tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116378542024-03-07T03:00:35.859-05:00VIKRAM DESAIIDEAS makes DESAIvikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-3278580161153265092007-03-05T01:18:00.000-05:002007-03-05T01:20:59.031-05:00The Lost and Found Essays- III<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Vikram S Desai<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">IH52:021<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Paper # 4<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><st1:date month="12" day="8" year="2004" st="on"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">8<sup>th</sup> December 2004</span></st1:date><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;" align="center"><b style=""><u><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Gandhi and Dr. King on Non-Violence<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Gandhi in the chapter, 'Critique of modern civilization' and Martin in 'A letter from <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Birmingham</st1:City></st1:place> jail' explain their views on non-violence. Gandhi thoroughly puts his ideas forth while answering the reader's question. He brings about the concept of ‘soul-force’ and explains how soul-force or the force of love and truth is important and without which the world would have not existed. Martin also in his letter to the <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Alabama</st1:State></st1:place> clergymen, talks about non-violence. He attempts to make them realize about the significance of non-violence. He in fact uses the term 'direct action' to describe the resistance which is displayed with non-violence or passive resistance. Thus trying to reiterate how powerful a force non-violence can be. After thoroughly reading their ideas, it is easy to conclude that both Gandhi and Dr. King are indeed strong advocates of nonviolent passive resistance. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">According to me, any action that is supported by confidence, strong determination and truth is powerful. These are the main factors on which the success of the action in terms of its acceptance lies and its effectiveness can be gauged. The different aspects surrounding such actions differ depending upon the causes and the ultimate goal to be achieved. <span style=""> </span>For example, groups of people choose to demonstrate peacefully in front of certain institutions to show their opinions. Their whole aim is to demonstrate their unity and declare that they firmly believe in their actions. Any person would agree that such actions go a long way in sending across their message. Some people may also choose to make their point by resorting to destruction of life and property. However such actions would be looked upon with utter disgust and their message would not be received appropriately. We see such examples in our daily lives of how non-violent actions make a lot of difference. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Gandhi called this term ‘soul-force’. While explaining this idea, he clearly talks about two forces that can be backed by petition. The first is the force of arms, which according to him has far reaching evil results. He states the second kind of force as the one in which the people choose that they don’t want to be governed. In other words it is the force which is shown by actions that show the oppressor about the grit and determination that the oppressed possess. According to him the force implied in this may be described as love-force, soul-force, or, passive resistance. Gandhi claims that the force of arms is powerless when matched against the force of love or the soul. Such advocacy of non-violence can be found in Dr. King’s writings too. In ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, Dr.King writes about his beliefs about non-violence. He believes that any non-violent struggle can have a deeper impact on society and on the oppressor. He states that the whole purpose of ‘direct action’ is to foster negotiations. His lines, “Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.” clearly show that he strongly believes in the strong potential of any non-violent struggle and its positive consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">It is thus evident that both Gandhi and Dr. King believe in the sheer power of non-violence and the results that it can help achieve. Gandhi in the chapter, ‘Critique of Modern Civilization’ gives a detailed description of his thoughts on passive resistance. He actually does a wonderful job of replying to questions that would be asked by a normal person. In this process he ends up educating a reader about not only the basic concept of passive resistance but also about its various complex aspects and the traits that an ideal passive resister must possess. He defines passive resistance as ‘method of securing rights by personal suffering’. While defining passive resistance he makes it clear that the aim of a passive resister is not to break laws but to suffer and not submit to the laws. He explains that a person uses soul-force when he or she decides not to obey an unjust law and accepts the penalty for its breach. He clarifies that the power of passive resistance is immense even though not many accounts of its success can be found in books of history. In the lines, “History, as we know it is a record of the wars of the world” he tries to point out that accounts of violence between kings and nations are recorded accurately. He further says that although this is the case, history cannot be entirely about wars, because that would have definitely killed ever human being on the earth and the fact that the world still lives is the most unimpeachable evidence of the success of soul-force. Gandhi’s thoughts like these make one think deeply about non-violence and its strengths. He also wants to make the reader aware that passive resistance shouldn’t be only considered as the force of the weak. He says, “Those alone can follow the path of passive resistance who are free from fear, whether as to their possessions, false honour, their relatives, the government bodily injuries or death”, thus clarifying that it should not be considered to be just a force of the weak, and that it can be used as an important tool of ‘fight against injustice’ by any section of the society. Gandhi’s inspiring words and the underlying urge in his words to embrace non-violent passive resistance makes one realize the true potential of soul-force.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">While Gandhi in ‘Critique of Modern Civilization’ introduces the concept of soul-force and goes a long way in explaining all the various aspects about soul-force and non-violence, Dr. King in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, uses his thoughts and belief in non-violence to explain his stand on various issues concerning the freedom and fight for equal rights for African Americans in America. This letter is<span style=""> </span>Dr. Kings reaction. He urges his fellow men to realize the fact that the non-violent demonstrations are a direct result of the city’s white power structure and should not be misunderstood. His lines, “ In any non-violent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of all the facts to determine whether injustice exists; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action”, <span style=""> </span>shows that Dr. King aims to project his non-violent struggle as meaningful and organized, one whose sole aim is to establish justice. He uses the term direct-action to mention the final stage in a non-violent struggle. Thus Dr. King, like Gandhi tries to reiterate that such an action can indeed reap far-reaching results. Gandhi and Dr. King can actually be well compared after reading their thoughts on non-violence. In fact, the following passage from Dr. King’s letter on non-violence, in which he is trying to explain the distinction in the two kinds of protests, is strikingly similar to Gandhi’s words when he was defining passive resistance. He says, “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law…..One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law”. Thus agreeing with Gandhi’s thought that passive resistance is securing rights by personal suffering. Dr. King too, like Gandhi, chooses to classify laws as ‘just’ and ‘unjust’ laws and presses that<span style=""> </span>while an unjust law is no law at all, a law can be called<span style=""> </span>just only if it is a ‘man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God.’ <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Thus a deep reading of ideas from both these great leaders gives us a clear picture of the power that soul-force or passive resistance possesses. Both definitely think that ‘<span style="">soul force’ or passive resistance is powerful and it tends to weaken the more conventional power structure it challenges. Gandhi gives various examples, demonstrating how passive resistance can weaken even the strongest kings. His example in which he talks about the villagers who were offended by their prince’s commands is very interesting. The villagers then decided to vacate the village and soon the prince had to withdraw its orders. This simple instance itself makes one’s mind ponder over the various ways in which soul-force can be used as a powerful weapon. Gandhi in fact believed that violence should not be used at any stage of protest, once a passive resister embraces the path of non-violence. A very important event in the history of <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s struggle for freedom was ‘The Non- Cooperation Movement’ launched by Gandhi in 1922. It was a national civil disobedience movement. People in every corner of the country began to withdraw their support from the government. Heaps and heaps of foreign goods were burnt. People decided to stop paying taxes. Every government owned service was basically rejected by the people. Since this movement was accepted nationally by the people, it really seemed as if the British had no other option but to withdraw their rule. Unfortunately the movement was called off by Gandhi. The only reason being that some people got excited and had burnt down a police station, killing some officers. Gandhi declared that violence would not be tolerated and if people could resort to such actions, it basically meant that <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> was not yet ready to be free and to form its own government. Although this step of his shocked the nation, Gandhi further in his book explains why there is no way brute-force can be used to protest and how resorting to brute-force leaves no moral difference between the oppressor <span style=""> </span>and the oppressed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Such strong belief in non-violence and the idea of dedication of one’s life to suffering and pain, to make the right kind of impact on the oppressor, highlight the lives of Gandhi and Dr. King. Both urged their followers to accept the path of non-violence and committed their lives to make the world realize about its true strengths.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-51148239665822420932007-03-03T14:28:00.000-05:002007-03-03T19:54:53.186-05:00ColorlessAnother year, another colorless holi.<br /><br />Holi...you bitch....I miss you.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-51903221902121698422007-02-23T23:37:00.000-05:002007-02-23T23:38:22.589-05:00Blogger.com's Best Feature"Moderation of Comments"vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-51203758097321786382007-02-23T18:33:00.000-05:002007-02-23T18:37:25.660-05:00Million Dolllar Question: Can you do it?<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.shutdownday.org/"><img style="margin: 10pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 209px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrEb16pBdwJJNSe9XhK2vz-FfgLN8CDfoJ3lUUyfyu64jcBDVI2KaF-YPjbvTZ9PC7HqWG6KzSNxsLAP_SiY1xKN_cuQqgutxKujV_KxGVLBukscTij_pIICKFhHOAkwglSDRqNA/s320/isd_en.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5034877102602761602" border="0" /></a></div>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-79467059040856914232007-02-22T01:31:00.000-05:002007-02-22T01:56:48.992-05:00To stop a thoughtYou know how the mind sometimes keeps racing towards a <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span> that you deem as unhealthy, inappropriate, and anachronistic. You try your best to shrug it off but it bounces between the four walls of your head and lands itself back where you don't want it to be.<br /><br />You try to take control of your mind, and accelerate and decelerate the pace of its processing speed, only hoping that the <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span> would somehow escape and in the process fill your mind up with fresh new ones. <br /><br />Even when the fresh thoughts replace it, they linger for sometime and almost in an instant the previous <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span> gatecrashes again.<br /><br />So what do you do to stop a thought?<br /><br />My mom used to say, close your eyes and look for darkness. A friend once mentioned that he thought about naked women to nullify this. <br /><br />For the record, I have thought about kids, snow mountains, moonlight, parents, achievements, friends, gadgets, food, stand-up comedy, happiness, laughter, comics, pasta, expeditions, parties, light, roads, dance, hamsters, saxophones, hashish, poems, sexuality, scooters, printers, god,zippo, bluetooth, waterfalls, and darkness........all in an attempt to kick out that one <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span>.<br /><br />Nothing works, they are all friends of the <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span> I hate.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-56719226440148943612007-02-22T00:24:00.000-05:002007-02-22T01:03:10.512-05:00Colbert goes BollywoodSo the third gig on Bollywood in three weeks, Stephen Colbert has certainly found an unusual territory to pick on compared to typical American daily or night show standards. Hilariously, all three of them talk about Amitabh Bachchan and what you see in these three videos is the perfect example of Colbert's comedy. <br /><br />Now, I have been sharing these videos with a lot of friends in the past few weeks, and have more or less had one of the following reactions, I call them Reactions A, B and C<br /><br />A.This is the typical American mentality!...It's an insult to Bollywood and India!<br />B.This only shows that the world is waking up to the magic of Bollywood.<br />C. This is F***** FUNNY!!!...I laughed my ASS out!<br /><br />Have you seen these gigs? No? Why don't you do that right now and then scroll to the bottom of the post. Thanks.<br /><br /><br /><embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4787996060115144337&hl=en" flashvars=""><br /><br /><embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=612511588332524248&hl=en" flashvars=""> <br /><br /><embed FlashVars='config=http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/xml/data_synd.jhtml?vid=82064%26myspace=false' src='http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/syndicated_player/index.jhtml' quality='high' bgcolor='#006699' width='340' height='325' name='comedy_player' align='middle' allowScriptAccess='always' allownetworking='external' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'></embed><br /><br />So what's your reaction? A, B or C? Or may be you are a D. <br /><br />Let me say this though, I am Reaction C. I have spent countless hours in the last few weeks arguing with the As and Bs, and I don't want to write about it here. <br /><br />BUT...<br /><br />I will intelligently point out why I am C, if and only if you give me an intelligent explanation about why you are A or B. And I will do this not because I want to impose my thoughts on you, but only because I just haven't had a single logical and thoughtful reasoning about why this is an insult to India or even an instance to be joyful about for that matter.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1923772337608361292007-02-22T00:08:00.000-05:002007-02-22T00:13:48.492-05:00Back!O' Hello!....Yeah I am talking to you'll !!<br /><br />Ok listen up......YOU, You, YoU and you....<br /><br />.........<span style="font-style: italic;">Commenting</span> is back on my blog now.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-44033174646631803302007-02-20T20:20:00.000-05:002007-02-20T20:25:06.178-05:00More Astrology......This time from a forwarded e-mail and more concentrated on the naughty things in life....not complaining till I hear nice things about myself. ;-)<br /><br />Check out the Capricorn bonus!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">GEMINI:. Does Twosomes</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Nice. Love is one of a kind. Great listeners Very Good in bed. Lover</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">not a fighter, but will still knock you the #### out. Trustworthy.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Always happy. Loud. Talkative. Outgoing VERY FORGIVING. Loves to make out. Has</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong. ULTRA SEXY. THE MOST IRRESISTIBLE.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">CAPRICORN:. The passionate Lover</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Love to bust. Nice. Sassy. Intelligent. Sexy. Predict future.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Irresistible, awesome kisser. Loves being in long relationships. Great</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">talker. Always gets what he or she wants. BY FAR the BEST in BED. Very sexy.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Coolest. Loves to own Gemini's in bed sports. Extremely fun. Loves to joke.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Loves to be your first. So you'll never forget.</span><br /><br />Cough Cough....LOL ;-)vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-33023265700922120492007-02-20T20:06:00.000-05:002007-02-20T20:18:08.044-05:00Weather Gods Smile........Finally!All my friends and relatives, who got bored listening to my bragging about how I was living in brutal weather conditions, won't hear from me again on this issue!<br /><br />This morning I walked out of my apartment complex doors, with the same armor of 3 layers of clothing, a down jacket, gloves, woolen socks and a hood. Ready to walk into a gust of icy air hitting hard on my face, I was pleasantly surprised that I was instead welcomed by a warm cozy whiff of air.<br /><br />Checked out the weather on Yahoo! Weather and by recent standards it was warm as hell! 6 degrees Celsius to be exact. I know it doesn't sound warm. For me its time to enjoy the summer!<br />Pops! is the sound of the day....the sound of chilled flowing beer.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-36439519383903519972007-02-18T01:53:00.000-05:002007-02-18T01:54:03.865-05:00200 million phones in India...............and counting.....vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-39477902885268416792007-02-17T14:04:00.000-05:002007-02-17T14:07:12.080-05:00Chinese Astrology: The DOGRan into my Chinese prediction for the year :)<span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><strong>T</strong>he most likeable sign of the Chinese cycle, people born under this sign are honest, intelligent and straightforward. Driven by a deep sense of loyalty and a passion for justice and fair play, they make great friends. </span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" >If you have a forthright dog for a friend, you must know that when you are in trouble, all you have to do is dial D-O-G. For no matter how much they complain or feign indifference, they cannot ignore a real call for help! </span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style=";font-family:Arial;" ><strong>Are you a dog personality? Read your forecast for 2007</strong></span></span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >2007 is a peaceful and persevering year for the sensible and prudent dogs. It is filled with plum opportunities. Decisions and actions are executed by you with a strong and calm mind. Success is yours for the taking. Those in the writing/publishing field receive felicitation and encouragement for recent achievements. Expenditures are high. Saving schemes will be<br />important mid-year. Love life blossoms in November-December as someone you meet in your travels turns out to be a dream come true. Health remains good throughout. </span></span></p><p><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><strong>Famous people</strong>: Charles Bronson, Pierre Cardin, Sir Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley<br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Lucky days</strong>: Tuesday, Thursday<br /><strong>Lucky numbers</strong>: 7, 5</span> </span></span></p></span>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-10853456348905098512007-02-09T00:30:00.000-05:002007-02-09T00:29:43.242-05:00The Lost and Found Essays - I<span style="font-style: italic;">The objective of this essay was to read two books, Neil Postman's 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' and Jeffrey Scheuer's The Sound Bite Society and then compare the authors' thoughts on how television affects politics. </span><br /><br /> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Vikram S Desai</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">ENG 50</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Marc Schuster</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Paper # 4</p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Television and Politics<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left; font-family: arial;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I have been reading Neil Postman’s book, <u>‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’</u> for a while now. At first, the book felt like an amazing eye-opener to the characteristics and effects of television. I was impressed with the kinds of questions and thoughts that Postman put up and really made me feel that television, is actually influencing everything that exists in the world today. The kind of examples that he put up to show television’s devastating effects, seemed appropriate. But as I went on reading this book, I soon realized that he had this strong tone in his language, a total anti-TV tone. His words did make me believe that TV’s ever changing ways did affect things in ways which were not always positive but I still believe that television has been successful in many ways and when used in the correct way, has always, reached out to people to inform and educate them. But Postman words only suggest that his thoughts for the new television age are that it is completely ruining everything that it is involved with. He has dedicated chapters to different aspects, like education, politics, culture etc.,<span style=""> </span>and in almost each line of these chapters, has used words that have only maligned television. In his entire book, he hasn’t even once assertively spoken of TV’s advantages, and hasn’t even suggested ways in which one could take better advantage of television’s infinite capabilities to provide information.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Jeffrey Scheuer on the other hand in his book, <u>‘The Sound Bite Society</u>’ seems to have a more logical approach in giving out his ideas on television. His idea is clear from these lines in the introduction of the book: “This book is not a catalogue of complaints about modernity, or a critique of television as a vehicle of intellectual, moral, or spiritual decay. There are enough good studies of the nature, content and social impact of television, The Sound Bite Society aims to understand television, not to bash it” [1]. It feels good to see these lines, especially after reading the TV bashing ideas of Neil Postman.<span style=""> </span>Overall, it seems that both the writers believe that television has drastically changed our lives and influenced human behaviors to a great extent. But while Postman talks only about the negative influences, Scheuer also brings out the positive influences of television and hints that one can control the amount of information provided to him and choose as to exactly how much one wants to be influenced by it. But in order to stress on this idea of his and in order to repeatedly mention about him not being totally against television, he ends up contradicting himself on a number of occasions. In this essay I am concentrating on ideas from both the authors on the effects of television on politics and political ideologies.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Television has changed the concept of politics in many ways. I actually believe that out of the whole wide range of issues that both the writers bring out , politics is the one that’s most affected by television. <span style=""> </span>It is probably the reason why both the writers display a common level of thinking about this.<span style=""> </span>Both writers , in their introduction to their argument on ‘television and politics’ refer to the concept that political discourse in the new age is just about how one can present his or her ideas on television. Neil Postman, in fact goes ahead and says that in the ‘Age of Show Business’ , a person can hope to be a successful candidate only if he is able to present himself well on television, in other words only a smart man who looks good on TV can stand a chance of getting elected.<span style=""> </span>This according to Postman is more important these days, no matter what his or her political ideologies are. According to him television commercials are the chief instruments to determine one’s political value. This is very evident these days. One can see loads of commercials being flashed each day between shows which are either speaking good or bad about a political candidate. And since they are aired every now and then, and sometimes repeatedly between the same show, they <span style=""> </span>get too irritating at times. Off late I guess I have been watching more of political commercials on TV instead of the actual show that I intend to watch. I don’t mean to exaggerate here but after a show my mind is full of images of the two candidates who are contesting. The worst part is that some commercials are also of candidates who are not contesting in the area where I live. I have to watch commercials of candidates in <st1:state st="on">New Jersey</st1:State> and <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Delaware</st1:State></st1:place>, their deeds, misdeeds etc. even though none of their actions are going to affect me in any way in my entire life. Also, no matter whom the commercial is by, they have this monotonous tone of doing well for the society and making lives easy for everyone. Postman brings this idea out by saying, “the commercial asks us to believe that all problems are solvable”. So if there are a number of commercials talking about the same ideas by different people, it again ends up confusing the viewer. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size:100%;">While Neil Postman goes about his ideas in this matter by using critical wit and strong words, Jeffrey Scheuer, agreeing to this states that the language of political discourse is now a visual vocabulary of images and slogans. According to him it is now television, that favors or disfavors political ideas.(s 9). Unlike Postman, Scheuer has agreed to the fact that television can in fact play a very important role in educating and informing people. It can go a long way in putting forth complex ideas in a simple way, but according to him , it is this simplifying nature of TV that helps in building a society based on the ideology of conservatism. Scheuer has divided the society into the two groups, ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’. He repeatedly affirms that television makes the political thinking of people to shift from liberalism to conservatism. He does not clearly mention as to which kind of thinking is actually very advantageous to the society. According to him such an ideology encourages a rudimentary form of personal freedom and less equality (11). He says that the pre-requisites of mature democracy are respectful discourse and democratic debates and that television does not promote them. Citing examples of Clinton and Kennedy he brings about the idea of how easily this medium is being exploited and how easily can this trend continue.</span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Although Jeffrey Scheuer contradicts his own statements on a number of occasions, he does put up his thoughts in a sensible manner. He manages to make his point that its not just television that can affect politics but also the underlying ideas and thoughts of the people that relate to these ideas in the vast political spectrum. The way in which he has organized his ideas show he realizes both, TV’s importance and the fallout of its exploitation. Neil Postman’s ideas on the other hand make the impression that he thinks that television has caused an ‘end of the road’ situation for politics. “Television can be a great boon to democratic life, and a great detriment” (9). These lines sum up Scheuers thoughts on television and politics and I more or less agree with him.</span><br /></span></div> </div>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-32616464693740756282007-02-09T00:21:00.000-05:002007-02-09T00:09:58.396-05:00The Lost and Found EssaysOne of the things that I had to unhappily do as a student of Temple University was to take courses that had nothing to do with Electrical Engineering. Television and Life, Intellectual Heritage, African-American History are a few examples.<br /><br />I was more or less bored to go these classes, but two semesters into them and I had actually begun to enjoy the stuff I was doing there. Things like essays, peer reviews and discussions soon became a fresh breather from the routine of designing circuits and soldering transistors.<br /><br />I happened to retrieve a bunch of essays that I wrote during these courses. I actually got them from my TU e-mail account, which could expire anytime.<br /><br />Over the next few weeks I am going to post them here. Nothing wrong in publishing something you loved doing, is there?<br /><br />Students, coming through web search engines and looking for material, feel free to use my stuff but make sure you write to me. I will smilingly accept your thanks and also tell you the grades I got on these ;-).vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1170052796741769902007-01-29T01:33:00.000-05:002007-01-29T01:39:56.760-05:00Early Morning RantsHave you ever....<br /><br />- Been in bed on 29th January 2007.<br />- At 1:30 am, with your eyes wide open.<br />- Have known that you have a meeting at 8 am, which means you have to leave home at 7, in other words, wake up at 6<br />- Have tried your hardest to sleep.<br />- Unsuccessfully<br /><br />No??<br /><br />I have, and the way I am feeling right now.....Is exactly how it feels.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1169885835975570192007-01-27T03:12:00.000-05:002007-01-27T03:17:15.983-05:00Talking to myselfJanuary 27 2006, 3:07 am<br />Bed, Darkness, Curtains, Thoughts.<br />Philadelphia, PA<br /><br />Me: Stop it.<br />me: I Can't<br />Me: Why?<br />me: Dunnovikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1160755181058559752006-10-13T10:58:00.000-05:002006-10-13T10:59:41.070-05:00Did you know?Its...Friday the 13th.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1160706683293106222006-10-12T21:31:00.000-05:002006-10-13T11:05:04.276-05:00Hilarious!<object height="350" width="425"><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/0uI3Tlll4OI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="350" width="425"></object> A very funny Pepsi advertisement aired during the 2004 India - Pakistan Cricket Series.<br /><br />Obviously I discovered this advertisement a little too late. But its hilarious and worth posting nonetheless.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1160141612547255732006-10-06T07:36:00.000-05:002006-10-06T08:37:44.470-05:00India gives US a lesson in democracyA statement by the Ministry of External Affairs in India late on Thursday made headlines on the Times of India website.<br /><br />In response to US envoy to Pakistan, Ryan Cocker's statements about how India should share evidence with Pakistan instead of making public accusations, the MEA said, " One would have expected Ambassador Crocker to understand that democratic governments have a prime responsibility to keep their own people fully informed." Ouch! That must have hit hard.<br /><br />I have always been intrigued about the functional terrain that officials like ambassadors, envoys and high commissioners to countries get themselves into. I specially started thinking about it after watching an interview by Charlie Rose in Jan 2002. Charlie interviewed the former Ambassadors to India and Pakistan, Frank Wisner and Nicholas Platt. In typical Charlie Rose style, the three of them sat at a table and discussed the South Asian scenario revolving around India and Pakistan. Goes without saying, India's war on terror and the Kashmir issue was a hot topic. The most interesting part was, while talking about the Indo-Pak dispute, there was a clear difference of opinion between the two US ambassadors. Frank Wisner talked pro-India while Nicholas Platt supported Pakistan.<br /><br />Yup, obviously both of them are fully entitled to their own opinion, but the US and India have too largely seen eye-to-eye on the whole Indo-Pak issue. It was funny to see Nicholas Platt clearly agree with Pakistani assertions about India like, India playing a blame game all the time, not respecting the rights of the Kashmiris and so on. It was an interesting watch to see two men from the same country having different opinions about the same issue, and interestingly in both cases, they supported the countries they formerly worked in.<br /><br />Which brings me back to the first thought, about much do officials like these really get opinionated or should get opinionated about policies and relations of the country that they work in. Does it fall within the duties of let's say a US Ambassador to project to the world, the issues that the country in which he or she is stationed thinks affects them? Or is it just an obvious result of an extended duty in a foreign country, to be in line with issues surrounding that country, to the extent that he or she begins to agree by them? Or is he just allowed to have a personal opinion? I have been trying to ask these questions for a long time now. And as you can see, am still asking.<br /><br />Talking of democratic statements. The one statement made my Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the US congress in July 2005 comes immediately to my mind.<br /><br /><span class="sb13">"We are often criticized for being too slow in making changes in policy, but democracy means having to build a consensus in favor of change. As elected representatives, you are all familiar with this problem."<br /><br />This was followed by the loudest applause of the speech by the members of the US Congress.<br /></span><br /><span style=""><span id="wholedescr" class="visible"></span></span>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1151449337821321902006-06-27T17:54:00.000-05:002006-06-27T18:04:24.586-05:00Ek baar... Sirf ek baar<span style="font-size:100%;">Here's what Assistant sub-inspector Umesh Mehra from Chhattisgarh said to American tourist Bridate Henna, on a passenger train heading to Nagpur, before touching her lips.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"You are beautiful. One time, just one time"</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span>Bridate had to scream for help before a fellow passenger came to her rescue. Mehra was later arrested.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Pathetic.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">Source: The Times of India, Online Edition, June 27th 2006.</span>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1150242277437524102006-06-13T18:40:00.000-05:002006-06-13T18:44:37.456-05:00Russell Peters in Mumbai!That is exactly what his website says!<br /><br />The schedule is something like this..<br />Sept 28th, 2006 St. Andrews<br />Mumbai, India<br /><br />Sept 29th, 2006 NCPA<br />Mumbai, India<br /><br />Sept 30th, 2006 JN Tata<br />Bangalore, India<br /><br />October 1st, 2006 Kamani Auditorium<br />Delhi, India<br /><br />So for all my friends in India...who think there is more to stand-up comedy than mimicry and parody ....buy, beg, borrow or steal and go for this show!<br /><br />For more updates, russellpeters.comvikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1147289217303788902006-05-10T14:17:00.000-05:002006-05-10T14:26:57.320-05:00Chip n ChunkAt the Au Bon Pain coffee shop<br /><br />Me: I'll get a regular decaf and a chocolate muffin please...err...sorry, I forgot what you guys call it.....ummm...yes!...the chocolate 'chip' muffin.<br />She: You want the chocolate 'chip' cookie?<br />Me: No? I want the chocolate chip muffin...<br />She: Sir we don't have no chocolate muffins or the chocolate chip muffins..<br />Me: (looking at the display, pointing to the muffin I wanted) What's that then?<br />She: Oh! Thats a chocolate 'chunk' muffin.<br />Me: Ok, can i get the one with the ....chunks....please?<br />She: Sure<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">As she neatly wrapped it in a paper bag, and was ready to ring me up on the register she said...</span><br />She: I am sorry about that sir, these guys just keep such weird names.<br />Me: Yeah I know.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1144361893267242652006-04-06T17:13:00.000-05:002006-04-06T17:23:05.853-05:00OverheardOverheard a man in his mid 40's speaking at the top of his voice over the phone in the men's room at the Newark Penn Station.<br /><br />"Sweetie, I love you and I understand how you feel..but baby, you have to realize that Daddy wasn't beating Mommy, Mommy was beating Daddy"<br /><br />WTF!vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1143245609490532042006-03-24T19:11:00.000-05:002006-03-24T19:13:29.490-05:00Declaration Of Independence of the USA and a Turtle in a zoo in IndiaA news story I saw on CNN this morning, that had me laugh my ass out while leaving for work..<br /><br />*********************************<br />WHOOSH!.......CNN NEWS FLASH....<br />COMING UP....Can you think of anyone who died this week but was also alive during the Declaration of Independence in the USA?(Images of a fluttering American Flag)....No??..Well we can!....Stay with us.......Commercial Break.<br /><br />WHOOOOOSH!...........BACK<br />A turtle from a zoo in India died yesterday, and is believed to be two hundred and fifty years old!...which means, he was actually present at the time when the declaration of independence was signed in Philadelphia.so now you know who was alive in 1776!....Moving on......<br /><br />*********************************<br /><br />LMAO <em></em>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1138492447500652722006-01-28T18:54:00.000-05:002006-01-28T18:57:09.226-05:00Google Gujju !!!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/238/5063/1024/Google%20gujju.jpg"><img style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 2px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/238/5063/400/Google%20gujju.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Part of Google's effort to provide international language interfaces to the Google hompepage. The Gujurati homepage rocks! Check out what the link for the usual button for 'Im Feeling Lucky!" say.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Aaje Naseeb Saru Chhe!"<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Google Gujurati Saru Chhe!</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></div></div></div>vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11637854.post-1138279993121058122006-01-26T07:28:00.000-05:002006-01-26T07:53:58.723-05:00"Somebody..!" UpdateI am in! Finally bought the tickets to the show. My excitement took a slight blow, when me and my friend Sarabjit were selecting the seats in the theatre while booking the tickets online. We ended up getting the last row seats of the upper gallery. *Sigh*.vikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08107929632697951208noreply@blogger.com0