All characters in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ are lonely Essay

All characters in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ are either lonely, bored or in need of escaping from the soulless existence of the itinerant labour. It is based on a society of men leading empty lives, trapped in a lonely life, consisting mainly of hard physical work. There was not enough happiness, love and affection in their lives. The novel is set in California, the Southern states of America, in the 1930’s around the time of the ‘Great Depression’. The ranch is based in ‘Soledad’; which is the Spanish word for ‘Loneliness’. The bunkhouse that the men sleep and live in is a long and rectangular building. The walls are white washed and the floor unpainted. In three of the four walls are small, square windows. In the fourth one was a solid door with a wooden latch. There are eight bunks, all with a nailed apple box over them with the opening forward. This made two small shelves for the personal belongings of each ranch hand occupying the certain bunk. On these shelves were little articles, soap, razors, talcum powder, Western magazines, medicines, little vials, combs and a few neckties. There was also a black cast iron stove, and a big square table in the centre of the room, with scattered playing cards across it, and surrounding the table were boxes for the men to sit on. The bunkhouse also had lice and roaches in it! Carlson and the other ranch hands all dream of owning their own land and living and working from this, resulting in wealth and happiness. This was known as the ‘American Dream’, this is shown as an opportunity to all people no matter how rich or poor they are. There is a lot of government propaganda, informing people that if they work hard and push their ambitions to the limit, they can make this dream reality. However they all knew, no matter how hard they worked or how successful they were, it was very unlikely of this dream ever becoming reality. Their way of escaping this disappointment was to collect their fifty bucks at the end of the month and of a weekend spend all of it on women and alcohol, usually at the nearest ‘cat-house’. During the week they play cards games or horseshoes. Crooks is very lonely, this is due to the fact that he is coloured and everyone knows him as a nigger! He is treated completely differently to all the others, an outsider. He is also crippled, after a horse kicked him and severely damaged his back. In the 1930’s it was very racist in America and the coloured people weren’t allowed to speak up or were too scared to defend themselves in fear of what the white people would do to them. This is the situation Crooks is in. However he is the only coloured person at the ranch, so he has to accept all racial comments on his own. He has his own separate room, which isn’t even a room it is a shed that leans off the side of the barn wall. He is isolated from everyone else, therefore unable to socialise. On one occasion Lennie entered the barn to see his pup. He saw Crooks’ light shining and stood in the doorway of Crooks’ room. Crooks saw him and said sharply ‘†you got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here, but me.† He then followed with â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room†, â€Å"they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you all of you stink to me.† Crooks reads to amuse himself when he has nothing better to do. This keeps his mind off of the atmosphere and situation he is surrounded by in his everyday life. Curley’s wife is perhaps one of the loneliest characters, trapped in her strict and original woman’s/wife’s role. Her daily routine only ever consists of her doing housework, such as cooking Curley’s dinner, washing Curley’s clothes, making Curley’s bed, cleaning Curley’s house, etc. If Curley catches her talking to the ranch hands he is always very annoyed by it, she is to stay in the house. She is known as ‘Curley’s wife’, no one knows her name so they cannot call her by it. One time when she enters the bunkhouse and begins to talk to the ranch hands, Crooks suggests † Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble.† It is this idea that she is ‘trouble’ that makes Curley’s wife so upset and angry. † Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time?† Having a husband even makes her loneliness worse, because Curley is so strict about whom she socialises with and what she does. She calls him sarcastically a â€Å"Swell guy†, who † Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guy’s he don’t like, and he don’t like nobody.† Curley’s wife tries to escape her loneliness and sadness by dreaming of being an actress or a model. She had been offered the chance before â€Å"I tell you I could of went with shows† † An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers†. Curley’s wife is also very good at flirting, this attracts male attention. Therefore just for a moment she is listened to and is the centre of attention, this moment matters so much to her because she is being paid attention to for once, that she makes a very bad habit of it. However the ranch hands have got used to her scheming ways and do not want to risk getting â€Å"canned† because of a â€Å"tart†. However Lennie and George are different to the other ranch hands, they may live a lonely existence, but they have each other. Other than the other ranch hands expressing their feelings about their hopes, dreams, lonely lives etc, George and Lennie are the only characters we really get to know. All other ranch hands haven’t got a family or anything to look forward to, but it is different with George and Lennie; they believe they have a future and as long as they have got each other, it doesn’t matter whether they have a family or not. These men love each other. They talk to each other and know that the other cares for them, because George looks after Lennie, and Lennie looks after George. However, George has a much greater job in looking after Lennie, than Lennie has in looking after George. Lennie is a bit of a dunce and is always forgetting things, but George has the brains. They both are physically well built, but Lennie does not realise his own strength sometimes, he is dangerously strong. Lennie is the physical side of the pair, whereas George is the mental. The fact that they have each other gives them more of a chance of success, than the other ranch hands. Lennie loves George to tell him what; one-day things will be like. Their dream is to one day buy a little house, with a ten acres, a â€Å"win’mill†, a kitchen, an orchard to grow â€Å"cherries, apples, peaches, ‘cots, nuts, and a few berries†, a section on the land to grow alfalfa that Lennie will use to feed the rabbits with, hutches and pens full with pigs, chickens, cows, goats, cats, pigeons, a dog and rabbits that Lennie could pet, a smoke house so they could kill the pigs and then smoke it, for smoked ham and bacon etc, and for them to literally â€Å"live off the fatta the lan'†. They would only work six or seven hours a day. Lennie likes to pet, smooth, soft, furry things, as a kind of comfort. Other than for George and animals, love and affection are withheld, not only from Lennie, but also for all the ranch hands. This is why they have their own individual comfort or way of escaping from the repetitive daily routine and loneliness. Candy is a dissimilar character from the other ranch hands. He is very lonely and sad. He has no hand, but a very old dog that he cares for very much. This dog is similar to Candy. They are both very old and when Carlson shoots the dog, because it smells, has no teeth, he cannot eat, is stiff with rheumatism, is nearly blind and Carlson thinks it will be better to put the dog out of his ageing misery. Candy wants people to treat him once he is canned like this. This is because he â€Å"won’t have no place to go, an’ he can’t get no more jobs†. The other ranch hands say that he can replace the dog with one of Lulu’s pups, but of course that wouldn’t be the same, never is anyone or anything the equivalent, everyone and everything is unique. Candy seems to think that when he is dead, people will say the same thing about him. When a new ranch hand comes and replaces him, he’ll be forgotten. For obvious reasons Candy is upset and hurt by this. It is as if the characteristics of his dog and the way the other men treat the dog, symbolises Candy. Candy wants to join George and Lennie in their ‘dream’. Candy has already got three hundred bucks and another fifty coming at the end of the month, when the men get paid. He explains that he â€Å"ain’t much good, but I could cook, tend the chickens, and hoe the garden some†. Then when George and Lennie get their fifty bucks each at the end of the month, they will have four hundred and fifty bucks, and although the woman wants six hundred bucks, George thinks she will accept their offer as a deposit and then George will get a job and start to collect the rest, while Candy and Lennie could work on the land as well as sell eggs etc, making more money. This is Candy’s route of escaping. Everything seems to be falling into place and their dream looks like it could become reality. This is everything a man wants and Candy is thrilled he is part of it. However much their dream looks real, it all ends when Curley’s wife tries her old tricks with Lennie. Curley’s wife enters the barn, as Lennie sits there mourning over his pup, he has just accidentally killed! George has already warned Lennie about Curley’s wife, says she is trouble, so Lennie refuses to talk to her, â€Å"George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you- talk to you or nothing†. Curley’s wife says in a innocent voice, â€Å"All the guys got a horse-shoe tenement goin’ on†, so â€Å"Why can’t you talk to me?† She eventually persuades Lennie that it is safe to talk to her. They talk for ages and Lennie tells her how he â€Å"likes to pet nice things with my fingers, sof’ things†. She tells Lennie to â€Å"feel right here†, on her hair. Lennie was enjoying stroking her hair until she warned him not to â€Å"muss it up†. She then got angry because Lennie wasn’t listening to her. She went to pull away and Lennie clasped his fingers tightly in her hair and wouldn’t let go. She began to shout, â€Å"you let go†. Lennie began to get scared because he thought George would hear and go mad. He covered her mouth and nose to prevent her screaming, and continued to beg her to be quiet. She continued to struggle and he shook her. Suddenly â€Å"her body flopped like a fish†. She was dead! Lennie ran to the brush that George had told him to hide in when they first arrived in Soledad if he ever got into trouble. When Candy found Curley’s wife dead and told all the ranch hands, they all knew it was Lennie! Most of the men wanted to kill Lennie, but George got there first. George knew that Lennie would be scared if half a dozen men ran towards him shooting, but if George was to do it at the back of his head, just like Candy’s old dog it would be pain free. When George found him, Lennie asked for the story of their dream to be told to him and questioned George why he wasn’t mad at him, but obviously if this was George’s last moments with Lennie he didn’t want to be mad at him. As George told the story and paused every so often, Lennie would say â€Å"go on† or â€Å"Gonna do it soon† as if he knew what George was about to do and was encouraging George to get it over and done with. George finally shot Lennie. Lennie jarred forward and the settled peacefully as he lay on the sand. George just sat stiffly and silently n the bank, looking at his hand that had just pulled the trigger disgustedly. George knew it was for the best, where ever they were to go Lennie’s unrecognised strength would lead to trouble; it had already, both in Weed and Soledad. Lennie was trapped by his strength. Although, Lennie has now been released from pain by no longer being able to kill others and from not getting shot by half a dozen men cruelly, but peacefully by George. The upsetting thing is, that Lennie was so afraid of being alone and away from George, and now he was just that. It was all over!!! George is now free; he is no longer trapped by his want of freedom, of constantly looking after Lennie. I think the novel tries to give us the message that people try to lead their lives as successfully as possible, in order to result in the best possible outcome. However this is very hard to succeed. The ranch hands wanted the ‘American Dream’ to become reality, but is very unlikely and as shown does not happen. The novel gave a very positive view of the ‘American dream’, but this is erroneous and does not come true. The chances of finding true, lasting friendship and happiness are also very unlikely as it is always spoilt by misfortune, arguments, inconveniences and sometimes death, as in this case.

The gendercide against Jewish men

He gendercidal dimension of the holocaust against the Jews was evident during particular phases of the campaign of extermination. It nonetheless has its harbinger in the mass detentions of males during the earlier (1933-41) period of Nazi rule. As a campaign of full-blown mass execution, the gendercide against Jewish males marked an important, if temporary, â€Å"onset phase† of the holocaust in the occupied eastern territories (including, after August 1941 , the Balkans).Gendercidal strategies against women were evident at later stages, both in mass executions and gassings, women- nly death camps, and the forced marches that killed tens of thousands in the closing stages of the war. Again, it must be stressed that in both their male and female manifestations, the Jewish gendercides were subsidiary features and strategies of a campaign of â€Å"root-and-branch† extermination, in which gender was far from a dominant consideration overall.Daniel Goldhagen points out in Hi tler's Willing Executioners (pp. 149-50) how the†up-close,† intimate killing of manifestly defenceless, screaming civilians on the eastern front killings which spattered blood and brain matter around the killing fields and over the killers was at first ncrementally managed according to gender: The Einsatzgruppen [death-squad] officers could habituate their men into their new vocation as genocidal executioners through a stepwise escalation of the killing.First, by shooting primarily teenage and adult Jewish males, they would be able to acclimate themselves to mass executions without the shock of killing women, young children, and the infirm. According to Alfred Filbert, the commander of Einsatzkommando 9, the [execution] order from [Reinhard] Heydrich â€Å"quite clearly† â€Å"included also women and children. † Yet, â€Å"in the first instance, without a doubt, the executions were limited generally to Jewish males. By generally keeping units' initial mass acres to smallish numbers (by German standards) of a few hundred or even a thousand or so, instead of many thousands, the perpetrators would be less likely to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the gargantuan bloodbaths that were to follow. They also could believe that they were selectively killing the most dangerous Jews, which was a measure that they could conceive to be reasonable for this apocalyptic war. Once the men became used to slaughtering Jews on this sex-selective and smaller scale, the officers could ore easily expand the scope and size of the killing operations.Jewish men rounded up for mass execution at Zhytomyr, Ukraine, August 7, 1942. In the early weeks of these murder campaigns, the Einsatzkommandos, according to Goldhagen, â€Å"were the equivalent of genocidal scouting parties, developing the methods of The images of mountains of corpses left behind by the Nazi mass murderers shocked the world, and helped contribute to the founding of the state of Israel. As the Soviet and Allied forces rolled back across Nazi-occupied Europe,

Media Analysis Paper Toddlers and Tiaras

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1. 1 PURPOSE 1. 2 DATA DESCRIPTION 2. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO CHILD BEAUTY PAGEANTS AND TODDLERS & TIARAS 3. TELEVISION AND REALITY TV AS A MEDIUM 4. REALITY TV RESEARCH 4. 1 MEDIA SPECTACLES 4. 2 OBSCENITY OF TODDLERS AND TIARAS 4. 3 USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY 4. 4 STUART HALL’S ENCODING-DECODING MODEL 5. METHOD 6. FINDINGS 7. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS 7. 1 LIMITATIONS 8. CONCLUSION 2 2 2 3 4 5 5 7 9 10 11 13 29 31 31 33 ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 9. REFERENCES 10. APPENDIX 10. 1 PAPER DIVISION 10. 2 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 10. 3 INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 1. Introduction Ever since the advent of reality TV at the end of 1990’s, television producers started to look for controversial subjects, which would capture the viewer, and make this new format a hit. This was also the case with the child beauty pageants industry, which has been a frequently discussed to pic in the United States for decades.Nevertheless, after the emergence of the Reality TV (RTV) show, Toddlers and Tiaras, produced by the American broadcaster TLC, the controversy about this particular industry and children on television has increased rapidly. Toddlers and Tiaras is a show which might seem strange to people who do not know and have never heard of child beauty pageants. Especially the emphasis on making a girl look older, than her actual age, is hard to understand for many people. However, these shocking scenes that often cause certain emotions among the audience, is exactly how RTV producers are trying to capture and interest its audience.Toddlers and Tiaras might be a show that is judged rapidly due to the controversial nature of child beauty pageants, however the ratings of TLC prove that it is also a program which people enjoy watching and like to talk about. 1. 1 Purpose The purpose of this research paper is to investigate what people think about a show that fea tures little girls who are turned into beauty queens, how they perceive the characters as well as child beauty pageants in general. Furthermore, due to the fact that this phenomenon clearly reflects the American society, it is interesting to find out what European's actually think of this concept. . 2 Data description Most of the data collected in this research comes from academic articles used in the course, and books from the SDU library. Furthermore, online desk research played a major role, including research papers from the scholar. google search engine. Since Toddlers and Tiaras is a show that has only been broadcasted since a few years and has just entered the European market it seems to be a very current topic. This helped us in our research to find up-to-date information about the Reality TV show, as well as the child beauty pageant industry.Moreover, ten in-depth interviews served as a qualitative research method and added highly valuable information to our research. 2 2. Brief introduction to child beauty Pageants and Toddlers & Tiaras Only in a climate of denial could hysteria over satanic rituals at daycare centers coexist with a failure to grasp the full extent of child abuse. (More than 8. 5 million women and men are survivors. ) Only in a culture that represses the evidence of the senses could child pageantry grow into a $5 billion dollar industry without anyone noticing.Only in a nation of promiscuous puritans could it be a good career move to equip a six-year-old with bedroom eyes (Richard Goldstein, 1997). Child beauty pageants have in the past few decades grown into a multi-billion dollar industry, sponsored by multinationals such as Proctor and Gamble and Hawaiian Tropics. In the United States approximately, five thousand child pageants are held every year, with a subscription fee between $250 to $800 dollars, especially when competing on a national level (Giroux, 1998: 39). Pageants are held both on a local and national level.Whereas the local level is mainly meant for working class families, the national competitions are dominated by the middle-and upper class, who have the resources to afford expensive clothes, pageant coaches, dance lessons, travel expenses and etc (Giroux, 1998: 39/40). The popularity growth of child beauty pageants did not go unnoticed and after the rising interest for pageant magazines such Pageantry, The Learning Channel (TLC) decided to launch the reality-based docudrama ‘’Toddlers and Tiaras’’ in February 2009. Now four years later, due to high audience ratings TLC has recently premiered its 5th season.The protagonists of Toddlers and Tiaras are children as young as two years old and their mothers, competing in beauty pageants. The show follows the little beauty queens and their families in their homes and backstage in order to document the preparation the girls have to go through to get the required ‘Barbie-look’ for the contests. Pageants are a lucr ative business, not only for the promoters who are making approximately $100,000 per event but also for the contestants who are able to win high money prices as well as holidays and cars (Giroux 1998: 40).Nevertheless, besides the fact that a lot of money can be earned, the costs of competing in child beauty pageants add up quickly. Those high amounts of money indicate that the participation at such beauty contests demands much commitment and a high level of professionalism from the little girls. Hours of training for a flawless dance routine to impress the judges, as well as a healthy diet to be thin for the upcoming pageants are the rule (Sheridan, 2011). 3 Furthermore, there are two different categories of pageants, the Glitz pageants and the natural pageants.Especially the Glitz pageants have led to extreme discussions and outrage in the US. From fake eye lashes to fake spray tan, from provocative outfits to overlays for teeth (the so-called ‘flippers’ to hide the l ittle girl’s tooth gaps, and give them a million-dollar smile), the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras documents every single step of the pageant preparation, and has increased the controversy about the sexualization of children on television (Sheridan, 2011).Another controversial point of the TV show, are the mothers of the little beauty queens, who are faced with the accusation of using their children to make their own dreams come true. According to what you see on the show, they push their little girls to practice several hours a day, and use beauty treatments, like spray tanning to increase their chances of winning (Heltsley & Calhoun, 2003: 82). According to experts, the consequences these competitions can have on little girls are extremely negative. Indeed, â€Å"it can be harmful to girls, teaching them that their self-worth is measured by how pretty they are† (Schultz & Murphy, 2012).Moreover, as a result of the pageants, the girls can develop lifetime problems, inclu ding depression, perfectionism, eating disorders, and body shame (Sheridan, 2011). 3. Television and Reality TV as a Medium If our culture in the second half of the twentieth century is influenced by one medium, then it is television. Via TV, people were for the first time able to witness the horrors of warfare. However, the TV also brought new forms of amusement, music, cabaret and the glitter and glamour of big show programs. In other words, television caused that awareness, grief and appiness have become public issues (Hermes & Reesink 2003: 2). Furthermore, even though in recent years the Internet has started to take over television as the most penetrating medium, television is still often seen as one of the most intrusive one, due to the fact that it uses both visual and auditory stimuli. Moreover, media is used by different people for different reasons. Whereas one person would use the medium television or another medium in general, to gather information, others will turn on t he television pure for entertainment (Asseldonk 2005: 10).One trend which can be described as pure entertainment is RTV, which can be referred to as a ‘’catch-all category that includes a wide range of entertainment programs about real people’’. This form of entertainment has become a firm part of the daily television programing since the 1999s/2000s worldwide. Reality TV nowadays portrays everything and anything, from dating to weight loss, from healthcare to children beauty pageants (Hill, 2005: 2). Moreover, reality TV can be funny, dramatic, exciting and even 4 educating.A reality TV show does not tell its audience how they have to feel about what they see, which is why the opinions about popular programs, such as Big Brother or Toddlers and Tiaras, differ widely. The very first reality TV shows were totally different from what we see today. In fact, the shows followed mainly policemen, firefighters or ambulance drivers and did not invade the private s pace of a person (J. Bignell, p. 28). According to Hermes & Reesink (2003) RTV can be divided into three different forms; emotional-TV, real life soaps and docusoaps.Toddlers and Tiaras can be referred to as a docusoap, meaning that a fixed group of people and their daily activities are being recorded at school, work and etc. The emphasis of these formats is mainly based on the recognition and identification of the people and events portrayed on the show (Mast, 2003). Furthermore, the paper will continue to concentrate on the medium within the medium reality television or more specifically the RTV show Toddlers and Tiaras. Hereby the next chapter will take a closer look at both Media spectacles, the Use and Gratification theory and the encoding-decoding model n relation to child beauty pageants portrayed on the show. 4. Reality TV Research The following chapter focusses on four different theories related to television including; Media Spectacles, Obscenity, Hall’s Encoding an d Decoding model and Uses and Gratification theory. 4. 1 Media spectacles Today’s society can be described as ‘society of the spectacle’. In fact; â€Å"Spectacles are those phenomena of media culture which embody contemporary society's basic values, serve to enculturate individuals into its way of life, and dramatize its controversies and struggles, as well as its modes of conflict resolution.They include media extravaganzas, sports events, political happenings, and those attention-grabbing occurrences that we call news — a phenomena that itself has been subjected to the logic of spectacle and tabloidization in the era of the media sensationalism, political scandal and contestation, seemingly unending cultural war† (Kellner, 2003: 27). Sports, such as the Super Bowl or the Olympics are important media spectacles (p. 5). Moreover, the entertainment industry is providing major spectacles itself, such as the Oscars or popular film spectacles like the Harry Potter series (p. ). Furthermore, politics also play a major role in the media, and the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, with the following war against terrorism, has clearly been the mega 5 spectacle of the 21st century (p20). Besides, those serious topics, reality TV has become part of this phenomenon as well. Starting with hit-series like Big Brother, Survivor, and the Bachelor, RTV soon turned into a major spectacle, with a constantly growing fan crowd. In addition, RTV reached a ew stage, when MTV started to broadcast the faux-reality series about the rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family, which documented their somewhat ordinary family life. However, this new kind of ‘realitainment’ was a huge success, and fascinated massive television audiences around the world (p. 19). â€Å"Thus, the new millennium is marked by a diversity of spectacles in the field of politics, culture, entertainment, and every realm of social life† (Kellner, 2003: 27) And y Warhol said in 1968: â€Å"In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes† (phrasefinder). Nowadays, the world has many celebrities, such as actors, writers or singers.However, it seems that more and more people want to be part of the rich and beautiful, and decide to turn their lives into televisual spectacles to achieve those 15 minutes of fame. The participants of Toddlers and Tiaras often say during the show that they would like their children to become a celebrity when they grow up. The most common wishes are to turn the girls into a future a Miss America, singers or actresses, with idols such as Selena Gomez, who both started their careers at a very young age (Hollywoodlife, 2011). Clearly Toddlers and Tiaras is a special kind of spectacle that draws a lot of attention and discussions.The show has been debated on big TV channels, such as CNN, ABC and CW, who have invited various mothers and daughters portrayed on the show, in order to discuss the repeated a ccusations of child abuse (Canning & Behrendt, 2012: 1). Nevertheless, the first time (Glitz) beauty pageants attracted national attention was after the alleged sexual abuse and murder of the six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in 1996. The public was shocked, and saw a clear connection between the murder and the pageants, saying the perpetrator had used the children beauty pageant competition to choose his victim (Giroux, 1998: 2).Paul Peterson, a member of ‘A minor Consideration’ that tries to change the children entertainment industry said about the pageants: â€Å"This is feeding the sex industry. There is a tremendous trade within juvenile modeling† (ABCnews, 2011). However, at the time of JonBenet’s murder, no TV show had been documented about the children beauty pageant circus yet. JonBenet who was competing in various beauty pageants, was found abused and murdered in her basement.Not only the public but also the media blamed the beauty pagean ts for attracting pedophiles and accused JonBenet’s parents of violating their parental duties by dressing JonBenet too sexy and letting her 6 participate in those contests. The murder of JonBenet turned into a mega spectacle with the parents and beauty pageants at the center of national news reports. Nights in a row all major networks showed the public, video’s in which JonBenet was seen wearing sexy adult clothing, red lipstick, curled and bleached hair giving the audience a seductive look in order to impress the judges (Giroux, 1998: 37).According to Giroux, this case presented the American viewer ‘’a spectacle in which it became both a voyeur and a witness to its refusal to address the broader conditions that contribute to the sexualiation and commodification of kids in the larger culture’’ (Giroux, 1998: 37). The case did not only caught the attention of the major networks but also of important American television figures such as Oprah W infrey, who showed the public that child abuse frequently occurs at home and that the idea people have about that a child molester is most often an outsider is not so credible.The Ramsey case clearly showed this phenomenon of a ‘’unsafe home’’, not necessarily in the way of physical abuse but more looking at the fact that JonBenet parents forced their dreams and fantasies on their little girl, which resulted in the fact that they denied her a personality appropriate for a six-year old. Despite this terrible event and the enormous controversy towards child beauty pageants, TLC decided to broadcast a program dedicated to exactly this. Even though the controversy remains, the program has high audience rates and has turned into yet another reality television spectacle. 4. 2Obscenity of Toddlers and Tiaras According to the Cambridge dictionary, obscenity or when someone or something is obscene is also referred to as ‘’an offensive and shocking situ ation or event’’ (Cambridge dictionary online). The commercialization of major broadcasters has according to several theorists led to negative changes in what kind of media content is offered nowadays (De Bens, 1994; Dovey, 2000). De Bens calls the tendency towards First Person Media also tabloidization, due to the fact that the media nowadays offers more and more entertainment that makes the public dumber (Jansen, 2011: 17).Especially in RTV programs the cameras have started to intrude in people’s private lives, in order to satisfy the viewer’s desire towards sensation and spectacles. It is often said that viewer’s currently, have gotten an increasingly narrowminded and stereotype image of what kind of problems are going on in society (Mast, 2003). The stories and images portrayed in the media, of individuals sharing their intimacies is getting crazier every time. The public has gotten used to the fact that the public domain has turned into a frea k show. 7When the first Big-Brother came out and the contestants were having sex on life TV, people started to wonder where the limit is. According to Hermes & Reesink (2003), fear arose that RTV would continue to stretch its limits and would become more and more inappropriate and revolting (p. 229). When looking at the RTV program Toddlers and Tiaras and the Cambridge definition of obscenity, the program is often seen as both offensive and shocking. Ever since Toddlers and Tiaras debuted on TLC in 2009, it has been a show that caused much controversy in the US (realitytvworld, 2009).Children beauty pageants were nothing new in the US at that time, since the very first pageants already took place in the 1960s; however this new RTV show documented very closely to what extremes the mothers go to make their daughters win (Huffingtonpost, 2011). The mothers participating in Toddlers and Tiaras have earned the nickname ‘pageant-moms’ in the US, and there is even an overall t erm to define their often shocking behavior, namely the ‘pageant mom’ phenomenon (ABCnews, 2012: 3). By definition, ‘Pageant moms’ aggressively market their daughters in beauty contests.Those mothers often function as managers and might have a less positive and stable relationship with their children, than mothers that separate business from family. Toddlers and Tiaras heated up the discussions about the ‘pageant mom’ phenomenon, and uses the overly competitive mothers very successfully, to increase the interest in the program. Some of the show’s protagonists achieved a very questionable fame in the US and are highly criticized for their behavior. For most critics, the main problem is not even the actual beauty pageant, but the preparation that comes with it.TLC concentrates greatly on filming the beauty treatments, such as spray tanning or heavy make-up, since those are the moments when the children most often defend themselves against their mother’s treatment. The complaints made by these crying little girls often hits a nerve of the public and generated more than once a fundamental discussion about child abuse (McKay, 2010). Moreover, the debate about sexualizing children on television has increased extremely since Toddlers and Tiaras started broadcasting.This is, due to the fact that many mothers select provocative costumes to attract attention, and to improve the winning chances of their daughters. However, together with the heavy make-up and professional hairdos, the little girls look extremely mature. This is where the problem for many starts, as a children psychologist shares: â€Å"When you have them looking older, for a lot of people that means looking sexier†¦If you’re telling a 6-year-old to act like a 16-year-old, you’re telling her to be seductive and to be sexy† (Schultz & Murphey, 2012: 2).In fact one pageant mom on Toddles and Tiaras has gone as far as to dress her 3-year-old in the same costume that Julia Roberts’ prostitute character wore in the movie ‘Pretty Women’ (Thompson, 2011: 1). This performance was followed by much public out8 rage and a complaint, which was filed by the Parents Television Council against TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras saying: â€Å"We have a serious problem when The Learning Channel features a toddler, who probably hasn't even learned to read, dressed as a prostitute showing off her sexy strut† (Thompson, 2011: 1).However, exactly those provocations and shocking scenes has made Toddlers and Tiaras one of the most successful Reality TV shows featuring children. Moreover, the pageant moms get much attention in the hit-series Toddlers and Tiaras and sometimes become even more popular than their own daughters. Many critics say that the mothers push the girls to participate in pageants and on Toddlers and Tiaras only to be in the spotlight themselves. However, not every pageant mom can autom atically be accused to be a bad mother.In short, Toddlers and Tiaras create a lot of shocking and controversial moments and discussions. During the in-depth interviews the research will continue to concentrate what the opinions of the participants are and whether according to them this program can be seen as obscenity. 4. 3 Uses and gratifications theory Within the uses and gratifications theory the central idea is that it is necessary to know how and why people use media in order to see what kind of force that certain medium has on people (Vettehen, 1998: 6).Media use is linked to the needs people want to satisfy and the gratification they think they will get from it. The uses and gratifications approach, studies the social, psychological and cultural origin of the needs media users have. People generally use media because it fulfills and satisfies these needs (Vettehen, 1998: 6). The uses and gratification approach is in research frequently used to trace the functions of peopleâ⠂¬â„¢s media use. When applying uses and gratifications on RTV, it helps to understand the watcher’s motives and preferences.This is done by placing RTV on the greater spectrum of communication channels which are somewhat accessible to audiences, with the understanding that people are often, but not constantly, actively involved in the selection of media content (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 356). According to A. Rubin (1983) nine different motives for watching television could be identified including; ‘’relaxation, companionship, entertainment, social interaction, information, habit, pass time, arousal and escape’’ (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 359). Moreover, three additional otives were added, including parasocial interaction of watching the news and ‘’surveillance and voyeurism for certain program types’’ (359). Furthermore, according to Papacharissi & Mendelson quantitative research, RTV is mainly watched for en tertainment, to pass time or because it has become a habit. In contrast to these three main 9 objectives of watching RTV, voyeurism seems the least mentioned motive. According to Crew’s study (2006), this has several reasons. First of all, people are nowadays, used to the concept of watching RTV programs.Secondly, social desirability may also play a role in this, due to the fact that people rather not admit that they like to spy on other people. People however, seem to be very interested in the game element and the group dynamic of a program, due to the fact that this often gives excitement to the program (Crew, 2006: 71). Furthermore, despite the fact that according to De Kloet & Chow (2000), it is impossible for a RTV participant to completely be themselves, the viewer often does not see it that way. Therefore, besides entertainment, the authenticity of the personages as well as their emotions also plays an important role.By using RTV programs as a means of identification a higher degree of involvement finds place. In different studies about watching reality television, divergent motives are being mentioned as the most important motive to watch this genre. The question however, is which of these motives apply to Toddlers and Tiaras. Even though, a wide variety of the viewers of Toddlers & Tiaras cannot directly identify themselves with these little girls or their mothers, the program does strongly play into the emotions of the viewer as well as concentrating on the game factor of which child will win this episodes pageant.During the qualitative interviews the research paper will focus on finding out which of the 12 earlier mentioned motives, according to the 12 respondents are most relevant to Toddlers & Tiaras. 4. 4 Stuart Hall’s Encoding-decoding model Hall’s encoding and decoding model focuses on the interpretation of media messages, a process that finds place when the media messages are being received. An individual gives meaning to messages by looking, reading and or listening, through which the person can feel emotionally involved or has the feeling that he or she can identify him or herself with the personage portrayed (De Boer & Brennecke, 2003: 114).Furthermore, Hall’s model states that there are two central processes who decide which meaning a media product has. Encoding refers to the producer’s role who formulates a media message within its own abilities and restrictions. Social background, gender, age, education and organizational structure all play an important role in this. Decoding on the other hand, refers to the public who receives a message and depending on its own knowledge and common sense interprets the message in its own way (Jansen, 2011: 32).Both daily life experiences as well as what the public sees and hears in the media are of importance when giving meaning to a message (Fiske & Hartley, 2003: 81). This means that both on the encoding and decoding side, different meanings of media-messages arise due to the fact that people generally differ widely from each other (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 33). 10 According to Hall there are three different ways to read a media text such as for instance a television program, including; dominant (or ‘hegemonic’), negotiated and oppositional (‘counter-hegemonic’) reading.The dominant reading exists of the message the producer meant to send to the public. Negotiated reading means that the viewer understands the producer’s message but partly also gives its own interpretation which fits the situation better. Lastly, with oppositional reading the viewer rejects the message. In addition studies of signification start when the medium and public meet. The origin of these studies all come from Hall’s encoding and decoding model.Hereby it is assumed that different people, possibly all give a different meaning to a specific media message. Two common perspectives of these studies in terms of RTV are; identification and disapproval. Identification finds place when people can relate the story line to their own life, whereas disapproval finds place when people are distant towards what they see and find it unrealistic (Liebes & Katz, 1990). Both theorists and viewers describe reality television in a different manner.According to research on the signification of RTV it appears that the viewer realizes that the images they see are copied-pasted by the producer’s as well as that conversations are often manipulated in a way that it changes the context (Jansen, 2011: 33). For the viewer it is especially important to identify themselves with the different personages, in which authenticity plays an important role (Hautakangas, 2010: 237). Besides, identification, emotional empathy as well as using the program as a reference framework are ways to give meaning to a RTV program.In the case of Toddlers and Tiaras, the viewer might feel empathy when seeing how the eyebrows or legs of 4-6 year olds are being plugged and waxed. These kinds of images are often supported by voice overs in the form of interviews or dialogues with either the mum or the children themselves. Due to these dialogues and interviews, the viewer is enabled to empathize with what the personages are feeling (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 224). In which way the viewers of Toddlers and Tiaras give meaning to the program will become clearer during the in-depth interviews. 5. MethodAs mentioned in the introduction the purpose of this research is to find out, what people think about the show Toddlers and Tiaras, how they perceive the characters as well as child beauty pageants in general. Furthermore, due to the fact that this phenomenon clearly reflects the American society, it is interesting to find out what European's actually think of this concept. The variety of data used for this research and the 11 diverse number of sources from which they were collected made both the use of qualitative and qua ntitative research methods of collecting data suitable or this research. We therefore, decided to mix these two methods of data collection. Qualitative research is often used ‘’to study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of meanings people bring to them’’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 2002: 3). Furthermore, qualitative research questions are often ‘’how and what’’ questions trying to find out information about the respondents experiences, strategies, feelings, behavior, perceptions and motivations (Evers & de Boer, 2007: 18).This research paper makes use of the qualitative research method; interviewing, which according to Evers & de Boer (2007) is the most common data collection strategy. Qualitative interviewing exists of various types, including individual interviews and group interviews. For this paper we have chosen to focus on individual in-depth interviewing. An important reason why we have chosen for this is due to the fact that it has a more personal setting and in this way we can get more honest and extensive responds from the participants than when for instance distributing a quantitative research survey.In addition, the interviews were held in an informal setting often on the couch of either one of the interviewers or of the respondents, to give the participants a relaxed feeling so that they would feel open towards the questions asked. Before the interview, the participants were also asked to watch a 42 minute episode of Toddlers and Tiaras at home so that in case they had never seen the program before, they had a clearer overview of what it is about.Right before the interview, the participants were shown another short 2 minute video clip about a famous Toddlers and Tiaras participant who is well known in the United States for drinking the so called ‘’go-go Juice’’, which is a mix of two different caffeine drinks. Fu rthermore, the in-depth interviews were held on the basis of the theoretical framework of chapter four, focusing on the following topics; uses and gratifications, obscenity, signification/encoding and decoding and child beauty pageants in general.For this research, a total of 10 international master students (five men and five women) from the University of Southern Denmark were interviewed about their viewing of the American RTV program Toddlers and Tiaras. The interviews existing of 16 different open questions took between approximately, 11 and 21 minutes, depending on how much the respondent knew about the program. The fact that the sample included both 5 female and 5 male respondents was done purposely, in order to be able to examine whether gender plays a role in how people perceive the program.The participants were matched on nationality, coming from five different European countries, with the exception of one participant who is half American and Half Greek. Furthermore, as men tioned earlier the participants were also matched on 12 the level of education (Master students) and age (23-26), due to the fact that according to research ‘’students represent a significant portion of the demographic age group that several reality shows target’’ (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007: 359).Lastly, the participants were contacted either personally or via Facebook and they volunteered knowing that the interview would be recorded for later examination. 6. Findings In this chapter the research findings of the 10 conducted interviews will be analyzed, which existed of 16 different questions, some related to the theory of chapter 4 and some in order to get a better understanding of what the interviewees think about both Toddlers and Tiaras or child beauty pageants in general. RQ1: What did you just watch or see?In order to have an understanding of how the participants perceived the two video’s they were asked to watch before they started the i nterview, all 10 contestants were asked the question; ‘’what did you just watched or see’’. According to the De Bruin (2005), with the interpretation of media-content people construct ideas about themselves and about the people they have seen on TV (p. 17). The purpose of this question was therefore, to find out what popped in to the contestants minds when solely asking ‘what did you just watch’, without giving them any time to really think about the question and their responds.Three out of ten of the respondents solely answered ‘’Toddlers and Tiaras’’, without going more in to depth of how they decoded the two video’s. Nevertheless, the remaining 7 participants gave a more descriptive message about what they had seen. One of the male respondents for instance stated that he ‘’saw a lot of young girls acting like old girls, like old adults, like grown-ups. And I saw the parents as well who are kind of living in another world like maybe they would have like to be their daughter or something’’ (Xavier, 00:12).By only asking one simple question, Xavier did not only described what he saw; ‘young girls being dressed up as adults and their parents’, but also interpreted the message in a way that he feels that these parents live a life they might have wanted themselves through their daughters. Furthermore, also one of the female respondents answered the question in a similar way by saying that she had ‘’seen a little girl who wants to be a beauty queen and her mum who wants it even more’’ (Igne, 00:33).Xavier’s and Igne’s idea is being confirmed by the Psychologists Mark Sichel who said about the mothers portrayed on Toddlers and Tiaras that; â€Å"Clearly these mothers are living vicariously through their daughters, hoping the girls will receive the attention and accolades they do not get in their own lives†¦ They put make-up on their daughters, without realizing that they are, in effect, pimping out their own child† (M. Sichel, 2011). 13 RQ2: What part of the video shocked you the most or stood out to you the most?As mentioned in chapter 4. 2; obscenity is referred to as ‘’an offensive and shocking situation or event’’ (Cambridge dictionary online). In order to find out whether the respondents felt there was a relationship between obscenity and the program Toddlers and Tiaras the above mentioned question was asked. Even though various answers were given the two major outcomes were the behavior of the children and then especially their behavior towards the parents as well as the fact that these little kids have no idea what they are doing.The first outcome was based on the fact that the respondents were shocked about how the participation in Toddlers and Tiaras affected the behavior of these girls in a very negative way. 50% of the participants mentioned a certain aspect of education, behavior or development. According to Katia ‘’the most shocking to me is how already like small kids they react and how they behave with their parents.For example the small children they do not really respect their parents, they can say some bad stuff or show some bad gestures to their parents, I do not appreciate that’’ (Katia, 00:37). Whereas, most shocking to male participant Sebastian was; ‘’The way the parents take advantage of their kids. Especially if you talk about these girls how they behave if their parents are around and how this entire industry or this entire way of treating them really seems to affect their behavior’’ (Sebastian, 00:30).The behavioral attitude is an often discussed subject in relation to child beauty pageants. The Psychologists Micheal Sichel, even took this aspect a little further by saying; â€Å"there certainly is no evidence that these toddler beauty pageants creat e anything but future narcissists who will not know how to get along in the world. This is because once the pageant is over, the little girl is no longer a tot with a tiara, yet expects the world to treat her like a queen† (M. Sichel, 2011).This statement was also tipped on by one of the respondents who said that he had the feeling that these girls are ‘’acting like she is an actress or a famous person’’ (Adrian, 00:36). Furthermore, the second main outcome was that the respondents were shocked about the fact that due to the age of the girls, they have no idea what they are doing, which has been confirmed by childhood behavioral health psychologist Dr. Bishop who stated that â€Å"Toddlers are not old enough to make an informed decision as to whether they should compete† (Mckay, 2010).Remi one of the male French respondents was actually shocked by a combination of the two above mentioned outcomes; ‘’the attitude of the parents and the mentality, of pushing their child who are not able to decide for themselves, the parents are deciding for them and pushing them which is actually quiet bad for the development of the 14 child’’ (Remi, 00:30). Whereas Kleo and Felix only mentioned the aspect of age and not knowing what they are doing; ‘’What shocked me the most was how the parents handled the whole situation because kids can be kids and they don’t really know what is going on’’ (Kleo, 00. 40). ’Force them to do something that they probably don’t really want to do. Of course obviously they do it but I think that they are not in the right age to decide it by themselves’’ (Felix, 00:29). RQ3: Have you ever watched the show Toddlers and Tiaras? Due to the fact that respondents were foreign Master students from various countries studying abroad, the majority does not have a television in their apartment or student housing. The television show investigated is being broadcasted every Sunday evening on the Danish TLC and can be watched for free on YouTube and on various illegal online streaming sites.Nevertheless, due to the fact that the program is still quiet unknown in Europe we wanted to know how many of the contestants actually watch or have watched the show before we showed them the 43 minute episode, as well as why they watched it or why they do not. These why or why not questions are related to the Uses and Gratification theory as described in chapter 4. 3. In total 6 of the contestants had never watched the show before from which four were male and two were female. Four of these six participants would not start watching the show after having seen the 43 min episode for various reasons.One of the respondents for instance answered; ‘’no I do not because I do not want to give my audience to that kind of stupid shows’’ (Adrian, 00:52). Whereas one of the female respondents had a more explici t answer of why she does not want to watch the show ‘’The little girls annoy me†¦ Especially that from such a young age she believes she is so beautiful and just with her beauty she can just get what she wants. And that her parents allow that, that is what annoys me the most’’ (Kleo, 01. 38).The two respondents who were ‘excited’ about the show after watching the episode and who would watch it again, mainly thought this due to the fact that they either thought the program was ‘’funny’’ and she would watch it because ‘’it is fun, but not because I think that it right what they do’’ (Igne, 01:33), or out of ‘’curiosity’’ (Sebastian, 00. 57). The remaining four participants who had seen the show before either watched it on a regular basis or had just watched it a few times. The reasons why they watched the show varied, one respondent said ‘’it is ju st an easy rogram’’ (Lilli, 01:34), whereas the other ones watched it out of curiosity or because a friend told her it was worth watching. Lastly, Katia one of the female participants who watched the program on a 15 regular basis said she watched it because ‘’it is something so different, I cannot say I understand it, but it is so different that I am trying to understand why they are doing that, because Americans are so different to me that I am thinking that by watching this show or something similar that I can understand better their culture’’ (Katia, 01: 20).Moreover, the Uses and Gratification theory and why the participants watch or would not watch the program varies and will be discussed in more depth during the next question where the participants choose which motive fits Toddlers and Tiaras the best. RQ4: If you look at the following 12 motives of watching television which ones apply the most to Toddlers and Tiaras?In order for the re spondents to answer this question, they were shown a PowerPoint slide, which mentioned Rubin’s and Papacharissi’s 12 motives of watching TV including; relaxation, companionship, entertainment, social interaction, information, habit, pass time, arousal, parasocial interaction, surveillance and voyeurism. Even though the participants all have a high level of English some of the motives were given a short definition in order to prevent confusion. Graph 1: % of motives mentioned by the respondents Motives scoreArousal Habit Companionship Information Entertainment Parasocial interaction Pass time Surveillance Relaxation Voyeurism 4% Social interaction 0% 26% 4% 26% 7% 7% 0% 7% 15% 4% Besides, parasocial interaction and companionship, all motives were mentioned at least once by the respondents. As you can see in graph 1, the two motives stated who matched mostly to why the respondents watch or would watch Toddlers and Tiaras are entertainment and voyeurism. As mentioned in t he theoretical part in chapter 4. 3, it has been mentioned that according to Papacharissi & Mendelson, 16 ntertainment is indeed one of the main reasons why people watch RTV shows like for instance Toddlers and Tiaras. The interesting contradiction however, is that according to them voyeurism is not often a motive mentioned in relation to RTV shows. Nevertheless, even though various researchers (Crew 2006) point out that voyeurism is indeed the least mentioned motive, Hermes & Reesink (2003) disagree with this statement. They stated in their book ‘inleiding televisiestudies’ that people like to watch RTV because it gives them the possibility to spy and observe people.They are real people, who are sometimes portrayed in intimate and critical situations which are actually not meant for the public eye, which makes it even more exciting to watch (Hermes & Reesink, 2003: 223). Similar to Hermes & Reesink, 7 out of 10 of the respondents, felt that voyeurism is indeed a motive of watching RTV or more specifically, the show Toddlers and Tiaras. One of the respondents explained why she thought voyeurism was a motive of watching the program by saying that ‘’we do not live that kind of life and maybe yeah you want to see people who are maybe a ittle bit stupid or superficial in that way or who do you think are living a really different life than you are’’ (Marina, 01:31). Moreover, one of the other female participants said that ‘’about the last one, about sexual sometimes I think about it like that as well, that they are sometimes crazy sick people that watch it for that reason you know girls in swimsuits’’ (Katia, 02:13). Furthermore, the third most mentioned motive was information, which was often mentioned by the contestant due to the fact that they did not know much about child beauty pageants as it is an American phenomenon and therefore found it informative. ’It could be for information becau se in America these things happen every day, so it is an inside of a different world for us who we do not even know existed’’ (Kleo, 02:31). RQ5: What kind of show is Toddlers and Tiaras according to you? In order to see whether the respondents understood the concept of the television show and knew what kind of genre Toddlers and Tiaras falls under, question 5 was raised. Nevertheless, it must be said that some of the participants had difficulties answering this question and only 5 out of 10 of the respondents understood that it is a reality television show.When some of the respondents were then asked whether they felt the program was real, in order to find out the authenticity of the program and the personages portrayed on the show. Two out of five actually thought it was real whereas the other three contestants felt that at least a part of the show was staged. Lilli for instance stated that ‘’it all seems a little bit fake, but then again the American cu lture tends to be a little bit fake. So it can be also quiet real. But all reality TV shows are not 100% real, but I believe these people really exists and act like this on TV’’ (Lilli, 03:44).Whereas Xavier 17 one of the Male respondents answered ‘’I think yeah, I think the people in this show are different, are maybe bored or need action. I think they have something missing in their life’’ (04:00). Even though, the opinion of our respondents, whether the participants shown on Toddlers and Tiaras act the same in real life varies. Research shows that in the RTV genre the producers often make use of reconstructions and other dramatic techniques in order to interest the viewer, therefore the question can be raised about how real reality TV actually is (Biltereyst et all, 2000: 15).However, according to Reesink (2000), when you are being followed around by cameras all day nobody is really themselves (P. 42). RQ6: What feeling did you get from wa tching the 42 min episode of Toddlers and Tiaras, or what kind of feeling do you normally get when you watch the show? Encoding and decoding as mentioned in chapter 4. 4 concentrates on how the viewer gives meaning to messages and what kind of feeling they get from that, either whether they are emotionally involved, can identify themselves with the person portrayed etc.It therefore, was important to find out more about how our 10 respondents actually felt about the show. Graph 2: Feelings of the respondents towards Toddlers and Tiaras 4 3 2 1 As you can see in graph 2, the respondents had a variety of feelings towards the program. Nevertheless, feeling sad, sorry for the parents and for the children were the three feelings mentioned most often. Feeling sorry for the parents might at first sight seems to be a bit of a strange answer due to the fact that the majority of times the parents are the once who decide to let their daughters compete in beauty 18 pageants.Though as Marina and Xavier stated ‘’I feel sorry for the kids and also for the family that they are engaged in something that is really not important in life’’ (Marina, 03:08), ‘’I felt sad for the children and sorry for the parents and for the children as well. Because I think it is just a waste of time and for me it should not exist’’ (Xavier, 04:24). It can therefore, be said that even though the respondents felt sorry for the parents, this was more in way of not understanding why they spend or waste their time with something so useless, then that they actually had an emotionally feeling of pithiness toward them.Furthermore, interpreting a media message is a difficult process and as mentioned by Hall (1973), ‘’We are not viewers with a single identity, a monolithic set of preferences and repetitive habits of viewing†¦. We are all in our heads several different audiences at once’’ (Morley, 186: 10). The fact that we are different audiences at once becomes clear when looking at some of the answers of the contestants who clearly show that they have more than just one feeling about the program.Kleo for instance mentioned that she is annoyed about the program but on the other hand also understands that these children like to compete and want to become famous and therefore feels that it is good that their parents are supportive. Nevertheless, despite her understanding she said ‘’but I really felt that they were not getting specific values and limits about how they should be. And the parents just let the children be the leader of the family’’ (Kleo, 04:10). RQ7: Do you think it is good to have a TV Show about this? Why yes or why not?After knowing how the respondents feel about the television show, in which they often gave a negative vibe, we wanted to know whether they actually thought it was good or bad to have a program portraying this 5 billion American industry. The a nswers here were divided into different groups, the yes, no, does not mind and not being surprised groups. The respondents who answered that they thought it was good to have a show like this, generally said this not because they actually liked the show, but because they felt that people would hereby be informed about what is happening in the world.Igne and Sebastian for instance stated ‘’I think it is good in this point that not to promote to do these things but to show what is going on in America’’ (Igne, 05:20), ‘’in a sense yes definitely, this show really just states how, mirrors some trends which exist in society in some sense’’(Sebastian, 03:32). Nevertheless, three of the respondents felt that Toddlers and Tiaras was not a good program. Hereby, it became clear that only the male participants felt that the program was bad, whereas none of the female respondents gave this answer.Felix one of the male respondents compared the program with the advertising industry and how women are being portrayed as skinny. According to him ‘’it is a bad thing for the whole society because it kind of influences how people perceive children, I think people do not 19 really adopt it but take some of it for themselves and maybe threat their children differently’’ (04:10). This statement is mostly supported by one of the other male respondents who said ‘’I do not think it is good at all.I do not want this to reflect the society that I am living in†¦ It gives a bad image to the parents; I mean it gives a bad image to the education they are giving their children’’ (Xavier, 05:28). Besides, good or bad answers, one of the female respondents stated that she does not think that the program is bad, but child beauty pageants in general (Katia), whereas Lilli did not see any problems in broadcasting this show, as ‘’also less educated people need something to wa tch’’ as well as because according to her it is relaxing and something that you can watch without needing to use your brain (Lilli, 08:03).It can therefore, be stated that even though the majority of the people generally have a relatively negative feeling towards child beauty pageants, which has become clear out of the previous questions, only 30% of the participants felt that the television show itself is actually bad. RQ8: What do you think is from the producer’s point of view the message behind Toddlers and Tiaras? As mentioned in chapter 4. the encoding and decoding model exists of two processes, the process in which the producer formulates a message behind the program, and the process in which the viewer decodes that message and either agrees with it or formulates its own message. In the above mentioned questions we have asked the participants about how they feel about the program etc, all fall within the second process. Nevertheless, in order to find out w hat the respondents think is the message behind the program through the eyes of the producer, the above mentioned question was raised.Also in this question it becomes clear that there is a difference between the response of the male and female participants. According to all five male interviewees there is no or no real message behind the program and it is pure entertainment, while at the same time as Xavier stated the show is ‘’taking advantage of these people’’ (06:30). Even though according to all of them there is no explicit message, both Felix and Sebastian said that broadcasting a program like this is only done for economic reasons.Furthermore, despite the fact that Remi believes the program is pure for entertainment, he does express how he feels the show reflects the American society, which is very much build on competition and capitalism (Remi, 04:40). The female interviewees on the other hand do think the producer is sending a message. Moreover, ev en though, this message differs per respondent, all five of the participants mention a certain factor of giving the world a negative view about the child pageant world or show how superficial and uneducated people live their life (Marina, 04:45).Additionally, Katia for instance has the feeling that by broadcasting this 20 show the producers are trying to promote and attract new people, however, she also stated that when she would not know that the show has already been on for so long that the producers ‘’would like to sell how crazy it is†¦ like do not do that’’ (05:30). Igne shares Katia’s second view by saying that she has the ‘’feeling that they want to show that is negative, I do not feel like they want to show that it is right.. just show how it is ridiculous’’ (04:01).Lastly, despite the fact that Lilli has more the feeling that the producers ‘’just want to create buzz.. show something a little bit shocking, something abnormal, where people talk about’’ (Lilli, 08:31), she does feel that the goal of the producer’s is to show people how scandalize it is, nevertheless, this not in order to really give a general view about child beauty pageants but more to attract viewers. Even though, the real message of the producers of Toddlers and Tiaras is unknown, it could be said that the male respondents are oppositional readers as they feel that there is no message at all behind the program.The female respondents on the other hand seem to be more negotiated readers, when looking at the fact that they all give their own interpretation to the show, however, do have the same opinion about that the producers are sending a negative message. Nevertheless, hereby it must be said that due to the fact that the original message behind the program is unknown, we cannot guarantee that the female interviewees understand the message sent by the producer or if they have created a t otally new message for themselves. RQ9: What do you think of child beauty pageants in general?The fact that TLC decided to turn children beauty pageants into a reality TV show, gave us the possibility to focus on the TV show as the primary medium. Though, to get a thorough understanding and capture all the information of the show Toddlers and Tiaras, we decided to also investigate the children beauty pageants as a medium during the interviews. Children beauty pageants are controversial events, which create diverse opinions among the audience. Our interviewees had very different views on the question â€Å"what do you think about child beauty pageants in general?What is wrong about it / what is good about it? †, and seven out of ten participants said they consider the pageants as wrong. In fact three participants simply stated that they associate negative feelings with the pageants and â€Å"think it is pretty useless† (Remi, 05:12). However, four of the interviewees ha d stronger opinions about this topic. 21 What stood out from this question is that the participants thought the pageants to have a very negative impact on the psychological development of the little girls.In fact Lilli blamed the pageant business and mothers to be responsible for â€Å"raising little, arrogant, superficial children† (Lilli, 10:20), whereas another participant claimed that â€Å"they are living in another world†¦ their parents are taking or considering them like stars or divas’ and I think it is really bad for them and when they grow up it will even be worse† (Xavier, 06:40). Moreover, one interviewee expressed his concern about the values the girls et taught, since it seems that everything is about their looks, in fact â€Å"if you really only compete on your looks, what kind of image of the world you get, you teach to your kids†(Sebastian, 05:30). Kleo agreed with this point of view, and said about a girl in the video â€Å"that is not good for her self-esteem† (Kleo, 06:52). Indeed, â€Å"it can be harmful to girls, teaching them that their self-worth is measured by how pretty they are† (Schultz & Murphy, 2012). On the other hand, there were three participants who thought that the pageants could be improved, in a way that it would cause less harm to the children.First of all two of the respondents said it would make more sense to put an emphasis on talent instead of looks and like this advance the child’s skills, like singing or dancing. Surprisingly enough, Felix was the only interviewee who approached the topic of legal issues, concerning child beauty pageants, and proposed â€Å"some laws or restrictions†¦it should be observed from a third party, from a moral point of view, I think there should always be a third party involved which takes care of some laws† (Felix, 05:31).RQ10: If these trends would also enter the European market, would you when you have children later let them participate in Beauty pageants? a) Even if she wants it herself? Toddlers and Tiaras, as well as children beauty pageants in general are an entirely American phenomenon, which is why a great part of our respondents had never heard of the show before. As one of the respondents said: â€Å"for me it is more entertainment and like I said to understand the American culture† (Katia, 06:40).Since this child pageant world is so different to us Europeans we thought it would be interesting to see how the participants react to the question of being involved in this business themselves. The difference of gender among the interviewees showed most in this question. In fact, when asked the first part of the question, all five male participants answered with a clear no. The second part of the question â€Å"Even if she wants it herself? † also clearly got negative responses.Interesting was the fact that the male participants were absolutely convinced that their own daughters wou ld never want to be in a 22 beauty pageant, like Remi said â€Å"She is not gonna want it for sure† (05:38). The female respondents on the other hand were more open to the idea of a child beauty pageant for their children, however, with a stronger emphasis on talent, and only if the child really wants it. Yet, for the female participants it was important to stress the responsibility they would have as a mother in this potential child pageant situation.As two interviewees said â€Å"If she would love to yeah maybe, but I would not push her† (Igne 07:14), and â€Å"but only if the child really would want to†¦but I would definitely try and be a different mother than what they show on television† (Kleo, 08:39). To conclude this question, men seem to find the idea of child beauty pageants more absurd than women. This is probably, since women can understand the dream of the little girls, to be turned into a ‘princess’ better than men can. Moreover, t he strangeness of pageants for Europeans seems to underline the strongly negative opinions about those events.In Europe there are no child beauty pageants that are comparable with those in the US, only the UK has had a similar program on television, like Katia said â€Å"But yeah UK it is like small USA they get kind of crazy about those things† (07:18). RQ11: What do you think that according to the children and parents is good about beauty pageants? Since there is such a strong emphasis on the personages portrayed on Toddlers and Tiaras, we wanted to have a closer look on how the public decodes the protagonists.For this reason we asked the interviewees why they thought, the children and parents had a positive attitude about the beauty pageants. This question turned out in two very strong opinions. First of all, four of the participants said that a positive factor about the beauty pageants is that the girls are shown from a very early age what competition means. They will dev elop a very strong competition spirit due to the pageants, and the mothers might think it will prepare the girls for the ‘real life’.Like Kleo said â€Å"it also shows girls that competition is in life and if you try really hard you can win, but there are always times when you lose†¦I think that is a good life lesson† (09:12). On the other hand, one interviewee found competition to have a negative impact on very young children â€Å"I think it is not good, they will have a spirit of competition already at this age I think it is really bad† (Xavier, 09:24). Six out of ten of the participants claimed that the parent’s actual goal was to live their own dreams through their daughters.The key words for this answer were: mother’s dream, self-actualization, fame, and attention. Thus those interviewees saw the intentions of the parents in a very negative light, and did not feel that it had anything to do with the child’s well-being. As Ma rina said: â€Å"I don’t think that they think so much about their children in that way, because what was in the clip I watched I had the feeling that it was 23 more about their dreams and their self-actualization† (07:11).The so-called ‘American Dream’ is a driving force behind those pageants, as one interviewee said: â€Å"they want their children to be successful, like the American dream that from nothing you can be something and become famous and a superstar and there are so many people

The European Parliament has decided to undertake a review of the Essay

The European Parliament has decided to undertake a review of the development of the Preliminary Reference Procedure under Articl - Essay Example Only the Court of Justice is accorded by such power to give preliminary rulings except in cases stated under Articles 275 and 276 TFEU and Article 10 of Protocol (No 36) on Transitional Provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 2008 C 115, p. 322). Legal luminaries explained that the procedure was laid to ensure the effectiveness of the cooperation of the Court of Justice and national courts. It eases the procedural mechanism (a) to ascertain what court has jurisdiction to hear and interpret question of laws with uniformity; (b) provide guidance for national courts in the application of this procedure. The question should also be stated in a legal form clearly, concisely and simply. Information must detail the subject on dispute, findings of factual situation and should be written in a tenor following possible applicable provision of laws with citation of national case-laws with correct references. The national court must provide ample reason which motivated the body to bring the ques tion to the Court of Justice for interpretation or validity as well as the relations of such stipulation to the national provisions. It must also have summary of relevant contentions of parties under such proceedings. The ruling will be rendered by the Court of Justice free of fees or charges. This ruling procedure is solely for the interpretation of statutes, provisions and not about laws application to facts of cases. The process tasked the Court of Justice to simply interpret the meaning of the statutes and provisions of Europian Union Law which will be stated in a formal reply, but the referring court will assume the responsibility to make conclusion from such reply. The Court of Justice will not assume jurisdiction on cases where there is no genuine dispute, question of law apparently is hypothetical or if the national court failed to give factual legal information of the case. Further, under this new provision, as stipulated in Article 267 TFEU, those who can submit a question of law are any of the Member State’s court or tribunal who is aiming at gaining clarified judicial interpretation of a law. The national court may or may not refer a question to the Court of Justice in a preliminary hearing in order to arrive at appropriate understanding of the provisions and therefore help hasten the resolve of an issue brought to its attention with sense of resoluteness. If it’s evident that correct interpretation of the rule of law is present, the question need not be raised to the Court of Justice for legal remedy. It is the role of the national court to provide reasons about the necessity for Court of Justice to give judgment on a question raised—which must be, by the way, contextualized on factual and legal contexts. To reiterate, only new questions of interpretation should be submitted to intentionally draw uniformity of understanding and application of European Union law to cases or when circumstance arise where an existing case-law is not applicable to such set of facts. Critics to this procedure however raised that the procedure seem inapplicable to labor laws because Member States

Effectiveness of Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Effectiveness of Business Communication - Essay Example Planning a business message is the first step in ensuring that the organization’s goals and objectives are achieved. Prior planning prevents failure and, therefore, planning before- hand the intended purpose of the business message is very helpful (Courtland & Thill, 2008). To ensure that one gets the right message across, research has to be done or carried out. This is with the intention of finding out if the organization is capable of carrying out or handling the intended message. If members of the organization agree with the intended message, it is okay to carry on. If the intended message does not augur well with some of the members of the organization, it is important that whoever is in charge goes back to the drawing board to re-evaluate the proposal. When the research is being carried out, the intended audience should have a say in the matter. This is to prevent little or no satisfaction from members of the group after the message has been put across. After the intended message’s information has been analysed and gathered, it is tantamount that it, the information, be organized orderly (Courtland & Thill, 2008). This is so that it may support the intended message completely. The next stage is the writing stage. This is where the information being planned is adapted. It should be adapted to the intended audience with consideration to their needs (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Communicating to the audience in a polite manner is the best way to go about this. Adopting a ‘don’t care’ mentality is not how to go about this because the audience may not be responsive. The message should be written in a manner that suggests or oozes positivity because the intended audience is much connected to the business as much as the person writing the message. It should also be unbiased. This suggests that the language used to communicate the message should not be for a specific group of people rather, should cover everyone in the organization. The use of a good tone when writing the message is also needed. Good tone use in a message could indicate that the writer is appreciative of the audience intended. If the tone comes off as being harsh, the audience mi ght think they are unappreciated and, therefore, may not be as productive as they ought to be (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Feeling appreciated in any job description means that one may consider putting in extra effort just to be acknowledged. This means that the organization may benefit tremendously from the extra and hard work. The words chosen when drafting a business message could also be very helpful in communication. Strong and positive words may help the message have a very strong impact and can come off as being coherent (Courtland & Thill, 2007). Addressing the audience in a manner to suggest that they are slow may take the seriousness out of the message. They may also not take it very lightly to the fact that they are being thought of as being slow. The completion of the message is the third, final stage. This stage involves other

The human body Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

The human body - Essay Example Brain, nerves & spinal cord. Functions to provide strength and connections to move the arm or leg or to make the facial expressions. Muscles cover almost every bone of the body except fingers and teeth and skull. It also help in Maintaining posture & generate heat by shivering. Pumps blood to each part of the body. Takes oxygen from the lungs and transports it to the each part of the body and carry carbon dioxide that is released through respiration. Heart, veins and arteries. Skin has millions of sensory nerves that send information to the brain; the information regarding the environment, temperature, etc. If the brain senses that the temperature is a bit higher than the body temperature, brain sends signal to the sweat gland to open and cool the body. In some cases, the brain sends signal to the muscles connected to skin hair to contract or expand according to the environment or other condition. At 25 years the body functions seem to be efficiently functional. On the other hand considering the daily working of the 25 year person is moving door to door to distribute the leaflets and take part in the other programs as organized by the charity. The muscles (muscular system) in the body particularly the leg muscles require much oxygenated blood in order to work efficiently. The oxygenated blood is transported by the cardiovascular system and the heart pumps the blood as faster as the oxygen is required. Oxygen is supplied through the respiratory system. The respiratory system fills the blood with oxygen. It is common fact that the respiratory system and cardiovascular system synchronize in a proper manner. The rate of respiration increases as the demand for oxygen increases. On the other hand, as the muscular system uses more oxygen it produces more carbon-dioxide that is also released through respiratory process. All these functions are controlled by the brain that informs the heats to pump faster

Services Management - EFQM Excellence Model and Radar Logic Essay

Services Management - EFQM Excellence Model and Radar Logic - Essay Example The fundamental objective for the study is highlighting the effectiveness of the model in the actual business scenario. Further, the paper will discuss the significance of the model which is the practical and objective approach to make operations of a company better. The challenges and critique on the model which include the fact that mathematical details are not inclusive will be highlighted. Since this is a secondary report, the main methods used to compile the report were library study and internet research. A case study of Mr. Smith, a customer with Executive Bank PLC who lost valuables will be the basis of focus on how EFQM can be a turnaround tool. The findings on the case exposed the lack of proper communication by the operations and customer care department. The report recommends that the company should carry out systematic checks on its operations and adopt a continuous improvement of systems. Secondly, proper staff and communication channels are recommended to avoid any fut ure problem. Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction EFQM: Background Information Principles Value addition to the customer Creating sustainability Developing an organizational capability Harnessing creativity and innovation. Vision, integrity and inspiration Possessing agility Managing talent Continuous results Purpose of EFQM Significance Challenges and criticism of EFQM Case study: Executive Bank PLC. Gold Card Protection Service Possible Causes of the Problem EFQM Solutions for the Gold Card Protection Service Developing an operational network Redesigning of the operations of the card service Prioritize issues Use of the EFQM Concept as an exemplification of the above Solutions Use of The Radar System Conclusion Recommendations References Further sources Introduction It is the objective of each organization or firm to offer quality services and satisfy all interested stakeholders. Many models have been created to measure and control the performances of these firms at sp ecified periods according to Afuah and Tucci (2003, p9). As effective as they may be, each of the models has been found to have a considerable degree of limitations. The most effective of these models ought to have three qualities that can be of use by the management and employees namely innovation, collaboration and cooperation. It is obvious that service delivery executed at the highest level does not only satisfy a customer, it also motivates the employee to work better and give better results. The EFQM or European Framework for Quality management incorporates the three qualities that can harness these desired results in the service sectors such as banking and insurance. The model was launched in 1991 on the platform of eight fundamental concepts of quality management. With over 30,000 small and large organizations applying its principles, EFQM has proved to be not only reliable but also an effective framework of management. This exercise focuses on EFQM principles and their sign ificance, its critique and its application relates to a bank namely, Executive Bank PLC. EFQM: Background Information After the great depression of the 1930’s and the emergence of new markets, organizations in America began to look for new ways of doing business. This was mostly motivated by the drive to do business in an effective and efficient manner. Research activities in various institutions were ongoing on the aspect of

The question is on karen tranberg hansen's book salaula. the world of Essay

The question is on karen tranberg hansen's book salaula. the world of secondhand clothing and zambia - Essay Example The country, which takes its name from the river Zambezi, has been on a path of continual economic decline due to the continuing low worldwide market for copper (the main export of Zambia) and a reduction in the country’s copper reserves. After late 19th century, the flourishing trade in secondhand clothing in the West (in London, a great clothes market rejoiced in the name of ‘Petticoat Lane’) dried up mainly because imports of new clothing from developing countries were easily available and affordable. Of total world exports of secondhand clothing (estimated by the United Nations in 1995 at 1.4 billion, the U.S. being the biggest exporter), about a quarter goes to sub-Saharan Africa. In the early 1990s secondhand clothes were America’s eighth largest export to the region. Britons are known to discard about 1 million tons of old clothes each year: this figure does not include an estimated 200,000 tons of old clothes that are recycled to be worn again or used in the industry. There are two social groups discussed in the book. The first is â€Å"Rainbow Children’s Hospice† in Leicester in the U.K that raises funds for charity. The second is â€Å"Scope†, an organization in the U.K to help people with cerebral palsy. Scope has about 900 clothes banks in the U.K; 760 of them are owned directly by it; the balance 140 are owned by sub-dealers (such as Ragtex U.K located in Ashby-da-la-Zouch) licensed to use the Scope name. Each sub-dealer donates  £100 a year to Scope’s charity fund. Dana Simons, the owner of the blouse that makes the historic journey in the novel, is a high school teacher who teaches home economics, food and nutrition in a school in Leicester. Dana is also a professional fundraiser at the Rainbow Children’s Hospice in the same city. Gerald Commel is the Managing Director of Ragtex U.K, sub-dealer of Scope’s clothes banks, which operates a textile recycling plant

Why IFRS Should be Adopted in the Place of GAAP Personal Statement

Why IFRS Should be Adopted in the Place of GAAP - Personal Statement Example Secondly, companies that adopt IFRS are able to compare and contrast their financial report to those of their leading international competitors. Use of IFRS creates significant access to foreign investments and capital markets. IFRS facilitates cross-border ventures, acquisitions and spin-offs. The early adoption of IFRS, before it made mandatory, enables companies to have a leading edge. Such companies would experience benefits related to conversion, as their competitors miss out. It is worth noting that the mandatory adoption of IFRS has certain inherent challenges, but not without solutions. Companies must ensure that IFRS adoption is not only treated as an accounting exercise, but also as an enterprise-wide and strategic program that requires support and sponsorship of proficient leadership. This is especially because planning up-front and efforts in obtaining buy-in in the organization are uncertain, a condition that may constrain normal business operations. In this regard, ther e must be the application of a company’s financial knowledge within new policies during adoption to IFRS. Additionally, there is the need for financial measures that will improve the assessment of IFRS reports ( National Professional Service Group). When such control measures are put in place, there is a high probability that the organization will add more finance personnel that would be well informed about IFRS reporting. Is if not enough, it is expectable that companies are likely to add information to proficient information technology systems. Under IFRS, business contracts that were currently issued and the debts agreement will have to be renegotiated under IFRS rather than the U.S. GAAP. On the other hand, organizations are only supposed to budget for the transition to IFRS, as well as for costs associated with external advisory  services. Management of the stakeholder expectations, which entails planning, budgeting and investor relations, would also be necessary.  

Strategic asset management plan University of glamorgan Essay

Strategic asset management plan University of glamorgan - Essay Example The University of Glamorgan is totally committed towards providing a high class learning environment to include e-learning, tutor facilitation and employment of cutting edge learning facilities to enable the students to benefit academically and socially. Thus it is felt that prospective employers should be eager to acquire the skills which have been developed in students by an intense and stimulating academic programme. This should also create an aspiration for growth and success in the students. These are no doubt laudable strategic objectives for any learning institution which deem to foster growth of the establishment with a view to benefit its primary stake holder, the student. The twin perspectives of providing employment in the immediate time frame on leaving the establishment and creating an urge for sustained personal and professional growth in the students are also laudable. A Strategic Asset Management plan flows from the priorities set by the University for sustained devel opment. The strategic priorities of Glamorgan University have been summarized as follows:- Enhance the overall nature and quality of student experience Improve the quality of student intake. A high grade research and consultancy profile should be developed and post graduate activity should be expanded. Infra structure should be improved. People based quality improvements should be undertaken. Contribute to the regional as well as the strategic partnership agenda. Contribute to Glamorgan's equal opportunities and social inclusion agenda. Provide an international profile to Glamorgan's reputation. Provide a favorable e-world information and communications development programme. (Strategy: 2006). An analysis of the strategic objectives of the University will reveal that assets form an important facet for its attainment. While some of the aims as improvement of infra structure are primary to development of assets, others such as improving the quality of intake and enriching experience of students will to a large extent be dependent on the ability of the University to have a much sought after ambience of learning. The overall goals of contribution to the larger community in Wales are also dependent on contribution to the environment at large. While maintaining an international

Transportation And Retail Shops Essay Example for Free

Transportation And Retail Shops Essay Though retail and transportation industries in Detroit are still posting significant growth, Goss-Foster (2006) points that the disparities that exist between the status of the mentioned industries between suburbs and inner city districts. Though neither transportation nor retail industries has been related directly to the incidence of violent crimes, it has deterred the stability and security of establishments (Goodman, 2004). Armstrong (2005) notes that retailing per capita in the city is higher than national averages but also admits that development has been limited to new real estate development areas, suburbs such as Bloomfield Hills and Gross Pointe and by industrial scale retailing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The scenario follows the skew of income in the city which has further highlighted social disparities. At the same time, it has limited the growth potential of markets and development, leaving inner city areas still wanting of the economic development needed to bring it at par with the more affluent areas of Detroit (Goss-Foster, 2006). Another perspective to consider is that the situation is driving companies’ security and insurance costs to prohibitive levels, scenarios that also deter long-term prognosis of companies. For example, transportation industries, both private and public, require significant investments in property plant and equipment and considering that crime against property in Detroit is well above U.S. averages, the cost of maintaining or protecting them is a particular concern (Detroit Crime Report, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like any business concern, crime is a major issue that companies have to deal with. In the case of transportation and retail which are both dependent on volume or at the very lease regular customer traffic, security both of the clients and the businesses themselves is a critical concern. Therefore there is a need to control not only crimes that directly affect these industries but also any other criminal activities that may impact access or the condition of products and services.    References Armstrong, Melissa (2005). Regional Detroit Economic Pulse. Detroit: Detroit Regional Chamber Detroit Crime Report (2007). Crime Statistics. Retrieved December 5, 2007, from http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Detroitstate=MI Goodman, Allen C. (2004). Detroit housing rebound needs safe streets, good schools. The Detroit News, March 10. Retrieved December 5, 2007, from http://www.econ.wayne.edu/agoodman/RESEARCH/PUBS/a09-87052.htm Goss-Foster, Anika (2006). Commercial Corridor Redevelopment as a Social Equity Strategy.   Detroit: National Planning Commission and Government Conference and Detroit LISC