Saturday, May 23, 2020

The Influence Of Fandom On Celebrity Music Fandom As...

2.5 Directions Forward In the chapters that follow, I seek to contrast themes endemic to celebrity music fandom-as-religion literature with my data set and, in that juxtaposition, demonstrate ways in which scholars of fandom-as-religion may have mischaracterized fan emotion, sentiment, and action, as well as the fan-celebrity relationship. I follow Sandvoss in his distinction between fandom and religion: â€Å"In contrast to religion, fandom lacks an absolute, other-worldly framework through which social realities are constructed and legitimized. If fandom differs so radically in its premises from religion, it is difficult to juxtapose their consequences meaningfully† (2005, 63). One question this dissertation asks is if religion is a useful†¦show more content†¦For example, Patsy Cline’s posthumous narrative appropriates social class, Tupac mediates identity and social narratives, and Robert Johnson acts as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on† (Rothenbuhler 2005, 230). The latter of these, Robert Johnson as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on,† is one of the most useful ways of describing the individual and collective purpose of dead celebrity. First in life, but then more solidly in death, these musicians come to embody a certain narrative, such as the late singer Karen Carpenter. Carpenter, posthumously dubbed â€Å"Saint Karen,† died of anorexia in 1983 and her image became a cautionary tale. Fans mediate these meanings of the Carpenter narrative for their own purposes. For example, some girls and women identified with the narrative as trapped by the disorder, lacking autonomy and control over their life (see Bowers and Grey 2005, 110). Dead celebrity musicians become an image, a location and place where fans understand themselves and their place in the world, should the fan pursue such identification. As externalizations, the image represents what the fan needs it to represent. The image, as Bowers and Grey rightly point out, becomes resilient to attacks, â€Å"as popular icons, musicians may often come to represent larger

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

America’s View on Immigration - 638 Words

America’s View on Immigration Americans, in the late 1800s and beginning of the 1900s, had a diversity of views about immigration and the immigrants. The United States of America, a nation of immigrants, had been welcoming to immigration in the 1800-1900’s. Thomas Page, a professor of the University of Virginia said, â€Å"Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the attitude of the press and of the public men in the United States was with few exceptions strongly favorable to immigration. † In America the cultures of these foreigners were usually not accepted by many Americans, â€Å"It was commonly believed that agriculture, industry, and the general development of the country were promoted by their arrival,† said Thomas Page. Almost all of the Americans views on the matter changed during the 1900’s. Thoughts of the economy came to show the growing skepticism of Americans’ viewpoint on immigration and immigrants. Although the thoughts on the economy by Americans were not mutual on the problems of immigration or what the solution should be, there was shared agreement that immigration was a large problem. American thinkers on the economy were adverse to unregulated immigration and supported the idea of additional government rules, laws, and regulations on the matter (Americas Best History U.S. Timeline, The 1890s). Between 1900 and 1915, about fifteen million immigrants crossed over to the United States. That is about the same number of immigrants who had came to the USShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Impact of Latin American Immigration on America1553 Words   |  7 Pages Immigration is the process of entry of individuals into a new country (23). Throughout past centuries, immigration has been a means of discovery and exploration of new lands. 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Trump believes â€Å"IncreasingRead MoreImmigration : A Hot Topic On The United States897 Words   |  4 PagesImmigration continues to be a hot topic in the United States. The issue is a particularly sensitive one, as it affects matters such as national security, the economy, and the American way of life. Frustrated by Congress’ inaction, President Barack Obama is attempting to fix what many see as the broken immigration system, and one such move was through the executive actions he announced last November 20, which aims to provide relief from deportation for those who were brought to the coun try as childrenRead MoreAmerica s National Government And Fundamental Laws Essay1641 Words   |  7 Pagessystem of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power† (History Staff). In order for this government to be established, political parties were founded to help represent the ideals and differing views of all of the citizens. Throughout America’s history, the Democratic and Republican parties have grown to become the two major parties in American government. These parties are important to the electoral system as each party represents the â€Å"embodiment of shared principlesRead MoreThe Aftermath of World War I927 Words   |  4 Pagessince they did not spend as much money as France, Germany, and Britain did. This ignited their unprecedented affluence which had a domino effect in America’s society in terms of government’s relationship to business. Another effect of the First World War is the Red Scare and Americaâ€℠¢s prejudice and fear against the minorities shown through the immigration policies it established. These changes in the economy increased living standards, evidently seen through the consumer culture, progressive innovationsRead More Should Immigration Be Limited? 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Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 created communism and caused the United states to experience the first Red Scare. Many people feared the presence of immigrants so much, that they

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Understanding Islam Free Essays

Introduction The literal meaning of Islam is peace. Because of many current world events, Islam is a highly controversial and sensitive issue that has many misconceptions that need to be more fully addressed and understood. It is true that the events of 9/11 have separated the history of American relations with the Muslim world into before and after phases, negatively affecting the patterns of assimilation of immigrant Muslims into American culture and society (Simmons, 2008). We will write a custom essay sample on Understanding Islam or any similar topic only for you Order Now This essay will begin to give factual details regarding the Islam faith, compare Islam with other Abrahamic religions and discuss common misconceptions and current events that have changed the way the world looks at Muslims and the Islam faith. Body It will be useful to begin with attempting to scratch the surface and try to understand the teachings of Islam. Islam is a monotheistic religion based on revelations received by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. These revelations were recorded in the faith’s text, the Qur’an. The Islam faith has â€Å"Six Articles of Beliefs†. People of the Muslim faith must have great conviction in these most important six areas. They are: 1. Belief in God. 2. Belief in the Angels. 3. Belief in the Prophets and Messengers. 4. Belief in the Sacred Texts. 5. Belief in Life After Death. 6. Belief in the Divine Decree (Abdulsalam, 2006). The believers worship God directly without the intercession of priests or clergy. They also have five duties that are given as rules to follow. Those are the Five Pillars of Islam; Belief, Worship, Fasting, Almsgiving and Pilgrimage (Grupper, Prentice, Roughton, 2000). The country with the most Muslims is Indonesia, with 120 million. In addition there are millions more in parts of Eastern and Western Europe and in the Americas. The Islam religion claims nearly 1 billion followers in countries throughout the world. Islam is also the youngest among major world religions but is still one of the largest (Ridenour, 2001). Islam belongs in a group of three religions called the â€Å"Abrahamic† religions. Those three religions are Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They are three sister religions that are monotheistic and that claim the prophet Abraham as their common forefather. To compare Islam and Christianity, in relation to God, Muslims believe there is no God but Allah; Christians believe that God is revealed in scripture as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons who are coeternally God (Ridenour, 2001). This sometimes causes Jews and Muslims to criticize the Christians as polytheistic. In all three religions, there is an ethical orientation. All three religions speak of a choice between good and evil, which is depended upon obedience or disobedience to God (Unkown, 2007). The three also have a linear concept of history with creation as the beginning and that God works through history. The believers of Islam are called Muslims which means â€Å"one who lives his life according to God’s will† (Langley, 1993). It would seem that this particular people and religion would be a people of peace, sincerity and love. Since 9/11, the world of the faithful in Muslim societies has been in turmoil because the living Islam, dominated by its traditional interpreters, the learned ulema, has not been able to guide the community at the most critical period of its existence (Sachedina, 2010). This current critical period of Islam existence has created many misconceptions. Only if it is assumed that the goal of Islam is to establish peace without resorting to aggression can one claim that that militant Islamists have hijacked their religion (van der Krogt, 2010). Islam is practiced all over the world and the way it is practiced is different in different locations. Islam does claim to be brotherhoods of â€Å"one religion†, but the Islam practiced in Indonesia is very different than the Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, which is also different from that in Kazakhstan, or Iran, or Morocco. In researching for this essay, the author found many different â€Å"types† of Islamic groups all over the world. There are over 73 sub-sects that have emerged within Islam today (Venkatraman, 2007). Some peaceful and some more aggressive. A group called Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (The Party of Islamic Liberation) began working in Central Asia in the mid-1990s and has developed a committed following inside Uzbekistan, and to a lesser extent in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Estimates of its strength vary widely, but a rough figure is probably 15-20,000 throughout Central Asia. Its influence should not be exaggerated – it has little public support in a region where there is limited appetite for political Islam – but it has become by far the largest radical Islamist movement in the area (Unkown, Radical Islam in Central Asia: Responding to Hizb ut-Tahrir, 2003). The common misconceptions regarding Muslims did not begin with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but that seems to be the current event that hits closest to home. Islamic terrorism is a movement in which the violence caused by terrorism is derived from and used to preserve extreme interpretations of the Quran in an Islamic community. Participants of this movement call for an unquestioned devotion and blind obedience or a Quaranic tenet has been broken. A few of the Islamic terrorist groups are Al-jihad, AlQaeda (Afganistan), Hamas (Palestine), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (Kashmir), and the Lashkar e-Toiba (Kashmir) (Venkatraman, 2007). The 9/11 terrorist attacks were performed by AlQaeda under the direction of Osama bin Laden, the founder of AlQaeda. The death of Osama bin Laden has also certainly not stopped Islamic violence, but according to the president of the Muslim Public Affairs Counsel, Salam Al-Marayati, the death of Osama bin Laden â€Å"represents the beginning of the end of a dark era in U. S. -Muslim relations. † He goes on to say that â€Å"hopefully this ushers a new era of hope and democracy in dealing with the grievances of Muslim people throughout the world without resorting to political violence. † (Lozano, 2011). The media and these current world events are a definite misconception of all Muslim people. To gratuitously insult law-abiding Muslims by conflating them with terrorists is not only wrong, it is dangerous to U. S. national security (Stern, 2011). An article written in the New York Times in October of 2010, spoke about local New York Islamics having open houses to invite non-Muslims in to attend prayers, discussions and tours of Islamic centers as a way to defuse hostility toward the Muslim population. The idea for the program, â€Å"A Week of Dialogue,† emerged from a summit of Islamic leaders as a response to the furor surrounding a plan to open a Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero (Semple, 2010). Muslims in America and around the world are trying to bring back the truth to the original Islamic meaning of peace. We now must look at how Muslims and non-Muslims communicate and live together in harmony. Historically, in countries where Islam has gained political power, people of all rival religions are either wiped out, or in the interest of â€Å"tolerance† or â€Å"open mindedness†, permitted to exist as second-class citizens. Christians and Jews are looked down upon and may not practice their religion openly or freely without serious consequence. But, Islam in the West is completely different from Islam in Muslim dominated countries. Muslims who live in the Western democratic countries enjoy all the benefits and privileges of freedom and democracy. They have secure civil liberties and may practice their religion freely and openly. The Qur’an specifically states that Islam is a religion of mercy, tolerance and moderation. Moderation being the key to Muslim and non-Muslim communication. It allows Muslims to have a good relationship with non-Muslims, but to a certain limit. One quote from the Qur’an says this: â€Å"Let not the believers (Muslims) take for friends Unbelievers (non-Muslims) rather than believers. And whoever does that has no relation with Allah whatsoever, except by way of precaution that you may guard yourselves from them. † (Surah Ali Imran, V: 28). Conclusion In summation, some of the misconceptions that people around the world have regarding Islam, are backed up by some current and past events. We must first begin to understand the Islamic faith, it’s diversity in people, areas of the world and political stances. This author does not begin to understand the depth of the Islam faith. After researching for this essay, the realization of the diversity of this faith as compared to Christianity or Judaism, is overwhelming. The peaceful people of Islam must not be judged by the terrorists and the acts they commit. We learned that Islam has political side and a religious side as well. The editor of the journal, American Libraries, Leonard Kniffel wrote an editorial about how libraries jumped at the chance to begin educating communities on the Islam faith shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Kniffel states that, â€Å"Knowing that an anti-Muslim backlash was inevitable, they created programs to help the patrons of their libraries understand the teachings of Islam, the history of American policy related to the conflict we now find ourselves in, and what it means to be Muslim in America† (Kniffel, 2002). The Muslim American Society (www. muslimamericansociety. org) has a campaign called â€Å"The Straight Path Initiative†. It’s goals are to equip and focus on Muslims in America ages 15-30. This initiative has a goal to initiate an honest open ialog about radicalization and extremism in Muslim American communities. They are targeting high schools and college campuses to provide programs and activities to involve young Muslim Americans in a proactive way that limits opportunities for radicalization (Unkown, The Straight Path Initiative, 2011). Much like any religion or people group, Islam has a group of terrorists and non-peaceful people amongst them . The misconceptions are actually very real and have information and current events to back them up. It would also be fair to say, that most religions and people groups have those kinds of people. Understanding one another is the most important thing we can do. By educating each other on beliefs, understandings and ways of life, we can only then begin to have peaceful dialog to bring us together. September 11, 2001 became a day for American’s to see the true colors of the terrorist sect of the Islam religion. As this is a day we will never forget, we must begin to heal by understanding and not judging the entire Islam faith for these terrible acts of terrorism. References Abdulsalam, M. (2006, January 30). The Religion of Islam. Retrieved June 12, 2011, from www. islamreligion. com: http://www. islamreligion. com/articles/6/. Grupper, J. , Prentice, P. , Roughton, R. (2000). Islam: Empire of Faith. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from www. pbs. org: http://www. pbs. org/empires/islam/film. html. Kniffel, L. (2002, January). Getting to know Islam. American Libraries , 48. Langley, M. (1993). World Religions. Oxford: Lion Publishing. Lozano, C. (2011, May 1). Osama bin Laden Dead: End of a dark era in U. S. Muslim relations’. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from L. A. Times: http://latimesblogs. latimes. com/lanow/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead-end-dark-era-us- muslim-relations. html. Ridenour, F. (2001). So What’s the Difference? Ventura, CA: Regal Books. Sachedina, A. (2010, September). Religion, Order and Peace: A Muslim Perspective. Cross Currents , 332-338. Semple, K. (2010, October 22). At Mosques, Inviting Non-Muslims Inside to Ease Hos tility Toward Islam. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from New York Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2010/10/23/nyregion/23mosques. html? ef=reconstruction. Simmons, G. Z. (2008). From Muslims in America to American Muslims. Journal of Islamic Law and Culture , 10 (3), 254-280. Stern, J. (2011, May/June). Muslims in America. The National Interest (113), pp. 38-46. Unkown. (2007, September 16). Abrahamic Religion. Retrieved June 14, 2011, from New World Encyclopedia: http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/Abrahamic_religions. References (continued) Unkown. (2003, June 30). Radical Islam in Central Asia: Responding to Hizb ut-Tahrir. Retrieved June 15, 2011, from International Crisis Group: ttp://www. crisisgroup. org/en/regions/asia/central-asia/058-radical-islam-in-central-asia- responding-to-hizb-ut-tahrir. aspx. Unkown. (2011). The Straight Path Initiative. Retrieved June 17, 2011, from Muslim American Society: http://muslimamericansociety. org/main/content/straight-path-initiative. v an der Krogt, C. (2010). Jihad without apologetics. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations , 21 (2), 127-142. Venkatraman, A. (2007). Religious Basis for Islamic Terrorism: The Quran and it’s Interpretations. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism , 30 (3), 229-248. How to cite Understanding Islam, Essay examples

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Integrated Project Management for Quasar- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theIntegrated Project Management for Quasar Communication. Answer: Integrated Change Control: Change control is managing techniques for the all change made to the products or projects (Harrison Lock 2017). In the given case study of Quasar Communication INC. many problems are arise in many kind of project management study. The problems are mentioned bellow that to be changed: In the R D project management the main problem is the project manager is doing lots of work himself like he works with engineering, marketing, product management, quality assurance, accounting and finance (Heagney, 2016). Everyone from the group needed a detailed schedule for them from the project manager. The project managers miles stone is pushed left by the marketing as they want to launch it early and the manufacturing pushing to the right as they want to delay the launch taking more time. The project manager is not able to make two groups happy at the same time. After making a milestone the marketing cancel the launch as they said they had the inside news of the market situation and the products success prediction in the market. It is near to impossible for the project manager to work if he does not have all the information. In the small customer project management the problem arises is not that every project th comes with the same priority. It is difficult for the project manager to manage different priority projects, as the project manager feels that big projects carry all of the weight and for those small projects suffers. The big projects are developed by many people and project manager to manage the whole project. For the small task projects are taken care of by the line manager himself, and many times contradiction of decision happens as the line manager thought himself as the project manager and takes decision without the project managers concern (Marcelino-Sdaba et al., 2014). In the large customer project management the project are also managed by the marketing people along with the project manager and his team. As both controlling the same big project everyone wants to be the superior of another. The marketing always look down to the project management team as the project management team is working under them. Sometime if project manager is not satisfied with the work of the line manager then project manager sends a memo about the line managers performance. In many cases after the memo send to the line manager is becomes incorporative (Hornstein, 2015). This gets the project manager frustrated on his team. The company needs to keep their reputation in front of their customers. Many companies sacrifice the quality for the cost and the time but this company needs to take care of the quality of the project irrespective of the cost and time required. In the capital equipment project management the biggest complaint is the new priority scheduling package the project management team supposed to install. The computer program will set the priorities of the project based on the requirement study, feasibility study, and cost effectiveness. The project manager feels that if the project is of low priority then the project might not get sufficient resources needed (Lock, 2014). Justification to the Required Changes: For the RD project management, the person with whom the project manager is working is to be trained first about their job role and what they exactly need to do. The project manager should have the power to decide whether the project is going to be launch early or the needed time will be taken for the project to launch. Sometimes the projects gets terminates as the marketing people does not want the product to be launched as the product in not beneficial, in this case the hard work of the project manager goes in vain. This happens because of the lack of information of the project manager as the marketing does not reveal the information to the project manager. To solve this kind of problem the project manager must needed all the information about the project is it marketing or manufacturing (Kerzner Kerzner 2017). For small customer project management the small projects suffer mainly because of the big projects. The priorities of the small projects are relatively low as compared to the big projects. If different priority projects comes in a same time span to the project manager, then the project manager first need to make a schedule not as per the priority but on the bases how he can manage the project management for the project. Sometime in the company the line manager makes decisions without the concern of the project manager this need to be changed as the project manager only have the power to commit anything to the customer regarding the project. The project manager strictly needs to control the line manager to avoid any miscommunication between the project manager and the customer. For the third case that is large customer project management, the marketing and the project management works together in words. But the marketing tries to dominate and show the power to the project management team. This need to be changed if the marketing and the project management works together as one team this will increase the productivity. The company needs to focus on the quality of the product rather than compromising on the quality on focusing on the cost and time (Goetsch Davis 2014). If the company provide better product then the customer will be satisfied and more projects will offer to the company. Sometimes the professional needs to invest their own money because the reputation of the company is in stake so as their integrity. The main problem of the capital equipment project management is the computerized priority scheduling system. The system determines the priority of a project on several bases of feasibility study, time, cost effectiveness and many more. The project manager feels that the projects with low priority will get fewer resources rather than the big projects (Singh, 2014). This must be changed; every task must get the amount of resources what the projects needs. For this kind of problem the project manager always stays behind his schedule and the one to suffer the most. The project manager must always run on schedule for better performance and better productivity. References: Goetsch, D. L., Davis, S. B. (2014).Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson. Harrison, F., Lock, D. (2017).Advanced project management: a structured approach. Routledge. Heagney, J. (2016).Fundamentals of project management. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity.International Journal of Project Management,33(2), 291-298. Kerzner, H., Kerzner, H. R. (2017).Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley Sons. Lock, M. D. (2014).The essentials of project management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. Marcelino-Sdaba, S., Prez-Ezcurdia, A., Lazcano, A. M. E., Villanueva, P. (2014). Project risk management methodology for small firms.International journal of project management,32(2), 327-340. Singh, A. (2014). Resource constrained multi-project scheduling with priority rules analytic hierarchy process.Procedia engineering,69, 725-734.