Thursday, September 3, 2020

The Future Energy Systems Environmental Sciences Essay Free Essays

The assets of biomass are constrained and an inadequacy of satisfactory accessible developed terrains might be the significant ground to diminish biofuel advancement in the long haul [ 12 ] . Guaranting supplement security has been and will ever be a national plan for China, sing China has a solid populace yet a developed nation for each capita which is even not exactly 50% of the universe standard. China has set the biomass improvement decide that â€Å" advancements of biomass are non permitted to strive with supplement flexibly every piece great as grounds, on which supplements should be developed † [ 19 ] . We will compose a custom exposition test on The Future Energy Systems Environmental Sciences Essay or on the other hand any comparative point just for you Request Now Along these lines, the power of accessible fringy land assets is one of the persuasive components to locate the conceivable creation of direction developed vitality harvests. Agrarian and ranger service squanders in China will play a significant capacity later on biomass advancement, in which the utilization of biofuels in transport will hold to compete with the biomass use of different divisions, for example, power and warmth coevals [ 20 ] . Power is another AVF which drives vehicles to go by using electric engines. The utilization of power in vehicles extraordinarily improves the vehicles ‘ vitality effectiveness and lessens vehicle exhaust spreads, which is exceptionally of import in urban nations. Today, numerous trains and urban rail theodolite frameworks have been charged. Power is given directly from an open lattice, where vitality stockpiling is all around non a worry [ 21 ] . BEVs have disadvantages of a constrained drive separation, nearly long energizing clasp, a high introductory vehicle financial worth, low constituent continuations each piece great as requests of a to the full created reloading base, and so forth [ 22,23 ] . Module intercrossed electric vehicles ( PHEVs ) developed as a potential middle of the road measure towards a to the full electric way. Most blocks which BEVs need to show signs of improvement of now are identified with the battery building. This designing is relied upon to advance the bing Li batteries for the time being and to grow new battery synthetic science with altogether higher vitality densenesss to empower the utilization of BEVs and PHEVs with a more extended all-electric degree in the long haul [ 24 ] . In the event that disclosures of the battery building can be acquired in the great beyond, power might be the most encouraging AVF in movement, because of the bear bringing down foundation is non fundamentally not quite the same as the base of the current transport framework. Hydrogen, a vitality carrier, fills in as another chance to supplant the oil use in transport. Joined with energy unit designing, H is changed to power which is so utilized by electric engines to actuate wheels. Focal points of a H power module vehicle ( HFCV ) are watched, for example, a lengthy drive degree and zero transmission in a tank-to-wheels purpose of position gave H is put away ready and delivered off-board. There is another kind of HFCV with on-board changing of powers, for example, methyl liquor, to hydrogen however with transmissions from changing fills and an increasingly mind boggling on-board changing framework [ 23 ] . Today, the business level of HFCVs is a long ways behind the level of biofuels, PHEVs and BEVs [ 25 ] . Numerous difficulties of creating HFCVs request to be defeated in the great beyond including proficiency advancements of energy component building and cut bringing down the high introductory fiscal estimation of the vehicles by maturating their on-b oard power framework, in which batteries are other than required today to picking up control and shop power, and so forth. Notwithstanding, the most driven issue of creating HFCVs is the organization of the H foundation because of both the assorted variety of the H creation tract and beyond all doubt won H appropriation forms [ 26 ] . Substitution of oil utilization, reduction of fuel ingestion each piece great as a decreasing of CO2 radiations from the tank-to-wheels position are three direct advantages of using power and H in transport. Be that as it may, the last two advantages may lose in the power and H creation method sing most current vitality frameworks are commanded by non-renewable energy sources. For case, power from the mean Chinese network has the CO2 radiation quality ( estimated as the CO2 transmission separated by the vitality request ) like that of a gasolene tract albeit a similarly lower dodo vitality ingestion quality ( estimated as the dodo vitality ingestion isolated by the vitality request ) [ 27,28 ] . Another study shows that if H is created with U.S. mean power ( more than 50 % of which is created from coal-consuming force workss ) , its utilization, even in effective HFCVs, can in any case follow in expanded CO2 transmissions ; interestingly, if sustainable power, for example, air curren t force, is utilized for H creation, the use of H in any vehicle building will result in riddance of green house gas ( GHG ) radiations [ 29 ] . It has been indicated that advantages of the oil use supplanting and the constrained GHG radiation abatement can be gotten in the movement segment by utilizing AVFs which are delivered from dodo fuel overwhelmed vitality frameworks [ 30,31 ] . Nonetheless, those advantages are non adequate and current dodo fuel vitality frameworks can non drag out the advancement of practical movement. It is important to put engineerings and plans in movement, by which the oil use can be supplanted and choices can be delivered dependent on sustainable power source beginnings. Outcomes of executing such engineerings and plans in transport ought to be investigated with regards to the vitality framework. Future vitality frameworks As talked about over, the improvement of economical transport with an enormous scope diminishing of GHG spreads and an utilization of oil free choices requests arrangements from a general sustainable power source framework. It can non be viewed as a detach advancement mark as the assets of biomass are constrained and different choices, power and H, are firmly associated with the rest of the vitality framework. Most current vitality frameworks are ruled by petroleum derivatives. This has presented many realized difficulties mainly brought about by the consuming of these non-renewable energy sources, for example, clime change, unreliable vitality flexibly every piece great as ecological pollute [ 32 ] . Those difficulties will go horrible alongside the expansion of the dodo fuel money related worth and the developing of the vitality request known to man. As an alternative, a fit base for the execution of sustainable power source may work as a since a long time ago run supportable arrangement. Future vitality frameworks may hold in any event three highlights contrasted with current dodo fuel commanded vitality frameworks in footings of vitality flexibly, vitality progress each piece great as vitality request ( see Fig. 1-2 and Fig. 1-3 ) . Petroleum derivative 1 Force Plant Petroleum derivative 2 CHP Oil aë†â ¦aë†â ¦aë†â ¦ Warmth Boiler Power Warmth Transport Vitality flexibly Vitality progress Vitality request Fig. 1. An improved outline of a current dodo fuel ruled vitality framework. Truncations utilized in the figure: CHP, consolidated warmth and force. RE 1 Irregular Plant RE 2 CHP Rhenium aë†â ¦aë†â ¦aë†â ¦ Irregular Warmth Power Warmth Transport Vitality flexibly Vitality progress Vitality progress and request POLY RE 3 aë†â ¦aë†â ¦aë†â ¦ Fig. 1. An improved outline of a from now on vitality framework. Truncations utilized in the figure: RE, sustainable power source ; POLY, poly-age works for bio-transport fuel, warmth and power coevals ; CHP, joined warmth and force. On the vitality flexibly side, huge scope sustainable power source beginnings are relied upon to be used as essential vitality in future vitality frameworks. Sustainable power source beginnings comprise of inexhaustible beginnings of electric force, for example, air flow power, sunlight based force and hydropower, and so on ; sustainable beginnings of thermic force, for example, geothermal, sun oriented warm, and so on. ; and biomass assets which can be changed over into numerous signifiers including fluid energizes, bio-gas each piece great as strong powers. Bio-vitality can be used in arranged vitality progress procedures to deliver power, to give heat each piece great as to deliver powers for movement vitality utilization [ 3 ] . With respect to vitality change, progressively effective change and capacity engineerings will be broadly required in future vitality frameworks in which the vitality change strategy turns out to be increasingly broadened and complex. One vitality request, for example, power, can be changed over from essential vitality by using engineerings for outline irregular force workss, CHPs ( in footings of steam turbines, energy components, and so forth ) and poly-age workss [ 33 ] . One vitality request can be changed over into another, for example, change overing power to warm by using heat siphons and electric boilers, and so forth [ 34 ] . One signifier of the vitality request can be changed over into different signifiers, for example, change overing strong fills into gas or fluid energizes by the utilization of electrolysers or biogas and biofuel workss [ 35 ] . Vitality stockpiling engineerings fill in as the fundamental addendum through which advantages of the proficiency improvement o f the progress technique in the vitality framework might be reached [ 36,37 ] . On the vitality request side, the capacity of a finishing up vitality client may adjust because of the execution of interchange engineerings, which react to the interest of bettering vitality effectiveness in future vitality frameworks. One outline could be the movement segment which used to be the finishing up oil client in the current dodo fuel ruled vitality framework ; in any case, in future vitality frameworks it interfaces with the rest of the vitality framework and likely begins to play capacities as both traveling vitality stockpiling and another force starting by actualizing engineerings of EVs and vehicle-to-matrix ( V2G ) [ 38,39 ] . Sustainable power source engineerings, progressively effective vitality change engineerings and vitality economy engineerings

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Donald trump Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Donald trump - Essay Example An unmistakable and effective figure who exemplified achievement in business is Donald Trump. Tarkovsky (2007) distinguished the mystery which made Donald Trump an extremely rich person: land. As Donald Trump stated: â€Å"I simply love land. Its unmistakable, its strong, and its wonderful. what's more, in an article composed by Christine (2008) on Donald Trump’s Mantras for Successful Entrepreneurship, she affirmed that Mr. Trump’s brilliant characteristics of business are: â€Å"(1) Be enthusiastic about your work. Mr. Trump sums up enthusiasm as â€Å"Enthusiasm on a major scale† and it is the most basic element for an effective profession; (2) Be Confident about your choices. Never step back in the wake of taking a choice and don’t surrender until each chance of accomplishment have been investigated; (3) Think Big to make enormous accomplishments. Despite the fact that it is accepted that one should make little strides at first when beginning another undertaking however Mr. Trump emphatically thinks, â€Å"Thinking large can get you to the top,† He generally ask individuals on taking enormous and intense choices; (4) Your learning procedure should never reach a conclusion. Regardless of how fruitful you become, never think you have gotten the hang of everything. Notwithstanding his pressed timetable, Mr. Trump peruses all that he can and endeavors to get data he can use from everybody he meets; (5) Taking dangers. Business is ti ed in with facing challenges so hold your breath and consistently be prepared to confront troubles. The majority of the individuals don't make new tests since they dread disappointment however Mr. Trump portrays it as the ideal recipe for being fruitless; (6) Learn to arrange. To remain associated with individuals, you need to arrange and make bargains now and again; (7) Enjoy rivalry. For the most part individuals are terrified from rivalry without understanding that it improves our presentation and make more progress. Mr. Trump says â€Å"I love rivalry in light of the fact that, at last, it makes me

Friday, August 21, 2020

Religion :: essays research papers

Obligation: By finishing the perusing assignments in an auspicious way, you can have remarks and questions prepared for class so as to get acknowledgment for class interest and to audit for tests. Come to class arranged to make in any event one remark. On the off chance that every so often you discover the materials difficult to comprehend or ease back to peruse, let me know toward the start of class with the goal that we can talk about the style and the structure of the works for a more clear handle of the writers’ thoughts. Have questions prepared to ask on those days with the goal that we don't get disappointed by my attempting to produce conversation about materials that have left you astounded for reasons unknown. All that I require demonstrates a real endeavor on your part to finish every task; such readiness will keep the course from turning into an all out talk class. A magnificent methodology to help you in class support and in reading for tests includes your creation edge notes in your writings and on the investigation guides. Imprint most loved or significant entries; keep a synopsis of the plot and the characters at the highest point of each page. Scribble down your inquiries as well as imprint confounding entries. In spite of the fact that Humanities doesn't require arrangement as an essential, still as understudies, you ought to have adequate composing aptitudes to communicate your thoughts obviously and accurately. While I don't deduct for composing aptitudes blunders, visit syntactic, spelling, use, or potentially accentuation mistakes can hurt your scores by meddling with the significance of your sentences. I can't acknowledge you for what you don't state. Use spell check, sentence structure check, and your own editing abilities to ensure you submit what you truly mean. As a civility to any peruser, you ought to consistently edit your written by hand and your keyboarded work. Prologue TO THE HUMANITIESâ€FALL 2005 LEWISâ€3 Nasty WEATHER: Tune in to the territory radio or potentially TV slots for refreshes about school closings. In any case, regardless, utilize your judgment of the streets you must travel. Simply call or email me with the goal that I realize you are in a sheltered spot. Attempt www.iowaroadconditions.com for street conditions. Homeroom CONDUCT: Each understudy has the commitment to utilize class time for learning. On the off chance that a student’s lead meddles with the instruction of others in class, that understudy could get a solicitation to leave class, with different results also. LIBRARY ACCESS: Your WITCC library scanner tag and your present enlistment slip will permit you access to the Sioux City Public Library, the Morningside College

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Career goals after graduation Essay - 550 Words

Career goals after graduation (Essay Sample) Content: Career Goals after GraduationStudents NameInstitutional affiliationCareer Goals after Graduation Graduation is my most celebrated life achievements (Ducat, 2002). After graduating with a bachelor degree honors in civil and construction engineering at the University of Texas. My goals in the next five years are mainly to enable me grow professionally and acquire industrial skills and experience leading to success. My first year after graduation will involve taking up a job opportunity offer with Seamanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s Construction Company which is an established company in the south of Texas. Every year, Seamanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s Construction Company handles millions of construction projects giving it a cutting edge in the construction sector. The construction projects are worth millions of dollars. This job opportunity will greatly improve my skills. The hand on experience gained in the course of my stay at this company will have an immense impact in my career. In any career, gr owth is important and many times a necessity as the industry is dynamic, rapidly changing in tastes and preferences. Construction management in Texas has changed over the last decades. During my years in campus, the construction management units interested me greatly. Construction management ensures effective and sustainable management of construction in Texas. Urban development is crucial as migration turns to the cities. There has been a great need to ensure that urban planning and construction is managed properly and effectively to ensure there is a balance between housing, provision of social amenities, and the environmental effects are well managed (Douglas Munger, 1969). Getting into the construction management team will be my ultimate and crucial goal. My stay at Seamanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s Construction company will help me transition to the management level. As an engineer, the cost estimation of any project is important as it ensures funds set aside are adequate for the project and that the project uses the correct estimates. Creating a sustainable construction environment involves strict and efficient use of materials which greatly helps in wastage reduction (Halpin Woodhead, 1980).. The cost estimation teams are crucial in any projects as it assists in calculating the cost and financial management. Money is a scarce resource hence it has to be managed effectively to avoid unnecessary losses. The construction sector in Texas has huge financial cost involved hence there requires expertise to ensure that value is created for every dollar spent. My greatest career goals and objectives are self-satisfaction. It is necessary to derive satisfaction in the things that you do, your career can be boring hence making it something interesting will be a step towards career satisfaction. The purpose of intensive traini...

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Islamic Men

Sample details Pages: 29 Words: 8693 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? The image of Islamic men as projected in mainstream Hollywood cinema The aim of the following study is to examine the stereotypes projected by mainstream Hollywood cinema with regards to Islamic and Arabic men in order to evaluate the ways in which this perpetuates a misunderstanding of different cultures and curtails attempts to incorporate Muslims into Western society. It is a particularly relevant and significant topic and not only because of the contemporary significance of Islam in world affairs. The role of film is a highly significant contemporary topic in its own right. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Islamic Men | Film Studies" essay for you Create order As the dominant cultural theme of twenty first century Western society, cinema represents the vehicle through which the views of the cultural elite are expressed and past experience dictates that the images projected by Hollywood have a lasting effect, constituting fiction interpreted as fact. The findings within the study will highlight how film broadly mirrors politics in so far as it requires an external enemy in order to define itself. September 11, 2001 was therefore a watershed in movie making every bit as much as in politics, as Hollywood was presented with a new incarnation of evil to replace the worn out stereotypes of Russians and Japanese that the industry had hitherto relied upon to strike realist fears into the audience. Introduction Film is a unique form of modern art, unlike any of its conceptual cousins. A painter, musician or novelist has free reign with regards to composition, which is a liberty not available to mainstream Hollywood film makers. Certainly, the independent movie, which has spawned one of the films featured within the following study, Michael Moores Fahrenheit 9/11, is an avenue open to individuality, but this is a separate sphere from Hollywood. Funding, production and backing of the Hollywood movie industry comes from corporate finance and from the vetting of scripts that constitutes a process unlike any other creative commerce. In this way, Hollywood movie making remains within the control of the most conservative elements of the ruling elite in a way that other forms of artistic expression are not. It is a fundamental truth that is central to understanding to the remainder of the dissertation, as independent film maker Gus Van Sent (1994:214)testifies. The point of any film, big or small, is to make a good one, and then let the scope and subject dictate the expansiveness of the audience. But a lot of the decision making depends on what a person has done before. Opinions about art are so subjective that the only objective orientation becomes your past product. Furthermore, the producers of films work in the knowledge that their output will be seen, discussed and interpreted by a far greater audience than will ever read a play, visit an exhibition or, even, attend a musical concert. As such, the discussion of the influence of Hollywood in perpetuating the particular reality that it wishes to export to its viewers is highly topical and highly significant at any given time. Its power is absolute in American and Western society, forming a billion dollar industry with a level of cultural influence that can only really be guessed at. In light of the contemporary conflict between Islam and the West, the subject of Hollywood has taken on increasing significance due to the subtle shift in the way in which Islamic men are portrayed on film, facilitating a climate of mistrust that is only to the advantage of bigots on both sides that wish to see a continuation of hostilities between the Middle East and the countries of the West. The terrorist atrocities of 9/11 and the subsequent war on terror have necessarily played a part in the burgeoning feeling of alienation felt by Muslims across the world, as the mantel of stereotypical bad guy has shifted to that of the traditional Islamic, Arabian male. For the purpose of the following study, the dissertation must be divided into sub headings. The first part of the analysis will be primarily concerned with setting a cultural and artistic tone for the discussion, showing how a tradition of misconception has paved the way for a stereotypical filmic portrayal of the Islamic man that is out of touch with reality. This section will be dominated by an extensive literature review that will examine the academic discourse devoted to Islam as well as Western theoretical models pertaining to power and cultural dominance. The second part of the dissertation will analyse specific Hollywood case studies that depict Islamic men and a cultural other, which necessitates adopting a similarly chronological approach to cinema as one would to history, so as to trace the evolution of the demonization of Islam in American film. With this in mind, it is prudent to turn attention towards a review of the academic literature available on the subject of Islam in order to forge a better understanding of the intricacies of the broader methodology in question. Literature Review Due to of the primacy of ideology over religion in international relations, little attention has historically been paid to Islam in comparison to, for instance, the study of Marxism. Only when the Cold War had reached its zenith in the late 1960s did Islam become more academically relevant, particularly so concerning the ultimate victory of capitalism and the related trump card of oil held firmly in Arabian hands. As the enormous wealth and bargaining power available to oil magnates of the Middle East became apparent, Islam was gradually perceived as a threat in the West, particularly by the large American corporations that had stakes in the oil reserves (many of whom hold the keys to power in the American State in 2005). Although this threat was, at the time, solely of an economic ilk, the significance of the demonization of the Arabian businessman in the broader Western consciousness has had a lasting effect with regards to the contemporary portrayal of Islamic men in Hollywood cinema. As will become apparent, fear and Islam have always gone hand in glove when viewed through the prism of a Western, judgemental lens. This deep seated sense of threat felt by the West is not a recent phenomenon. The history of the Wests relation with Islam is fraught with friction, dating back to the First Crusade (1099) and the following horrors and atrocities committed on both sides. Two more Crusades followed, both fuelled by religion but practised by hatred, signalling the beginning of the end of communications between the two cultural blocs. It was the construction of a psychological blockade that has yet to be fully dismantled; and, as Curtin (2000:178) points out with reference to the Ottoman Empire (the sick man of Europe),isolation breeds mistrust. In spite of frequent warfare, cultural exchange between Ottomans and the West ranged from watchful tolerance to benign contempt. The Christians had a long standing horror of Islamic contamination, going back to the rise of Islam and intensifying with the Crusades. The Ottomans were more tolerant of religious difference but the millet system combined permissiveness with an effort to seal off Christian minorities into segregated communities. In this way, Islamic men have historically been seen as a fundamental threat to the West; religiously, culturally, politically and economically. Due to the totality of the threat posed by Islam, the fear felt by the West is thus unlike any other comparable social discord in history. The threat posed by black men was, for instance, a matter of creed, while the fear of communism was an inherently ideological struggle. The trepidation concerning Islam has been of an altogether more incriminating disposition. It is a threat tantamount tithe primeval fear of invasion, masked in crime. As will be shown, the criminalisation of the Arabic Islamic man is a key feature of contemporary Hollywood portrayals of Islam. Paradoxically, in light of the shroud of secrecy built up around Islam, scant regard was paid to the actual cultural differences between the Middle East and the West within the bulk of Western literature until the late 1970s. Only with Edward Saids landmark study, Orientalism(published in New York in 1979) did the subject of the cultural divide between the two societies become part of mainstream academic discourse. Saids work was, and remains, highly important because it challenged the fundamental belief in Western superiority that has been promulgated since the onset of European empire building in the sixteenth century. Due to the following territorial and military domination enjoyed by Europeans, the achievements of the peoples of the Middle East was largely airbrushed from history, so as to underscore the triumph of Western culture over their supposedly inferior Muslim subjects. Said reminded the West of the scholarly debt it owed to Islam and the Middle East, which acted as the trigger for the enormous technological advances that created a fertile ground for European expansion centuries later. He cited philosophy, mathematics, architecture, etiquette and astronomy as just some of the fields in which Islam has proved to be pioneer for the whole of humanity. With Orientalism and other studies, Said expertly highlighted the discrepancy between fiction and fact perpetuated in Western literature a gulf that has since been mirrored in Hollywood film. The result has been a complete cultural misunderstanding as Said (1981:136) identified in his follow up study, Covering Islam. For the general public in America and Europe today, Islam is news oaf particularly unpleasant sort. The media, the government, the geopolitical strategists, and although they are marginal to the culture at large the academic experts on Islam are all in concert: Islam is a threat to Western civilisation negative images of Islam are very much more prevalent than any others, and that such images correspond not with what Islam is but to what prominent sectors of a particular society take it to be those sectors have the power and the will to propagate that particular image of Islam, and this image therefore becomes more prevalent, more present, than all others. The historical problem pertaining to academic understandings of the intricacies of Islam has therefore been one of a dearth of literature and, perhaps, a lack of respect for the achievements of the great Muslims civilisations of the past. During the 1980s this was enhanced by a dominant culture of capitalism that had spread from the West tithe Middle East, specifically the oil rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia, making way for a climate of mistrust, exacerbated by profit and loss. Indeed, academic interest in Islam remained very much a footnote of intellectual literature in the West until well into the 1990s, the1993 World Trade Centre bombings briefly igniting a resurgence of interest in the topic, though this was necessarily concerned almost entirely with terrorism. The link between terrorism and Muslim men was in fact forged some twenty years beforehand, but the escalation of this fictional combination began in earnest during the last decade of the twentieth century. Furthermore, where Islam was commented on within academic literature during the 1990s, focus was largely dominated by the on-going religious and ethnic struggle taking place in Bosnia. Many books were written on the Balkan Crisis and Europes historic struggle to incorporate Islam, such as the academic examinations carried out by Morris (1994) and Cardini (2001). Yet this type of literary coverage has done little to increase awareness regarding the broader plight of Muslims across the globe. In addition to the Muslims in question being of a Southern European descent (which, in terms of portrayal, immediately set the Muslim Bosnians and Serbs apart from the image of the traditional Islamic men from the Middle East), understanding and compassion were further hampered by incessant terrorist strikes in the former Soviet territory of Chechnya which did Islam no favours in terms of their media, literary and filmic portrayal in the West. Terrorism, even before September 2001, had therefore already formed an unhealthy association with Islam in both literature and the more general paradigm of popular culture and it is an image that has since proved impossible to shed. It has been seen that the greatest problem for literature concerning the subject of Islam has been a lack of insight on the part of Western analysts. With the exception of commentators such as Said, Richard Falkland John L. Esposito, in addition to the recent book by Jitter Klausen,The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe(particularly relevant to this study), the collective content of American and Western literature has failed to properly address the ideology of Islam or its broader appeal. Yet there are more fundamental problems facing students of the West that wish to attain a better understanding of the complexities of cultural conflict in the Middle East. One of the greatest theoretical challenges facing contemporary literature has been how to differentiate between Arabs as a people and Islam as a faith. It is a subject that has only very recently been explored by academics who see a blurring of the lines between Arabs and Muslims as a potential cause of the perpetuation of negative stereotyping in the West. The difference is not easy to explain. The key to comprehending the symbolic marriage of Islam and Arabism is the wholly different conceptual set up of countries in the Middle East compared to the West, which is best understood as an inversion: whereas the European Union strives to create a sense of unity where none exists, the opposite effect is apparent in the Middle East, where a shared sentiment of cultural hegemony is visible across a myriad of state borders. Contemporary analysts such as Karsh (2003:1) believe that this unique concept of hegemony in the Middle East is a direct result of nineteenth century European imperialism that attempted to instil the concept of the nation-state into an area that had been no prior history of nationalism. In past years, the foremost challenge to the [territorial state]system came from the doctrine of pan Arabism (qawmiya), which sought to eliminate the traces of Western imperialism and unify the Arab nation, and the associated ideology of Greater Syria, which stresses the territorial and historical indivisibility of most of the Fertile Crescent. Today, the leading challenge comes from Islamist notions of single Muslim community (Uma). Intellectuals and politicians, denouncing it as an artificial creation of Western imperialism at variance with Arabic yearnings for regional unity, have repeatedly urged its destruction. If academics find it difficult to explain the inherent difference between Muslims and the broader consensus of Arabs, then it should come as no surprise to learn that Hollywood has not even dared to approach the subject, preferring to equate Arab with Muslim and portray one as the same. It is for this reason that the typical Muslim man depicted in Hollywood film is always of Middle Eastern descent and more often than not, sporting traditional Arabic dress. This divisive symbolism is a far more potent manifestation of evil. It should be noted that the blame for this general lack of cultural understanding between the Middle East and the West does not lie solely at the feet of American and European academics and society. Islamic literature is likewise too generalist. Arabian intellectual circles, for instance, have very much been at the root of the recent resurgence in fundamentalism in the Middle East whereby their own misconceptions of the West are far more acute than any hitherto Hollywood portrayals of Islamic men. The West, particularly the Jews, is portrayed as universally decadent people that are intent on waging a war of annihilation with Islam as a faith, seeking to destroy the people of the region in the process. Moreover, because many of the key Hollywood executives are of Jewish origin, this official school of hatred emanating from strict Muslim intellectual centres further curtails attempts at forging a shared level of cultural comprehension. Moreover, as Saltpetre (2002:2) explains, the increasing reference to the Koran makes extremism seem legitimate in the eyes of God, constituting discernibly dangerous direction for fundamentalism to take. Now, with the surge in Muslim fundamentalism, Arab anti-Semitism has returned to the Koran. The Jews are no longer an inferior people that should be kept in inferior status and their lives protected; they are enemies of Islam and must be obliterated. It has been seen that literature has historically forged an unlikely and unhealthy partnership with propaganda in both the Middle East and the West, bequeathing an ideal breeding ground for cultural misconceptions with few able to ascertain reasons as to why, as Abdelwahab Meddeb (2003:11) suggests, the Islamic world has been unceasingly inconsolable in its destitution. The sphere of greatest academic advance has not been in the study of Islam or of the effects of depicting the cultural other, but instead in examinations dedicated to the study of power. Karl Marx (1968:64 65)in his nineteenth century critique of the corrupt power of the media, was the first to recognise the significance of the status quo that had been artificially constructed by the ruling elite, and which defined power in the hands of a privileged few. The ideas of the ruling classes are in every age, the ruling ideas: i.e. the class, which is the dominant material force in society, is at the same time its dominant intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the sometime over the means of mental production in so far as they rule as class and determine the extent and compass of each epoch, they do this in its whole range, hence, among other things, they regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age; thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch. . Marx made these comments in an age that was dominated by print media; what he would have made of the symbolic power and influence of American film in 2005 is an intriguing matter of conjecture. Michel Foucault, writing during the 1970s and 1980s, centred his own studies on discernibly postmodern kind of society that had turned its attention away from oppositional forces in society to embrace the concept of thyself. Foucault also sees the modern Western state as an essentially constrictive monolith that restrains peoples choices and minimises individualistic questioning, constituting what he calls; the microphysics of power. (1977:26) In terms of the effects power has had upon the portrayal of people, Foucault explains that tradition, gender and ethnicity have been constructed as a means of instilling order and the concept of the station a humanity that is at odds with such a fictitious composition. With the demonization of the Islamic man, we are simply witnessing once again the official formulation of fear, in order to keep in place the checks and balances that constitute our post-modern social contract. As will be seen, this is not the only marriage of convenience that has taken place concerning the Wests pre occupation with Islam. The Historical Marriage of Hollywood and Propaganda The greatest mistake any student of film can make is to presume that propaganda is solely the domain of despotism. Although America claims to be the most inclusive society and best functioning democracy in the world it is not a country that has access to complete freedom of information. Much of the media is controlled by large corporations that, together with the body politic, make up the modern American State the physical manifestations of Marx and Foucaults models of power. Hollywood, likewise, is under the influence of a small clique of media moguls who are in close contact with Washington over key cultural concepts and it often appears that a hidden deal has been done to perpetuate official policy in the context of fantasy and film. It is important to note that it has not always been the case. Whereas, for example, before the Second World War, Hollywood was viewed largely a means of escapism, devoid of reference to the trials of life during the Great Depression, after 1945 it became more overtly political and stereotypical concerning its portrayal of characters. The lesson was infect learnt from the experiment of Nazi Germany where Goebbels created the most successful propaganda machine ever witnessed, using cinema ashes main source of seducing the German people into genocide and extremism. Yet, as Staley (2001:99) explains, the ultimate power of film as state propaganda is a delicate balancing act. [The Nazis] were acutely aware of the power of film as a propaganda medium. They were also aware that such use of film could be overdone, and that often people wanted just to be entertained. Taking this basic premise, Hollywood began to incorporate politics into mainstream film after the defeat of fascism and its allies. Entertainment, always its raison dtre, remained Hollywoods primary artistic export with a soft underbelly of political comment ushered in when the international climate demanded it. As a result, during the1970s and 1980s, the stereotypical Russian male was the most consistent villain in Hollywood, a direct result of the ideological residue of the on-going cold war between the USA and the USSR. Although not at all comparable to the depiction of Jews in Nazi film, the subtler enforcements of dominant cultural attitudes as portrayed in Hollywood cinema should not be underestimated. As Esposito (1999:214)claims, only after the end of the Cold War did the futility of the evil portrayal of Soviets become apparent, a fact that should not go unnoticed for members of the population that feel an unnecessary fear towards Muslims at the dawn of the twenty first century. There are lessons to be learnt from the Cold War. Celebration of the unravelling of communism and the victory of democracy has been tempered by questions that go to the heart of our ability to understand, analyse and formulate policy. Delight at the triumph of democracy was accompanied by a growing realisation of the extent to which fear and the demonization of the enemy blinded many to the true condition and extent of the Soviet threat In understanding and responding to events in the Muslims world, we are again challenged too resist easy stereotypes and solutions. At different times, Europeans and Japanese have likewise been cast as the perennial baddies in American film, corresponding to the prevalent international relations climate at the moment of production. Germans have also found it difficult to shed the unwanted tag garnered via the Nazis and even the English have been consistently used as evil henchmen in Hollywood films of the past. The important point is, regardless of the ethnicity or nationality of the historical baddie in Hollywood cinema, the good guy has always been the American so as to highlight the essential liberty of the symbolism of the USA in contrast to the relative failings of all other societies and cultures. Film has therefore always conformed to the dominant cultural conception of ethnicity in America and it has long since been a key source of state propaganda. The breakup of the Soviet Union, which began in earnest in 1991,necessitated are alignment of Hollywoods stance towards the role of Russian men in cinema. The Hunt for Red October (1990) was a landmark Hollywood film as it portrayed a key Russian submarine captain as pacifist, one who was torn between his national duty and his political sensibilities that were very much against fighting the US. Yet Hollywood required a replacement for the role of national enemy, made vacant by the opening up of Russia to the free market economy. Long before 1991, the image of the typical Islamic man had been cited as a potential enemy for portrayal in cinema, facilitated by the climate of misunderstanding described in the previous chapter. Political events in the Middle East also assured that the West retained its inherent fear for the culture of Islam with the religious and cultural revolution that took place in Iran in 1979 acting as catalyst for the growing sense of fear surrounding Western notions of the Arabic man, as Falk (2003:182) explains. The emergence on the world stage of the Ayatollah Khomeini suggested the potency of another way of envisioning governance and human destiny that rested on traditional values and the primacy of religious leaders and institutions in shaping the life of society. As well as the very real sense of fear felt by America in response to events in Iran, the terrorist actions committed by the rogue state of Libya, which specifically targeted American interests during the 1970sand 1980s, further heightened tensions between the relatively ignorant Western populace and the traditional Islamic man. Together with the widespread US fuel shortages of the late 1970s that were blamed on rich Arabian oil magnates, this triumvirate of stereotypes made up the fundamental building blocks of the portrayal of the Islamic man in Hollywood film. These three characters should be borne in mind throughout the remainder of the discussion as the religious, terrorist and financial incarnation of evil that is depicted in Western culture has gradually pervaded mainstream cinema with predictably negative effects. Alone, each of these Muslims characters appears alien rather than sinister; the three roles combined, however, constitute the ultimate onscreen villain. September 11, 2001 The stereotypical portrayal of Islam changed irrevocably after the events of September 11, 2001. Almost immediately, newscasters turned their attention to the reasons for perceived Islamic hatred towards the West. The result was a sentiment of disgust projected at the ubiquitous Arabic man that had perpetrated the atrocity, made worse by the action taking place upon American soil. Within hours of the strikes, cable and satellite broadcasters relayed images of jubilant Muslims dancing in the streets of the Middle East burning American flags making it appears if the entire Islamic world was behind the atrocity. When Fox News broadcasters such as Sean Hannity (2004:1) join the debate with inflammatory views such as those highlighted below, the sense of threat felt by the broader population was significantly and needlessly amplified. Three years ago evil surfaced in the Western world in a way that it had not in six decades, since the day of infamy at Pearl Harbour. Americans were forced to confront pure human wickedness in a way we had not in generations. By comparing 9/11 to the fascist alliance of World War Two, the American media opened up an avenue of cultural indifference that should have remained off limits. With the inherent distrust of Islam already deeply embedded in Western society, the image of the Islamic man quickly descended from that of traditional outsider to cold hearted villain. This evil portrayal of Muslims was greatly exacerbated by the subsequent war on terror, a concept that has little tangible ideological meaning beyond the corridors of power in Washington DC. The war on terror has helped to make hatred of Islam official; a matter of politics rather than opinion. Just as the Koran has legitimised Arabian terrorism, so the war on terror has facilitated American imperialist aggression and the demonization of the Islamic male in the greater cultural consciousness. Indeed, influential and highly respected American academics such as Gore Vidal and Noah Chomsky believe that this on-going perceived terrorist threat is, ultimately, tithe US Governments advantage as it gives fresh, relevant impetus tithe pursuit of dominance in international affairs. As Chomsky (2003:13)succinctly concluded: the goal of the imperial grand strategy is to prevent any challenge to the power, position and prestige of the United States. It can be seen that the post 9/11 Arabic threat is made of much more sinister material than the previous incarnation of evil prevalent in portrayals of Islamic men within Western culture and film. Furthermore, because Al Qaeda are so difficult to detect it has been deemed safer to declare all Islamic men a threat. The contemporary war against Islam is therefore a war waged against its entire people. Consequently, living and working amongst us has been a consistent threat levied by both the Bush and Blair administrations, in order to make the Islamic threat more immediate and the tangible. This is a key theoretical difference between the contemporary depictions of Arabs as opposed to all other international baddies adopted by Hollywood in the past, making the creation of a false climate of fear all the simpler to adopt. Without incessant reminders of the perils of Islam from the media, the drip tap effect of film as propaganda would not have a lasting effect. Moreover, the Western medias obsession with Islamic fundamentalism, which has, via deep seated prejudice, become a by word for Islam, has further alienated reason from the contemporary debate surrounding Islam. As a result, coverage of Muslim aggression towards the West has increasingly been relayed with an air of inevitability, a fatalism that was likewise present between communist capitalist divide the only a few years beforehand. It is an illusion created by a shared history of secrecy, a point which Keppel (2002:313) illustrates with reference to terror chief, Osama bin Laden, in his thesis, Jihad: the Trial of Political Islam. The most complete and media conscious drift into terrorism of any among the jihadist salamis faction was that of Osama bin Laden. In1996 the United States dubbed him worldwide public enemy number one because of a wide range of terrorist acts attributed to him, and as result bin Laden had become, by the turn of the century, the new visage of the Evil Empire. His name and face ensured the success of dozens of television programmes, magazines, books, and Internet sites and justified a wide range of American policy decisions. Ironically, all of this exposure would make him a hero of anti Americanism in the Muslim world. Therefore, it is apparent that excessive analysis of fundamentalism has hampered attempts at depicting Islam in a true light and only served to increase Muslim peoples sense of cultural isolation. If anything the poor level of academic understanding, coupled with negative media and film portrayal, has actually helped to till the land upon which the seeds of terrorism might germinate, as Esposito and Vole(2003:237) explain. Conflict and dialogue are frequently seen as the alternatives in relations between Islam and the West. In the months following the destruction of the World Trade Centre by terrorist on 11 September2001, conflict visions received much attention. The words of Muslims like Osama bin Laden, who proclaim the necessity of violent conflict with the West, gained high visibility and were regularly repeated in the global mass media. It is this gulf between reality and fictional depiction that is recurring theme throughout the study and the reason for the significance of the following examination into specific Hollywood case studies, which suggests that the medias appetite for stereotyping is shared by American movie producers and Hollywood executives. Analysis: Case Studies The first contemporary portrayal of an Islamic man in a mainstream Hollywood film came in 1975 with Sean Connerys portrayal of a Moroccan chieftain, who kidnaps an American widow in John Milieus film, The Wind and the Lion. Typically fearsome, though admittedly sympathetic, Connerys character is pit at odds with US President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the symbols of US historical culture, which gives the movie a sub text of good versus evil played out to the backdrop of Muslim terrorists fighting against the USA. It is a path, as will now be shown, that Hollywood has chosen to follow with increasing regularity ever since. Five American produced films have been selected for analysis, each comprising a different vantage point concerning the same cultural dilemma of portraying an accurate image of the typical Islamic man. The first movie chosen for review is John Landis 1985 thriller, Into the Night, which was the first major Hollywood production to dwell on the threat of Muslims as economic terrorists with regards to the ubiquitous American Dream. Into the Night is therefore a cinematic manifestation of the dominant fears of the decade that saw the typical Arab businessman as a potential threat to US economic hegemony, a fear heightened by the widespread oil crisis of the late 1970s. The film is an important example of the underlying Hollywood prejudice towards Islamic men as it highlights the subconscious link between the Arabs, economic wealth and crime reflected in the six emeralds in the possession of the character played by Michelle Pfeifer. In comparison, her pursuers are crude examples of the image of the Islamic rogue male that was dominant in media portrayals of the time. Into the Night can also be understood to work on a symbolic level, reawakening fears of a fusion between Islam and African Americans, which was a very real threat during the 1960s and the heyday of the Black Panthers. By setting the narrative solely at night and alluding to images of the Arabian desire to accumulate American capital, Landis creates a foreboding atmosphere every time the Islamic men appear onscreen, which is in stark contrast to the more comic element at play whenever the American actors are on stage. Furthermore, with the Americans inevitably triumphing at the conclusion of the film, the director underscores the futile nature of Arabian attempts to hijack Western capital. It is a theme that is repeated throughout Hollywoods portrayal of the male cultural outsider: though he may be evil, heist, ultimately, fighting a losing battle every time. Aladdin (Ron Clements, 1992) poses a wholly different problem. Aside from the animation aspect of the film, which necessarily requires adopting a different analytical approach to staged acting because of the immediate flight from reality implied via cartoon, Aladdin has evoked criticism for its overtly simplistic views of the Arabic man. In trying to entice laughter, the movie has been seen by some to cross the invisible line between decorum and distaste (though it should be remembered that the film was made predominantly with children in mind who have not yet been indoctrinated with the implications of political correctness.) Islamic distaste with Clements film centres on two main issues the first being some of the songs, the second the representational physical image depicted of the Islamic man with a protruding nose and nose ringing comparison to the lead male (a cartoon version that deliberately mirrors Tom Cruise). Likewise, concerning characterisation, Islamic and Western critics alike found the accents of the parts overly stereotypical with the two good characters of Jasmine and Aladdin speaking in a familiarly American English tongue while the bad character talks in a heavily accented manner that immediately evokes imagery of the contemporary Middle Eastern man. However, this represents nothing novel: Pinocchio, for example, (released in 1940),used the same comparison of American inflected good characters pitted against the then Italian voice of the incarnation of evil. Nevertheless, the overall sense of prejudice prevalent in the film led the New York Times (1993:18) to declare that, had the film been made at the cultural expense of the Jews or African Americans as opposed to Arabs, then the movie would never have been produced. With regards to the song, Arabian Nights, the lyrics were changed tread: where they cut off your ear if they dont like your face, shortly before the line; its barbaric, but hey, its home. This clearly enraged many Arab commentators who saw the lyric as unnecessary emphasis on the religious Islamic right of revenge in comparison to the Christian doctrine of turn the other cheek. Words, lyrics, accents and caricatures are clearly all open to interpretation. However, the fact that many Muslims felt aggrieved at the film ought to be enough to suggest that the makers of Aladdin were somewhat insensitive in their final execution of the product. What is beyond doubt is the cultural reach of Aladdin, and indeed all of Disneys products. They are popular not just with children but also amongst adults and teenagers. In Islamic countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia too, Disney is held in particularly lofty esteem, in spite of Aladdin appearing to mock strict Muslim ideology. By mid-April 1993,the film had grossed over $200 million in the USA alone, underscoring its vast cultural power. Certainly, White and Winn (1995:2) see the power of Disney as immense and they argue that its appeal, and therefore the power of its image of Islamic men, is greater than another form of filmic expressionism. Aladdin is one more successful attempt by Disney to Westernize, and even Americanise, an artistic product of another culture. As we saw in the Gulf War, other cultures tend to be valued in the West in relation to their usefulness to the West; the Arabic fairy tale of Aladdin became raw material for the Disney machine, which produced not inauthentic depiction of an Oriental culture and its products, but an American cartoon depicting the Arabic world and its people as both exotic and humorous. The emancipated genie, with his Goofy hat another Disney World paraphernalia, is not only an advertisement for Walt Disney. Incorporated, he also serves as an unintended symbol of the Mickey Moussing of the world and its various cultures. True Lies (1994), directed by Hollywood stalwart James Cameron, was genuine blockbuster, starring two of American cinemas most marketable stars in Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. The story concerns the double life of the married secret agents played by the lead actors and the comedy engendered in their attempts at concealing their day today activities from one another. Indeed, for the first ninety minutes, the film is primarily concerned with this precept before it turns its attention to the wacko terrorist intent on destroying the world. If the film would have been made ten years earlier, the perennial baddie would almost certainly have been cast as a Russian rogue but, by 1994,Cameron chose actor Art Malik to play Salem Abu Abuzz, the Islamic representation of evil. There can be no question that True Lies sticks to typical film stereotypes with the Muslim terrorist refusing to listen to reason or accept the inevitability of his ultimate defeat. Yet the producer and the director escaped serious questioning due to the essentially comic nature of the film, relying on unrealistic characters and a fantasy plot in the same style as Into the Night ten years beforehand. Made shortly after the 1993 World Trade Centre bombings, the selection of an Islamic man to play the bad guy is also easily understood, especially within the context of a movie that is so clearly intent solely upon entertainment. Yet, as the Nazis understood, flippant symbolism and the overriding concept of film as entertainment bonded superbly well in terms of propaganda, which suggests that seemingly disposable films such as True Lies retain the power to influence and offend. It is worth pointing out that the James Cameron went onto face stern criticism in the UK for his stereotypical depiction of the British naval officers aboard the Titanic, which he made into a Hollywood blockbuster in 1997.Titanic made a mockery of the long standing antagonism between the British and the Irish, showing one Scottish officer shooting women and children, which sparked outrage amongst the mans real life family. This instance merely proves that Hollywood is somewhat simplistic in its portrayal of a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities and that prejudice in film is not reserved for the followers of Islam. William Friskins 2000 courtroom drama, Rules of Engagement, cannot be analysed in the same context as True Lies. Rules of Engagement defines itself as a serious movie, one that attempts to portray the political reality of terrorism in the Middle East, as opposed to Camerons film where the action remains on American soil throughout the duration of the narrative. Rules of Engagement, which starred influential actors Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson, is set in Yemen and concerns the action of the US military in the region, finding itself at odds with stereotypically outlawed Islamic men, operating beyond the fringes of decent society. Ben Kingsley (not for the first time playing a South Asian ethnic character) provides the gravitas of the central scene, the scene that provoked stern reaction amongst Westerners and Muslims alike who wish to see an end to culturally damaging type casting. Indeed, Paul Findley (2003:80), a former member of Congress who is outraged at the contemporary media, film and government portrayals of Islam, sees Rules of Engagement as particularly guilty of perpetuating a negative myth that relies on the now organic link between Muslims and terrorism. In Hollywood, where most movies and documentaries are produced, the image of Muslim terrorism keeps re appearing. In early 2000,Paramount Pictures profited greatly from Rules of Engagement, a movie that maligned Muslims generally and Yemenis in particular and grossed over $43 million. Although the film company denied that it was an indictment of any government, culture or people, the central episode depicted a mob of violent Yemeni Muslims firing on the US Embassy in provoking a bloody counter attack by US Marines who were rescuing embassy personnel. Rules of Engagement appears intent on underscoring the symbolism between good and evil, mirrored in President Bushs with us or against us stance to the Axis of Evil. Indeed, the opening scene depicts the lead characters as comrades fighting in Vietnam, which necessarily encourages comparison between the insurrection of the Yemenis and the previous (victorious) fight against global socialism. The fact that the film was, on the whole, poorly received by critics in Europe and America does little to alleviate the sense of irresponsibility of film makers such as Fried in and others like him. Certainly, Rules of Engagement is not alone in its improper use of the link between Islam and terror. Executive Decision (1996) pitted Kurt Russell and Steven Sea gal against Arabic hijackers and The Siege (1998)followed suit with Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington and Annette Banning cast against renegade Muslim extremists intent on destroying New York City. Viewed in isolation, these films are relatively harmless in terms of their mass cultural appeal: analysed in unison, however, the cumulative effect of the incessant demonization of Islamic men is becoming an ever more dangerous phenomenon. Via a process of filmic osmosis, the link between Muslims and the worst incarnations of terrorism has become embedded in Western popular culture. The final film to be analysed within the study is Michael Moores 2002documentary film, Fahrenheit 9/11, which was initially banned in cinemas in the USA upon its release. The film makers thinly veiled aims to portray US President George Bush in as poor a political light as possible, constituting propaganda made against the instigator of the war on terror. It is this constant desire to humiliate Bush that ultimately weakens the film, though Moores attempt to highlight the perilous nature of Americas blatantly jingoistic attitude towards the Middle East ought to be applauded. Some of the most shocking scenes come when Moore analyses the medias coverage of the invasion of Iraq where journalism was clearly sacrificed in favour of extreme patriotism and ethnic prejudice. The imagery dovetails seemingly absurd Hollywood films such as Armageddon (1998) where the opening scene shows a New York taxi driver flippantly declaring, Were under at war. Saddam Hussein is bombing us, when the city is hailed by meteorites. This foretold the ludicrous scenario put to the people of the United States by their Government which claimed that the former Iraqi dictator was capable of striking the Americans on their own soil. Viewed together with the dominant media climate in America, it can be seen that Islamic men are depicted as untrustworthy and socially aggressive, an image that has transgressed into a cultural norm. Though terrorism remains the most pertinent and troublesome association with Islam, the economic and religious aspects of Hollywood portrayals are equally as damaging because, out of the ashes of minority atrocity, has emerged the phoenix of the demonic Islamic man: a melting pot of contradiction and fear induced Western prejudice. Conclusion The topic of the American cinematic portrayal of Islam has very recently been given an added injection of relevance with the launch of ten part miniseries called Sleeper Cell, which broadcast on cables Showtime in December 2005. The drama concerns four members of the secretive Islamic terrorist network and the police department that are trying to track them down. The plot at first appears worn out and clich but Sleeper Cell has won praise from all quarters in the US for its break from tradition. In a welcome addition to the genre, the chief inspector chasing the gang is also a Muslim, one of a more moderate stance to the fundamentalist extremists of the cell. Moreover, two of the four terrorists are white Muslims of European descent, which is far more representative of Americas Islamic demographic where 25% are not from any Arabic descent. Though some American Muslims would prefer to see an archetypal good guy be cast as an Islamic man outside of the context of terrorism, the attention to detail to the realities of life in contemporary America for a Muslim male has been widely applauded, as Sandi Dole of the San Diego Tribune (website first viewed December2005) explains. The story line does begin to raise atypical questions about who are the real Muslims. Many Americans are wary, their trepidation fed by too-frequent incidents of destruction from the USS Cole attack and9/11 to the London subway bombings and, most recently, the hotel explosions in Jordan. Other Americans understand that evil people Cando bad things they dont blame the religion; they blame the people. For the time being, however, Sleeper Cell remains an anomaly. Fox TVs widely popular series, 24 is seen by more viewers and correlates more closely to the real cultural mood in America regarding Muslims. Where there is a discernible lack of prejudice within the greater public, there is likely to remain a residue of fear, bred largely by misunderstanding and propaganda. In comparison to other means of portraying Islamic men, namely the various arms of the media, Hollywood has taken less of aggressive stance concerning Islam, steering clear of controversy where it can. Furthermore, Hollywood continues to stereotype a host of other races and nationalities, even British men, the so called benefactors of the transatlantic special relationship. In 1999, for instance, Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace followed the same route as Aladdin and cast a digitally enhanced character with an ethnic accent that was seen as racist by people from the Caribbean. Islam is therefore not alone in its alienation from mainstream Hollywood cinema. The main difference between the depiction of previous cultural others and the contemporary filmic portrayal of Islamic men is the context of the image projected. The incessant link with terrorism is endemic and is far more potent than any symbolism used since the height of the Cold War with the Russians. Yet even in this instance, Muslims can quite correctly claim to be harshly done by. The United States quarrel with Russia revolved around opposing political ideologies; the Hollywood prejudice surrounding Islamic men concerns their faith, their ethnicity and, indeed, their entire of way of life. In this way, the negative imagery of Islam dominant in the West is a wholly encompassing phenomenon resulting in a more complete feeling of alienation and revulsion in the Middle East. Hollywood, should it so desire, could play a significant role in the assimilation of Muslims into Western society, especially in the wake of9/11 and the on-going war on terror. Although it is impossible to gauge the actual influence of Hollywood film on the broader consensus of popular taste and culture, it is taken for granted that the drip tap effect of mainstream American cinema is particularly pervasive throughout Western society. The climate of fear created in the Cold Wares the most recent example of the success of the combined propaganda forces of the USA and the West where a tangible sense of fear was felt as a result of negative imagery and the construction of a mythical dividing line between the East and the West. Furthermore, with the considerable advances in techniques during the past thirty years, Hollywood now appears more real than ever before. Thus, whereas film commissioned during, for instance, the 1970s now appear dated and obviously outside of the realms of reality, the same cannot be said of Hollywoods contemporary cinematic output, as Ellis (1982:78)ascertains. Cinema as a photographic medium instantly poses its images and sounds as recorded phenomena, whose construction occurred in another time and place. Yet though the figures, objects and places represented are absent from the space in which the viewing takes place, they are also(and astoundingly) present. One suspects that, even if the Muslims could shed their Hollywood tags the symbol of terror, there would be another social, racial or ethnic group that would be seen as an ideal substitute. Viewed in this way, the existence of the cultural other will always exist in Hollywood film for as long as the present pre-eminence of the international system of the nation state prevails. Globalisation, therefore, and its inherent economic and political desire to break down traditional nationalistic frontiers may present an opportunity to eradicate the excessive depiction of the perennial cultural pariah in the future. Yet, as analysts such as Chomsky have noted, the paradigm of globalisation is in fact a smokescreen for US imperialist policy that will continue to rely on cinema as an entertainment based means of cultural propaganda. Bibliography Bormann, John and Donohue, William (Eds.) (1994) Projections 3: Film makers on Film making London, Faber Faber Cardin, F. (2001) Europe and Islam London, Blackwell Chomsky, N. (2003) Hegemony or Survival?: Americas Quest for Global Dominance London, Hamish Hamilton Clarke, R.A. (2004) Against All Enemies: inside Americas War on Terror London, Simon Schuster Curtin, P.D. (2000) The World and the West: the European Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Ellis, J. (1982) Visible Fictions: Cinema: Television: Video London, Rutledge Esposito, J.L. (1999) The Islamic Threat: Myth of Reality? Oxford, Oxford University Press Findley, P. (2003) Silent no More: Confronting Americas False Images of Islam Maryland, Amana Foucault, M. (translated by Alan Sheridan) (1977), Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison New York, Pantheon Foucault, M. (1984) The History of Sexuality: an Introduction London, Peregrine Friedman, T. (2003) Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World before and after September 11 London, Penguin Hannity, S. (2004) Deliver us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism New York, Harper Collins Karsh, E. (2003) Rethinking the Middle East London, Frank Cass Keppel, G. (2002) Jihad: the Trail of Political Islam London, I.B. Taurus Clause, J. (2005) The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe Oxford, Oxford University Press Marx, Karl and Engels, Frederick (1968) Selected Works London, Lawrence Wish art Meddeb, A. (2003) Islam and its Discontents London, William Heinemann Morris, H.T. (1994) Islam in the Balkans: Religion and Society between Europe and the Arab World London, C. Hurst Co Petite, Fabio and Hatzopoulos, Palos (Eds.) (2003) Religion in International Relations: the Return from Exile New York, Palgrave Macmillan Said, E.W. (1981) Covering Islam New York, Pantheon Said, E.W. (1993) Culture and Imperialism London, Chatty Windups Tibia, B. (2000) The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Order Berkeley, University of California Press Vidal, G. (2004) Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia Clair view, Forest Row

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Final Exam Solution Essay - 1308 Words

BUFN 762 Fixed Income Securities Final Exam Solution 1. Briefly explain why many corporations prefer to issue callable long-term corporate bonds rather than noncallable long-term bonds. There are three main reasons why a corporation may be interested in calling a bond. * Interest rated have fallen, so they can refinance at a lower rate. * Credit quality has improved, so they can refinance at a lower rate. * Assets have been sold, so money is available to pay off debt. 2. Briefly explain the idea behind an Immunized Bond Portfolio. With an Immunized Portfolio, the duration and convexity of the assets is set to match the duration and convexity of the liabilities. The PV of the assets is set greater than the†¦show more content†¦Briefly explain why the Inverse Floating Rate Bond has a much longer effective duration than the underlying fixed cash flow. If rates increase, then both bonds lose value because they are discounted at a higher rate. But the inverse Floater will also lose value because the coupon payments decrease. The opposite holds when rates decrease. Therefore, the price impact is greater for Inverse Floaters than for Straight Bonds. Note that there is another way to think of this. A portfolio made up of an inverse floater and a floater must have the same duration as a fixed cash flow bond. Since the floater has a very short duration, the inverse floater must have a longer duration than the average. 9. Briefly explain why Salomon Brothers was able to make a profit while they were squeezing the Two-Year Treasury. Salomon Brothers operated in four markets. 1. They paid a little more than the fair price for the bonds in the Primary Market, but that allowed them to control the issue. In order to do this they illegally bought more than they were allowed to buy. 2. They paid a fair price in the When-Issued market. Doing so gave them even greater control over the issue. 3. 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Frontispiece Interpretation of Rousseaus Discourse Essay Example For Students

Frontispiece Interpretation of Rousseaus Discourse Essay In this essay I will provide an interpretation of the frontispiece in Rousseau’s second discourse, a summary of some important ideas in Rousseau’s work, and an explanation how the frontispiece corresponds to Rousseau’s ideas. A description and a brief analysis of the frontispiece are necessary. The frontispiece us a black and white wood engraving pressed on to paper. The style is reminiscent of the high renaissance engraver Albrecht Durer. The stark black and white contrast is reflective of the thematic contrast between the figures within the frontispiece. The left side of the piece features five adult white men. For descriptive purposes, these men will be called â€Å"the nobles†. All wearing plumed hats, pointed shoe, and frilly shirts; these are staples of ostentatious European fashion. In the background behind the nobles is a castle towering to the clouds. Four of the five nobles appear to be arguing, perhaps there is a power struggle among them. Unlike his peers, the fifth noble is sitting. His facial expression and body language seem to indicate that he is in a state of dissatisfaction and deep reflection. On the opposite side of the frontispiece is a tribe of naked savages sitting around huts. This part of the piece contains little detail and the faces of the tribesmen are hidden. The tribe’s nakedness, primitive shelters, and position in the background suggest that the tribe is living in the distant past. In the foreground between the tribe and the nobles, a central figure stands. The central figure is a barefoot man in a loin cloth, a necklace hung over his neck and a sword at his hip, his back is to the nobles and his left hand is pointing towards the tribe. The light source of the frontispiece illuminates the central figure’s chest, while his backside remains shadowed. Looking back over his right shoulder, there is no longing in his eyes to return to the nobles, but rather a look of contempt. Before the central figure a bundle of clothes and other items lay on the ground, presumably these are possessions of the central figure he is leaving behind. Below the frontispiece, â€Å"He returns to his equals† is inscribed. In addition, Rousseau instructs us to see note P. In note P, it is revealed that the frontispiece is actually the depiction of a historical event. The Dutch came to Africa around the 16th century. The Dutch called the natives â€Å"Hottentots† and introduced them to a European lifestyle that they have never seen. The Dutch governor of the Cape of Good Hope adopted an infant Hottentot, raising him in the Christian faith and educating him in European customs. As a young man, the governor’s adopted son visited his people for the first time. He was introduced to the way his ancestors have lived for generations. For once he did not feel like a misfit in the world. The governor’s adopted son returned to the Dutch wearing a sheepskin loincloth, his old clothes bundled in a pile. The young denied the Christian faith and the European lifestyle and said, â€Å"My resolution is to live and die in the religion, ways, and customs of my ancestors. The sole favor I ask of you is to let me keep the necklace and cutlass I am wearing. † (225). The governor’s son then returned to live with his people without listening to a reply from his old family. The story behind the frontispiece is enigmatic. Why does the young man hold on to the cutlass and the necklace? He wants to reject the European ways of life and venture wholeheartedly into the ways of his ancestors, but he still holds on to pieces of his European life. He says he wants to keep the necklace and sword on account of the love he has for the governor, but he does not even afford his loved ones the chance to say good-bye. How could the governor’s son love the man who kidnapped him and robbed him of his way of life? The inscription below the frontispiece is also troubling. Explorers of the Renaissance EssayIn forests they made bows and arrows, and became hunters and warriors. In cold countries they covered themselves, with the skins of the beasts they killed† (143). The needs of men were no longer so simple and immediate. Men began living in closer proximity to one another. More complex language were needed to communicate with each other (145). Laws and rules were needed to keep peace. Rousseau says, â€Å"The idea of justice stems from believing everyone has a right to be considered by other people† (149). Natural man simply did not have the capacity to conceive of justice because of his undeveloped reasoning and his solitary lifestyle. Instead of living in the shade of trees and caves men started building shelters. This is the begging of the age of the huts. Rousseau says the age of the huts, â€Å"was the epoch of a first revolution, which produced the establishment and differentiation of families and introduced a sort of property- from which perhaps many quarrels and fights arose† (146). Men and women began to live together in these huts. This is the beginning of the family, a society within society (147). The course of man at this point has been forever altered. Even still, the age of the huts was not a far departure from the state of nature. Rousseau claims the introduction of the economy catapulted men further out of the natural state. He says men should have, â€Å"applied themselves only to tasks that a single person could do that did not require the cooperation of several hands, they lived free as soon as they observed that it was useful for a single person to have the provisions of two, equality disappeared, property was introduced, labor became necessary† (151). Social classes developed based upon peoples skills one could provide other people. Some became more valuable than others; inequality resulted (154-155). The introduction of the economy produced an increased desire to consume, which caused for an increased need for technology, which then caused an increased expansion between the classes. The longer this went on, the greater the distance between man and his natural state became. Rousseau believes that man has reached a point where man cannot fully return to his natural state (157). The nobles in the frontispiece are symbolic of the high society. They are materialistic and have many needs. They are in a constant power struggle because of pressures society has placed upon them to be superior. They have the need to have an outward display of power by wearing fancy clothes. The tribe is the depiction of men living in a more natural state. The tribesmen live a simpler more authentic lifestyle, and have been maintaining their way of life for generations. Their needs are fewer, they do not have the constant struggle for power because they are equal with each other. The central figure of the frontispiece is a man who desperately wants to reconnect to his more natural state. He recognizes that he cannot make a full return to his natural state. How can he forget his entire life living as a noble? In the same sense how can we, as a society, forget all of the knowledge that has accumulated for thousands of years? The central figure recognizes that the technology and education he can bring back to his people can be beneficial, especially in dealings with people such as the nobles. Since we can not make the full return back to our natural state, we should try, as Rousseau says, â€Å"maintaining a golden mean between the indolence of the primitive and the petulant activity of our vanity† (151). The moral of the frontispiece and of Rousseau’s second discourse are the same; be a natural man in an unnatural society. This is done by recognizing people as equals and curbing our desire to always consume more than is necessary. Bibliography: Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Roger D. Masters, Judith R. Masters, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The First and Second Discourses. New York: St. Martins, 1964. Print.