on the autonomy of human will. Good is good by itself, and the right is right by itself. It doesn’t depend upon the consequences or effects of the action for a human action to be right or wrong. According to Kantian deontological theory of ethics, committing suicide is wrong and unacceptable from any perspective since it is an action that goes against the categorical imperative he proposed as the norm for ethical decisions. His Categorical Imperative runs thus: â€Å"Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. † (Wolf Robert Paul (ed) Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals: text and critical essays. 1969. p. 44). Each individual subject should decide for himself and act in such a way that he wills that his maxim should be a universal law. (Wolf, p. 21). Let us now take up the issue of suicide. Suicide may be a personally-decided act, on selfish reasons, emotions or recommendations from physical situations (as in the case of euthanasia). In whatever respects it may be, it goes against the Categorical Imperative, and hence, it is inherently or intrinsically wrong to commit it. Kant argues that committing suicide out of self-love is contrary to the categorical imperative because there is â€Å"a contradiction in a system of nature, whose law would be to destroy life by the feeling whose special office is to impel the improvement of life. † (Wolf, p. 45). Rather he thinks that the destruction of life is incompatible with its improvement and that nature always chooses organs adapted to their purpose (p. 13), so that nature couldn’t (or wouldn’t? ) allow self-love to be used in a way contrary to its purpose which is improvement and nurture of life. In accordance with Kant’s intrinsic morality, the categorical imperative also supports a Practical Imperative, that one has to act so that one treats humanity, whether in his own person or in that of another, always as an end in itself and never as a means only. (Wolf, p. 54). One has to respect and support one’s life because of the dignity implied within. By dignity, he means, â€Å"unconditional and incomparable worth† (Wolf, p. 61). Kant supports this theory with his theory of incommensurability, which holds that moral virtue is infinitely better than anything else. From the perspective of human dignity as well, suicide seems to be an unbecoming action for humans. Conclusion For Kant, reason holds the supreme position (as elaborated in Critique of Pure Reason), and ethics as science, is not rooted in religion or metaphysics, but rather on the inherent worth of existence. Hence, suicide is an unacceptable mode of action even from the perspective of self-love. Love nourishes and does rarely destroy. And even when a bit of destruction is involved, it is only to nurture better that it destroys. Suicide is total destruction without nurture and thus contradicts the very nature of self-love. References Gregory, Mary (ed)(1998) Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant. New York: Cambridge University Press Henson, Richards (1979). â€Å"What Kant Might Have Said: Moral Worth and the Over-determination of Dutiful Action†, in Phil. Review, January, 1979, pp. 39-54). Smith, Norman Kemp (trans. ) (1965) Critique of Pure Reason. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Wolf, Robert Paul (ed. ) (1969) Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals: text and critical essays. trans. , by Lewis White Beck. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

The Threat Of Cyber Security - 1351 Words

Safety or Freedom In the last decade, technology has evolved dramatically. Even to the point in which is indispensable in our lives. As the world becomes more and more interconnected through technology, the amount of information that is stored in servers all around the world continues to grow. At the same time, governments, businesses, organizations, military groups, and terrorist groups are constantly developing new technology in order to achieve a competitive advantage over the rest of the world. The technology of today is much more advanced, powerful, and dangerous than the technology from ten years ago, even to the point in which a single cyber-attack can cause the death of millions of people. For that reason, cyber security has†¦show more content†¦There are different types of attacks that could result in different outcomes. Terrorists groups are one of the most dangerous because technology is facilitating their work. These groups use technology like smart phones, comp uters, and other technology to communicate from remote locations and organize and conduct attacks in different parts of the world, including the United States. In order for the intelligence services of the United States to protect the country from these types of attacks and function effectively, they need to implement operations in secret. One of the most controversial secret activity of the last decade is the national security agency’s surveillance program. The surveillance program was authorized by President Busch right after the September 11th 2001 terrorist’s attacks. For many years, the national security agency collected and monitored vast amounts of communications data, mainly phone records, from the people living in the United Sates. One of the main issues of this program is that it violates the privacy of the people. â€Å"news reports have asserted that the NSA has conducted warrantless spying on the phone and e-mail communications of thousands of people inside the U.S., and has been secretly collecting the phone call records of millions of Americans, using data provided by major telecommunications companies, including ATT† (Zetter). The way the national security

My Life With My Family - 852 Words

Born in Petersburg, Virginia and raised in Suffolk, Virginia; my life has been spent in both country and city. Even though I was schooled in Suffolk, majority of my family had settled in Wakefield, Virginia; which the place I always recognized as home. I was brought up by my parents and with two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. Together, in combination with my ridiculous amount of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, we had grown up to be one big, happy family that still loves each other dearly. Although, due to the loss of one of the most important members of my family brought about much sadness, we were able to make that love grow even more and it also taught us to take advantage of the time we had with one another. Growing up, I spent time with a large part of my extended family, so I always looked at my extended family as my brothers, sisters, and even parents. Also, since I spent majority of my childhood with my entire family, the greatest and most memorable moments were with my grandparents. Many of my cousins and I had gotten into the habit of spending weekends, holidays, birthdays, and much more in the comfort of our grandparent’s home. In my grandparent’s home held many amazing memories, good and bad, and it was also the place where we had learned tons of life lessons that we continue to carry with us today. These great times had started to lessen as I started to become older, with family members leaving for school, moving to different partsShow MoreRelatedMy Family And My Life980 Words   |  4 Pagesbeen fifteen years since my parents and my brother Jack adopted me. I was only two then, but now i’m seventeen. I love my life, I have a happy, loving family, I live in a nice house on a farm in Maine, my brother Jack is my bestfriend but I also have other friends, and I have a boyfriend named Justin. I guess you could say my life is perfect. 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The American Dream By James Truslow - 1643 Words

The American dream is a term often used as motivation for people who are seeking a better life outside of their torrid country. According to James Truslow, who coined the term American Dream, the definition is, â€Å"a dream of a social order in which each man and woman shall be able to attain to their fullest stature of which they are innately capable.† (68) The American Dream is sought out by many, but they are often denied the privilege of prevailing in a predominantly successful society run by the top 1% who care more about a person’s last name and economic status. For many, the American Dream is trading in the impoverished life they once lived in a second or third world country for financially stable and secure life to provide their family with a steady foundation for when they reach adulthood. Throughout history, influential figures have preached about the importance of the American Dream for the people of America, but in reality the American Dream is merely ficti on. For hundreds of years, minorities who arrive in America looking for a better life are waking up to the truth—the American Dream does not exist. While there are plenty of people who find success within America, more times than not they are already privileged white elites. The American Dream is just a dream for most because America in recent years has imposed a lot of obstacles: hardships relating to an inflated economy, no jobs, and a uniform system with no change is damaging the possibility of the AmericanShow MoreRelatedThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1243 Words   |  5 Pagesspike in questionable practices further withheld the American Dream from those wishing to achieve it the way it was intended, through hard work and perseverance. In 1931, James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream, â€Å"life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement†, regardless of one s class or circums tances of birth. 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He wrote of an America that offered freedom of religion, and speech, as well as political and social opportunities that few other countries offered. However, according to Eva Michels, â€Å"The American Dream† means something different for each individual, it refers to the way of life that Americans strive for and have equal rights to achieve regardless of social class or nationalityRead MoreJames Truslow Adams : The American Dream1800 Words   |  8 PagesThe American Dream The American Dream was something everyone wanted to achieve in the 1930’s; however, many people did not get there because they either gave up, or did not find what they were looking for. Many people were just looking to get away and find their own happiness so they made their own American Dream. As historian James Adams said ... a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest statureRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1707 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream, coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931, had been a popular term that had; given motivation to the dissatisfied, reduced the influence of race and one’s social position on achieving their goals, advertised America as a land that offered an abundant amount of possibilities that no other country could match, and unified the country under the same desire of wealth and prosperity, even in times of great des pair. Adams had constructed the idea, â€Å"...that American dream of a better, richerRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams803 Words   |  4 PagesThe term â€Å" The American Dream† can be coined to historian James Truslow Adams in the early 1930’s. Adams believed that the true commitment for the American society was based of material success that was obtained by individual competition of the citizens. Furthermore, stating that the American citizens had been conditioned to desire success, with an honest belief that it was possible for one to achieve it. This was possible because the very principles that American society represented, helped eachRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1500 Words   |  6 PagesThe American Dream is the sole reason that millions of people decided to come to this country, whether it be generations ago, or last week. But even so, this shared dream faces problems. To solve the problem, the American Dream has to be defined. James Truslow Adams, author of the 1931 book The Epic of America, was the first person to mention and therefore define the American Dream. He established it as: â€Å"[T]hat dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, withRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1406 Words   |  6 PagesThis so called, â€Å"American dream.† Is it still around, waiting to be achieved by those who work hard enough? Is it effectively dead, killed off by the Great Recession and the economic struggling that many Americans have come to face in this day and age? There are alarming instances and facts, including trillions of dollars lost in the stock market (Paradise, 2009). These losses combined with the unquestionably high unemployment in the past few years, have contributed to seemingly dismal prospectsRead MoreJames Truslow Adams And The American Dream1392 Words   |  6 Pages While the idea of the American Dream became more popular during the 17th to 20th centuries, the achievability remained elusive due to a static and hierarchical social order that prevailed throughout this time. Thus, the tireless claims of the New Left for a reformed society are supported by the unchanging accessibility of the American Dream. In his book The Epic of America (1931), James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream as â€Å"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer andRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1577 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream Lives On Since 1776, the â€Å"American Dream† has continued to evolve. Originally, our forefathers intended the American Dream to be a country where individuals were free from the tyranny of royalty and nobility, working as a part of a whole, making everyone comfortable and happy - all men created equal with equal opportunity. Over the years, this original intent has continued to change. In 1931, James Truslow Adams stated that the American Dream means that, â€Å"life should be better

Violent and Vulgar Rap Lyrics Free Essays

string(202) " on behalf of Navarro, arguing that the material that the county alleged was profane actually had important roots in African-American vernacular, games, and literary traditions and should be protected\." VIOLENT AND VULGAR RAP LYRICS What happened to censorship? â€Å"Then shall we allow our children to listen to any story anyone happens to make up, and so receive into their minds ideas that often the very opposite of those we shall thing they ought to have when they are grown up? † Plato, The Republic While Plato may not have had rap music to contend with, he posed a question that could be a leading concept for a society concerned with the impact of today’s music on its kids. In truth, Plato would note a archetype shift from a culture that put their family’s social, emotional, and spiritual well being as primary; to a society that is enslaved to whoever or whatever nets the mighty dollar gets to make decisions regarding what is right for our youth. Let us begin with censorship. We will write a custom essay sample on Violent and Vulgar Rap Lyrics or any similar topic only for you Order Now Most freedoms are taken for granted, because they always seem to be in effect. Censorship keeps freedoms in check, or so it should. There are some things that are not suitable for the whole population. Children should not be exposed to vulgar or violent media. The young impressionable minds of our youth should not be exposed to media that promotes relaxed morals, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and the glorification of being a violent criminal. There are a lot of arguments regarding censorship, pro and con. I am willing to bet that those opposed to censorship of vulgar music do not have small children, specifically daughters. There are a lot of reasons to support censorship to protect our youth and our future. But those in control, those making major profits from the offensive media, only have their fat bank accounts to protect-not our precious children. On the following pages, I am going to submit some evidence that shows what effects rap music has had on our youth. I am also going to show you some examples of how this insult to our children’s minds, growth and healthy development has been allowed to continue. And finally, since the power’s that be are so hard to stop-I am going to propose a solution that we, as citizens, parents, and teachers can do to help gain some of our power back in educating our youth. The federal government and the states have long been permitted to limit obscenity or pornography. (Deflem) ] While the Supreme Court has generally refused to give obscenity any protection under the First Ammendment, pornography is subject to little regulation. However, the exact definition of obscenity and pornography has changed over time. In fact, federal obscenity law in the U. S. is highly unusual in that not only is there no uniform national standard, but there is an explicit legal precedent (the â€Å"Mille r test†) that all but guarantees that something that is legally obscene in one jurisdiction may not be in another. In effect, the First Amendment protections of free speech vary by location within the U. S. , and over time. The â€Å"Miller Test† has 3 basic guidelines for the trier of fact: (a). Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the *prurient interest, (b). Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law. (c). Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (The First Amendment, Miller vs Californie,1973) An great example of the ambiguity of the Miller Test was during the 2Live Crew obscenity trial in 1991. Legal scholars have argued against each and every decision the Judge Gonzales made when he used to Miller Test during the first trial when he ruled in favor of the plaintiff and found 2Live Crew guilty of violating obscenity laws. First, it was argued that the Judge’s determination of the relevant community and its standards was overtly subjective. The Judge decided upon a geographical concept of community, but this was inappropriate because the fact that people live in close physical proximity does not automatically suggest that they share common values. Judge Gonzalez was also inconsistent in determining, on the one hand, that the considered community is generally more tolerant than others, and, on the other hand, that he could rely on his personal knowledge of the community standards which he never defined, of which he did not say whether they could change over time, and of which he did not determine the defining criteria. Second, the three standards of the Miller test (prurient interest, patently offensive, lacking serious value) were not met. With regard to determination of the album’s prurient interest, it was argued that there was no clear intention on the part of 2 Live Crew to lure hearers into sexual activity, and, referring to the profit-making motive of the rap band, Judge Gonzalez ignored that motive was irrelevant in aesthetic maters. Next, the patently offensive character of the â€Å"Nasty† album was decided upon as the result of a misinterpretation of the lyrics, based upon Gonzalez’ arbitrary determination of â€Å"the† community standards. Actually, the lyrics of 2 Live Crew’s music should not be taken literally as they are comedic parodies in a culturally specific language. Also, music does not appeal to the intellect but to human emotions and imagination. Finally, the Judge’s ruling that â€Å"Nasty† did not have any serious artistic value was by definition mistaken since the â€Å"as a whole† test fails automatically in the case of a recording which after all always has some serious elements (the Judge never heard all the songs). Judge Gonzalez particularly failed to take into account Professor Henrey Louis Gates’s testimony which indicated the specific artistic style of the â€Å"Nasty† recording. Long pointed to the call and response style, the tradition of â€Å"doing the dozens† (a word game with insults), and the meaning of â€Å"boasting† as part of this type of rap music. Judge Gonzalez thus completely ignored the specific African American cultural values that are manifested by the album. Gates testified on behalf of Navarro, arguing that the material that the county alleged was profane actually had important roots in African-American vernacular, games, and literary traditions and should be protected. You read "Violent and Vulgar Rap Lyrics" in category "Papers" [ (Deflem) ] What a slipper slope. Not to mention â€Å"the prosecution suffered a setback when Judge June L. Johnson of Broward County Court agreed with the defense that a transcript of the tape contained comments that might distract the jurors and said that it could not be admitted as evidence†. [ (RIMER) ] When Joanne Cantor was asked to comment on Freedom of Speech issues at a Madison Civics Club dinner on October 12, 2002 this is what she had to share, â€Å"Many people have noted that corporate interests control what gets discussed in the media, and one place where this is obvious is the controversy over the media’s effects on children. Research shows that violent television, movies, videogames, and even commercials can produce serious harmful effects on children, such as promoting violent behaviors and inducing intense anxieties. Parents need this information so they can make informed choices about their children’s viewing, but the media use their corporate power to censor information that might damage their profits. At the same time, these corporations raise First Amendment concerns when solutions that might help parents are proposed. † Here are the examples of what she was referring to: 1. In 1997, I participated in a taping of The Leeza Show. On that show, parents were highly critical of the TV industry’s new age-based rating system that was supposed to help them block harmful content using a device called the V-chip. NBC, which opposed making changes in the rating system, refused to let that program air. And five years later, they still have not gone along with the compromise that the other stations adopted. 2. After the National Institute on Media and the Family released a list of the 10 most violent video games, they were sued by the manufacturer of one of the games on the list. Although the lawsuit was eventually dropped, the costly process caused the organization’s liability insurance to double, and they were subsequently lucky to get any insurance at all. 3. The Center for Successful Parenting produced a documentary on the effects of media violence for Court TV, a cable channel that is owned by Time-Warner. Before the program could air, the producers were told to remove the mention of Time-Warner’s products. They were also required to include remarks by lobbyist Jack Valenti, who claimed that the research showing harmful effects was inconclusive. (Joanne Cantor) ] These are just a few of many examples of corporate interests using their muscle to restrict the free flow of information to parents. They say that it’s up to parents, not the media, to raise their children. But they make harmful products, which come into our homes automatically through television and radio and the internet. They market them to children too young to use them safely, and they try to keep parents in the dark about their effects. There are many studies that show the effects of violent and vulgar lyrics on our youth. The studies are too numerous to dispute and the results are pretty much the same. Teen pregnancy, STD’s are on the rise and although some studies indicate a drop in crime- they don’t’ show you the rise in crime in offenders under the age of 19, which is significant. I don’t want to go into all the statistics and the sources. I want to focus, instead, on the plan to use knowledge to empower ourselves and our youth-It’s called Media Literacy. The impact of media is critical, especially when it comes to the socialization of our children. Dr. Renee Hobbs writes that, â€Å"Media messages are representations of social reality, defined as perceptions about the contemporary world, which are shared among individuals. Messages also represent the social realities of times and places far removed, and help us make sense of the past, present and future. People need the ability to judge the accuracy of particular messages, which may or may not reflect social reality† (Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts, 1998). few understand that media literacy consists of teaching about media as well. So the problem is clear: our students are growing up with media messages, messages that fill the bulk of their leisure time and provide them with information about who to vote for and what consumer decisions to make. Yet students receive little to no training in the skills of analyzing or evaluating these messages, many of which make use of language, moving images, music, sound effects, special visual effects and other techniques that powerfully affect our emotional responses. Educator’s are still focusing on historical context of the past, when cultural survival depended upon the mastery of the printed word. While these skills are even more important today, language is only one of a number of symbol systems which humans use to express and share meaning. Changes in communication technologies over the past 100 years have created a cultural environment that has extended and reshaped the role of language and the written word. Over the past decade, there’s been a lot of discussion about how to best help teachers, parents and students be more critical consumers of the media. Quite logically, this response has been called â€Å"media literacy. Media scholar David Considine describes media literacy: â€Å"In an age when most Americans get most of their information from television, not textbooks, pictures not print, we need a wider definition of what it means to be literate. [Media literacy], then, is an expanded information and communications skill that is responsive to the changing nature of information in our society. It moves from merely recognizing and comprehending information to t he higher order critical thinking skill implicit in questioning, analyzing and evaluating that information† (Telemedium, Fall 95). Because the presence of media has become so accepted, we mistakenly presume that consumers of media are able to decode, deconstruct and digest media messages. Most of us received considerable teaching on how to interpret the written word, but we’ve had zero preparation for â€Å"reading† media messages. In an age when most Americans get most of their information from television not textbooks, pictures not print, we need a wider definition of what it means to be literate. Many of us grew up hearing the proverbs and adages like these: You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. These words are even truer today in an age not only of computers and telecommunications but of virtual reality and imageneering. Today’s technologies represent a startling fusion of sight and sound that frequently make it difficult for us to discern illusion from reality, fact from fiction. Special effects like those seen in movies like â€Å"JFK† and â€Å"Forrest Gump† merge the past with the present, color with black and white, the dead with the living, fact with fiction in such a way that the real truth can often be confused with the reel truth. Censorship and the welfare of our youth can not compete with big business, all we can do is try to arm ourselves and our children with the knowledge and understanding to correctly comprehend the messages that are being spewed from the media. With that power we may not be able to control what our children hear and see, but we can protect them with the knowledge of the motives of the messages. BIBLIOGRAPHY Deflem, Mathieu. Rap, Rock, and Censorship: Popular Culture and the Technologies of Justice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, May 27-30. Chicago, 1993. Joanne Cantor, Pd. D. â€Å"Who’s Freedom of Speech is it Anyway? † Madison Civic’s Club. Madison: Joanne Cantor, Ph. D, 2002. Kirchheimer, Sid. WebMD Health News. 3 March 2003. 1 April 2011. Piotrowski, by Tom. â€Å"Media messages†¦ more than meets the eye? † The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (2003). RIMER, SARA. â€Å"New Yorimesk T. † 17 october 1990. New York Times Archives. 22 April 2011 http://www. nytimes. com/1990/10/17/us/obscenity-or-art-trial-on-rap-lyrics-opens. html. How to cite Violent and Vulgar Rap Lyrics, Papers