Plato, Greek Art and Censorship Essay Example for Free

Plato, Greek Art and Censorship Essay It is imperative that we begin the illustration of Plato’s pursuit for censorship with the definition of his times, the context by which his beliefs on music and poetry were formulated.   Greece during Hellenic times was distinctively marked by a superior regard to the polis or the city-state. With what the civil wars wrought to its citizens, the Greeks developed a strong inclination towards the attainment of what they believed to be the kallipolis or the ideal state, one that is marked by justice, order and harmony, and will do everything in its power to preserve it. The general concession of its superiority justified acts which would have been highly condemnable in the present times. Acts like infanticide and common life are surely not to arouse the approval of the many. One of the necessary steps that Plato strongly advocated for the attainment of the idea state, was the censorship of the arts, music and poetry alike. In summary he claims that the polis needed to constrain its arts, to mitigate its negative influences and curb the dangerous effect of its mimeric nature if they were to avoid the disruption of the state, more like its demise considering how pervasive arts was during the Hellenic period. Plato’s definition of censorship came in the form of 1) the prohibition of music that was intrinsically bad, and 2) the sanctioning of tales that were weaved from a state of madness, thereby promoting false virtues.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On Music – It was a general belief during those times that there existed some form of music that was intrinsically bad or an aberration to the natural harmony of the universe. These were the songs whose words upheld false virtues and songs whose musical tones were derived from the improper order of interval. There in the sequencing of its notes lay a palpable sense of disharmony and discordance which mathematicians and philosophers went to great lengths to prove.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is to be said too that the soul is part of a force called Harmonia – a force that brings to union all elements of the universe, good and bad. The soul acts like a sponge, is its modern rhetoric equivalent, absorbing the discordance of the notes and sending the soul to a confused state as it cannot adequately grasps the things it acquires (Republic 78). The faculties of the physical body become misguided and the resulting man is one who is corrupt and unable to discern what is just from not. Hence, guardians, producers and rulers were considered susceptible to music’s negative influences and must be then censored by the polis if it were to protect man’s virtues. Rhythm and harmony penetrate the inner part of the soul and that gracelessness, bad rhythm and disharmony are akin to bad words and character (Republic III)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This was perhaps the first attempt to advance the concept of the subliminal meaning. The Doctrine of Ethos – music’s ability to form one’s character – still remains on solid ground after centuries. I find sense in what these early philosophers claim. How else do we explain the anarchic proclivities of Rock Music and Rap’s inclination towards street violence despite shifts in paradigm of the many generations that have passed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On Poetry – Here Plato refers to drama, tragedies and words of a song without the musical notes.   Unlike the subliminal effect of some music, poetry has a more direct and invasive effect to one’s character.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Plato’s Theory of Forms states that Nature is an imperfect representation of the ideal and perfect reality of Forms; that man ought to take actions that will bring him closer to the reality of Forms. If poetry represents that which is already imperfect, the resulting work ushers man away from the light and further into the shadows. Without the light, man now becomes a slave to the shadows he continuously imitates.   Moreover, when exposed to poetic illusions man naturally takes on what he sees and starts to assume the character of the poetic subject, in whole or in parts. This mimeric nature, Plato says, is dangerous as this will distract man from achieving his highest state of being.   It is better to stick to one craft and be good at it than to acquire all trades but be good at none. Guardians must be prohibited to learn the trade of the poets. This is   to ensure that his optimum self is achieved.   Otherwise he starts to neglect his duties to the state.   Also, the process of producing poetry sends the artist in a temporal state of divine inspiration or madness, simply that he loses all sense of rationality, he weaves one that is not according to Reason’s dictates but that of his many passions, ignorance and possibly appetites albeit the poetic charm. Anything that is far from Reason is necessarily deemed unhealthy for the kallipolis. Clearly the Hellenic times were defined by their end goals. Plato and others saw censorship, along with many state policies, as a justified means to their end. The present times, however, see a completely different paradigm. People have long shown the world that the morality of the means is just as considerable as the end itself. Censorship to a substantial part of the world is unacceptable. Now, it’s all about rights to freedom of speech and expression. When New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority decides to cut off offensive language from the radio, immediately journalists are tagging it as discrimination. In US alone how many controversial lawsuits, to include a high school valedictorian as complainant, have been filed because people have been forbidden to make religious references. Plato would have been shocked, even enraged at this underlying idea of the Individual catching up with the State; or the state policies being subservient to Individual Rights. He would have thought it a narrow insight and I completely agree.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All this talk on Rights and Freedom of Expression is based on the faulty assumption that 1) everyone is capable of responsible and sensible expressions, and 2) everyone is capable of judicious interpretations of these expressions. When truth of the matter is that when people make tirade speeches against a group , they almost always fail to consider the sensibilities of whose who are being attacked. One’s unguarded   expression becomes another one’s discrimination. To compound things, people are impressionable. Plato was correct when he said that man naturally adopts the things he sees and hears no matter how unjust and far from virtues. Man doesn’t generally step back and take a moment to carefully weigh what he perceives. To those who can, notice that they don’t go out of their way to educate the public. These educated minds have become an elite preferring apathy. This is what turns expressions into social disturbances. Sooner or later when more people start to believe, these expressions become acceptable truths. Eventually they become imbibed as values. With the advent of the digital age, things are even escalated. The cyberspace contains practically all sorts of information, educated, trash, pornographic and otherwise, which can be accessed by anyone even those who are not in the right minds to discern right from wrong. Censorship, contrary to what people believe as a tyrannical act against freedom, is simply responsible regulation. It is to ensure that information is accessed   by the right audience and that the propensity of these expressions to stir and rouse disturbances is curbed. This time it is to preserve not the State but the Society with the Individual at its core and Values at stake. Each processes information or whatever elements one picks up from the cosmos in various ways and degrees. What misguided minds process as motivation for unjust ways may be an educated mind’s trigger for higher knowledge. But if takes only one out of a thousand and perhaps millions of minds to have his virtues corrupted because of unregulated information, that for me, and should so for the progressively liberal states, provide more than enough justification for censorship.   It is a rational step to reduce freedom’s excesses especially in a time where the universe presents wider, freer and borderless ways by which man can inflict harm to another, even to himself. Works Cited Plato. â€Å"The Republic†, translated by Benjamin Jowett, http://classics.mit.edu

Pakistan and Afghanistan Essay -- Politics, War, Turmoil

From the 1980’s onwards, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been at the forefront of numerous socio-political events germane to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The multifarious factors involved form a perplexing web of competing narratives that resist straightforward explanation. This essay will delve into the milieu, seeking alternative theories to construct a cogent thesis for the growth of fundamentalism. In doing so, it will examine the Islamisation policies of Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq administration and its congruence with United States interests at the time. Particular focus will be given to the Afghanistan – Pakistan dyad and how the recent return of international forces perpetuates the conditions that allow Islamic fundamentalism to prosper. As a state whose principal raison d'à ªtre is for the protection of Muslims, Pakistan had historically struggled with defining what its Islamic mandate entailed. Arriving in power via a coup d’à ©tat, Zia-ul-Haq employed religion to attain popular legitimacy, orchestrating Islamic reform as a deceitful pretence for securing power (Kennedy 1990: 73). Correspondingly, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan solidified the role of Islamic politics, with Zia-ul-Haq exhibiting a distinct preference for radical groups as a counterweight to communist ideology (Fuller 1991: 11). The most visible sign of creeping religiosity appeared in 1982 with the declaration that â€Å"national dress† and Islamic studies were mandatory for government employees (Cohen 1988: 314). Underlying this conversion, the government funded the expansion of an increasingly radical madrasa based education system - with the intention to transform the electoral landscape and boost support for Islamic parties ( Nasr 2000: 147). Through th... ...ndamentalists who demur at the state’s very existence, we can opine that Pakistan may already have crossed the Rubicon. This essay has elucidated that Pakistan and Afghanistan are a point of convergence for a litany of failed, arguably asinine policies by both the chief protagonists and outside interests. As such, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism represents the logical endpoint for an array of policies that mobilised extremist religious dogma to achieve geostrategic objectives. Crucially, the abject failure of all involved to disband and reintegrate those forces into a legitimate Afghan state has proved calamitous in its consequences. With recent international intervention bolstering the ideological sources of fundamentalism and with the nexus of instability spreading deep into Pakistan, the continued prominence of Islamic fundamentalism appears inevitable.

Desert Hikers

According to John Muir, â€Å"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. † Desert hikers explore a desert for things such as different species of animals, a new environment or even a vacation. Not only for the enjoyment, but some may go out for business references. Regardless of, they must fully prepare themselves in order to survive in a desert. Inexperienced desert hikers do not fully prepare. Because some desert hikers are inexperienced, many dangers await them such as, the scorching heat, dangerous animals and getting lost.For instance, the scorching heat is probably the first danger desert hikers may face above all the others. Many inexperienced desert hikers know that it is blazing hot in the desert, but may not know the hours which to hike. To avoid much of the heat, hikers shouldn’t hike between the hours of noon and three. A heat stroke, caused by lack of water, is common to most hikers. Symptom’s associating with heat stokes are diz ziness and headaches. To avoid this, drinking plenty of water is good for the body because of the constant sweating.If not taken into caution, these inexperienced hikers could experience nausea and vomiting from the heat, causing them to have heat exhaustion. These inexperienced desert hikers also may not know that drinking lightly salted fluids can avoid cramps, due to all the walking. These are just a few elements of dangers due to the scorching heat in a desert. Another reason inexperienced desert hikers face danger is because they may not know the actual harm desert animals could bring. For example, rattlesnakes and sidewinders, which are the most common in a desert.These snakes are extremely poisonous. Most of these snakes are camouflage to the grass and sand, especially the sidewinders. They bury their bodies into the sand and have only their eyes and nostrils above the sand. Stepping on them, causing them to strike without warning, could lead to serious damage. And even thoug h scorpions are small, they are deadly. These are found in dark places such as wood and under rocks. Inexperienced desert hikers may not know that it is best to shake off clothing and boots before putting them on each time.These desert hikers need to be extremely careful because if bitten by any poisonous animal, medical attention is far away and could take miles to reach. This may lead to a result of death. Indeed, getting lost in a desert could propose a threat. Inexperienced desert hikers could easily get misplaced. Some hikers may know to get a book about hiking in a desert before rushing into the actual hiking trip, some may not. The book may give a few essentials on which can be useful. Like the compass for one.Inexperienced desert hikers may not know how to use or read one right off. This may take a learning process. Having a map and knowing major points of an area is a way to get back on trial. By using that map, these desert hikers could mark their starting points. For thes e reasons, getting lost is a possible threat if inexperienced desert hikers don’t take proper cautions. To conclude, inexperienced desert hikers should be aware of the scorching heat, getting lost, and the dangerous animals that await them.Wouldn’t you want to know? It’s very important to know the dangers of a desert and what to do to have a safer hike. Whether the trip is for enjoyment or just business, always knowing the proper precautions and guides it take to be safer is always a good benefit to hiking in a desert. Despite the numerous dangers reasons inexperienced desert hikers may face; planning ahead, taking time to learn and fully prepare could result in a more successful trip in the future.

Contemporary Views Of Leadership And Leadership - 1513 Words

Literature Review: Contemporary Views of Leadership Leadership encompasses all areas of our lives. Everyone performs a leadership role in their household one way or the other. Parents perform leadership roles every day in their homes. In schools, leadership roles are being performed on a daily basis by students and teachers. In churches, there are pastors, deacons, elders, etc. perform leadership roles. At your jobs, leadership roles come into play each and every day. As you can see leadership is a very broad area that is performed in all faucets of lives. The nature and scope of leadership have changed drastically from the olden days to the present, hence the topic contemporary leadership. Contemporary leadership is varied. There are various types of organizations and specific type leadership will fit the different types of organization. This review will examine the different types of leadership and the type of organization that each type leadership fits. Types of Contemporary Leadership Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership are leaders that motivate and encourage (transform) followers to achieve extra ordinary outcomes. â€Å"Transformational leaders helps create formal ongoing mechanism that promote two-way communication and the exchange of information† (Aga, Noordehaven Vallejo, 2016, p. 806). In their article Aga, Noordehaven, and Vallejo (2016), discusses the role of a transformational leadership and projectShow MoreRelatedEvaluating Contemporary Views of Leadership1667 Words   |  7 PagesEvaluating Contemporary Views of Leadership LDR/711A  » Leadership Theories and Practice – University of Phoenix Evaluating Contemporary Views of Leadership From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). 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