The Hip-Hop Defense free essay sample

Everyone has an opinion about the influence of hiphop music on our nations youth. Many people, such as politicians and the ultra conservative, feel the influence is destructive and incites violent behavior. Some people, for instance the media, believe hip- hop glamorizes inappropriate behaviors and actions while promoting the demoralization of women in general, but more specifically black women. Few people are willing to speak out and defend hip-hop music as communicative form of art. In the article â€Å"In Defense of Hip Hop† Cathleen Rountree argues people, young and old alike, are hasty to blame hip-hop in justification of their atrocious tirades, actions, and behaviors without fully understanding what hip-hop is, and what it represents. The â€Å"B word†, â€Å"ho†, and â€Å"trick† are just a few of the demoralizing and degrading slang words spoken in relation to women in some hip-hop music. Rountree uses national radio personality Don Imus’s April 4, 2007 racially insensitive verbal degradation against a female basketball team as an example of how hip-hop is a â€Å"scapegoat† to justify inappropriate and offensive comments and actions. We will write a custom essay sample on The Hip-Hop Defense or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Rountree makes note of the fact that Imus has a documented history of making insensitive and sometimes racial comments. If the history of Don Imus’s comments reflect a pattern of disrespect, degradation, and insensitivity how can hip-hop now be blamed for his April 2007 tirade. In the immediate aftermath of the Imus incident long-standing opponents of hip-hop music resurfaced to once again place blame on the music and the culture instead of on the individuals. Although some critics and activists were courageous enough to lay blame solely on Don Imus, others such as Al Sharpton, came out in defense of Imus stating although Imus ‘s behavior and comments were wrong, he shouldn’t be held accountable when entertainers of the hip-hop industry are not. As far back as 1970 â€Å"the devil made me do it! an expression popularized by a fictional character of comedian Flip Wilson, has been the prevailing comic excuse for misdeeds. Rountree entertains the idea of hip-hop as the equivalent of the devil in that expression, she further implies the music is representative of hip-hop artist surroundings and environment. Anger at a lack of understanding the music before condemning it is Rountrees reaction to the prejudice against hip-hop music, something everyone has done at one time or another. World famous hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur was instrumental, even after death, in Rountrees decision to re evaluate her thoughts and stance on hip-hop. Tupac’s posthumous documentary was a vital factor in her decision to re evaluate the music and the culture. The influence of that documentary so profoundly affected Rountree she devoted a section of her teaching curriculum to the study of hip-hop. Tupac Shakurs’ documentary altered Rountree’s entire perception of hip-hop as a music and a culture. Her eyes were opened to the meaning of the lyrics as expressions of the lives of the artists. She further states the artistic side of the music is representative of various aspects of society, politics and spirituality as well as bridging a gap to the different demographics that make up our country. In the summer of 2007 Queen Latifah a well-known female hip-hop artist, and actor Bruce Willis funded a project titled â€Å"The Hip-Hop Project† detailing a young mans’ plea to the youth of his community to share their life stories and experiences through the art of hip-hop. The focus of the project encourages the group to produce a realistic and vivid image of their everyday life in the form of words and music. With the support of Bruce Willis and other well-known figures in the hip-hop industry the album was completed to the satisfaction of all parties involved. Rountrees accolades to the success of the CD, indicates her complete change of mind of the subject of hip-hop. Overall, the article â€Å"In Defense of Hip-Hop† shows the authors willingness to open her mind to learning things she doesn’t understand. Her allusions to hip-hop as a form of social commentaries to bridge the differences of society, reflects the knowledge she ascertained on her journey of self-discovery. Hip-Hip frequently receives negative publicity due to the content of the lyrics, without ever considering what the lyrics actually mean. The Hip-Hop Project, was produced to show the more positive aspects of the art form. Roundtree states †this is a story of hope, healing and the realization of dreams and should be required viewing for Don Imus and Al Sharpton†.

American Beauty1 essays

American Beauty1 essays American Beauty tells the story of one man's search for happiness. The film introduces the audience to Lester Burnham, an ordinary- looking married man and father in his forties. Lester is in a loveless marriage. Lester's wife, Carolyn, is so wrapped-up in her real estate career that Lester often claims that Carolyn doesn't even acknowledge him. Furthermore, Lester's daughter, Jane, is completely distant, often claiming how "pathetic" she thinks her father is. Moreover, Lester has dedicated fourteen years to his occupation, and suddenly, he is in danger of losing his job due to downsizing. All of these factors dramatically effect Lester and culminate into feelings of desperation and vulnerability for him. Lester is therefore in search of an escape and a rebirth. He is seeking the slightest possibility of happiness. Throughout the story Lester is consistently reminiscing on his past; wishing he could have it back. In the beginning portions of the story, Lester, as the narrator, states that "it is never too late to regain your past." The catalyst to this frame of thought is Jane's friend, Angela. Lester feels excited by the thought that a teen-age girl thinks he is "hot." Lester overhears Angela state that she would have sex with him if Lester would start working-out and build-up his body. This drives Lester to change himself completely. Lester, in desperate search of happiness , finds an escape in Angela. Much like a hormone-driven teenage boy, Lester thinks that if he can "score" with a "bombshell" like Angela, then he will be reborn. Lester's mission for happiness and escape is further perpetuated by his eighteen year old neighbor, Ricky. In Ricky, Lester sees his model for rebirth. Lester calls Ricky his "hero" and is in awe of Ricky's confidence. Lester, then begins a transformation back to his stereotypical understanding of what a teenager is. Lester begins to work-out, smoke pot, and drink beer. Much like a teen, he...

How Mother Nature Became the Inspiration Behind Velcro

How Mother Nature Became the Inspiration Behind Velcro Before the middle of 20th century, people lived in a Velcro-less world where zippers were standard and shoes had to be laced. All that changed though on one lovely summer day in 1941 when an amateur mountaineer and inventor named  George de Mestral  decided to take his dog for a nature hike. De Mestral and his faithful companion both returned home covered with burrs, the plant seed-sacs that clung to animal fur as a way to spread to fertile new planting grounds. He noticed his dog was covered in the stuff. De Mestral was a Swiss engineer who was naturally curious so he took a sample of the many burrs stuck to his pants and placed them under his microscope to see how the properties of the burdock plant allowed it stick to certain surfaces. Perhaps, he thought, they can be used for something useful. Upon closer examination, it was the small hooks that enabled the seed-bearing burr to cling so stubbornly to the tiny loops in the fabric of his pants. It as during this eureka moment that  De Mestral smiled and thought something along the lines of I will design a unique, two-sided fastener, one side with stiff hooks like the burrs and the other side with soft loops like the fabric of my pants. I will call my invention velcro a combination of the word velour and crochet. It will rival the  zipper  in its ability to fasten. De Mestrals idea was met with resistance and even laughter, but the inventor was undeterred. He worked with a weaver from a textile plant in France to perfect a fastener by experimenting with materials that would hook and loop in a similar manner. Through trial and error, he realized that nylon when sewn under infrared light formed tough hooks for the burr side of the fastener. The discovery led to a completed design that he patented in 1955. He would eventually form Velcro Industries to manufacture and distribute his invention. In the 1960s, Velcro fasteners made its way to outer space as Apollo astronauts wore them to keep items like pens and equipment from floating away while in zero-gravity. In time, the product became kind of a household name as companies like Puma used them in shoes to replace laces. Shoe makers Adidas and Reebok would soon follow. During de Mastral’s lifetime, his company sold an average of over 60 million yards of Velcro per year. Not bad for an invention inspired by mother nature. Today you can’t technically buy velcro because the name is the registered trademark for the Velcro Industries product, but you can have all the velcro brand hook and loop fasteners you need. This distinction was done on purpose and illustrates a problem inventors often face. Many words used frequently in everyday language were once trademarks, but eventually become generic terms. Well-known examples include  escalator, thermos, cellophane and nylon. The problem is that once trademarked names becomes commonplace enough, the U.S. Courts can deny exclusive rights to the trademark.

Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Health Care - Essay Example This places businesses who offer insurance coverage for their workers at a disadvantage as they spend more on health care. This also affects the households paying for their own coverage and has an impact on their spending on other goods and services. This paper gives a summary of the information on health care costs and the impact it has on society and the economy. The spending on health care has changed over the years and according to reports an average of $6,500 is spent on an individual annually. It is found that sixteen percent of the economy of the gross domestic product (GDP) which represents the total economic activity is devoted to health care. These findings are shocking and the major concern is the rapid increase over the years. Health spending grows faster than all other sectors in the economy for example education, transportation, education, transportation and agriculture that grow at the same rate as the economy. Health spending has been observed to exceed the economic growth over the years and the trends show significant differences between health care and all other sectors in the economy as explained by Shi and Singh (2009).These findings are staggering calling for major reforms in the health care sector since the impact on the economy is very significant. The country spends more on health care than all other developing countries and according to findings by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. It was found that it spent 13 percent more than next highest spending country and this translates to 90 percent higher than their global competitors. Despite the relatively high spending, it does not maintain substantially better health care as compared to other developed countries. This may be because the wealthy countries can afford to spend more on health care and this is found to be a major correlation between health care and spending. Health studies show that the difference in health spending may be due to investment in

Water Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Water Cycle - Essay Example Factory effluence, poor sewage management, and poor waste disposal have threatened the supply of fresh water to significant levels. Oil spillage features as a dominant factor of pollution in the modern world. Industrialization and urbanization are some of the human factors that have caused significant shortages in the availability of fresh water. Unequal distribution of fresh water resources has created conflicts and occasioned artificial shortages in many parts of the world. Modernization and technological systems of water supply has also had some adverse impact on the availability of fresh water. For instance, certain developments such as irrigations often require the consumption of large supplies of water. Modern usages of water occasion wastage of large amounts of water leading to acute shortages (Royte, 2010). Human interventions in water availability has often involved the conflicts between parties where by the most privileged parties use financial means or political superiority to deny other groups sufficient access to water. Examples exist in parts of the developing world where conflicts between communities or countries have often led to acute water shortages in some of the affec ted

The Elusiveness of Good Work in The Insider Essay Example for Free

The Elusiveness of Good Work in The Insider Essay In â€Å"Good Work, Well Done,† Howard Gardner (1999) argues that â€Å"the goal of carrying out good work is harder to reach when conditions are unstable and market forces are allowed to run unchecked. † This, according to him, was the dilemma â€Å"faced by workers in every domain† as existing authority systems in most working environments are designed to penalize whistle blowers rather than to correct unethical business practices. Gardner’s argument is exemplified in Michael Mann’s (1999) film, The Insider. Based on the true story of tobacco industry whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand, Mann’s film is a brilliant movie depicting the intrinsic motivations, values, and expectations that oblige otherwise ambitious, loyal employees into sacrificing profitable careers, and even themselves, for the sake of the majority. The film owes majority of its success to Mann’s directorial genius, exemplary performances by Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, and Dianne Venora; and in part to the compelling story of an altruistic employee who decides to give up his lucrative career for a nobler cause. The Insider is interesting in its genuine depiction of many corporate workers’ experiences, the working environment, and the conflict that ensues due to incongruence between the individual’s personal values and company expectations for loyalty in its organization. By following the narrative of a tobacco company executive who exposes the unethical business practices of the corporation he works for, the film raises the issues of professional ethics as they relate and interact with business ethics in a corporate setting where the concerns of a healthy bottomline override other matters of concern (Gardner, 2002). More importantly, the film captures the complex nature of whistle blowing as â€Å"an extreme that defies the reasonable expectation of the most prominent versions of ethics† (Grant, 2002, p. 396) and the impact of this action on the personal life of the whistle blower. Thus, the film’s title takes an ironic twist as whistle blowing demands that a worker, or an insider, subvert the norms and expectations of the culture he is in and in the process rendering him an outsider. This aspect of whistle blowing is particularly depicted in the dilemma confronting the film’s main protagonist, Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), a scientist working as an executive in the research department of Brown and Williamson, one of the tobacco industry’s biggest companies. Wigand is terminated by the corporation because of his refusal to cooperate with the company’s questionable practice involving the use of nicotine to make cigarettes more addictive that in the scientist’s view was causing major damage to public health. Clearly, Wigand’s case confirms Joseph McCafferty’s (2002) observation that â€Å"more often, those who try to bring to light unethical or illegal practices by their employers are criticized, treated like outcasts, fired, or worse. † For instance, he experiences being harassed and receiving death threats shortly after being fired from the company, ostensibly made to ensure that he keeps his silence and honors his confidentiality agreement. It is not surprising that insiders like Wigand often experience extreme pressure and personal conflict even after they have severed ties with the company they work for. Threats of retaliation through physical or financial harm and legal action often force employees who leave their jobs due to the mismatch between their ethical principles and work expectations vis-a-vis the priorities of the company they work for. The existence of legal and social mechanisms that punish the act of whistle-blowing, and the ineffectiveness of existing legal systems to support those who come forward to tell external stakeholders about illegal or unethical business practices contribute to the difficulties faced by whistle blowers. McCafferty, 2002) Ultimately, these impediments condition the majority of workers into a state of compliance despite their knowledge of wrongdoings in their workplace. Accordingly, Grant (2002) argues that individuals like Wigand display a sense of ethics that surpass conventional ethical behavior and â€Å"exceed the minimal level that is required to sustain civil life. † (p. 96) Given the lack of incentives and the threats posed by this action on their personal life and career opportunities, whistle blowers are clearly driven by a strong belief in moral and ethical ideals contrary to the conventional notion of whistle blowers as vindictive or errant employees. Wigand’s character affirms Grant’s (2002) contention; Instead of being deterred by the harassment and the gloomy prospects awaiting him in his career, he becomes more determined decision to spill Brown and Williamson’s dirty secret in a 60 minutes interview with CBS reporter Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino). Wigand;s character therefore fits Grant’s description of whistle blowers as â€Å"saints in a secular culture. † Throughout the film, Wigand’s sense of justice shines through despite his emotional battles and inner turmoils as he encounters numerous hardships such as being separated from his family and from company efforts to discredit his name. It is therefore only fitting that Wigand is vindicated when Bergman is able to counter the negative publicity and he finds a more fulfilling career that allows him to finally do â€Å"good work† by teaching. Thus, The Insider is an illuminating look at how existing political and economic structures inhibit individuals from doing â€Å"good work† as defined by Gardner (2002). It is also an incisive commentary on how society, in general, conditions employees to normalize unfair business practices by valuing material incentives more than those based on social or moral ones. Consequently, whistle blowers, and others intent on doing â€Å"good work,† are often forced to carry their battles and ethical struggles alone, left vulnerable to the machinery of Big Business, and treated with contempt by their collegues and families.

Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay - Marriage in The Wife of Baths Pro

Marriage in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale The disparity in the outcomes of the hag's marriage and Alison's marriages in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" depends in part on the women's differing expectations of their husbands. The hag's modus agendi depends on a knight's obligation to honour his pledge, whereas Alison's modus operandi depends on her husbands' conduct after marriage, i.e. on her circumstances. Having saved the knight's life, the hag asks the knight to permit her to be his wife. Moreover, she wants to be his love. The knight must marry, since marrying the hag lies within his might. Since the hag's definition of being his wife includes her loving him, he is duty-bound to tolerate the hag's love. Her love for him requires he show compassion to her. Perforce of her line of reasoning of the advantages of being married to her, he accepts her sovereignty to have her will. The chains of her enchantment broken, the hag turns beautiful in the knight's eyes. He falls in love with her, and she rea lizes the right to rule in he...