American Beauty Does the Film Portray Realistic Heroes Essay Example

American Beauty Does the Film Portray Realistic Heroes? Essay The premise of this topic suggesting that characters are both heroic and realistic is too narrow and generic to apply for most films and indeed all films of high literary merit whose aim is to impart philosophical ideas on an audience ready to be challenged. In Sam Mendes’ American Beauty the characters portrayed are eclectic and differentiated from the mould of being both heroic and realistic. These characters to focus on are Lester Burnham, the narrator and protagonist, Carolyn his wife and arguable antagonist and Ricky Fitts the fringe character who may be considered the true hero of this commentary on American society. Where the premise does ring true somewhat is in the characterisation of the main character Lester Burnham who is very realistic and reflective of the modern middle-aged American man while also developing into a hero once he finds his identity after experiencing a mid life crisis. This isn’t always so though and in the beginning of the film Lester Burnham is a self-confessed loser who is lauded by his own family. As someone who transforms into his later role as a hero from one who initially isn’t this portrayal can be seen as more realistic. At first though Lester isn’t a hero which is made glaringly obvious when he laments: â€Å"I feel like I’ve been in a coma for about twenty years?. The production techniques of costume show Lester as someone who needlessly dresses formally in a grey ‘everyman’ type suit in order to make him seem like he fits in with the â€Å"advertising whores? he works with in his industry. His hair is combed and his cl othes are ironed and tucked in. This way Lester garners no sympathy with the audience as he is seen as someone who is bland, boring and doesn’t take control of his life. Camera techniques used are used to show Lester as if he is in a prison while he masturbates in the shower or while he is at work and his face is reflected of vertical â€Å"bars? of words. We will write a custom essay sample on American Beauty Does the Film Portray Realistic Heroes? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on American Beauty Does the Film Portray Realistic Heroes? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on American Beauty Does the Film Portray Realistic Heroes? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In an archetypal way Lester changes to become the vivacious personality who spent all time: â€Å"partying and getting laid? to become more of a hero. Lester has audience sympathy **** for him because reclaiming his life and making decisions for himself so that he no longer is unhappy and spends the rest of his life in a coma. In this way Lester is viewed a hero in a domestic setting and the same production techniques reflect Lester differently now. He is wearing more brighter colours such as a yellow top while jogging and now his hair is messy and there are fewer ironed, tucked-in clothes on him which mask his identity. (This maybe why he strips naked while working out). Also low angle shots are employed while he is jogging conveying how he now has a new lease on life and is more assured of himself. Here we see a realistic hero served up to an audience for a purpose. Through the positive characterisation of Lester Mendes wanted to advertise him as a role model of someone who lives life for himself and doesn’t let convoluted American society views such as materialism and superficial beauty cloud his mindset. From here the crux of the premise can be addressed: certain characters are portrayed positively and others aren’t which is because the director has intentions on how the audience should react to certain characters. Through a positive portrayal of Lester Mendes wanted to promote anti-authoritarianism and conforming to hypocritical middle class America. A reversal of this characterisation is seen with Carolyn Burnham who is arguably the films main antagonist. Carolyn is far from heroic as she is first presented to the audience cutting an American Beauty rose from its stem in order to horde its superficial beauty. Film techniques of costume convey Carolyn as a self-absorbed aspiring real estate agent who dresses in formless business suits to conform and suit in her opinion the aspects which her job entails. When she is first selling a house the costume choice is of an unattractive beige working suit under which lies a striking red coiffe. This shows Carolyn filters her personality to shape her image into that which she thinks is desirable. She tells Lester: â€Å"my business is to sell an image and part of my job is to live that image.? The obsessive and hysterical accumulation of material wealth is also something that stirs negative perceptions toward this character. At one point in the film she bursts out toward Lester: â€Å"thi s is a $4000 sofa upholstered in Italian silk? when he implies it is not really important life. Carolyn’s portrayal can be seen as anti-heroic but very realistic which supplements Mendes vision of the two sides of the coin of how Americans should choose to live their life in modern society. She is deliberately contrasted to the equally realistically portrayed Lester to put forward to the audience two ways of thinking: one which is favourable and should be embraced and another which shouldn’t. Both of these characters are realistic reduce distance between characters and audience to make the directors intentions more potent and relevant. Lastly an example of a film character who is heroic but isn’t realistic is the Norman Bates-esque Ricky fits. This is a character who embodies the films main ideas but is portrayed unrealistically with a key idea in mind. Throughout the film Ricky is shown as radical and progressive, he is filming a dead bird and looks past the superficial beauty of the high school blonde cheerleader Angela Hayes instead to her friend the â€Å"plain? Jane who he sees far more inner beauty in. The main theme of American Beauty is where beauty can really be found in this world and how it is not necessarily where people think. Ricky Fitts is a character who is intelligent and perceptive enough to understand this but he cannot be seen as realistic given his age (18) and the fact he manages to do this while also being a drug dealer who has been diagnosed with a mental condition. The unattainable ideal of the way living can be seen in Ricky Fitts and he is shown as unrealistic because the director s purpose is that he knows the audience will never be able to think like him. However Mendes does manage to juxtapose Ricky with the realistic portrayal of Lester to show that audiences can break out of its coma of materialism and obsession with image to find true beauty in the world. To conclude, Mendes has effectively presented his audience with a range of different characters with different attributes who all in unique ways contribute to the richness of the ideas he wanted to portray. Not all characters can be uniform in their one-dimensional attributes otherwise directors will not be able to have the tools available to get their message across when films are made these days.

The best ways to cut down time-to-hire [INFOGRAPHIC]

The best ways to cut down time-to-hire [INFOGRAPHIC] Advancements in technology have transformed recruitment in many ways. Now, you can easily leverage technology and tools to decrease your time-to-hire.However, there are still some companies that take a lot of time to identify and hire the right candidates. Many recruiters struggle to find top talent who are a good fit for their open job positions.Studies have found that only around 30% of companies are able to fill their open jobs within 30 days. The rest take up to four months to close their positions.Most candidates prefer companies that have a quick and efficient hiring process. You might be surprised to learn that 57% of job seekers lose interest in a company if they have a lengthy hiring process.If you don’t want to lose top talent, take a look at the following strategies. They can help you decrease your time-to-hire and close positions quickly.hbspt.cta.load(2785852, '9e52c197-5b5b-45e6-af34-d56403f973c5', {});Recruit via social mediaRecruiters can use social media platf orms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to source quality candidates. These platforms can help you identify, approach, and recruit top quality candidates for your company in less time.You can run recruitment ads on your social media accounts to attract people who might be interested in your job openings. This method can help garner quite a few responses to your ads in a short time.Interview candidates remotelyRecruiters can speed up their time-to-hire by organizing online interviews through video calling platforms like Skype. It can help you save time as you don’t need to visit other cities to recruit people or ask them to visit you.You can also record your conversations for further screening. This will enable you to review your candidates’ qualifications as well as soft skills. You can select candidates who are a good fit for your open jobs.Leveraging technology can help you cut down your time-to-hire to a great extent. The following infographic can help you learn s ome more strategies to help you hire quickly.Image courtesy: CandidateRewardsAbout  the  author:Alex Miles is a PR specialist for Candidate Rewards TotalRewards Software which is a unique candidate experience software that enables companies to communicate the true value of their offer to candidates. She helps brands reach wider audiences and build good reputations with well-nurtured, cooperative relationships.Social accounts:LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube

Globalization and Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalization and Technology - Essay Example Economic globalization or integration has elicited mixed reactions due to the wide-ranging impacts that it has on the world economy. Despite the known advantages of globalization, this trend has also been opposed due to the negative consequences that it has on the world economy. Those who have supported economic or financial integration of countries have pointed out the benefits of this trend to support their claims. The first advantage of globalization on the economy is that this trend results in the creation of global markets. Bordo, Taylorand Williamson, says that through the merging of the different world markets, a wider global market has been created (Bordo, Taylor and Williamson 31). Globalization has led to the widening and liberalization of the market. This has occurred through the removal of the trade barriers that historically existed. These trade barriers prevented businesses from operating outside their domestic markets. Various corporations have exploited the expanded global market through various internalization strategies such as foreign direct investments and through exporting. This has allowed the businesses to increase their income and profits. Globalization has resulted in a much freer trade between the world countries, which has allowed domestic industries to access the international market. The access to the international market has also allowed these local companies to come up with new products and technologies that are needed and acceptable in the global market. Held however disputes this by indicating that the entry of new companies and businesses to new markets has negatively impacted on the domestic companies (Held 20). When new businesses and multinationals cross the border to exploit the global market, they bring very stiff competition to the local businesses. The competition at times reduces the level of sales of the local and domestic products. This is said to discourage the coming up and growth of the domestic

Civil Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Civil Rights - Essay Example The law was not an enough catalysts to bring about change. Blacks became convinced that only nonviolent resistance was the best tool for change. Nonviolent resistance attracted the attention of the nation and won the black movement support from Northern States and key statesmen. Strong civil right activism, through the use of non-violent resistance finally made United States to take action to guarantee equality before the law for all citizens. The framers of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendment had one key objective: to make Black Americans equal citizens before the law. However, segregationist legislation (dubbed the Jim Crow laws) began sprouting from all states especially in the South following the Supreme Court separate but equal rule in Plessy v Ferguson. The Jim Crow laws negated the letter and spirit of the framers of the Amendments. They promoted inequality between blacks and whites in United States. According to lecture notes, Black people had to drink in sepa rate water fountain, and eat in separate restaurant. On the bus, if white people didn’t have enough seats, black people had to get out of the bus in order to give them seats (Lecture notes, 18 November 2013). Civil right activism developed in several phases, beginning with small isolated cases of protests such as by Rosa Parks who refused to give seat in a bus to a white person, but leading to the emergence of more militant movements, people and organization. Civil rights activism did not have much success stories until there emerged strong and coordinated Organizations. As Patterson explains, â€Å"though direct-action protest on behalf of civil rights for American Negroes (as African Americans were called in 1964) had a long history, it increased dramatically in the early 1960s. Militant young people in organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) spearheaded protests, mainly in the racially segregate d South† (Patterson, Everything you know about the 1960s is wrong). The Montgomery bus boycott saw the beginning of a new phase of protests. It elevated the stature of some black leaders such as Martin Luther King jnr. It marked the beginning of nonviolent resistance to inequality in the American society and the discrimination of the blacks. Dr King, a charismatic religious leader employed religion to support nonviolent resistance. He justified protest using religion and natural law. According to Carman, Dr King argued that â€Å"Non-violent resistance is based on the belief that the universe is just. There is God or a creative force that is moving us toward universal love and wholeness continually† (Carman, Martin Luther King’s philosophy of non-violent resistance). Off course, Dr King faced a lot criticism from his fellow clergy who questioned his religious morality for calling protests, sometimes against the law. He brushed aside his critics. While addressing his followers, he stated that â€Å"we believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. (Well) The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest (Address, Martin Luther King). The opponents of nonviolent protests were not only whites. Other black movements, such as the Black Panther Party advocated for the use of all means to achieve equality for the black man,

Marketing Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 1

Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example This discussion will also involve market objective setting, target market analysis, such as segmentation, targeting and positioning, marketing strategies and illustration of marketing mix elements. Finally, the study will properly evaluate the process of marketing plan implementation, budgeting and controlling. Apple Inc. is one of the leading global technology companies which is specialized in developing, designing and marketing of consumer electronics. Their product line includes iPhone, iPod, iPad, Macbook etc. Apart from the hardware the organization is also specialized in developing and designing various software products and online services. The business was established in 1976. Headquarter of the organization is situated in Cupertino, California (Apple Inc. 2015a). The organization has secured the second largest position across the world as an Information Technology company in terms of their revenue while the top position is secured by Samsung Electronics. Alternatively, Apple Inc. has been entitled as the third largest company as a Smartphone maker. The value of the organization is approximately $500 billion. By the end of 2014, the organization has recorded annual revenue of $182 billion (Kraemer, et al., 2011). The analysis of the current situation of the organization will illustrate the micro environment as well as macro environment of the business. The analysis of 5 C’s of marketing such as company, collaborators, customers, competitors and climate, provides detailed understanding regarding the micro as well as macro environment of the business (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). Product ranges: The organization provides a wide range of technology products that includes hardware software and online services. The products and services of the organization mainly include iPhone, iPad, iPod, Macbook, iTune, Mac App Store, iCloud and application software (Marketline, 2014). This is the Smartphone range of Apple Inc. which includes the

Islamophobia in the Daily Mail

Islamophobia in the Daily Mail Islamophobia is defined in the dictionary as being: hatred or fear of Muslims or of their politics or culture. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the London 7/7 bombings amongst others, some say islamophobia within the media has increased significantly. This work intends to discuss the coverage of Muslims and the religion of Islam as a whole within the middle market newspaper The Daily Mail and explore whether publications such as the Mail are representing the Muslim race in a negative light. Ones interest in the subject matter involved is one that has derived from what is seen, amongst others, as bad journalism; middle market and tabloid newspapers inaccurately reporting issues concerning races such as Muslims. On a daily basis one can pick up a newspaper these days and spot numerous flaws, incorrect language or overall representation of a religion such as Islam. Also, a personal affliction or view in the area is the way in which Muslim communities within the UK are slowly being isolated and are being criticised collectively for the actions of a small population of the religion. When exploring the relationship between the modern West and the East, one should look upon the concept of Orientalism. Saids (1978) work draws on the concept of us and them: Orientalism is never far from what Denys Hay has called the idea of Europe, a collective notion identifying us Europeans as against all those non-Europeans (Said, 1978: 7). This notion refers to the historical manufacturing of Eastern beings as alien, the Other, by the West. It is the negative portrayal of extremist Islamic images within frameworks such as the Mail that progresses, as Halliday (1996)(remember reference for this!, see notebook [2]) suggests, this myth of confrontation that pardons the West of any need to excuse its enmity towards the East and religions such as Islam. Before this paper looks at effects of the theory of islamophobia, it is worth evaluating the polarity of the term itself. Whilst some could say the branding of the term can draw attention to the issue for positive means, further comprehensive literature on the subject and enquiries commissioned (e.g. 1997 Runnymede Trust, Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All), there is a flipside. Academics have inferred that this is just another, more refined form of new racism according to many sociologists. Sociologist Professor Gerard Delanty describes the use of the term islamophobia: It is rooted in mainstream hostility to migrant workers and asylum-seekers, and is based to a considerable degree on ethnocentrism and xenophobia  on ignorance and fear of the other (Delanty: Conference, see notebook for full reference[1]). Delanty is saying here that the categorisation of the idiom of islamophobia could be creating a new form of acceptable racism. The UK media industry is said by some to be institutionally racist: This racism is rooted in the countrys imperial past, with feelings of racial superiority and crude nationalism now deeply embedded in the dominant culture. (Keeble, 2009: 175) 2 per cent of the NUJ membership was black, Asian and Arab in the first media-industry wide survey in 1995 by Anthony Delano and John Henningham. Comparing this alongside the national ethnic minority population percentage of 5.26 percent at the time, and it does speak volumes. My research will include a plan to address this view and explore how far or to what extent this reflects an islamophobic nature within newspapers such as The Daily Mail. However, to discuss how deep rooted this patriotism, or national feeling of superiority over other races goes would be discursive from the intended discussion of the titles topic. The role of a national newspaper such as the Mail needs to be highlighted to display the contextualising link between islamophobia and the public. The fact that a familiar newspaper offers a sense of identity and possible security to its regular readers is an important contextualising factor when considering questions of race and ideology. (Ferguson, 1998:175) Considering middle market newspapers such as The Daily Mail and Express along with the tabloids represent more than two thirds of the national daily readership figures (1997 survey: do footnote for this), this is a first base argument for explaining the negative (potential) effect of the press on the masses. A matter to take in to consideration is the recent resignation of Daily Star journalist Richard Peppiatt, on the grounds of the papers islamophobic content. Albeit a personal letter to the Daily Stars proprietor Richard Desmond, the letter highlights a wide range of anti-Islamic features in the everyday characteristics of national newspapers such as the Star and Mail and labels the former as anti-Muslim propaganda. The letter does refer to how closely the content of the Star is to the Mails through criticism of how the newspapers editors build a newspaper from cut-and-paste-jobs off the Daily Mail website. Where he admits to stirring up a bit of light-hearted Islamophobia himself on the basis that this was in his professional duties at the Star, his disapproval of this demonization is prevalent throughout. He refers to a story the paper published concerning the condemnation of taxpayer-funded Muslim-only public toilets: I was personally tasked with writing a gloating follow-up declaring our postmodern victory in blocking the non-existent Islamic cisterns of evil (Peppiatt, 2011). This could just be seen as one individuals personal attack on a proprietor and therefore not have much worth but it does relate to, and support the theory of institutional racism within the British media. For the proposed intentions of this paper, it is worth noting the presence of Muslims within Britain. In the 2001 UK Census the population of Muslims from all ethnic groups within Britain was just short of 1.6 million (insert reference to table of figures in appendices here). The age old argument from many anti-immigration supporters is that the Muslims within Britain do not attempt to immerse themselves within British culture or our way of life, owing to increased tensions between the two cultures. Figures show that nearly half (46.4%) of all British Muslims now living in England were born in the country. It could be said that those Muslims who came to the country as adults (first generation) are grateful for the chance to live in a more open society and therefore more willing to integrate themselves within our culture. The sooner Western societies such as Britain aid this process of integration with the likes of first generation Muslims, the better. As the younger (3rd and 4th) gen eration of Muslims born in England grows, we could see Muslim communities become increasingly ostracised due to young Muslims anger towards the role of the West in Muslim lands and issues such as islamophobia within the media becoming more customary. It is also worth presenting the PCC editorial guidelines with regards to discrimination: The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individuals race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability. The second part of the guideline refers to the details of those minority groups and how one should avoid inclusion (of those details) unless necessary to the story. The way in which newspapers such as the Daily Mail steer their content around these guidelines, in order to include xenophobic views will be explored later in the literature review. As this paper explores the surrounding themes of discrimination and false representation within the media and directs them towards the influence of a certain publication, it is important to draw from relevant history of the Daily Mail. Some would say the newspapers prejudice against religions such as Islam is a product of its deep-set DNA shown via the papers sympathetic views of Nazi Germany during the war period. The first joint proprietor and owner Lord Rothermere was known to be a friend and supporter of both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler and praised the Nazi regimes accomplishments, which directed the Mails political stance and was consequently used as propaganda by them. Lord Rothermere published quotes such as: the minor misdeeds of individual Nazis would be submerged by the immense benefits the new regimes already bestowing on Germany (Rothermere, 1933), as well as printing headlines such as Hurrah for the Blackshirts (Mail, Jan 1934). The Mail was also sympathetic to Osw ald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. The support for this group was withdrawn after violence at a BUF rally in Kensington Olympia in 1934, which displays the potential harmful influence of newspapers on the masses. Muslims within Britain have struggled with issues of integration and racism ever since there was an increased focus of attention from the media on the Iranian Revolution of 1979 (Asad 1990, see references in muslim britain book). Television screens across the world showed three million people celebrating on the streets of Tehran when Ayatollah Khomeini, known for his support of hostage takers and his calling for the death of British citizen Salman Rushdie, came out of exile; a disconcerting image for most Westerners. The Salman Rushdie affair in 1989 demonstrated the degree to which the media and British Muslims who protested against the books (The Satanic Verses) publication became emotionally unhinged (Parekh 1992, see same book + ref) over the issue. The book deeply offended Muslims and ignited debate on blasphemy laws and freedom of speech. Other historical events have all played a part in what Huntingtons (1996) thesis describes as a clash of civilisations, these being: The Gulf War (1990-1), the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1993-6), the Oklahoma bombing (1995), the Taliban in Afghanistan (1997-2002), Grozny and Kosovo (1999), the recent Palestinian Intifada (since September 2000) and the War on Iraq (2003) (Abbas 2005: 14). These events have and the media , some say (Huntington 1996) widened the gulf between East and West, Islam and Christianity and amplified the theory of Orientalism. (maybe do a little on September 11 attacks here) This paper intends to explore and discuss the different factors owing to the islamophobic content displayed in the Mail and how far it is damaging the representation of Muslim communities within Britain. It would be pointless to explain how islamophobic reporting increased or decreased over the past decade or so as it would be plain to see the increases in islamophobic content around the times of terrorist activities. One will analyse contributing factors such as the origins of islamophobia, the identification of islamophobic content, how closely does that content abide by editorial guidelines and the effect on Muslim communities through critical discussion of the topic and data analysis. The reason as to why one thinks this subject is important and would be of interest to others is the increasing multi-cultured population of Britain. As more ethnic minorities such as Muslims continue to live in Britain, increasing tensions towards people of a particular race can only put more strain on an already weak relationship with Muslim communities. The purpose of the paper is to critically evaluate and characterize publications, specifically The Daily Mail and its role in reinforcing or articulating racism, and in damaging ethnic cultural identities. The ways in which these issues are to be addressed and analysed will be explained through my research and its content analysis. Literature review The aim of this chapter is to identify themes relating to the title topic from previous published literature and critically analyse those premises. The intention here is not just to identify those relating themes, but to analyse, criticise, interpret and evaluate those themes in connection with supporting or opposing the underpinning arguments of this paper. Over the past decade or so there is has been an increase in the amount of writing, due to rising concerns from Muslims worldwide, explaining how discourses such as newspapers in Western media are misrepresenting ethnic minorities such as Muslims through presenting a negative image of Islam. My research will however focus on the Daily Mail in particular, portraying negative stereotypes, and the effects those portrayals have, on Muslim communities within Britain. In summary, this chapter will draw from prior literature and examine the complex structures and strategies of news reports and how they affect the interpretations of reade rs. How much does the role of publications such as the Mail play in the reproduction of racial and ethnic inequality in British society. Some of the earliest writing relating to British newspapers such as the Mail portraying Islam as a threat to Western interests comes from Teun van Dijks: Racism and the Press. The issue of immigration within British newspapers is one that allows anti-Muslim voices to be heard, subjectively criticising the rise in the multiculturalism of Britain: The Mail specifically focuses on alleged abuses of British hospitality, and calls for stricter immigration rules. It does not hesitate to publish, with apparent approval, overtly racist statements by right-wing politicians who claim that without further curbs on immigration Britain may become the worlds dustbin. (Van Dijk, 1991: 96) What Van Dijk is inferring is that through government policies concerning issues such as immigration, any right-wing anti-immigration views from politicians or people within the public eye will be published by the Mail with the noticeable support of the paper. Whilst highlighting the political stance and nationalistic nature of the publication, a defence for the paper would revert to free press every time. The earliest and most relevant research in this topic area has also been carried out by Teun Van Dijk. His work in the collection of empirical data surrounding the press and issues of race is a starting point for anybody analysing institutional islamophobic contents effect on British Muslims. Van Dijk started this foundational research in plain content analysis of British newspapers, analysing content such as the repetition of certain words used in headlines in attempt to rouse certain meanings from them. He describes the repetitive use of certain topics of discourse such as black and race and how they are dealt with by the press as semantic macro structures. These global, overall meaning structures of a text consist of a hierarchically arranged set of macro-propositions, which are derived from the meanings (propositions) of the sentences by way of macro-rules. These rules reduce the complex information of the text to its essential gist. (Van Dijk, 1991: 72) Van Dijk is correct in some ways in saying that the prevalence of such vocabulary would suggest that the discursive agenda of newspapers is entrenched in concerns with race. In his book Representing Race, Robert Ferguson agrees there are some uses of Van Dijks research: It would seem from this as though the media are enganged in an endless process of reproducing already existing prejudices and stereotypes. The extensive content analysis which was undertaken by Van Dijk also demonstrated that ethnic minorities and anti-racists are systematically associated with conflict, crime, intolerance and unreliability. (Ferguson, 1998: 130) The flaws in Van Dijks research are that using empirical data, or strictly content analysis, to develop an understanding of representation can somewhat distort the power of ideology in newspapers text or framing. However, without being blatantly racist, newspapers such as the Mail through concepts of normality can still give strength to negative representations. (Maybe use this paragraph in methods) The detrimental representations of Muslim asylum seekers to Britain, in publications such as the Mail, are highlighted in Arun Kundnanis The End of Tolerance. Phrases such as we have to look after our own people first, a regular idiom in the Mail, gives strength to the inherent belief within Britain that we cannot satisfactorily provide for ourselves, never mind foreigners or them as well. Thanks to the opportunism of media and politicians, asylum seekers and migrants had been made in to potent symbols for the loss of a nation-state that once belonged to its people and afforded them certain privileges as citizens. (Kundnani, 2007: 65) This argument is stating that through newspapers persistence in covering issues of economy and well being, the Mail amongst others, tend to shift the blame of these national problems on to asylum seekers, from communities such as Muslims, for increasing the population and adding to pre-existing problems such as rises in unemployment. The only critique of this concept adding to the misrepresentation and islamophobic nature of the Mail, is that this problem spans over a huge area and is historically embedded within a nations way of thinking. My research aims to uncover the day to day anti-Islamic features of the Mail and expose the problems of intentional or institutional racism that could potentially be fixed. In some ways, previous literature has explained that events such as 9/11 and other Islam related terrorist activities give acceptance to emerging islamophobic voices or views within the media. Chris Allens chapter in Muslim Britain: Communities under pressure, highlights the enabling of publishing extreme right views on terrorists religions without backlash. In the wake of Baroness Thatchers condemnation of Muslim leaders in the Times, insisting that all Muslims à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as a homogeneous group à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" should share responsibility for the attacks (4 October 2001). The Telegraph days later published an article entitled This War Is not about Terror, Its about Islam (7 October 2001). This article sought not only to praise Baroness Thatchers stance, but also confirm that Western fears were justified because some three-quarters of the worlds migrants in the last decade are said to have been Muslims (these) escapees, victims, scapegoats, malefactors and sleepers are awaiting their moment. (Allen, 2005: 61) Jonathan Birts chapter in Muslims in Britain also agrees with this post 9/11 islamophobic reaction from the press without simply analysing the textual content of a newspaper: After 9/11, the more prejudicial media comment portrayed British Muslim communities, and especially their young men, as a dangerous and unpatriotic fifth column, which were sympathetic to anti-West resistance and, indeed, the use of violent terror. Mass communications today shape and order these Islamophobic moral panics and the reactive defence to them. (Birt, 2009: 217) Here, we can see Birt is agreeing that post terrorist activities, the media is allowed to give a free press voice to racist views and opinions without fear of backlash from media regulators. The defect in analysing the islamophobic nature of publications such as the Mail surrounding terrorist actions is that it is to be expected. There is bound to be a bad press reaction to national identities and religious viewpoints, how far the negative portrayal of those identities goes without trepidation of media regulators punishment, is an issue that needs to be addressed. The British Journalism Review (March 2006) argues that the same harmful representation of Muslims within the media is the same for other terrorist groups such as the IRA. One can see similarities between views of Catholics from Ulster in the 1980s and Muslims today, that religious affiliations trumped all other affiliations: In Britain and the United States the popular line was that if you were a Catholic, you probably supported the IRA. Today, if you are a Muslim, the popular line is that you are probably anti-western or fundamentalist. This is not to say that journalism was and is responsible for these views, but rather that de-contextualised coverage did and does little to throw cold water on old stereotypes. The closest literature relating to the topic title comes from Elizabeth Pooles Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims. The book analyses the current situation regarding the image of Muslims by tracking the development of this form of new racism from earlier works. Poole says that the theme of immigration as a problem has now transferred to Muslims (van Dijk 1991), due to, as Lueg (1995) says a population explosion in the Middle East. British Muslims and their homogeny to other Muslims become the feared fifth column within (Runnymede Trust 1997). This combined with the discussion of numbers of people invading the country depicts aspirations of taking over the world, not seeking asylum. The combination of the hostile threat and movement of Islam promotes the idea that it needs to be managed in a way that allows varied prejudicial practices to continue (Poole, 2002: 47). What Poole is saying is that a plain dislike of the notion of Islam cannot be seen as the central feature of hostility towards Muslims. Attitudes to Muslims derive from a mixture of xenophobia and racism whereby newspapers such as the Mail can discuss or mainly criticise some of the practices of Islam without being seen to be unashamedly prejudice towards Muslims. Another adjoining piece of literature that many academics have drawn from when discussing this topic, is Edward Saids Covering Islam: How the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world (1981). Said argues that the siege of the American embassy in Iran in 1981 and its media coverage initiated an increased attention and portrayal of Islam with danger, militancy and anti-Western sentiment. The text examines the genesis and ramifications of the medias monolithic images of Islam and reveals the twisting of fact that underlies objective coverage of the Islamic world. Said says the application of a Western ideological framework or an ethnocentric way of seeing (Dahlgren and Chakrapani 1982: 45) has meant we see a domesticated Islamic world or those aspects considered to be newsworthy (Said 1981: 27). This has created a dichotomy between the West and Islam whereby the West is seen as judicious, civilized, developed and superior, and Islam as abnormal, undeveloped and in ferior. There are a small number of published journals that closely share the intentions of this paper. Diane Frosts Islamophobia: examining casual links between the media and race hate from below (2007) analyses the media reporting on recent and ongoing terrorist attacks in Britain and the effect on Muslim communities. The paper discusses islamophobic tendencies within British tabloids and their connections with government policies and violence that concerns religion. Whilst it highlights the medias promotion of moral panics such as problems of asylum and race, it is saying British tabloids breed on these moral panics, going further than the threat that is actually presented. Thus, the media have represented Muslims as a collective problem who threaten the very fabric of British society as supporters of al-Qaida and potential suicide bombers. They are the folk devils of the twenty first century (Diane Frost 2008 find out how to reference journal). It is worth noting that there are strong links between increased anti-terror legislation and other government measures and the way in which publications such as the Mail criminalise Muslim communities when reporting on such measures and legislation. This type of research will be considered in the methods section of the paper. Ian Hargreaves writes a piece in the New Statesman that demonstrates the negative coverage of immigration from the Mail in relation to fuelling racist attitudes. He says: It is not that I view with cynicism the Daily Mails efforts to achieve balance in its reporting of racial issues. Rather, I think the paper is misguided in discounting the encouragement its asylum coverage gives to racist sentiments (Hargreaves 2000). Reverting back to the theory that newspapers such as the Daily Mail have colonial instincts and an anti-foreigner viewpoint established within its DNA, Hargreaves is trying to say that these publications are not intending to be racist; they simply believe the types of stories concerning Islam being published are due to the public-interest factor. Christopher Allens journal discusses the dangerousness of the concept of Islamophobia in analytical relation with the findings of the Runnymede Trust Report (1997). The reports findings concluded that Islam is inherently seen as other to the West, reinforcing the them and us dualism. Taking this in to consideration, Allen says we should not be surprised to see such headlines as The Daily Mails offering, Fanatics with a death wish: I was born in Britain but I am a Muslim first. Here the Mail is merely reiterating those beliefs that are lodged at the heart of Islamophobia (Allen 2008: 4). The intention of this chapter was to identify underpinning theories, themes and issues published in previous literature in order for readers to understand the intentions of the research and findings that will be developed in the methods and data analysis. Methods and methodology This chapter will discuss the research that this paper will be carrying out, the reasons for using those methods and what results are to be expected. The most appropriate methods will be discussed along with their advantages and limitations, with ethical considerations ensured so that the data is collected in an ethical way. The bulk of previous research method approaches to the medias role in the reproduction of racism are mainly content analytical; quantitative and qualitative modes picking out the use of stereotypical words, phrases or image(s) used when representing ethnic minorities (see, for example, Van Dijk 1991, 1997). The reasons for this are that the communication process is symbolic, and deciphering it inevitably has pride of place (Downing and Husband 2005: 26), media researchers can access this readily available material rather than examining the construction process or how readers deduce and act upon the text. This discourse analytical method systematically describes different structures and tactics of text in relation to a social or political framework. The method enables for the identification of focus on certain topics in a semantic analysis form as well as allowing examination of the overall organisation of news reports. Essentially this means discourse may thus be studied as the cruci al interface between the social and cognitive dimensions of racism (Cottle 2000: 36). So, publications such as the Mail as a discourse in the social practice of racism can be seen as a main source for peoples racist views/beliefs. According to Berger (1998: 23) content analysts in media research assume that behavioural patterns, values and attitudes found in this material reflect and affect the behaviour, attitudes and values of the people who create the material. The advantages and reason as to why this paper will be adopting a similar style of research is that whilst being most importantly primary, there is no technology or major funds necessary and it has been known to lead to fundamental changes in the practices of an institution, profession and society as a whole. Also as Berger (2011: 214) says the data collected can be expressed in numbers. These numbers provide detailed information that can be interpreted to gain insights into the mind-set of those who created the text. Another method of research that will be employed is that of conducting surveys to gauge the attitudes and opinions of Daily Mail readers and readers of other newspapers, concerning how the paper represents ethnic minorities. This intends to highlight the negative effect a newspaper has on readers views of a religion such as Islam and the race of Muslim. Previous survey research done in this area comes from Fouries (2001) Media Studies: Institutions, theories and issues. Using a case study of the press in South Africa, the research featured a survey asking people their perceptions of racism in a number of different publications. The research was conducted by the government (ACNielsen survey) after a large number of complaints were made to the South African media regulatory body (Press Ombudsman), that certain newspapers were being overtly racist. The research found that 37% of people saw the concerned newspaper as being at least fairly racist (the other above category being very racis t), owing to the governments implication of fines on the newspaper if any more racist content was published. Other survey research done by European research bodies (such as, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia) includes the Racism and cultural diversity in the mass media report where a similar style of questionnaire design was used. The survey style asks the same type of question i.e. how racist do you think this publication/newspaper is? providing a spectrum of answers including; slightly racist, fairly racist and very racist. The ethical considerations that need to be addressed here is that one could condemn this research method data saying the questions are too leading or that the opinions of the researcher could play a large role in the data collected. With regards to the former limitation, it is the intention of the research to avoid the neutral viewpoint as it would be more or less unusable data for the purposes of this study. By introducing the survey as an academic study to identify whether a newspaper is racist is introducing a form of bias; a four point Likert scal e should thus be used. In order to avoid people who like to sit on the fence (especially concerning issues of racism), by using a smaller Likert scale, the neutral viewpoint can be avoided by using a four-point scale in which the respondent is forced to express some degree of, for example, agreement or disagreement (Davies and Mosdell 2006: 93). Also other ethical considerations were respected including obtaining the consent of the participants and ensuring that their confidentiality and anonymity were maintained. For the content analysis of the Daily Mails perceived inciting of racial hatred, the content that will be analysed will be the amount of articles within a time period of 6 months the issue of Islam and Muslims is reported on in a negative manner. The practice of content analysis, established by the likes of Berelson (1971) and Krippendorff (1980) means identifying the sub-components of an issue featured in the text(s) to be analysed and then studying that media in question over a designated set period of time, counting the amount of times they turn up. This method enables the recognition of certain contours of coverage on a certain subject or issue, allowing for questions to be asked such as; did some newspapers repeatedly feature stories related to people of colour and were there periods of increased or lesser coverage surrounding activities of extremist groups? The types of articles that will be used in the research (see appendices for examples) present Muslims and the religion of Islam as a problem and their difficulties with conflicting issues when integrating themselves within British society. The negative context, in relation to identifying relevant articles will adopt a similar method employed by van Dijks (1991) research. Here the headlines of newspaper articles concerning issues of race were identified and then proceeded to count how many times negative words such as police and riot were used, illustrating the negative context in which issues concerning ethnic minorities were raised within a certain publication. As Hartmann and Husband (1974, 1976) suggest, this demonstrates how news issue Islamophobia in the Daily Mail Islamophobia in the Daily Mail Islamophobia is defined in the dictionary as being: hatred or fear of Muslims or of their politics or culture. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the London 7/7 bombings amongst others, some say islamophobia within the media has increased significantly. This work intends to discuss the coverage of Muslims and the religion of Islam as a whole within the middle market newspaper The Daily Mail and explore whether publications such as the Mail are representing the Muslim race in a negative light. Ones interest in the subject matter involved is one that has derived from what is seen, amongst others, as bad journalism; middle market and tabloid newspapers inaccurately reporting issues concerning races such as Muslims. On a daily basis one can pick up a newspaper these days and spot numerous flaws, incorrect language or overall representation of a religion such as Islam. Also, a personal affliction or view in the area is the way in which Muslim communities within the UK are slowly being isolated and are being criticised collectively for the actions of a small population of the religion. When exploring the relationship between the modern West and the East, one should look upon the concept of Orientalism. Saids (1978) work draws on the concept of us and them: Orientalism is never far from what Denys Hay has called the idea of Europe, a collective notion identifying us Europeans as against all those non-Europeans (Said, 1978: 7). This notion refers to the historical manufacturing of Eastern beings as alien, the Other, by the West. It is the negative portrayal of extremist Islamic images within frameworks such as the Mail that progresses, as Halliday (1996)(remember reference for this!, see notebook [2]) suggests, this myth of confrontation that pardons the West of any need to excuse its enmity towards the East and religions such as Islam. Before this paper looks at effects of the theory of islamophobia, it is worth evaluating the polarity of the term itself. Whilst some could say the branding of the term can draw attention to the issue for positive means, further comprehensive literature on the subject and enquiries commissioned (e.g. 1997 Runnymede Trust, Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All), there is a flipside. Academics have inferred that this is just another, more refined form of new racism according to many sociologists. Sociologist Professor Gerard Delanty describes the use of the term islamophobia: It is rooted in mainstream hostility to migrant workers and asylum-seekers, and is based to a considerable degree on ethnocentrism and xenophobia  on ignorance and fear of the other (Delanty: Conference, see notebook for full reference[1]). Delanty is saying here that the categorisation of the idiom of islamophobia could be creating a new form of acceptable racism. The UK media industry is said by some to be institutionally racist: This racism is rooted in the countrys imperial past, with feelings of racial superiority and crude nationalism now deeply embedded in the dominant culture. (Keeble, 2009: 175) 2 per cent of the NUJ membership was black, Asian and Arab in the first media-industry wide survey in 1995 by Anthony Delano and John Henningham. Comparing this alongside the national ethnic minority population percentage of 5.26 percent at the time, and it does speak volumes. My research will include a plan to address this view and explore how far or to what extent this reflects an islamophobic nature within newspapers such as The Daily Mail. However, to discuss how deep rooted this patriotism, or national feeling of superiority over other races goes would be discursive from the intended discussion of the titles topic. The role of a national newspaper such as the Mail needs to be highlighted to display the contextualising link between islamophobia and the public. The fact that a familiar newspaper offers a sense of identity and possible security to its regular readers is an important contextualising factor when considering questions of race and ideology. (Ferguson, 1998:175) Considering middle market newspapers such as The Daily Mail and Express along with the tabloids represent more than two thirds of the national daily readership figures (1997 survey: do footnote for this), this is a first base argument for explaining the negative (potential) effect of the press on the masses. A matter to take in to consideration is the recent resignation of Daily Star journalist Richard Peppiatt, on the grounds of the papers islamophobic content. Albeit a personal letter to the Daily Stars proprietor Richard Desmond, the letter highlights a wide range of anti-Islamic features in the everyday characteristics of national newspapers such as the Star and Mail and labels the former as anti-Muslim propaganda. The letter does refer to how closely the content of the Star is to the Mails through criticism of how the newspapers editors build a newspaper from cut-and-paste-jobs off the Daily Mail website. Where he admits to stirring up a bit of light-hearted Islamophobia himself on the basis that this was in his professional duties at the Star, his disapproval of this demonization is prevalent throughout. He refers to a story the paper published concerning the condemnation of taxpayer-funded Muslim-only public toilets: I was personally tasked with writing a gloating follow-up declaring our postmodern victory in blocking the non-existent Islamic cisterns of evil (Peppiatt, 2011). This could just be seen as one individuals personal attack on a proprietor and therefore not have much worth but it does relate to, and support the theory of institutional racism within the British media. For the proposed intentions of this paper, it is worth noting the presence of Muslims within Britain. In the 2001 UK Census the population of Muslims from all ethnic groups within Britain was just short of 1.6 million (insert reference to table of figures in appendices here). The age old argument from many anti-immigration supporters is that the Muslims within Britain do not attempt to immerse themselves within British culture or our way of life, owing to increased tensions between the two cultures. Figures show that nearly half (46.4%) of all British Muslims now living in England were born in the country. It could be said that those Muslims who came to the country as adults (first generation) are grateful for the chance to live in a more open society and therefore more willing to integrate themselves within our culture. The sooner Western societies such as Britain aid this process of integration with the likes of first generation Muslims, the better. As the younger (3rd and 4th) gen eration of Muslims born in England grows, we could see Muslim communities become increasingly ostracised due to young Muslims anger towards the role of the West in Muslim lands and issues such as islamophobia within the media becoming more customary. It is also worth presenting the PCC editorial guidelines with regards to discrimination: The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individuals race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability. The second part of the guideline refers to the details of those minority groups and how one should avoid inclusion (of those details) unless necessary to the story. The way in which newspapers such as the Daily Mail steer their content around these guidelines, in order to include xenophobic views will be explored later in the literature review. As this paper explores the surrounding themes of discrimination and false representation within the media and directs them towards the influence of a certain publication, it is important to draw from relevant history of the Daily Mail. Some would say the newspapers prejudice against religions such as Islam is a product of its deep-set DNA shown via the papers sympathetic views of Nazi Germany during the war period. The first joint proprietor and owner Lord Rothermere was known to be a friend and supporter of both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler and praised the Nazi regimes accomplishments, which directed the Mails political stance and was consequently used as propaganda by them. Lord Rothermere published quotes such as: the minor misdeeds of individual Nazis would be submerged by the immense benefits the new regimes already bestowing on Germany (Rothermere, 1933), as well as printing headlines such as Hurrah for the Blackshirts (Mail, Jan 1934). The Mail was also sympathetic to Osw ald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. The support for this group was withdrawn after violence at a BUF rally in Kensington Olympia in 1934, which displays the potential harmful influence of newspapers on the masses. Muslims within Britain have struggled with issues of integration and racism ever since there was an increased focus of attention from the media on the Iranian Revolution of 1979 (Asad 1990, see references in muslim britain book). Television screens across the world showed three million people celebrating on the streets of Tehran when Ayatollah Khomeini, known for his support of hostage takers and his calling for the death of British citizen Salman Rushdie, came out of exile; a disconcerting image for most Westerners. The Salman Rushdie affair in 1989 demonstrated the degree to which the media and British Muslims who protested against the books (The Satanic Verses) publication became emotionally unhinged (Parekh 1992, see same book + ref) over the issue. The book deeply offended Muslims and ignited debate on blasphemy laws and freedom of speech. Other historical events have all played a part in what Huntingtons (1996) thesis describes as a clash of civilisations, these being: The Gulf War (1990-1), the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1993-6), the Oklahoma bombing (1995), the Taliban in Afghanistan (1997-2002), Grozny and Kosovo (1999), the recent Palestinian Intifada (since September 2000) and the War on Iraq (2003) (Abbas 2005: 14). These events have and the media , some say (Huntington 1996) widened the gulf between East and West, Islam and Christianity and amplified the theory of Orientalism. (maybe do a little on September 11 attacks here) This paper intends to explore and discuss the different factors owing to the islamophobic content displayed in the Mail and how far it is damaging the representation of Muslim communities within Britain. It would be pointless to explain how islamophobic reporting increased or decreased over the past decade or so as it would be plain to see the increases in islamophobic content around the times of terrorist activities. One will analyse contributing factors such as the origins of islamophobia, the identification of islamophobic content, how closely does that content abide by editorial guidelines and the effect on Muslim communities through critical discussion of the topic and data analysis. The reason as to why one thinks this subject is important and would be of interest to others is the increasing multi-cultured population of Britain. As more ethnic minorities such as Muslims continue to live in Britain, increasing tensions towards people of a particular race can only put more strain on an already weak relationship with Muslim communities. The purpose of the paper is to critically evaluate and characterize publications, specifically The Daily Mail and its role in reinforcing or articulating racism, and in damaging ethnic cultural identities. The ways in which these issues are to be addressed and analysed will be explained through my research and its content analysis. Literature review The aim of this chapter is to identify themes relating to the title topic from previous published literature and critically analyse those premises. The intention here is not just to identify those relating themes, but to analyse, criticise, interpret and evaluate those themes in connection with supporting or opposing the underpinning arguments of this paper. Over the past decade or so there is has been an increase in the amount of writing, due to rising concerns from Muslims worldwide, explaining how discourses such as newspapers in Western media are misrepresenting ethnic minorities such as Muslims through presenting a negative image of Islam. My research will however focus on the Daily Mail in particular, portraying negative stereotypes, and the effects those portrayals have, on Muslim communities within Britain. In summary, this chapter will draw from prior literature and examine the complex structures and strategies of news reports and how they affect the interpretations of reade rs. How much does the role of publications such as the Mail play in the reproduction of racial and ethnic inequality in British society. Some of the earliest writing relating to British newspapers such as the Mail portraying Islam as a threat to Western interests comes from Teun van Dijks: Racism and the Press. The issue of immigration within British newspapers is one that allows anti-Muslim voices to be heard, subjectively criticising the rise in the multiculturalism of Britain: The Mail specifically focuses on alleged abuses of British hospitality, and calls for stricter immigration rules. It does not hesitate to publish, with apparent approval, overtly racist statements by right-wing politicians who claim that without further curbs on immigration Britain may become the worlds dustbin. (Van Dijk, 1991: 96) What Van Dijk is inferring is that through government policies concerning issues such as immigration, any right-wing anti-immigration views from politicians or people within the public eye will be published by the Mail with the noticeable support of the paper. Whilst highlighting the political stance and nationalistic nature of the publication, a defence for the paper would revert to free press every time. The earliest and most relevant research in this topic area has also been carried out by Teun Van Dijk. His work in the collection of empirical data surrounding the press and issues of race is a starting point for anybody analysing institutional islamophobic contents effect on British Muslims. Van Dijk started this foundational research in plain content analysis of British newspapers, analysing content such as the repetition of certain words used in headlines in attempt to rouse certain meanings from them. He describes the repetitive use of certain topics of discourse such as black and race and how they are dealt with by the press as semantic macro structures. These global, overall meaning structures of a text consist of a hierarchically arranged set of macro-propositions, which are derived from the meanings (propositions) of the sentences by way of macro-rules. These rules reduce the complex information of the text to its essential gist. (Van Dijk, 1991: 72) Van Dijk is correct in some ways in saying that the prevalence of such vocabulary would suggest that the discursive agenda of newspapers is entrenched in concerns with race. In his book Representing Race, Robert Ferguson agrees there are some uses of Van Dijks research: It would seem from this as though the media are enganged in an endless process of reproducing already existing prejudices and stereotypes. The extensive content analysis which was undertaken by Van Dijk also demonstrated that ethnic minorities and anti-racists are systematically associated with conflict, crime, intolerance and unreliability. (Ferguson, 1998: 130) The flaws in Van Dijks research are that using empirical data, or strictly content analysis, to develop an understanding of representation can somewhat distort the power of ideology in newspapers text or framing. However, without being blatantly racist, newspapers such as the Mail through concepts of normality can still give strength to negative representations. (Maybe use this paragraph in methods) The detrimental representations of Muslim asylum seekers to Britain, in publications such as the Mail, are highlighted in Arun Kundnanis The End of Tolerance. Phrases such as we have to look after our own people first, a regular idiom in the Mail, gives strength to the inherent belief within Britain that we cannot satisfactorily provide for ourselves, never mind foreigners or them as well. Thanks to the opportunism of media and politicians, asylum seekers and migrants had been made in to potent symbols for the loss of a nation-state that once belonged to its people and afforded them certain privileges as citizens. (Kundnani, 2007: 65) This argument is stating that through newspapers persistence in covering issues of economy and well being, the Mail amongst others, tend to shift the blame of these national problems on to asylum seekers, from communities such as Muslims, for increasing the population and adding to pre-existing problems such as rises in unemployment. The only critique of this concept adding to the misrepresentation and islamophobic nature of the Mail, is that this problem spans over a huge area and is historically embedded within a nations way of thinking. My research aims to uncover the day to day anti-Islamic features of the Mail and expose the problems of intentional or institutional racism that could potentially be fixed. In some ways, previous literature has explained that events such as 9/11 and other Islam related terrorist activities give acceptance to emerging islamophobic voices or views within the media. Chris Allens chapter in Muslim Britain: Communities under pressure, highlights the enabling of publishing extreme right views on terrorists religions without backlash. In the wake of Baroness Thatchers condemnation of Muslim leaders in the Times, insisting that all Muslims à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as a homogeneous group à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" should share responsibility for the attacks (4 October 2001). The Telegraph days later published an article entitled This War Is not about Terror, Its about Islam (7 October 2001). This article sought not only to praise Baroness Thatchers stance, but also confirm that Western fears were justified because some three-quarters of the worlds migrants in the last decade are said to have been Muslims (these) escapees, victims, scapegoats, malefactors and sleepers are awaiting their moment. (Allen, 2005: 61) Jonathan Birts chapter in Muslims in Britain also agrees with this post 9/11 islamophobic reaction from the press without simply analysing the textual content of a newspaper: After 9/11, the more prejudicial media comment portrayed British Muslim communities, and especially their young men, as a dangerous and unpatriotic fifth column, which were sympathetic to anti-West resistance and, indeed, the use of violent terror. Mass communications today shape and order these Islamophobic moral panics and the reactive defence to them. (Birt, 2009: 217) Here, we can see Birt is agreeing that post terrorist activities, the media is allowed to give a free press voice to racist views and opinions without fear of backlash from media regulators. The defect in analysing the islamophobic nature of publications such as the Mail surrounding terrorist actions is that it is to be expected. There is bound to be a bad press reaction to national identities and religious viewpoints, how far the negative portrayal of those identities goes without trepidation of media regulators punishment, is an issue that needs to be addressed. The British Journalism Review (March 2006) argues that the same harmful representation of Muslims within the media is the same for other terrorist groups such as the IRA. One can see similarities between views of Catholics from Ulster in the 1980s and Muslims today, that religious affiliations trumped all other affiliations: In Britain and the United States the popular line was that if you were a Catholic, you probably supported the IRA. Today, if you are a Muslim, the popular line is that you are probably anti-western or fundamentalist. This is not to say that journalism was and is responsible for these views, but rather that de-contextualised coverage did and does little to throw cold water on old stereotypes. The closest literature relating to the topic title comes from Elizabeth Pooles Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims. The book analyses the current situation regarding the image of Muslims by tracking the development of this form of new racism from earlier works. Poole says that the theme of immigration as a problem has now transferred to Muslims (van Dijk 1991), due to, as Lueg (1995) says a population explosion in the Middle East. British Muslims and their homogeny to other Muslims become the feared fifth column within (Runnymede Trust 1997). This combined with the discussion of numbers of people invading the country depicts aspirations of taking over the world, not seeking asylum. The combination of the hostile threat and movement of Islam promotes the idea that it needs to be managed in a way that allows varied prejudicial practices to continue (Poole, 2002: 47). What Poole is saying is that a plain dislike of the notion of Islam cannot be seen as the central feature of hostility towards Muslims. Attitudes to Muslims derive from a mixture of xenophobia and racism whereby newspapers such as the Mail can discuss or mainly criticise some of the practices of Islam without being seen to be unashamedly prejudice towards Muslims. Another adjoining piece of literature that many academics have drawn from when discussing this topic, is Edward Saids Covering Islam: How the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world (1981). Said argues that the siege of the American embassy in Iran in 1981 and its media coverage initiated an increased attention and portrayal of Islam with danger, militancy and anti-Western sentiment. The text examines the genesis and ramifications of the medias monolithic images of Islam and reveals the twisting of fact that underlies objective coverage of the Islamic world. Said says the application of a Western ideological framework or an ethnocentric way of seeing (Dahlgren and Chakrapani 1982: 45) has meant we see a domesticated Islamic world or those aspects considered to be newsworthy (Said 1981: 27). This has created a dichotomy between the West and Islam whereby the West is seen as judicious, civilized, developed and superior, and Islam as abnormal, undeveloped and in ferior. There are a small number of published journals that closely share the intentions of this paper. Diane Frosts Islamophobia: examining casual links between the media and race hate from below (2007) analyses the media reporting on recent and ongoing terrorist attacks in Britain and the effect on Muslim communities. The paper discusses islamophobic tendencies within British tabloids and their connections with government policies and violence that concerns religion. Whilst it highlights the medias promotion of moral panics such as problems of asylum and race, it is saying British tabloids breed on these moral panics, going further than the threat that is actually presented. Thus, the media have represented Muslims as a collective problem who threaten the very fabric of British society as supporters of al-Qaida and potential suicide bombers. They are the folk devils of the twenty first century (Diane Frost 2008 find out how to reference journal). It is worth noting that there are strong links between increased anti-terror legislation and other government measures and the way in which publications such as the Mail criminalise Muslim communities when reporting on such measures and legislation. This type of research will be considered in the methods section of the paper. Ian Hargreaves writes a piece in the New Statesman that demonstrates the negative coverage of immigration from the Mail in relation to fuelling racist attitudes. He says: It is not that I view with cynicism the Daily Mails efforts to achieve balance in its reporting of racial issues. Rather, I think the paper is misguided in discounting the encouragement its asylum coverage gives to racist sentiments (Hargreaves 2000). Reverting back to the theory that newspapers such as the Daily Mail have colonial instincts and an anti-foreigner viewpoint established within its DNA, Hargreaves is trying to say that these publications are not intending to be racist; they simply believe the types of stories concerning Islam being published are due to the public-interest factor. Christopher Allens journal discusses the dangerousness of the concept of Islamophobia in analytical relation with the findings of the Runnymede Trust Report (1997). The reports findings concluded that Islam is inherently seen as other to the West, reinforcing the them and us dualism. Taking this in to consideration, Allen says we should not be surprised to see such headlines as The Daily Mails offering, Fanatics with a death wish: I was born in Britain but I am a Muslim first. Here the Mail is merely reiterating those beliefs that are lodged at the heart of Islamophobia (Allen 2008: 4). The intention of this chapter was to identify underpinning theories, themes and issues published in previous literature in order for readers to understand the intentions of the research and findings that will be developed in the methods and data analysis. Methods and methodology This chapter will discuss the research that this paper will be carrying out, the reasons for using those methods and what results are to be expected. The most appropriate methods will be discussed along with their advantages and limitations, with ethical considerations ensured so that the data is collected in an ethical way. The bulk of previous research method approaches to the medias role in the reproduction of racism are mainly content analytical; quantitative and qualitative modes picking out the use of stereotypical words, phrases or image(s) used when representing ethnic minorities (see, for example, Van Dijk 1991, 1997). The reasons for this are that the communication process is symbolic, and deciphering it inevitably has pride of place (Downing and Husband 2005: 26), media researchers can access this readily available material rather than examining the construction process or how readers deduce and act upon the text. This discourse analytical method systematically describes different structures and tactics of text in relation to a social or political framework. The method enables for the identification of focus on certain topics in a semantic analysis form as well as allowing examination of the overall organisation of news reports. Essentially this means discourse may thus be studied as the cruci al interface between the social and cognitive dimensions of racism (Cottle 2000: 36). So, publications such as the Mail as a discourse in the social practice of racism can be seen as a main source for peoples racist views/beliefs. According to Berger (1998: 23) content analysts in media research assume that behavioural patterns, values and attitudes found in this material reflect and affect the behaviour, attitudes and values of the people who create the material. The advantages and reason as to why this paper will be adopting a similar style of research is that whilst being most importantly primary, there is no technology or major funds necessary and it has been known to lead to fundamental changes in the practices of an institution, profession and society as a whole. Also as Berger (2011: 214) says the data collected can be expressed in numbers. These numbers provide detailed information that can be interpreted to gain insights into the mind-set of those who created the text. Another method of research that will be employed is that of conducting surveys to gauge the attitudes and opinions of Daily Mail readers and readers of other newspapers, concerning how the paper represents ethnic minorities. This intends to highlight the negative effect a newspaper has on readers views of a religion such as Islam and the race of Muslim. Previous survey research done in this area comes from Fouries (2001) Media Studies: Institutions, theories and issues. Using a case study of the press in South Africa, the research featured a survey asking people their perceptions of racism in a number of different publications. The research was conducted by the government (ACNielsen survey) after a large number of complaints were made to the South African media regulatory body (Press Ombudsman), that certain newspapers were being overtly racist. The research found that 37% of people saw the concerned newspaper as being at least fairly racist (the other above category being very racis t), owing to the governments implication of fines on the newspaper if any more racist content was published. Other survey research done by European research bodies (such as, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia) includes the Racism and cultural diversity in the mass media report where a similar style of questionnaire design was used. The survey style asks the same type of question i.e. how racist do you think this publication/newspaper is? providing a spectrum of answers including; slightly racist, fairly racist and very racist. The ethical considerations that need to be addressed here is that one could condemn this research method data saying the questions are too leading or that the opinions of the researcher could play a large role in the data collected. With regards to the former limitation, it is the intention of the research to avoid the neutral viewpoint as it would be more or less unusable data for the purposes of this study. By introducing the survey as an academic study to identify whether a newspaper is racist is introducing a form of bias; a four point Likert scal e should thus be used. In order to avoid people who like to sit on the fence (especially concerning issues of racism), by using a smaller Likert scale, the neutral viewpoint can be avoided by using a four-point scale in which the respondent is forced to express some degree of, for example, agreement or disagreement (Davies and Mosdell 2006: 93). Also other ethical considerations were respected including obtaining the consent of the participants and ensuring that their confidentiality and anonymity were maintained. For the content analysis of the Daily Mails perceived inciting of racial hatred, the content that will be analysed will be the amount of articles within a time period of 6 months the issue of Islam and Muslims is reported on in a negative manner. The practice of content analysis, established by the likes of Berelson (1971) and Krippendorff (1980) means identifying the sub-components of an issue featured in the text(s) to be analysed and then studying that media in question over a designated set period of time, counting the amount of times they turn up. This method enables the recognition of certain contours of coverage on a certain subject or issue, allowing for questions to be asked such as; did some newspapers repeatedly feature stories related to people of colour and were there periods of increased or lesser coverage surrounding activities of extremist groups? The types of articles that will be used in the research (see appendices for examples) present Muslims and the religion of Islam as a problem and their difficulties with conflicting issues when integrating themselves within British society. The negative context, in relation to identifying relevant articles will adopt a similar method employed by van Dijks (1991) research. Here the headlines of newspaper articles concerning issues of race were identified and then proceeded to count how many times negative words such as police and riot were used, illustrating the negative context in which issues concerning ethnic minorities were raised within a certain publication. As Hartmann and Husband (1974, 1976) suggest, this demonstrates how news issue

Dim Lighting Co. Essay

1. Problems Company is not in a position to spend the capital necessary to fund the project. The potential resignation of Robert Spinks if the project is not funded. If the project were to be funded, the extended time for development and the 30% chance that it might not be a success. 2. Causes Organizational culture is not consistent throughout all the departments. Accounting and manufacturing departments focus on increasing profits while R&D and marketing departments are open to new innovation and growth. Management is reactive rather than proactive. The company has not produced a new product in the past to capture the market. The history of Robert Spinks leaving companies due to the lack of creativity. 3. System affected The structural system is affected by not being encouraging towards innovation. The psychosocial system is affected by other departments being intimidated by Robert Spinks. Jim West is under pressure to improve profits. The technical system is affected because the technology of the Micro-miniaturization of lighting sources could bring about major  innovation. 4. Alternatives Ignore the concerns of the accounting and manufacturing departments and go ahead with the micro-miniaturization of lighting sources project. Discard the micro-miniaturization of lighting sources project and invest on the improvements of the current equipment. 5. Recommendations Invest capital on the new micro-miniaturization of light sources project. Although there is a considerable amount of time until the benefits can be reaped, such an innovation will be helpful to defeat the competition and capture the market. If Robert Spinks leaves the company and takes this technology to a competitor, Din Lighting Co. will be seriously affected.

Ambition in Macbeth

Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It can have an extremely dominant impact on not only yourself, but also many people in your surroundings. You have the ability to control if the outcomes either have a lasting negative or positive effect. When a goal requires determination and hard work to complete, personal morals often take a back seat to the aspiration of accomplishing the goal. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear that like many other great leaders, Macbeth exemplifies the necessary leadership virtue of ambition.Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him. The playwright explores the idea of how an individual’s ambition can cause them to deceive others, make irrational decisions, and cause internal turmoil. Ambition, along with the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth, causes Macbeth to deceive his peers in order to attain position as king. The first time the reader sees Macbeth’s ambit ion causing him to be deceitful, is when him and his wife invite the current King of Scotland into their home for a dinner, with the soul intent of killing him.After receiving news of Macbeth’s new honor, she holds greater ambitions for Macbeth and pushes him to the edge to achieve the personal goals that she has set for him. To achieve the main goal of becoming king, Macbeth must deceive Duncan in way that will allow him to take over the throne. He must do this by taking action when â€Å"The bell invites [him]. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell. That summons thee to heaven or to hell. † (Act II, scene i) This visibly demonstrates how Macbeth deceived his friend into trusting him, when clearly his wife and he had different intentions all along.This proves how an individual’s ambition has the capability to consume ones personal morals and values for the worse. The impacting role of ambition in Macbeth’s life also causes him to make quick, remorseful, irrational decisions. One of these decisions that he made was hiring murderers to execute Banquo. Macbeth believes in the witches prophesy that Banquo will be the father of a king, making Fleance, Banquo’s son, a definite threat to Macbeth’s current position as king. He wants to carry on his legacy as ruler of Scotland, so it appears to him that he has no other options but to eliminate his opposition.Caught up in the moment and his recently developed ambition drove him to do whatever it takes to stay in power. Macbeth realizes that â€Å"It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood† (Act III, scene iv), but what he is unaware of is his guilty conscience that is slowly beginning to creep over himself. Due to his thrill to kill and illogical decision making, Macbeth begins to have second thoughts about his actions. These decisions cause a great disturbance and uncertainty for Macbeth, soon c    Macbeth’s ambitious drive to become king causes him t o have internal conflicts.These issues have been forced upon him by his wife, and have fully consumed his mind and led him to hallucinate. Internal turmoil-ghost, dagger. A strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Desire and determination to achieve success Desire, aspiration, ambition In Macbeth, ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It causes the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths in Macbeth. Ambition is therefore the driving force of the play.Macbeth’s ambition is driven by a number of factors including: Prophesy: The Macbeth witches prophesize that Macbeth will become King. Macbeth believes them and the various prophesies are realized throughout the play. However, it is unclear whether these prophesies are preordained or self fulfilling. Lady Macbeth: his wife is the driving force that encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophesie s. Macbeth’s ambition soon spirals out of control and forces him to murder again and again to cover up his previous wrongdoings.Macbeth’s first victims are the Chamberlains who are blamed and killed by Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan. Banquo’s murder soon follows once Macbeth fears that the truth could be exposed. Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It is supposed to be the motivating factor that drives one towards success. Society also deems ambition a necessary quality of their leader. It can be said that Macbeth exhibits this quality of ambition. He is the strong, valiant warrior who has won in battle and brought victory to Scotland.However, Macbeth’s quest to acquire more power-his ambition-ultimately leads to his tragic demise. How can one allow himself to be destroyed by such a thing? Before Duncan’s murder, Macbeth questions and second guesses his ambitious tendencies and actions. Despite his anxiety, he succumbs to these tendencies and finds himself in an increasingly precarious situation, with his back against the wall and growing ever closer to his almost inevitable end. It is obvious that Macbeth has ambition, as most people who are in power do.In fact, ambition is often a necessary quality of people in such high standing as Macbeth is. However, Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him Through all these things, one can clearly see that Macbeth is headed on a path for disaster; a path started, and forcefully driven, by his ambition. His ambition drove him to kill Duncan so he could acquire the throne. His ambition then drove him to order the murders of Banquo and Fleance. Through that process alone, one could say that Macbeth’s ambition did lead to his downfall.However, even more disastrous than the external consequences of his ambition were his internal consequences. Macbeth’s ambition was constantly putting him in a stru ggle between right and wrong. Macbeth finally lost this battle, and succumbed to the evil side of his ambition. Being the successful, proud, and noble warrior that he was, maybe this loss of what was good inside of him was the root of Macbeth’s insanity. One will never know, but it can be said that Macbeth’s ambition, whether through his actions or through his own internal degradation, did ultimately lead to his demise.

Uttarakhand and Its History Essays

Uttarakhand and Its History Essays Uttarakhand and Its History Essay Uttarakhand and Its History Essay UTTARAKHAND Uttarakhand (Sanskrit: , Uttarakhan? am ? , Hindi: , Uttarakhan? ?), formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods (Hindi: , Dev bhumi ? ) due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduisms most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship. Known for its natural beauty and wealth of theHimalayas, the Bhabhar and the Terai, the state was carved out of the Himalayan and adjoining north-western districts of Uttar Pradesh on 9 November 2000, becoming the 27th state of the Republic of India. [2] It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region on the north, Nepal on the east and the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh to the south, Haryana to the west and Himachal Pradesh to the north west. The region is traditionally referred to as Uttarakhand in Hindu scriptures and old literature, a term which derives from Sanskrit uttara ( meaning north, and kha ( ) meaning country or part of a country. It has an area of 20,682 sq mi (53,566 km? ). In January 2007, the name of the state was officially changed from Uttaranchal, its interim name, to Uttarakhand. The provisional capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun, which is also a rail-head and the largest city in the region. The small hamlet of Gairsain has been mooted as the future capital owing to its g eographic centrality but controversies and lack of resources have led Dehradun to remain provisional capital. The High Court of the state is in Nainital. Recent developments in the region include initiatives by the state government to capitalise on handloom and handicrafts, the burgeoning tourist trade as well as tax incentives to lure high-tech industry to the state. The state also has big-dam projects, controversial and often criticised in India, such as the very large Tehri dam on the Bhagirathi-Bhilangana rivers, conceived in 1953, the phase one of which has already been completed. 3] Uttarakhand is also well known as the birthplace of the Chipko environmental movement,[4] and other social movements including the mass agitation in the 1990s that led to its formation. Main article: History of Uttarakhand Ancient History The king of mountains Himalaya is said to consist of five segments i. e. , Nepal Kurmanchal, Kedar, Kangda and Ruchir Kashmir. This Mid Himalayan region ofGarhwal and Kumaon, which is commonly known as Uttarakhand today was called by the name KEDARKHAND and MANASKHAND in t he Purans. According to the famous Historian Mr. Shiv Prasasd Dabral taking the word Uttarapad andkhand from Kedarkhand formed the term Uttaranchal. This mountain region however is the same, which was once renowned in its snow-covered form during the Vedic era and sang the saga of glorious deeds of the kings, Saints and Ascetics of the time. It was referred to as Uttarpanchal by the compilers of the Upnishads, Uttarkaushal by Valmiki and Uttarkuru by Ved Vyasa who wrote the epic Mahabharata. It is the same place that was Uattarapatti for Panini and Kautilya; Kiratmandal for Kirats, Khashadesh for the Khas, Kartipur for Katayurs. It was Parvatkaran and Giryavali for the early historian and Uttaranchal or Uttarakhand of the present day politicians. The different parts of the Uttarakhand have been referred to asIlawarat, Brahmpur, Rudrahimalaya, Sapaldaksh, Shivalik, Kurmanchat Karajat Kamaugarh, Kamadesh, Kumaon, SarkarI and Garhwal lover the past 3000 years. The western part of this region that comprising of 52 fortresses has been referred to as Garhwal over past 500 years. Samprat, Chamoli, Pauri, Uttarkashi and Dehradun add to the pristine beauty of the Garhwal region. The eastern region comprising of Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh districts together known as the Kumaon region. On account of security reason the government has for the past four decades considered only Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts as Uttaranchal, but for the residents of the Uttaranchal this entire hilly region covers an area of 51,125 sq. km and comprising of 15,951 villages, 89 developmental segments and some adjoining plains as signal geographic social and cultural Unit. The history of Uttaranchal State can be better understood through the history of Garhwal and Kumaon divisions separately, because they maintained independent identity except the period of Nepali aggression. Garhwal The Garhwal Himalayas have nurtured civilization from the wee hours of history. It appears to have been a favorite locale for the voluminous mythology of the Puranic period. The traditionai name of Garhwal was Uttarakhand and excavations have revealed that it formed part of the Mauryan Empire. It also finds mention in the 7th-century travelogue of Huen Tsang. However, it is with Adi Shankaracharya that the name of Garhwal will always be lhiked, for the great 8th-century spiritual reformer visited the remote, snow-laden heights of Garhwal, established a math Joshimath) and resorted some of the most sacred shrines, including Badrinath and Kedarnath. The history of Garhwal as one unified whole began in the 15th century, when king Ajai Pal merged the-52 separate principalities, each with its own garh or fortress. For 300 years, Garhwal remained one kingdom, with its capital at Srinagar (on the left bank of Alaknanda river). Then Pauri and Dehradun were perforce ceded to the Crown as payment for British help, rendered to the Garhwalis during the Gurkha invasion, in the early 19th century. Kumaon Humankind has been around in Kumaon for a very long time. Evidences of Stone Age settlements have been found in Kumaon, particularly the rock shelter at Lakhu Udyar. The paintings here date back to the Mesolithic period. The early medieval history of Kumaon is the history of the Katyuri dynasty. The Katyuri kings ruled from the seventh to the 11 th century, holding sway at the peak of their powers over large areas of Kumaon, Garhwal, and western Nepal. The town of Baijnath near Almora was the capital of this dynasty and a center of the arts. Temple building flourished under the Katyuris and the main architectural innovation introduced by them was the replacement of bricks with stone. On a hilltop facing east (opposite Almora), is the temple of Katarmal. This 900-year-old sun temple was built during the declining years of the Katyuri dynasty. The intricately carved doors and panels have been removed to the National Museum in Delhi as a protective measure after the 10th-century idol of the presiding deity was stolen. After an interregnum of a couple of centuries, the Chands of Pithoragarh became the dominant dynasty. The Chand rulers built the magnificent temple complex at Jageshwar, with its cluster of a hundred and sixty-four temples, over a span of two centuries. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the evocative carvings are complemented by the beautiful deodar forest around it. [edit]Geography Main article: Geography of Uttarakhand Uttarakhand has a total geographic area of 51,125 km? , of which 93% is mountainous and 64% is covered by forest. Most of the northern parts of the state are part of Greater Himalaya ranges, covered by the high Himalayan peaks and glaciers, while the lower foothills were densely forested till denuded by the British log merchants and later, after independence, by forest contractors. Recent efforts in reforestation, however, have restored the situation to some extent. The Himalayan ecosystem plays host to a large number of animals (including bharal, snow leopards, leopards and tigers), plants and rare herbs. Two of Indias largest rivers, the Ganges and the Yamuna originate in the glaciers of Uttarakhand, and are fed by myriad lakes, glacial melts and streams in the region. [17] Uttarakhand lies on the southern slope of the Himalaya range, and the climate and vegetation vary greatly with elevation, from glaciers at the highest elevations to subtropical forests at the lower elevations. The highest elevations are covered by ice and bare rock. Below them, between 3,000 and 5,000 metres (9,800 and 16,000 ft) are montane grasslands and shrublands: the western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows. Temperate coniferous forests, the western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests, grow just below the tree line. At 3,000 to 2,600 metres (9,800 to 8,500 ft) elevation they transition to the temperate western Himalayan broadleaf forests, which lie in a belt from 2,600 to 1,500 metres (8,500 to 4,900 ft) elevation. Below 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) elevation lie the Himalayan subtropical pine forests. The Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests and the drier Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands cover the lowlands along the Uttar Pradesh border. This belt is locally known as Bhabhar. These lowland forests have mostly been cleared for agriculture, but a few pockets remain. [18] Indian National Parks in Uttarakhand include the Jim Corbett National Park (the oldest national park of India) at Ramnagar in Nainital District, Valley of Flowers National Park and Nanda Devi National Park in Chamoli District, which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Rajaji National Park in Haridwar District, and Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Gangotri National Park in Uttarkashi District. [show]Population Growth According to 2001 India census, Uttarakhand had a population of approximately . 48 million. A population exceeding 10 million is expected by the next census of 2011. The native people of Uttarakhand are generally called eitherKumaoni or Garhwali depending on their place of origin in either the Garhwal or Kumaon region. Another well known category is Gujjar, they were the rulers of a kingdom with capital at Landhaura and which covered the whole of todays Haridwar Distr ict. Gujjars King Raja Ramdayal Singh Panwar had helped the Tehri ruler against the Gorkhas and the Present MLA from Laksar in Haridwar is Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion is the descendant of that King. Gujjar is a dominant community of Haridwar District. Kumaoni and Garhwali dialects of Central Pahari are spoken in Kumaon and Garhwal region respectively. Jaunsari andBhotiya dialects are also spoken by tribal communities in the west and north respectively. The urban population however converses mostly in Hindi. Sanskrit has also official status in the state. Hindus form the majority of the population at 85. 0%, Muslims form 10. 5%, Sikhs 2. 5% and Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others about 0. 5%. It has male-female ratio of . 964 and has a literacy rate of 72%. The largest cities in the state include Dehradun (530,263), Haridwar (220,767), Haldwani (158,896),Roorkee (115,278) and Rudrapur (88,720). The state government recognizes 15,620 villages and 81 cities and urban areas. Historians of Kumaon and Garhwal say that in the beginning there were only three castes: Rajput, Brahmin and Shilpkar. Main occupation of Rajput wereZamindari and law enforcement. Occupation of Brahmins were to perform religious rituals in temples and religious occasions. Shilpkar were mainly working for rajputs, in their lands and were expert in handcrafts. The famous surnames Kalakoti, Chauhan, Bisht, Bhayera, Nainwal, Rawat, Dhapola, Rautela and Negiare used by Rajputs. Bahuguna, Bhatt, Naithani are some of the famous Brahmin surname, having a university by the name of Bahuguna in Pauri district of Garhwal. According to a 2007 study, Uttarakhand has the highest percentage of brahmins of any community in India, with approximately 20% of the population being brahmin. [20] [edit]Government and politics The present Chief Minister of Government of Uttarakhand is Mr. Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri. He was appointed as the sixth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Governor Margaret Alva administered the oath of office and secrecy to Khanduri, who returns to the top post two years after he was removed by the party after it lost all the five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 general elections. The last state elections in Uttarakhand were held on 21 February 2007. TheBharatiya Janata Party emerged as the largest party with 34 seats in the 70-seat Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. One seat short of forming a majority, the BJP have had to rely on support from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and three independents to form the government. The Indian National Congress is the official opposition, holding 21 seats. [edit]Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand ?Nityanand Swami ?Bhagat Singh Koshiyari ?Narayan Dutt Tiwari ?B C Khanduri ?Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank ?B C Khanduri [edit]Districts Districts of Uttarakhand Main article: Districts of Uttarakhand There are 14 districts in Uttarakhand which are grouped into two divisions, Kumaon and Garhwal. 4 more districts namely Didihat, Ranikhet, Kotdwar and Yamunotri were declared by the then CM of Uttarakhand, Ramesh Pokhariyal on 15 Aug 2011. However, these districts have NOT been created yet. The Kumaon division includes Six districts. ?Almora ?Bageshwar ?Champawat ?Nainital ?Pithoragarh ?Udham Singh Nagar Proposed Districts ?Didihat to be carved out from Pithoragarh ?Ranikhet to be carved out from Almora district The Garhwal division includes Seven districts. ?Dehradun ?Haridwar ?Tehri Garhwal ?Uttarkashi ?Chamoli ?Pauri Garhwal (commonly known as Garhwal) ?Rudraprayag Proposed Districts ?Kotdwar to be carved out from Pauri district ?Yamunotri to be carved out from Uttarkashi Four new districts were announced to be formed by the Chief Minister in his Independence Day speech, namely Kotdwar, Yamunotri, Didihat and Ranikhet. The total number of districts in the state will go up to 17. Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri is new chief minister of Uttrakhand. Khanduri take a oath on 11 september 2011. Ramesh pokhariyal resign from the post on the day 11 sept 2011. Now B. C. Khanduri is th 6th Chief minister of Uttrakhanad. [edit]Important cities CityPopulationDistrict Dehradun 7,78,593Dehradun Haridwar 3,24,372Haridwar Haldwani 2,76,942Nainital Roorkee 2,52,784Haridwar Kashipur 1,81,208Udham Singh Nagar Kotdwara 1,16,497Kotdwara Rudrapur 119281Udham Singh Nagar Rishikesh 75,020Dehradun(Mainly in Dehradun)/(Partly in)Haridwar/Tehri/Pauri Grahwal Pithoragarh 66378Pithoragrah Manglaur 65267Haridwar Ramnagar 47099Nainital Nainital 38560Nainital Almora 30613Almora Mussoorie 26069Dehradun Pauri 25400Pauri Garhwal Srinagar 19861Pauri Garhwal Gopeshwar 19855Chamoli Ranikhet 19049Almora Uttarkashi 16220 (2001)Uttarkashi Tanakpur 15810Champawat Khatima 14378Udham Singh Nagar Vikasnagar 12485Dehradun Bageshwar 7803Bageshwar Banbasa 7138Champawat District Karanprayag 6976Chamoli Champawat 3958Champawat Bhuwan Rudraprayag 2242Rudraprayag Devprayag 2144Pauri Garhwal Dharchula(District Pithoragarh) [edit]Economy The size of Uttarakhands Economy as measured by its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2011 (Financial year ending March 2011) is estimated at 775. 8 billion in current prices. Born out of the division of Uttar Pradesh, the new state of Uttarakhand produces about 12% of the output of the old Uttar Pradesh state. Consolidated Finvest and Holdings, a SP CNX 500 conglomerate has its corporate office in Uttarakhand. It reported a gross income of 137 million for 2005. [citation needed] In 2003, a new industrial policy for the state with generous tax benefits for investors was initiated that has led to a massive upsurge of capital investment. SIDCUL, the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand has established seven industrial estates in the southern periphery of the state, while dozens of hydroelectric dams are being built in the upper reaches. However, hill development remains an uphill challenge as out migration of local peoples continues from the highland hinterlands. edit]Transport Uttarakhand is well connected with Rail, Road and Air modes of transport [edit]Airports ?Jolly Grant Airport (Dehradun) ?Pantnagar Airport (Pantnagar) ?Naini-Saini (Pithoragarh) ?Uttarkashi ?Gochar (Chamoli) ?Agastyamuni (Heliport) (Rudraprayag) [edit]Tourism Leisure, adventure, and religious tourism play a prominent role in Uttarakhands economy, with theCorbett National Park and Tiger Reserve and th e nearby hill-stations of Nainital, Mussoorie, Almora,Kausani, Bhimtal and Ranikhet being amongst the most frequented destinations of India. The state also contains numerous peaks of interest to mountaineers, although Nanda Devi, the highest and best-known of these, has been off-limits since 1982. Other national wonders include the Valley of Flowers, which along with Nanda Devi National Park, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To Uttarakhand, long called abode of the gods (Devbhumi), belong some of the holiest Hindu shrines, and for more than a thousand years, pilgrims have been visiting the region in the hopes of salvation and purification from sin. Gangotri and Yamunotri, the sources of both the Ganges andYamuna fall in the upper reaches of the state and together with Badrinath (dedicated to Vishnu) andKedarnath (dedicated to Shiva) form the Char Dham, one of Hinduisms most spiritual and auspicious pilgrimage circuits. Haridwar, meaning Gateway to God is a prime Hindu destination. Haridwar hosts the Kumbha Mela every twelve years, in which millions of pilgrims take part from all parts of the India and the world. Rishikesh near Haridwar is known as the preeminent yoga centre of India. The state has an abundance of temples and shrines, many dedicated to local deities or manifestations of Shiva and Durga, references to many of which can be found in Hindu scriptures and legends. [21] The architecture of most of these temples is typical of the region and slightly different from other parts of India. The ancient temples at Jageshwar (a complex of 124 temples in a deodar woodland) are historically the most prominent for their distinct architectural features. Uttarakhand is, however, a place of pilgrimage not only for the Hindus. Hemkund nested in the Himalayas is a prime pilgrimage center for the Sikhs. Tibetan Buddhism has also made itself felt with the recent reconstruction of Mindroling Monastery and its Buddha Stupa, touted as the worlds highest,[22] southwest of Dehradun. The state has always been a destination for mountaineering, hiking and rock climbing in India. A recent development in adventure tourism in the region has been white water rafting and other adventures sports. Eco tourism, agritourism and rural tourism have also found new grounds in many villages of the state. [edit]Education Uttarakhand is home to several important educational institutions, including the oldest engineering colleges in Asia, the Indian Institute of Technology atRoorkee and Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture Technology in Pantnagar. Other universities and institutes of prime importance include,Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, Forest Research Institute in Dehradun, Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College in Pauri and Kumaon Engineering College, Dwarahat. Uttarakhand is home to several reputed and prestigious day and boarding schools including St. Josephs College Nainital), The Doon School (Dehradun),Welham Girls School (Dehradun), Welham Boys School (Dehradun), Marshall School (Dehradun), SelaQui International School (Dehradun), Brightlands(Dehradun), St. Josephs Academy (Dehradun), Woodstock School (Landour), St. Georges College (Mussoorie) Birla Vidya Mandir (Nainital), Sherwood College (Nainital), All Saints College (Nainital), St. Marys Convent (Nainital), Sainik School Ghorakhal near Bhowali and G D Birla Memorial School(Ranikhet). Several Indian luminaries have attended these schools including former prime ministers and film stars. Historically, Uttarakhand is believed to be the land where the Vedas and the Shastras were composed and the great epic, the Mahabharata, was written. Rishikesh is widely considered the Yoga capital of the world. [edit]Universities Garhwal and Kumaun Universities were founded in 1973 as part of the upsurge of regional sentiment that led to the Uttarakhand statehood. The most famous universities of Uttarakhand are: NameLocation Indian Institute of Management Kashipur Central UniversityKashipur Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Central UniversityRoorkee National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand Central UniversitySrinagar Indian Institute of Remote Sensing Central UniversityDehradun All India Institute of Medical Sciences from 2012 Central UniversityRishikesh Dakpather Degree Collage HNB UniversityDakpather Indian Institute of Management from 2012Central UniversityKashipur Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture Technology State UniversityPantnagar Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University Central UniversityTehri Garhwal, Srinagar Pauri Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal State Government Engineer CollegePauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand Kumaon Engineering College, Dwarahat State Government Engineer CollegeDwarahat, Almora, Uttarakhand Kumaun University State UniversityNainital and Almora Uttarakhand Technical University State UniversityDehradun Doon University State UniversityDehradun University of Petroleum and Energy Studies Private UniversityDehradun Himgiri Nabh Vishwavidyalaya (University in the Sky)Private UniversityDehradun Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India(ICFAI) Private UniversityDehradun Forest Research Institute Deemed UniversityDehradun Himalayan Institute of Hospital Trust Deemed UniversityDehradun Graphic Era UniversityDeemed UniversityDehradun Gurukul Kangri University Deemed UniversityHaridwar University of Patanjali (Patanjali Yogpeeth)Private UniversityHaridwar Dev Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya Private UniversityHaridwar Uttarakhand Open University State UniversityHaldwani Gurukul Kangri UniversityHardwar Central Deemed UniversitySeemant Institute of Technology ,Pithoragarh(Uttarakhand Technical University)Sanctioned [edit]Leading colleges doon institute of engineering and technology (shyampur , rishikesh) ? Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee ?Indian Institute of Management Kashipur ?Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal ?Kumaon Engineering College ?Indian Institute of Remote Sensing ?Forest Research Institute ?Indian Military Academy ?Indian Institute of Petroleum ?Rashtriya Indian Military College RIMC ?University of Petroleum and Energy St udies ?Dehradun Institute of Technology ?Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University [edit]Entertainment Industry Although the entertainment industry of Uttarakhand is in its infant stage, yet there is a rapid growth in terms of audio visual entertainment. The pure folk seems to be disappearing from villages, so is the younger generation. Still there are many options one can get close to the folk music. Recently, in the honor of all who gave Bedupako Baramaasa folk tune an international fame and also to make Uttarakhand folk available all around the world 24X7, an online radio, which is one of the only and very first on-line radio of Uttarakhand available on web, was created by the name of bedupako.