Saturday, August 31, 2019

In What Ways and to What Extent Was China Modernized During the Republican Period (1912-49)?

In what ways and to what extent was China modernized during the Republican period (1912-49)? After the fall of Qing Dynasty in 1911, the unprecedented, new form of government emerged in China immediately. Whereafter the betrayal of the Republic of Yuan Shikai (1913-1916) and the turmoil of Warlordism (1916-27), China was in a relative stable situation till the Nationalist Government was established in Nanjing in 1928, a period first possible for any modernization effort.That is, most of the modernization efforts, both externally and internally, which including diplomacy, financial, industry, education, of the Republican period (1912-49), were done in the Nationalist Government period, from 1928-37, and subsequently disturbed and made impossible by the Sino-Japanese War. The external modernizations made by the Nanjing Government were unprecedented, which revealed by the revival of tariff autonomy and recovery of foreign concessions. Diplomatically, during the Nanjing Government period , the tariff autonomy was regained, to replace the fixed tariff of 5 percent ad valorem imposed after the Opium War in 1842.Adding to this, in 1928, two guiding principles in which treaties and agreement s that had expired would be abolish and renegotiated according to legal procedures. That is, the foreign powers agreed in principle to give up their consular jurisdiction. Furthermore, several municipal foreign concessions, including the one in Hankow, Kiukiang, Chinkiang, Weihaiwei, Amoy and Tientsin, were recovered. And in 1943 finally the United States and Britain voluntarily abolished all unequal treaties with China. The century-long humiliation upon the Chinese was finally abolished while China could gain a place in the foreign diplomatic map.Internally, political structure was modernized in terms of the clear establishment of separating powers as changed from the absolute Chinese monarchical rule. The dominant feature of the Nanjing Government was its five-yuan structure, incl uding the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Judiciary Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan. Each Yuan owned their special authorities in the Government politics. This fulfilled The Three People’s Priciples, the Five-Power Constitution, the Fundamentals of National Reconstruction, proposed by Dr Sun Yixian.In 1928, the Nanjing Government also brought China into the Period of Political Tutelage. Although the Executive Yuan was different to the Western practice, in terms of the organ was responsible to the party (KMT) and the president of the republic (Jiang Jieshi), basically, the political structure was modernized in the Nanjing period. Besides, people mind was modernized in terms of voicing their opinions actively and bravely. The 1911 Revolution gave a new sense to the people that mass opinion could place a weigh in the society, which was unprecedented in Chinese history.This could be reflected by several mass movements since 1912, Chinese people were brav e to voice their opinion upon social, mostly, and foreign affairs. The most notable were the May Fourth Incident in 1919, and the May 30th Atrocious Incident in 1925. Chinese people in the former successfully voiced their nationalism of which not accepting the unfair treatment in the Paris Peace Conference, used mass power to give pressure on the exiting government, forcing it to release strikers, and striking a general boycott on Japanese goods.The Chinese participated in both incidents were diverse, including students, workers and merchants alike. This showed the modernized, mature mind of Chinese people. Politics was modernizing in terms of the circulation of different opinion freely: the emergence of the Nationalist Party and Communist Party. Although the Nationalist Party, the KMT (Kuomintang), was established and in power immediately after the 1911 Revolution, the rapid intellectual development was not barred from that.Amid those eagerness to acquire western ideologies and ref orming China, different â€Å"isms† were introduced. Confronting to the relatively more capitalistic KMT, the CPC, the Communist Party of China, emerged at the same time. Until 1949, the two ideology-confronted parties were working in China, which showed a relatively modernized Chinese society that could allow different ideologies. Practically, many modernization efforts were made by the Nationalistic Government domestically. In the financial aspects In the industrial development aspects,In the education aspect, But all the modernizations mentioned above were constrained to a limited extent. This was mainly because the interference of internal and external upheavals: the warlord periods and the Sino-Japanese War. These modernization efforts could only be done in the Nationalist Government period, from 1928-37, this confined the scope and the extent. Secondly, there was no any social and economic reform. Thirdly, all modernization efforts were confined to the coastal areas, an d untouched by the vast rural mass.Also the classes incurred in several mass movements were yield to the hard life in wars and no longer willing to voice their opinion. Fourthly, there were no modernizations on the majority population: peasants. Fifthly, the multi party politics was never realized in China, and the introduction of constitution never materialized six years after 1928. Only external modernizations were realized and truly beneficial to Chinese, the majority Chinese. The internal material modernizations were only confined to the Nationalistic Government period, and limited places in China.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Does Satire Influence Elections?

In today's political climate, Congressman Anthony Wiener uploading obscene photos onto Twitter to Governor Chris Christie creating traffic jams by closing a main toll area and now, Donald Trump. Malcom Gladwell, an author who currently writes for the New Yorker, indicates in the Satire Paradox that satire should be taken seriously to create change, but then it wouldn't be funny. Gladwell talks about how ineffective satire was for SNL's sketches throughout the 2008 presidential campaign and notes in the Satire Paradox, â€Å"Lord help us if some other, even less qualified and more frightening political figure comes along† (Gladwell). Now, Donald Trump is the forty-fifth President of the United States. In 2008, Sarah Palin's lack of experience and communication skills provided SNL with a trove of political satire sketches. The satire of Palin gave a glimpse of what was to come should Senator John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin succeeded in contrast. During the presidential campaign of 2016, another work of satire by Saturday Night Live (SNL), created a parody of Donald Trump featuring Alec Baldwin. Alec Baldwin's parody of Donald Trump was accurate. The characterization of Trump as thin skinned and extremely sensitive provided a glimpse of what was to come if he were to be elected as president of the United States. Satire proved effective to showcase the absurdity of Palin as vice president; however, as the political climate changes, satire loses its usefulness as seen in the 2016 presidential election. Palins' inexperience was apparent through Fey's characterization on SNL which was an effective form of satire. Fey had an easy task mimicking Palin. Fey copied the clothes she wore, her hairstyle and wore identical frames for her eyewear. Throughout Fey's mockery, she accurately portrayed Palin as unknowledgeable about America's geography. Fey continued with Palin's inability to be define the Bush Doctrine which is about the various foreign policy principles. It is important that leaders are knowledgeable about the country they chose to lead. This made the audience question if Palin was equipped to take over as president should something befall McCain. Palin did not have any foreign policy experience and America questioned whether Palin understood exactly what a vice president does. In 2008 when SNL parodied Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign, it was entertaining, but it also forced Americans to think of who they chose to represent them. Tina Fey's â€Å"timely impersonations† showed how unqualified Palin was suited for vice president (Esralew). It was hard to forget Palin's interviews back in 2008. Her lack of knowledge and ignorance is seared in our memories. Although Palin was Governor of Alaska, she was unable to articulate any other experience that qualified her as vice president of the United States, let alone President. Fey's parody of Palins' inexperience helps show the importance of public opinion on politics. According to Gladwell, a month before the election, Tina describes and mimics â€Å"Sarah Palin's crazy accent, ‘it's a little bit of Fargo.' She tried to base it on her friend Paula's Grandma who would say, ‘Oh, this and that and stuff like that'† It lacks specificity because Fey uses terms like â€Å"this† and â€Å"stuff† to show Palin's naivetà © in how she comes across. The focus remained on Palin, even though Senator McCain was the presidential candidate. The impact of Fey's parody of Palin drew more criticism of Palin and as a result, many voters abandoned the GOP and voted for Obama. Sarah Palin's communication skills were lacking, thus, highlighting her inability to prove that she was, indeed, qualified to become the next vice president of the United States. In her interviews, Palin appeared flummoxed in her responses. Palin had participated in two key interviews with ABC and CBS news outlets which allowed the public to see for themselves how uncomfortable and indecisive she appeared. She frequently paused throughout the interview as though she was trying to come up with an acceptable response. On September 11, 2008, Sarah Palin was interviewed by Charles Gibson. Gibson asked Palin, â€Å"What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?' Palin responds, ‘They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska'† (Gibson). It was apparent that she had not properly prepared for the interview and seemed overwhelmed with the grueling process of the campaign. She was hurting McCain's chance at the presidency. SNL's effective satire continued to put a negative light on Palin. Her interviews were cut back and appearances limited. After the Gibson interview, SNL quickly mocked her words and provided the one line that is still associated with Palin today, â€Å"I can see Russia from my House!† With the ongoing claims that Russia had interfered with the 2016 Presidential Election, Palin responded in a farcical manner and tweeted, â€Å"Russia's getting out of hand? So, says the defeated. Not to worry†¦ remember I can keep an eye on them from here† (Mazza). Gladwell seems to think Tina Fey's mimicry was a failure, but as we knew, â€Å"Sarah Palin was not elected as vice president and has not held any public office since 2009† (Blu). SNL's continued satire of Palin provoked Americans to pay attention. SNL satire was so effective in 2008 that it is still relevant now. The audience has to be receptive for satire to be effective; however, in 2016, during the Trump and Clinton presidential campaign, voters weren't responding to the satire. Some conservatives do not watch SNL because the show has a liberal approach to politics. SNL used to be bi-partisan, now it is mostly liberal, thus, proving that satire was ineffective for Trump's campaign. Throughout the course of the campaign, SNL had abundance of material to work with. The numerous interviews, speeches and remarks made it unbelievably easy for SNL to satirize Trump. He was accurately depicted as the narcissist misogynist that he is. According to Baldwin, â€Å"with Trump, we pretty much just re-created what he does, we maybe just put a bit more chili pepper in there to spice it up† (McGurk). Baldwin keyed in on Trump's weaknesses and locked in on his sensitivity. Trump is sensitive about how much money he has and how smart he is. â€Å"He constantly mentions that he has gone to the best schools and that he attended Wharton Business School† (Balz). The SNL skits were hilarious. One sketch involved a campaign ad entitled, Racists for Donald Trump which was in two parts. The first part showed Middle America praising him and the second part showed the same people elaborating their message with white supremacist labels, clothing and writing. America was entertained, but his right-wing conservative support base dug in and continued to rally for Trump. Trump won the presidency because he was the lesser of two evils. To his support base, Trump represents change, but there is a cost to that change. â€Å"People were fully aware of his lack of values, divisiveness, his bigotry and history of abusing people,† but America did not care and it has been at a great cost (Balz). America is ridiculed and no longer the leader of the free world. In 2015, hundreds had protested Donald Trump's appearance on SNL. It was learned that Trump â€Å"vetoed some of the sketches. He did this in order not to anger his support base in Iowa† who most likely were conservatives (D'Addario). In response to SNL's continued mockery of Trump, he engaged his conservative support base through Twitter, informing them of SNL's bias. Unfortunately, SNL allowed Trump to manipulate the scripted opening, as a result, â€Å"the episode was considered among the most sedative in the history of SNL† (D'Addario). SNL took control and parodied Trump the remainder of the campaign on their own terms to no avail. Satire was ineffective due to the fact that Trump vetoed some of the opening remarks. As for Trump being thin skinned, he was extremely sensitive about SNL's portrayal of him, so he took the low road and of course, continued to tweet his dislike throughout the campaign. Trump's tweets were key in increasing his support base and this contributed to the failure of satire. As SNL continues to soothe America with Alec Baldwin's parody of Trump, Baldwin continues to be â€Å"liberal America's ‘consoler-in-chief'† (McGurk). Ultimately, the political climate has changed and so, satire has to find a more effective way to engage viewers of all comedic media outlets. Satire can be both effective and ineffective, it depends on the climate. Gladwell believes that satire needs to hit hard and make an impact, he wants it to cause social change, but then it would lose humor. â€Å"Satire Paradox tells us that comedians are truth tellers, they zero in on issues we should not ignore† (Gladwell). In the end, â€Å"Satire allows you to say almost anything. That's where the truth is spoken to power in our society. When you sugar-coat a bitter truth with humor, it makes the medicine go down† (Gladwell). Works Citedump won: The insiders tell their story,† The Washington Post, November 9, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/how-donald-trump-won-the-inside-story/Blu, Addison, â€Å"Malcolm Gladwell Doesn't Understand Satire,† Medium.com, January 17, 2017, https://medium.com/@AddisonBlu/malcolm-gladwell-doesnt-understand-satire-26545a13e509D'Addario, Daniel, â€Å"Donald Trump played it safe on Saturday Night Live,† Time, November 8, 2015, http://time.com/4103978/donald-trump-saturday-night-live-review/Esralew, Sarah, â€Å"The Influence of Parodies on Mental Models: Exploring the Tina Fey-Sarah Palin Phenomenon,† Communication Quarterly 60, no. 3 (2012), 338–352, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01463373.2012.688791?src=recsys& journalCode=rcqu20Gibson, Charles, â€Å"Charlie Gibson Interviews GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin,† ABC News, November 23, 2009, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vot e2008/full-transcript-gibson-interviews-sarah-palin/story?id=9159105Gladwell, Malcom, â€Å"The Satire Paradox,† The Revisionist History, August 18, 2016, http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/10-the-satire-paradoxMazza, Ed, â€Å"Sarah Palin Can Still See Russia, Promises To Keep An Eye On Them,† Huffington Post, December 12, 2016, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sarah-palin-russia-joke_us_584e3fe1e4b0e05aded4724fMcGurk, Stuart, â€Å"Alec Baldwin: ‘What you see with Trump is how Hitler got elected,'† GQ Magazine, October 1, 2018, https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/alec-baldwin-snl-trump-interview

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Counseling Scenario

The second scenario involves children in a divorce counseling group. It is expected that emotions can and will be stirred. Surprisingly, my co-leader became angry at one of the children after the latter described how angry she is at her mother. My co-leader reacted by comparing the child with her daughter and the child’s mother to another â€Å"victim†. The reaction of my co-leader is certainly uncalled for and is beyond our professional limits as counselors. Nevertheless, there are several ways in handling the situation. The most immediate step that can be done is to control the situation. This can be achieved by directly intervening and talking things down. I can explain to the child that my co-leader has also been in the same situation as hers and that, as a consequence, her feelings can go off as well. On the other hand, I will also tell my co-leader that we should be professional in dealing with the children. I will explain to her that much is expected from us as counselors, and that we should not let our personal circumstances cloud our judgment. I will further remind her that the reason why we are counseling the children in the first place is because they need counseling and because we are in a better position to understand their experiences. It is said that â€Å"to behave in ways which are destructive to oneself or others is not only distressing and disturbing, but also ethically inadmissible† (Callender, 1998, p. 77). This particularly applies to counselors. Ethical guidelines should always be kept in mind so that counselors will act appropriately with respect to their clients (Voskuijl and Evers, 2007). It is important for us, counselors, to bear in mind our professional responsibilities. We should not let our emotions and personal circumstances get in the way of our responsibilities towards others. My co-leader should learn from the ethical guidelines of being a counselor or from plain moral sensibilities.

Network Sevens situational comedy Will and Grace and romantic drama Essay

Network Sevens situational comedy Will and Grace and romantic drama The L word have both garnered critical and public praise for their use of significant homos - Essay Example l and Grace, and day-soap romantic drama in the case of The L Word, has a lot to do with the success of these shows and helping to make the lifestyles of gays and lesbians less suspicious, less mysterious, less threatening and have served to increase the gay and lesbian community’s base of heterosexual support for individual choice in same-sex relationships. Will and Grace follow on the success of shows like Mad About You, where the relationships were situational and the public at large, across gender identities, could relate to the events on a comedic level. More importantly, Will and Grace captured the â€Å"formula† for good humor. With its characters, like Karen (played by Megan Mullolly) the show is able to create a balance with peripheral characters so that the focus and expectation is not constantly on Will and Grace (Debra Messing) as characters in the show. There are the lives of the people in their lives going on about them, and this is important so that the show does not over-focus on the dating aspect of a single gay man and a heterosexual woman living in New York City. Drama, like comedy, requires a strength in the actor to the extent that the actor can successfully carry the character (Ulea, 2002, p. 3). Researcher V. Ulea describes drama this way: â€Å"A type of dramatic drama that represents main protagonists with average or above average and strong potential (2002, p. 4): The dramatic character is responsible for connecting with the viewer in a way that draws the viewer into the character’s space, and to react to the circumstances of the situation in a way that most of the viewing audience would react, or in a way with which the viewing audience can be understanding of or sympathetic of. According to Ulea, there can be cross-over between the genres, and it might yield something called â€Å"dramedy (2002, p. 5). This is when the ending is â€Å"assigned for cheerful, sad, or drama. Accordingly, the combination of powerful potential combined

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Crime and Criminal Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Crime and Criminal Behavior - Essay Example The truth is that the poor have many disadvantages which they must struggle against. They are marginalized and left out in the cold. They have few opportunities. Their lack of education limits what they can do and their tattered clothing signals to all and sundry that they are poor. Many sociologists suggest that young people growing up in ghettos and in poor neighbourhoods have a rage against the world (Samenow, 3). The world or the â€Å"system† as they sometimes call it is set up against them, they believe. They owe it nothing and also seek to remake the world, often by tearing it down in the first place. They feel excluded from a world they do not understand (Paugam, 42)This is a serious problem and clearly supports the idea that poverty causes crime. This is also borne out by the idea that more poor people in cities and urban areas and these have higher crime rates (Horowitz, 54). There are many problems associated with poverty. Housing is usually of bad stock and as a re sult health problems can occur. Children who grow up in poverty have poorer health and less educational opportunities. People who are poor often are more likely to use drugs. As a result they may become addicted and be forced to break laws in order to make money to pay for their habits. This is a very negative thing but it is clearly a product of cause and effect.