American History between 1820-1920 Research Paper

American History between 1820-1920 - Research Paper Example The paper shall analyze aspects related to art and culture, business and economy, books and literature and immigration and migration (Barney). 1820-1830: This decade holds immense significance because it marked the start of a new era in politics. It was the decade of growth as a country and progress in politics. The decade saw the formation of the democratic and the national republican parties. Furthermore, it was also famous for being the time when the first woman was nominated for the presidency. There was progress in fields of art, literature, and the economy during this period as well. Economic and Business Activities: The federal land law was passed in 1820, which led to expansion into new territories as settlers could now purchase 80 acres of land for $1.25/acre. Enormous advancements in trade routes including rail lines and river routes helped the expansion of trade and commerce between new territories and established communities. The decade also saw the growth of gateway citi es such as Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Chicago providing urban markets that tied the new territories to the Atlantic states. Art and Architecture: The 1820s saw the starting of the revival of the American Greek style and federal style of art. The statue of George Washington was sculptured by an Italian named Antonio Canova. The widespread demand for portraiture helped sustain American art. The wealthy valued portraits and spent sums of money on them. Some of the beneficiaries of this spending spree included Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully (Barney). Books and Literature: Irving and Cooper were the most revered literary individuals of the decade. The readers grew in pride during the decade, which was a major reason why Cooper’s literature became popular. A good illustration of the love affair for that form of literature is the novel American Hero which sets America as an individual country, culturally different from England. The romantic treatment of Indians was another famous and loved literary theme of the decade (Jones). Immigration and Migration: The province of Tejas in Mexico saw the formation of the first Anglo American settlement in the aftermath of the panic of 1819. The federal government began the practice of collecting statistics of immigration by 1820 and estimates suggest that 151,000 new residents entered the United States during this decade. The majority of these residents hailed from the British Isles followed by individuals from Germany. The surge in foreign born residents had an impact on American politics. The democrats, who were considered to be friendly towards immigrants, gained an upper hand with the same (Jones). 1830-1840: This decade saw the passing of laws that granted married women the right to own property. Books of immense prominence and legacy were printed, included Book of Mormon and Nature. Texas gained independence from Mexico and several other events occurred that made this decade one of immense importance in Americaâ €™s History (Rozek). Arts and Architecture: The Hudson River artists continued to grow. These artists included Thomas Cole, George Innes and Thomas Doughty. The fancy chairs also emerged as 8200 American makers created fancy chairs in Robert Adam, Sheraton, Directoire and Empire styles. The decade also saw the inception of the idea of the Grace Church by James Renwick (Athearn). Economy and Business: The steamboats were introduced during the decade as goods travelling to the west of St. Louis were

Critically evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of expansion via Essay

Critically evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of expansion via organic growth versus expansion via acquisition. using real - Essay Example This global business related news is encouraging in the context of financial downturn of the year 2008, still casting its shadow on the global growth of large businesses. Luypaert & Huyghebaert (2007) attempt a statistical analysis of the expansion via acquisition strategy becoming a trend, as in 2005 only, 29,585 acquisitions got materialised. Companies prefer to grow and expand through acquisitions rather than organically because it is the quicker way of growth relatively to internal growth as the aimed company is well positioned with its production, distribution and customer base. It also minimises the risk of investing for the increasing growth of the company. Otherwise also, expansion via acquisition could prove to be cost-efficient way out relatively to organic growth, especially when the replacement cost of assets is higher than the concurrent worth of the aimed assets. Another benefit of the expansion via acquisition is that in comparison to organic growth, it can be acquired by paying through the stock as well. It can be a way-out for companies facing cash-crunch or for those companies already deficient in debt power. Literature reveals that during flourishing stock market behaviour, bidding companies prefer to pay for the acquisition through stock. Irrespective of this fact, expansion via organic growth and via acquisitions is mutually inclusive investment decision for a firm; it can be an added advantage to choose any of the expansion methods rather than selecting a single alternative. Before taking a decision to go either for internal expansion or expansion via acquisition, thorough research needs to be made to gather industry impact and aggregate market variables for opting out external expansion. There might be the possibility that firm size may artificially hold the impact of industry concentration whereas the market-to-book ratio may reveal the comfort of bidding firms to reward aimed shareholders with stock if stock markets are flourishing. Ind ustry features are crucial factors like the potential for economies of scale, industry concentration, sales growth and deregulation, and aggregate market variables, like historical volume of merger and acquisition, stock prices, GDP growth and the output spread (Luypaert & Huyghebaert, 2007). In a mutually inclusive relationship between internal growth and expansion via acquisition for making investment, a company may opt for growth via expansion additionally to organic or internal growth. Financially sound companies with enough investment possibilities would prefer to practice both options of growth for leveraging from competitive advantage as early as possible. In case, firms face cash crunch, they might prefer an alternative of the two. Strategies for both kinds of growth options need not to be necessarily related. Statistical research on the connection between external and internal growth is limited with complicated outcomes. Hay and Liu, as cited by Luypaert & Huyghebaert (2007 ) evaluate M&A in the UK across 1971–1989 and find that M&A and organic expansion are supportive to each other. On the opposite side, Dickerson et al., as cited by Luypaert & Huyghebaert (2007), employing data on UK listed companies in manufacturing during 1948–1970 and 1975–1990, note that the connection between organic growth and the possibility of expansion through acquisition is surely negative, which underscores that these growth strategies are to be used alternatively (Luypaert & Huygh

Electrical Cars Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Electrical Cars - Research Paper Example It is estimated that more than one third of the total energy such as natural gas, diesel, and gasoline in the world goes to driving automobiles. Today, auto industries are in the toe-tip of enhancing transition into electrical cars. This is because of several forces that limit growth of the oil industry and automotive businesses. These limiting factors have made engineers implement varieties of propulsive systems that require other forms of energy instead of oil. General Motors has, therefore, come up with very promising configuration of battery electric vehicles (BEV) to supplement combustion engine. An electric car is an automobile design that uses electrical motor to power the car with electricity provided by the batteries. Batteries used in these cars have varying designs with lead-acid and lithium ion sillier as compared to the ones used in mobile phones and laptops. Evolution of electric vehicles has been met to address depression of fuel resources and prevention of air polluti on. Emission of harmful hydrocarbons has been a major global issue that has mitigated car manufacturers to invent and adopt less harmful machineries. In addition, over the years there has been an increase in awareness among people across the world to adopt eco-friendly means by going green due to the recent dangers of global warming. Electric vehicles have, therefore, been the potential option to save the world from harmful gases emitted by petroleum driven cars. These modes of cars have taken a long journey since 1996 when General Motors produced the first modern electric car in the world. The recent electric cars that have been introduced are Chevrolet Volt, Tesla Roadster, and Nissan Leaf. These cars have made a very great stride in the current technology and acceptance of the consumers. This is because they have been considered as a major step of reducing dependency on petroleum products, protecting the environment, and improving sustainability of transport across the world (Ebe rhard & Tarpenning, 2006). It is estimated that electric cars can cover a distance of 100 miles per hour, which makes them the fastest cars in the world. This has given these cars higher popularity and sales in various countries like the United States and United Kingdom. In 2011, sale of electric cars in the United States has risen to about 350 thousand units. Many customers purchased these cars so as to qualify for tax incentives that were imposed by federal governments on petroleum products during economy recession. Despite General Motors’ willingness to combat global warming, the company always faces a barrier of electrifying car industries due to the limited range of the electric cars. This barrier is mainly observed on the consumers’ side – they are afraid of getting stranded alongside roads with empty batteries (Haaren, 2011). Although there is great emphasis on protecting the environment through using environmental friendly cars, people need to be realist ic about their benefits. This is because electric cars have very significant disadvantages that create limitation to their use and wide spread availability. In addition, these disadvantages give reasons why people tend not to use electrical vehicles across the world. The research in this paper, therefore, aims to provide insight on how General Motors should increase its interest in electrical cars by making electrical cars more fan, fixing the

EXAMINING THE U.K EXPERIENCE OF NATIONALIZATION BETWEEN 1946 AND 1986 Essay

EXAMINING THE U.K EXPERIENCE OF NATIONALIZATION BETWEEN 1946 AND 1986 AND INDICATING WHAT FACTORS IGHT BE CONSIDERED AS RELEVANT WHEN MAKING A DECISION TO NATIO - Essay Example (Cairncross, 1986) The fragmented coal industries were nationalised and so were the railway, steel and telecommunication industries. Utilities were also nationalised by the Labour government. (Tomlinson, 1982; Durbin, 1985) The ideological basis for nationalisation in 1946 U.K. could be summed up in Attlee’s words: â€Å"a mixed economy developing toward socialism.... The doctrines of abundance, of full employment, and of social security require the transfer to public ownership of certain major economic forces and the planned control in the public interest of many other economic activities.† (quoted by Yergin and Stanislaw, 1998 p.27) Tomlinson (n.d.) on the other hand views the ideological basis for nationalisation in the UK as reflective of two different epochs – the 1930s-1940s reflecting the socialist planned economy paradigm, and the 1950s-1970s reflecting a social democratic economic paradigm. Thus, Attlee’s vision of nationalisation in the UK could be categorised under Tomlinson’s 1930s-1940s socialist ideological era. It was held that the fragmented nature of privately owned industries (like the coal industry which then provided about 90 per cent of the UK’s energy needs) were inefficient, had experienced under-investment, and lacked scale. (Hannah, 2004) Nationalisation was thus seen as a medium for pulling together resources and implementation of new technologies on a national scale for the functioning of industries. This, it was envisaged, would result in efficient running of industries culminating in the â€Å"achievement of the national objectives of economic development and growth, full employment, and justice and equality†. (Yergin and Stanislaw, 1998 p. 25; Robson, 1962) Nationalisation was thus also a means for salvaging a non-performing and failing private sector so as to harness resources for economic development. It can be argued that nationalisation became a

Truman Capote Essay Example for Free

Truman Capote Essay Capote, the 2005 movie directed by Bennett Miller, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr., Chris Cooper and Bruce Greenwood, is the story of the making of Truman Capote’s 1966 non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood. Hoffman, playing Capote as a fish-out-of-water, a mincing homosexual researching his opus in a small Kansas town in 1959, shares screen time with Keener’s Harper Lee, a childhood friend of the author. The true story of how Capote researched his book is not as compelling as the story he actually wrote. Keener, playing Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird makes a more interesting figure and the viewer sometimes wonders why the movie isn’t about her and the making of her own opus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Keener, as Lee, is the key to Capote being able to access the rural people of the little Kansas town. They are amused by, and wary of the little man with the lisp and extravagant dress. It is she who opens the doors for him and permits the work to be researched. Hoffman, as Capote, is technically on the mark, but his portrayal is still that of a hollow man. The audience is supposed to feel empathy for this tragic individual but there is little compassionate or passionate about him. The tragedy of the story is, in reality, the Kansas farm family who was slaughtered like animals by the socio-paths who will be exploited by Capote. The audience is supposed to care that the soulless sophisticated and dapper homosexual is attracted to the cold-blooded killer, and, most likely, is in love with him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The film is bleak and also runs out of steam by midpoint. The acting is good but the subject is borderline disgusting. Capote exploited the community and the slain family.   The film version of the actual Capote work, In Cold Blood, is a much better movie.

Moral Complexity in Kieslowskis the Decalogue (1989)

Moral Complexity in Kieslowskis the Decalogue (1989) Although the moral stories that constitute Polish director Krzyszto KieÅ›lowskis The Decalogue (1989) were inspired by the Ten Commandments (as per the films umbrella title), the way they relate to Gods Law as revealed to Moses is by no means straightforward or clear-cut; nor is the rich symbolism which Kieslowski weaves throughout the films. As this paper shall demonstrate, the ideas and themes in The Decalogue are complex and often ambiguous, especially with respect to two primary and recurring symbols: the huge apartment complex where the various characters reside and occasionally cross paths and an unnamed, mysterious male figure who hovers on the periphery of the action, silent and observing. KieÅ›lowski uses these two symbols to illustrate and develop the metaphysic that lies at the heart of the film. The films [that constitute The Decalogue] should be influenced by the individual commandments to the same degree that the commandments influence our daily lives†, KieÅ›lowski notes in the introduction to the published script of The Decalogue (quoted in Cunneen, 1997). Joseph Cunneen suggests that this influence is subtle and indirect. It is significant that the films do not have separate titles that contain text of the commandments; as a result, the viewer is â€Å"often unsure of the relationship between a film and a particular commandment; to the director, if the numbers of some episodes were reversed for example 6 and 9 it would make no difference† (Cunneen, 1997). KieÅ›lowski thus encourages intellectual guesswork on the part of his audience. â€Å"I merely announce, for example, Decalogue 1. The spectator looks at the film and . . . begins to think about the commandment(s)†. (KieÅ›lowski, as quoted in Cunneen, 1997). For example, in Decalogue VI th ere seem to be no reference to any one particular commandment, though it does contain references to stealing (the peeping-tom protagonist steals a telescope to spy on a female neighbor) and killing (the same character slashes his wrists near the end of the film). This â€Å"thoroughly un-didactic† approach enables KieÅ›lowski and his co-screenwriter, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, to develop their themes with subtlety and restraint (Porton, 50). In The Decalogue, as in life, nothing is cut and dried. â€Å"Each episode can be likened to a moral parable that suggests . . . how we can live ethically in a world where the false comfort of either a belief in God or dialectical materialism is unavailable†, states Porton (Porton, 48). Jonathan Rosenbaum would seem to agree that the films power is suggestive rather than didactic: â€Å"The finely sculpted scripts of these films become suggestions of how we might think about these people, not directives about how we should judge them† (Rosenbaum, 159). He goes on to say that the decision to produce a series of films that correspond to the Ten Commandments in name and number is essentially â€Å"a packaging idea, successfully designed to give KieÅ›lowski an international reputation and made in part for export† (Rosenbaum, 155). By the directors own admission, he and Piesiewicz avoided any overt political references to the Poland of the mid-1980s in order that the films could be marketed in other countries (Stok, 145). Yet none of this detracts from The Decalogues intellectual, moral and aesthetic stature. KieÅ›lowski is a serious artist whose ultimate concern is integrity that of his characters and also of himself, as a filmmaker. He does not teach morality (in the sense of â€Å"thou shalt not†) but rather contemplates and probes lifes so-called â€Å"grey areas†. According to him, â€Å"integrity is an extremely complicated combination and we can never ultimately say ‘I was honest or ‘I wasnt honest. In all our actions . . . we find ourselves in a position from which theres really no way out and even if there is, its not a better way out [but only] the lesser evil. This [choosing which way out to take], of course, defines integrity† (Stok, 146 149). The notion, then, that a set of ten rules is all we need is simplistic to the point of absurdity. The decisions we all must make in our lives are often difficult and painful; they are also dependent on a host of different factors which have to be weighed and taken into account. Where morality is concerned, perspectives have to be altered and sometimes replaced with new ones. Mario Sesti suggests that the complexity of the ideas at play in The Decalogue is symbolized, in part, by the high-rise apartment complex which is the central setting for all the episodes. â€Å"Throughout the work a system of hints, correspondences and allusions imperceptibly laces together the tangled plights of the characters who live in the [same] apartment block. Everyone either knows or ignores one another, but everyone is aware (however reluctantly) that they belong to the same narrative† (Sesti, 183). Portman remarks that KieÅ›lowskis signature theme in virtually all his films (not just The Decalogue) is â€Å"the ineffability of human experience through chance encounters or near-encounters of protagonists whose paths would never ordinarily intersect† (Portman, 2001). Locating most of the action in and around the huge apartment building where the various characters live, and where their paths occasionally cross, allows KieÅ›lowski to stage such chance encounters and near-encounters while â€Å"(weaving the) single episodes into an overall tapestry† (Sesti, 183). The director notes that the idea of choosing characters at random and observing how they act and interrelate is well-served by the apartment building setting: â€Å"We had the idea that the camera should pick somebody out, . . . then follow him or her throughout the rest of the film†, he says, adding that since the apartment building has â€Å"thousands of similar windows framed in the establishing shot†, it was an ideal setting for his purposes (Stock, 146). Cunneen explains that the apartment building helps â€Å"unify the series† since we see the same few buildings again and again (that is, from episode to episode), adding that â€Å"in such a context it becomes natural for a character we see on the stairs in one episode to become a major figure in a later one† (Cunneen, 2001). By extension, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the apartment building symbolizes the unity and interrelatedness of experience. Despite the interrelatedness, Michael Wilmington argues that all the characters in the series think of themselves as essentially â€Å"isolated† (Wilmington, 2001). Occasionally, to some minor degree, the setting shifts away from the Warsaw suburb and into the city, and even the countryside, yet the director has a nostalgic idea of a return the monotonous high-rise blocks (Wilmington, 2001). The symbolism of the notion to portray such areas of Warsaw is that only in those tall grey buildings can the audience get familiar with many different emotions of the inhabitants: love, hate, friendliness, politeness, curiosity and more. There is constant interaction between the neighbors, making KieÅ›lowskis series very realistic and simple to understand for his viewers. The apartment building is, in effect, an objective correlative to this very malaise. The â€Å"deliberately gray or brackish colors† of the building â€Å"capture an edifice that signifies both the State and the monotony of life in ‘Peoples Poland† (Porton, 2001). In a similar vein, Agnieszka Tennant makes reference to the â€Å"mass-produced, colorless buildings†, â€Å"cheerless wintry outdoors†, â€Å"cold flats† and â€Å"impersonal stairwells, elevators and offices† that constitute the films mise-en-scà ¨ne (Tenant, 2001). Another function of the apartment-building setting is that it allows for an open narrative structure a structure which â€Å"invites the viewer to interpret the actions of [the] protagonists, to follow their struggles with destiny in an abundance of chance encounters† (Haltof, 79), while serving as a convenient symbol for voyeurism and shifting perspectives (that is to say, the viewers as well as the directors gaze). Cunneen is correct to stress that KieÅ›lowskis camera is â€Å"fond of windows, mirrors, or any objects that offer possibilities of reflections† (Cunneen, 2001). This tendency opens new perspectives on the protagonists of the film series. They are viewed from behind the glass, lens or mirror which highlights that their actions could not be what they seem and have more dimensions to them. In KieÅ›lowskis films, glass serves to self-consciously foreground the act of looking†, according to Annette Insdorf (Cunneen, 2001, quoting Insdorf in the latters Double Lives, p. 91). In Decalogue V, Piotr, the lawyer of Jacek the killer, is â€Å"framed in a mirror† before we actually see him. As well, â€Å"the driver [victim] is presented as glass reflects the apartment complex† and â€Å"Jacek is introduced in the street, reflected in a mirror as well† (Insdorf quoted in Cunneen, 2001). Sesti refers to KieÅ›lowskis themes of â€Å"uncertainty† and â€Å"bewilderment†, noting that â€Å"the most typical image in The Decalogue is a shadowy interior, a character at the window, or a gaze without rancor, happiness or hope† (Sesti, 187). A case in point is Decalogue VI, which begins with Olaf, the peeping tom character, spying on Magda, the older woman who is his neighbor, but ends in reverse, with Magda spying on him. KieÅ›low ski concedes that this â€Å"change in perspective† is essential to the episodes structure (Stok, 169). Other examples of the gaze may be found in Decalogue I when the boy Pawel watches a pigeon on his windowsill in the beginning. Later, after Pawel drowns, his aunt watches slow-motion memorial footage of him on a TV screen in a shop window. In Decalogue V the gaze is noticed during the murder of the cab driver when the killer Jacek hesitates for a brief moment when the victim â€Å"looks up at him and Jacek sees his suffering†; he responds by covering the mans head (Hogan, 2008). Curiously, KieÅ›lowski here seems to be equating the gaze with death. Another significant and symbolic link between the episodes is the presence of the mysterious, silent young man whom the audience sees only occasionally. He is absent from episodes 7 and 10. This omnipresent figure â€Å"with searingly watchful eyes and an Old Testament intensity† (Cunneen, 2001) usually shows up â€Å"just before [a] character makes a difficult ethical decision, or just before something unexpected happens† (Tennant, 2001). He can be observed in Decalogue I sitting at a campfire; in Decalogue V, as a road inspector and also as a painter in prison; in Decalogue VI, as a man in a white suit; in Decalogue VIII, as a student listening to the lecture of one of the two main characters; and in Decalogue IX, as a cyclist who watches the protagonist try to kill himself. This mysterious man can be identified with a guardian angel or the â€Å"walking consciousness†. He is present at the times of crucial decisions by the protagonists, but he never judges. On the contrary the â€Å"angel† is trying to push the troubled heroes to a better moral choice, as with Jacek in Dekalogue V he shakes his head to silently protest the murder or in Dekalogue IX saving Roman from succeeding in his suicidal attempt. The figure is still puzzling because he seems to have very little to no influence on the action and therefore cannot be considered a character in the proper sense. Tenant believes he â€Å"symbolizes Gods presence among us, Christian conscience, or at least for a secular audience fate† (Tenant, 2001), while Haltof sees him as an â€Å"Angel of Fate† who â€Å"adds an almost metaphysical dimension† to the films (Haltof, 81). As Sesti explains, although the figure â€Å"never interferes with the action, [he is] perfectly aware of it to the point of foreseeing its conclusion†. He never utters a word but rather â€Å"looks directly into the camera, and his disquieting silence seems to comment on the story†. Sesti agrees that this â€Å"kind of chorus figure† acts as a unifying link for the episodes but points out that â€Å"we do not identify with him, for his presence suggests the inflexibility of fate and the vulnerability of every individua l. . . . [His gaze is] the gaze of some divine figure, distressed by his uselessness and by the impossibility of redeeming the world† (Sesti, 184). The ambiguity and symbolic richness of the â€Å"angel† figure and of the apartment complex testifies to KieÅ›lowskis mastery as a filmmaker. The Decalogue does not lend itself to a reductionist reading; quite the opposite. A â€Å"vast fresco of private emotions and subtle interactions† (Wilmington, 2000) on the one hand, it is also a work that is rich in themes and ideas. As Wilmington observes, these themes are in fact common to all of KieÅ›lowskis films: â€Å"Choice is fate. Pain underlies beauty. Isolation is an illusion. Disparate are we. Sin is inescapable. Soul is flesh. Film is life. The Decalogue, [KieÅ›lowskis] prime act of cinematic voyeurism, draws those threads together† (Wilmington, 2000). By turning to such methods as a common setting of high-rises in Warsaw and a small trace of a mystic messenger from God, KieÅ›lowski is able to unite and add coherence to ten short films from his Dekalogue series. The films are complex and deep. They require thorough analysis and knowledge of the Biblical context. The author is making it easier to understand for his audience by bringing in common threads to each episode and opening the conclusions for different interpretations and room for opinions. References Cunneen, Joseph. â€Å"‘Being Alive is a Gift: Krzysztof KieÅ›lowskis ‘The Decalogue†Ã‚  Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality. 1:1. 2001. pp. 79-85. John Hopkins University Press. (Note: Cunneen quotes KieÅ›lowski in the introduction to the  published script of The Decalogue, for which, see bibliographic entry.) Cunneen, Joseph. â€Å"Kieslowski on the mountaintop†. Commonweal. 124:14, Aug. 15,  1997. New York, N.Y., 1997. pp. 11-14 Haltof, Marek. The Cinema of Krzysztof KieÅ›lowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance.  Wallflower Press: London. 2004. pp. 75-107. Hogan, Patrick Colm. â€Å"Tragic Lives: On the Incompatibility of Law and Ethics. College  Literature. West Chester: 35:3, Summer 2008. 30 pp. KieÅ›lowski, Krzysztof. â€Å"Introduction†, in KieÅ›lowski, K. and Piesiewica, P., Decalogue The Ten Commandments [translated by Phil Cavendish and Suzanna Bluh].  London: Faber and Faber, 1991. Kieslowski, Krzystof and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. The Decalogue. VHS. Distributor:  Band à   Part. 10 episodes on 5 cassettes. Directed by K. Kieslowski. 1987. Porton, Richard. â€Å"The Decalogue†. Cineaste. New York: Summer 2001. 26:3; pp. 48-50. Rosenbaum, Jonathan. Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons. John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. 2004. pp. 152-159. Sesti, Mario. â€Å"DEKALOG 1 10†. In The Hidden God: Film and Faith. Mary Lea Brandy and Antonio Monda, eds. The Museum of Modern Art: New York, N.Y.  2003. pp. 183-187. Stok, Danusia, ed. KieÅ›lowski on KieÅ›lowski. Faber and Faber Limited: London, 1993. Tennant, Agnieszka. â€Å"The Ten Commandments become flesh†. Christianity Today.  Carol Stream: 45:2, Feb 5, 2001. pp. 75-76 Michael Wilmington. â€Å"Long decades journey into light†. Film Comment. New York,  N.Y.: 36:2, March/April 2000. pp. 9-10

Habits That Hinder Thinking :: essays research papers fc

John and Julie, your two best friends, have just read an article about the death penalty. It explains the reasons why death by lethal injection is a legitimate punishment for certain crimes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Julie reads the article, she strongly agrees with what the author has to say. â€Å"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,† she imagines. Without examining the ideas that are involved, she’s satisfied with everything the article says because, â€Å"It’s only fair.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John, on the other hand, is deeply offended before he’s even finished reading the article. He leans heavily on the feeling that God has the only power to decide someone’s fate, not man. â€Å"It’s not right to interfere with another person’s existence on Earth,† he thinks to himself as he keeps reading.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What Julie and John don’t know is that they’ve both used some habits that hinder thinking to come up with their opinions. They both had strong initial feelings about the death penalty. And they both finished with those same feelings because they were the most satisfying. But Julie and John failed to try to learn about their opposing opinion. Without even realizing it, they both became victims of thobbing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Henshaw Ward termed thobbing for considering and evaluating ideas. â€Å"The term combines the th from thinking, the o from opinion, and the b from believing† (qtd. in Ruggiero 53). You can be aware of when you are thobbing by paying close attention to your initial opinions, especially the ones that are very strong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many habits that can hinder one’s thinking, causing their mind to fall victim to thobbing. Julie and John both used conformity and resistance to change, and rationalizing habits when coming up with an opinion about the death penalty article.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Art of Thinking, Ruggiero states that â€Å"harmful conformity is what we do instead of thinking in order to belong to a group or to avoid the risk of being different. Such conformity is an act of cowardice, a sacrifice of indepedence for a lesser good(49).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Julie and John may have been conforming when they developed their opinions about the article on the death penalty. They had probably dealt with the argument before and were exposed to other people’s opinions. Then when they came across this article, they were most satisfied with the belief they were familiar with. They remembered the other people’s attitudes and conformed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John belongs to a church where he practices his belief in Christianity.