Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Crash Human Nature Essay Example for Free

Crash Human Nature Essay * Human nature is The general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans. * Crash directed by Paul Haggis presents to us an intertwining story set within the streets of LA, confirming and challenging racial stereotypes and at the same time reflecting the ever existing good and dark side of human nature. * Human nature drives us all to view â€Å"the other† as bad, evil and untrustworthy, it is complex and every man, despite differences holds the underlying values buried deep into our subconsciousness * In the film crash, Haggis has successfully portrayed the truth about human nature through the conventions of dialogue, camera shot and symbolism, confusing us as viewers, but also giving us an intruging insight into the reality of each and every one of us despite differences in race and background. * Haggis has successfully evoked feelings of uneasiness, confusion, anger and empathy at through the making of the film crash. * Human nature drives us to fear the unknown, the â€Å"other† in our eyes is seen as evil and that we should steer away from any communication. It may be in relation to race, ethnicity, age, gender or beliefs but in reality each one of us does not have the ability to fight this automatic discrimination against those who are different. * Haggis has successfully reflected this dark aspect of human nature through the convention of dialogue. * In one scene a Persian man is attempting to purchase a gun from a white American. The salesman calls the man â€Å"osama† and then continues to talk about 9/11, he then is aggressively told to leave the shop. * The white American man displays his fear of â€Å"the other† by racially discriminating him through his dialogue, he has his own racist, stereotypical image of this man in his mind automatically relating him to 9/11 and due to his human nature sees him as â€Å"the other† and as untrustworthy to be in his shop telling him he â€Å"has no right to buy a gun here† * In another scene a Hispanic locksmith is changing a white American couples locks on their door after their car had been hijacked. The American woman makes assumptions that this locksmith is going to sell their key to his â€Å"homies† purely because of the way he looks and his race and demands to get her locks changed again in the morning. * The American woman views the locksmith as â€Å"the other† and due to her human nature she fears him, and does not trust him to be in her house. Her judgement is not on personality or individual traits it is based upon the automatic assumptions she makes about him due to his tattoos, dress sense and skin colour. Little does she know that the Hispanic locksmith was in many eyes the only character in crash seen as completely innocent, but due to her ignorance she believed the opposite. * Through dialogue Haggis has successfully positioned the viewer to feel anger at both of these scenarios and causes us to question our own human nature and our own classification of â€Å"the other†. We are positioned to feel guilt as we feel partly responsible for these racial stereotypes as we too, through our human nature, instinctively stick to our own. * Human nature is complex, values at polar opposites could exsist in the same man, particular beliefs could be compromised and in reality no one can ever truly understand the extent of complexities embedded within each person. * Racsim and nobility can exsist in the same man. Haggis has successfully portrayed this idea of human nature through the narrative conventions of camera shot and dialogue. * In one scene a cop pulls over a black couple, he abuses his power and shows extreme racism seen through the convention of low camera angle while he molests her. * In another scene the same cop shows nobility while is seen rescuing the same black woman he molested, he ironically says things to her such as â€Å"im not going to hurt you† * The camera angle in the first scene is a panning low angle displaying the police officers hand stroking up the womans leg, emphasizing his sickening racist actions. In the second scene the camera angle is a close camera angle focusing on his remorseful worrying facial expression. The shot of the hand in the first scene could represent â€Å"a mans hand† where the shot of his face in the second scene presents him, and therefore suggests that although his racism and dark side of his human nature exsists the good side of his human nature is a representation of his true identity and we begin to question the reasons behind his actions. * These two scenes In the movie crash display to us that humans are extremely complex. A man can live a life full of sin but then commit a noble act just as a man can be a criminal but then save a life. * The concept of human complexities is hard to grasp, an individuals identity can determine why they act a certain way or do certain things. The cop in the film displayed racism due to the fact that a black woman would not help his sick father, but does this excuse particular values and behaviours? * Through the convention of camera angle Haggis has effectively positioned the viewer to feel both disgust and awe at the same man. We begin to question what drives humans to be so complex and we wonder whether it is ever possible for a man to be seen as completely innocent. * Instinctively human natures drives us to protect and stick to our own, just as we repel those who are seen as different. * This universal value embedded inside each and every human is represented by Paul Haggis in the film crash through utlising the narrative convention of symbolism. * Crash follows the story of a Hispanic locksmith and unconditional love of his.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Architecture Set In Motion Essay examples -- essays research papers

1. Bouffrand: Salon de la Princess, hotel de Soubise, Paris, France, begun 1730’s   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Salon de la Princess, is a many sided cylindrical interior room and is part of the Rococo style that incorporates minimal architectural features and light airy decor, that develops into a profession of interior design. Rococo is the revolt against complicated Baroque that decorated the interior of Versailles, in revolt against the palace and after the death of Louis XIV, French women who had city houses in Paris inspired a new lightened airy style of decor and architecture. As seen in the Salon de la Princess, the structure of the room has virtually been covered up by white walls of wood and mirrors, and it only contains hints of the classical orders and conventions, while conveying the modern concept of space free of major structural forms. The predominate feature in the room is the gold plaster decorations that adorn the entire space and within this is seen the main curving arabesque line that flows throughout the style and characterizes it as a free flowing for m of design, and makes classical references to the fantasy decorations used by the mannerist and found in the Roman villas, complete with cupids, garlands, and birds. Salon de la Princesse is the last major style before neoclassicism, but the free form of the style is a predominate feature in modern organic architecture, and redevelops in the late nineteenth century through the style of Art Nouveau, which is used by Victor Horta, in the Tassel House. 2.Hoare et al.: Stourhead, Wiltshire, England, redesign begun 1750s   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The â€Å"English† garden is one of the greatest gifts that English designers have contributed to the world of architecture, and the gardens that surround the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire England are massed with many forms of natural origin, and as containers of natural descent they incorporate curving elements, as in the cylinder, cone and sphere, however among the natural creations are manmade structures that contradict natures’ verdant burgeoning display of the curve, with structures that include the cube, or squared forms that makes for a cornucopia of forms both natural and manmade. The inspiration behind the English garden lay in the Neoclassical movement against the structural formality of the Renaissance garden landscape, and in England wh... ...oses of space. One main idea developed by Wright through his career is architecture set in motion and true to a living organism, like the three planes in Falling Water that seem to hover over top the water fall, as do the walls that wrap around the Guggenheim forming a structural cyclone, which is mirrored on the interior by a ramp that wraps around a central atrium and provides for displaying art work along the walls of the ramp, but proves to be quite unsuccessful because Wright as an egomaniac made certain that the structure is the main focus and the most dynamic art piece exibited, putting architecture on the same plane as the visual arts. As many of his homes influence modern day suburban America in the Historicism movement, the Guggenheim influences the Post Modern Movement, a theory in practice that believes Modernism failed and incorporates references to the past with sculptural freedom and clarity of form, as does the latest and most dynamic display of architecture to come out of the 1990’s, and direct descendent from Wright’s, New York museum, is Frank O. Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum(1997) in Bilbao, Spain, that Philip Johnson called, â€Å"the greatest building of our century†.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Christian Respose to Islam

Christianity and Islam are two of the most significant religions since their creation. Islam means â€Å"submission† in Arabic, and a Muslim is one who submits to the will of God (Allah). Christians are called so because of Jesus’ title Christos, which is Greek for Messiah. Christianity and Islam are similar in a lot ways, but also have quite a few differences in beliefs, practices, and basic theology. They also give separate messages to outsiders as to what their religions stand for. Both religions are monotheistic with a holy text and they both strive to conquer evil. Islam has a set of rules (5 Pillars of Islam) set forth to reach enlightenment while Christians repent, accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and then are forgiven for their sins. A lot of people in today’s world believe that Islam and Christianity are very similar with only a few subtle differences, but this paper will discuss some of the big difference regarding the belief in on God, the view on prophets and the view on the Day of Judgment. To begin, lets compare the Islamic view on the belief in one God. The first and greatest teaching of Islam is proclaimed by the Shahada, which states, â€Å"La llaha illa-l-lah, Muhammandun rasulu-l-lah. † (â€Å"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah†) (Robinson). After a person sincerely makes this confession than they become a real Muslim. Muslims believe that Allah is one, and has no partners, no equals. The Quran states, â€Å"And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no god save Him. † (Sura 28:88). This statement in the Quran makes a clear claim that Muslims believe that Allah is supreme, that he created and maintains the world. In Islam it is also very clear that Allah has no son, no father, no relative and no associates. â€Å"The Muslim prophet Muhammad is reported to have written down 99 names to try and express the attributes of Allah. Some of these that Muhammad wrote down is that Allah is merciful, that he is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient) and that he is eternal (no beginning and no end)† (Robinson). The Christian response to this claim by Muslims is that there is only one righteous and transcendent creator God. In the Old Testament Moses states, â€Å"The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. † (Deuteronomy 6:4). This passage makes it clear that God is there is only one God who wants us to love him totally with all our being. Once again in the New Testament Jesus Christ himself states, â€Å"29 The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12: 29-30). The problem between Christians and Muslims is not the fact that there is only one God, but the view of the trinity. Christians believe that there is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. These three persons are complete in unity of will, purpose, action and love, yet cannot be separated even though they have different functions. The Bible speaks of God, the Father, who as the co- Creator, blesses: â€Å"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1: 3), initiates and sends â€Å"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. † (John 17: 3). And finally God sent the Holy Spirit, who is resident within a Christian, to guide, instruct and empower them. â€Å"16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17) It is important that God as â€Å"Father† not be viewed within a biological context. Christians share with Muslims the prohibition against conceiving of God in the form of an image. God as â€Å"Father† refers, rather, to a relationship between God and man. Christians accept all the 99 names of God, which Muslims repeat in praise to God. Even the name Allah is affirmed by Christians as one of the names of God, the same Arabic name that the Prophet Abraham used in Hebrew as â€Å"El† or â€Å"Elohim. † Secondly, lets compare the Islamic belief about the prophets to that of the Christian belief. Islam makes a distinction between a messenger (rasul) who is sent with a Divine Scripture to guide and reform mankind, and a prophet (al nabbi) who simply carries information or proclaims Allah's news. Therefore, though all messengers are prophets, not all prophets are messengers. The number of Allah’s prophecy is said to be 124,000, yet the Quran mentions only 25 prophets. Some of these prophets are Adam who is the first, Abraham, Jacob, Ishmael, Isaac, David, Solomon, John the Baptist, Jesus and also Muhammad, who is said to be the final and greatest prophet. And verily, we have raised in every nation a Messenger, saying, â€Å"Serve Allah alone and shun false gods in any form. † Then Allah guided some of the people. And error took hold of others. Do take lessons from history as you travel in the earth, and see the consequence of the deniers. † (Sura 16:36) According to the Sura Allah raised up these prophets, among every nation, to provide mankind with firm and constructive guidance, so that they could walk the straight path of Allah, could live happily in this world, and could be prepared for life after death. Allah promises to protect his prophets from serious sin, bad disease and death. Muslims use this belief to deny that Jesus, who they believe was just a prophet, did not die on the cross because as stated above prophets cannot be killed. The Christian response about prophets is that God appointed prophets and others to speak to mankind about his word, and his story of redemptive acts in history. Christians believe that God revealed the interpretation of his acts to the prophets who then passed it on to man by preaching, teaching and writing it down. Even though â€Å"Muslims and Christians have quite a few people that both agree were prophets Muslims do not believe that Isaiah, Jonah, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul and Jesus were prophets† (Robinson) Prophets within Christianity came from different classes of society, some rich, others poor, young and old; some scholars, and others with little education. Not all wrote books (Elijah, John the Baptist), but they all heard God's word, either through angels, by means of visions, by God's voice, or by receiving the message in their minds and hearts. Also contrasting Islam we know that prophets were not sinless, but just normal believers whose sins were forgiven by God. The prophets most important message was that since there are none who could obey the law fully, they remained still in sin, and so deserved death. â€Å"Yet, those living with sin need not despair, because God had promised to take upon himself the guilt of their sins, by incarnating himself and dying on the cross, thus taking upon himself that penalty, and so freeing him to forgive them from those sins, which then brought them back into a personal relationship with him. (Rahim et al). When a Christian tries to evaluate to see whether or not Muhammad was a prophet, they must try to see him in light of the total Biblical witness ending with Jesus and displaying these three criteria. One that he fully accepts the former Scriptures, two that he points to the central significance of Jesus as redeemer and three that his life and teachings exemplify suffering redemptive love. Based on these three criteria, which are shown through the life of Jesus, Muhammad is not at all a prophet. Thirdly, lets view the Islamic view on the Day of Judgment (Death) and the Christian response to what they believe. â€Å"To begin we must first find out what a Muslim believes about sin. To a Muslim sin is a private matter, which is not binding from one generation to the next. This is so because Satan is the root of all sin and Allah being all merciful, forgives those who ask. There is only one sin that the Muslims believe is so bad that it is deemed unforgivable, that of â€Å"shirk,† which is the practice of associating anyone or anything with Allah. Going by this logic the sin of Adam and Eve was not really their fault at all because Satan tricked them, and they asked for forgiveness. Furthermore, their sin was not hereditary/ passed down to their children. Also because the sin committed by Adam was not his fault and he repented, Allah made him earth’s first messenger. † (Nazir-Ali 142-144) For the Muslim, salvation is attained not by faith, but by works, in observing the Five Pillars of Islamic practice, as well as avoiding the major and minor sins. Tradition indicates that on the Judgment Day, once the person is buried, the two recording angels appear, and the dead person sits up to undergo an examination. If he says the â€Å"Shahada† (â€Å"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah†), he lies down peacefully and awaits his judgment. If he refuses the â€Å"Shahada,† he is severely beaten for as long as Allah pleases. Once the individual is awakened for judgment a scale is presented, which weighs the good and bad deeds of the person taken from their â€Å"book of destiny. Ultimately Allah makes the decision as to whether someone should be received into paradise or not. â€Å"If Allah places the individual’s book in his right hand then that person is saved and crosses a razor sharp bridge to paradise, which holds a perfumed garden of material and sensual delights, surrounded by rivers and flowing fountains, populated with black-eyed virgins, who are there to serve them with all variety of fruits† (Nazir-Ali 145). On the other hand, a vivid hell (Gahenna) awaits those who fail the test. This hell is described in the Quran as a place consisting of boiling water, gore and fire; it is a hell of extreme physical pain† (Nazir-Ali 145). Christians view of sin/death is drastically different that of Islam. A Christian believes that any sin is an abomination to God, because it is, in essence, a rejection of His character. Christians believe, as Muslims believe, that Satan does tempt us. Yet, Christians are responsible for their own sins, and not Satan. Christians believe that they have the choice to reject Satan's tempting. But, The Bible insists throughout, that the wages of sin is death, and since we are all guilty, therefore, we all deserve death. God, however, in His mercy, has not left us in that guilt, but has offered payment and forgiveness for those who receive it. He has sent His Son (Jesus Christ) to die in our place, to take upon himself our guilt. Therefore, those who believe in His redeeming death on the cross, and repent of their sins, are saved from eternal separation (John 3:16-17), while those who reject Him will be eternally condemned. Before His ascension into heaven, Christ promised to return a second time to judge the world. When He returns, He will raise all the dead to life, and will separate those who believe from those who reject, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. Those rejecting Christ will live in eternal punishment, in total isolation from God because, in rejecting God's Son, they have rejected God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as well, and no sin is greater than this. â€Å"22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:22-23). Those who have truly believed in Christ the redeemer, will not fear Christ on Judgment Day, and will have eternal life. This does not mean that they will go into a garden full of carnal pleasures, which, as we know in this life, separates us from God, but they will go into the presence of God Himself, to live forever with Him in love and in joy. For, as it says in The Bible, † 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, â€Å"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. † 5 He who was seated on the throne said, â€Å"I am making everything new! † Then he said, â€Å"Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. † 6 He said to me: â€Å"It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21: 3-7). To summarize, even though Islam and Christianity both are monotheistic, both have a holy text and both strive to overcome death/evil there are big blatant differences. Hopefully the above paper achieved its’ aim in informing people of the differences regarding the belief in on God, the view on prophets and the view on the Day of Judgment. All in all those that believe that these religions are similar and basically the same thing are incorrect and should stop skipping over/ignoring the discrepancies between the religions.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Online Education Essay - 1378 Words

Online Education Education is an important part of people’s lives; it will either make them or break them in the future depending on the careers they choose. Education is greatly diverse today in comparison to the 1950s because of advancements in teaching and other great inventions that provide easier techniques of teaching. One major issue that has been raised is distant learning courses and online education. Distant learning could be any format from VHS videos, DVDs, or internet courses online. Online education has been legal since 1993 and is a new way of teaching students of all ages. Online education has been gaining popularity through out the years because of the ease of the internet. The internet has made it easier for†¦show more content†¦Discussion on issues is done in chat rooms and forums where everybody writes their views on the issue. This is an advantage for foreigners who can not speak proper English correctly. Live video and sound can also be done with special equipmen t for a real time conversation with instructors and peers. Other features on the online courses are the learning aides that can be used while taking the course. Certain programs can be made such as flash cards and games which can increase the learning experience of the student. These learning aides can be done on the student’s time and does not require the teacher to be there. Time for a face to face class is very difficult if a person works 40 hours a week but an online course can put an ease on the time restriction because the person does the work at their own pace and time. It is also easier to sign up for an online class than a class at a college. Message boards are in use if the students need to leave a question or a comment about the subject their on. They also save time by not traveling to the college and trying to find a parking space. Rural areas where students have to travel a great distance to get to class can save time and money by doing online classes. For example, a child of a farmer can help the family out in the morning with the farming chores then go to an online class later on. Rural kids may also take additional educational classes online that their school does notShow MoreRelatedOnline Education And Online Schools946 Words   |  4 Pagestypes of schools starting with online and public. How would someone know which one to choose? While some believe the quality of online education isn’t as good as a regular school’s, online school is just as effective or more and should be continued as a teaching resource because online students are getting higher test scores and more options are offered by online schools. One of the reasons why online school is more effective than regular school is by cause of online students have shown higher testingRead MoreOnline Discussion Of Online Education1303 Words   |  6 Pagesdiscussion of online education in philosophy, there would sometimes come a rather curious moment in the conversation. I began to think of it as the â€Å"microwave question moment.† Many years ago, when microwave ovens first were advertised, there was a rather clever ad depicting a salesperson standing in front of a crowd of people, going on and on about all the wonderful advantages of microwave cooking, until a deep voice from the back spoke up with: â€Å"But does it brown the food?† Online course deliveryRead MoreOnline Education Essay712 Words   |  3 PagesOnline Education Online learning is definitely one of the newest and fastest moving industries; more and more students are opting to getting their degree this way instead of going to a land college, mostly due to the convenience of the schedule, where before a full time employee, could not fit schooling into their schedule, but they are finding out now that they can do this through the online environment, so they are utilizing this alternative way of achieving their higher education. Yet, the onlineRead MoreBenefits Of Online Education1136 Words   |  5 PagesOnline classes have become a more popular source for learning in the education system over the past couple of years. In the technology based world lived in today this is no surprise, it seems that everything is turning from human performed to technology based. The technology based world lived in has good and bad consequences, with technology based classes the need for teachers in the classroom teaching the material is declining. Along with j obs declining, many argue online learning may not be providingRead MoreTraditional Education And Online Education926 Words   |  4 PagesBatter, Online or Traditional Education Imagine that someone studies and has a neighbor in the same age. They study in together until high school. Someone continues to go to university but his neighbor decides to stay at home. They finally graduate and discover that his neighbor also graduate. Here will be there a lot of the questions beginning revolve in his head. How does his neighbor graduate and not go to school? The answer is an easy. His neighbor benefited from technology in education. This isRead MoreOnline Learning And Online Education1115 Words   |  5 Pagesdefinitely been absorbed into the education world. When one mixes technology and education, online learning is brought to life. Many believe that going to school online is a fabulous invention, because online classrooms can bring education to anyone, in any place imaginable. Some also argue that online classes can be more affordable than taking classes in the traditional classroom. Although a large number of American students believe that online learning is a valuable education tool, numerous research studiesRead MoreOnline Education Vs. Education1303 Words   |  6 PagesA Current trend that is occurring within the field of education is online education. The purpose of an online education is to allow student to receive a degree without having to be present or on campus. Online education helps working adults pursue higher education and gives them better career opportunities. It will also help people increase their lifetime earnings, Online education also helps to connect with people we would have never dreamed of interacting with it also gives students opportunitiesRead MoreOnline Education Vs Traditional Education1068 Words   |  5 PagesOn-Line Education versus Traditional Education Introduction/Thesis Online education has rapidly become a popular alternative to traditional education, due to the flexible nature of the courses and also the fact that the online learning environment may not require additional expenses. However, some people find traditional learning to be more advantageous than online learning. The traditional learning environment provides some people with more support throughout their scholastic career. When lookingRead MoreBenefits Of Online Education901 Words   |  4 Pagesgetting education and degrees online. A few years ago online education was never thinkable, and yet it has become to reality and it is widely expanding with popularity. Online education is a type of educational instruction that delivers learning to individuals to their own homes, and it is getting very popular among nontraditional student and others. Individuals prefer online education because they find it comfortable and better at their own house. To further more, some advantages of online ed ucationRead MoreOnline Education Essay626 Words   |  3 PagesOnline education has grown since it first came about, there are mixed views on whether it is truly beneficial. The reasons for the huge growth of online education is money even though online education targeted working adults that have little or no time to sit in a traditional classroom for millions of men and women serving in the armed forces online education has made earning a degree much more possible. In recent years there have been significant technological growth with this growth technology