Friday, September 6, 2019

satire 1984 Essay Example for Free

satire 1984 Essay In Nineteen Eighty-four, George Orwell introduces Communism regime through the community of Oceania. Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society, and single party control (Wikipedia). Most of party members are proles, working class. They are uneducated and unaware of what is happening; thus they are completely under the Partys control. Therefore, the party then can remove any possibilities of rebellion. Through the novel, Orwell uses satire to warn us about surveillance, physical and psychological intimidation, and isolation. Satire, a mode of writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions, or societies to ridicule and scorn. Satire is often an incidental element in literary works that may not be wholly satirical, especially in comedy (answers). Orwell, through the characters, predicts what our future will be like if the totalitarian regime remained in power. SURVEILLANCE: Winston Smith, the main character in the novel, is somehow different than other characters, even though he is a Party member. Since Winston is an intellectual man, he is able to discern the truth from the falsehood; thus he stands against the Party. He resists the party, resists the stifling in his life of being controlled. George Orwell satirizes the surveillance through these facts.   He dreams about a girl ripping off her clothes. It represents the idea of throwing away the shackles that are imposed by the Party and Big Brother.   He writes down with Big Brother in his diary. Now he commits thoughtcrime that he will be captured by the thought police sooner or later.   Telescreens and portraits of Big Brother are everywhere; therefore, it is impossible to not being heard and seen. Party can check on citizens whenever and wherever, since each individual is coded: Smith! screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. 6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower please! You can do better than that (1,3,39) . No one is able to betray the Party. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU There is no freedom of speech in community of Oceania. An example to this fact is Winston. He is incapable of expressing his personal ideas about the Party. Moreover, Winston is unable to quit his job when he does not like it, and he is not allowed to keep any personal documents. George Orwell is clearly worried about our lack of privacy. Orwell predicts that our future will be governed by one ruler and that one ruler will watch every move we make. He worries about the future where we do not have freedoms. For example is freedom of speech which is impossible in some communism country. Physical, psychological intimidation and manipulation Through the main characters in the novel, George Orwell satirizes the physical, psychological intimidation, and manipulation of nazi regime and the Russian revolution. In the society of Oceania love, sex, joy, happiness, personal documents, thoughts, etc, are completely forbidden. The Morning exercise is a good example for physical manipulation. Winston lives in the world in which legitimate optimism is impossible because he is always being controlled by the thought police.   Moreover, anyone who betrays the Party will be vaporized and their files will be rewritten, that is Winstons job to rewrite historical documents. They never existed and will never exist. In nineteen eighty-four, there should be no religion but the idea of Sacred Leader. Since, Winston writes down God is power( he is tortured again. On the other hand, Big Brother represents god; everyone worships him. In the beginning of the novel, the two minutes hate is introduced to the reader, which is somehow a public worship of Big Brother.   George Orwell also explores the use of language to control peoples mind and thoughts. Dont you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thoughts? In the end it will make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no words in which to express (1,5,55) 2+2=5 is a symbol of manipulation of science. The Party has the power to control everything even science. The truth is wrong when the Party says it wrong   Sexual life is totally forbidden under the Partys control. Winstons wife considers sex as a duty for a Party. She does not get any pleasure out of it.   Julia, a young apathetic and rebellious girl, grows up under the Party regime. The society that she lives in is based on suspicion, spying, fear, hatred and intimidation. Julia obeys the Party but she does not believe in it, but she is way different from her lover Winston. Julia is somewhat selfish. She is interested in rebelling only for the pressures to be gained. Whereas Winston is fatalistic concerned about large-scale social issues, Julia is pragmatic and content live in the moment that makes the best for her life. Junior Spy is a symbol of educational manipulation in which very young children are brainwashed to embrace the Partys ideas. There are a lot of similarities between the Hitler Youth and Oceanias youth. The kids are taught to ferret out disloyal members and denounce anyone who criticizes the Party or Big Brother even their own parents. In the beginning of the novel, when Winston meets the Parsons Kids; they are dressed in the uniform of the Spies with a tough looking. Suddenly they leap around him shouting traitor. Later on, Mr. Parsons, Winstons comrade, gets caught because his little daughter listens at the keyhole and hears he sleeptalks Down with Big Brother. The two Parsons Kids beg their parents for take them to see the hanging. Activities for boys include War game which intends to toughen them up. In a few years they will hold real weapons not riffle toys.   In the beginning of the novel, OBrien appears as a rebellious man who Winston suspects of him secretly opposing the Party. In fact, he is a powerful member of inner Party, and he tricks Winston into believing that he is a member of a revolution group called Brotherhood. Later, OBrien appears in Winstons jail cell as a party member to abuse and brainwash disloyal Winston. He admits that he pretended to be connected to the Brotherhood merely to trap Winston. In the end, OBrien successfully changes Winstons feeling toward Big Brother from hate to love. Orwell is again scared of physical and mind manipulation. He is worried that people will be control physically by propaganda, for example Junior Spy in the novel or the Physical Jerk. Moreover, Orwell predicts about how people are brainwashed by the Party, and his predictions come true. Nowadays, in some communism countries, for example Vietnam, every Party member are not allowed have religion, and then they will love the party most. ISOLATION: Through the character Winston and Goldstein, Orwell satires the isolation in human nature and totalitarianism society.   Isolation appears often in the novel. Winston lives alone at his house with no companionship except the surveillance cameras and the telescreens. He has a world of his own only in his head. He cant have a social life because the party forbids any means of social communication. He writes in his diary because that is his only way of expressing his feelings and thoughts even though its considered thoughtcrime. Every person in the novel is isolated from the community; they can not have any open conversation with themselves. Goldstein represents Trotsky in real life. He stands against the party thus he is expelled from the party and sent out of the country. After Goldstein becomes a scapegoat of the Party, and he is brought up in Two Minutes Hate. George Orwell brings up the idea of isolation in the novel. He is afraid that the next generation will have the isolated life if the totalitarianism regime remains. Bibliography http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Communist , 11 January 2009 http://www. answers. com/satire , 11 January 2009 Spender, Stephen. Evil In Nineteen Eighty-Four. Harold Bloom, editor. George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. USA: Chelsea House Publisher, 1996 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Managing Intelligence in National Security

Managing Intelligence in National Security At which stage of the intelligence cycle is failure most likely to occur, and why? The most common, traditional paradigm for managing intelligence ‘flow’ is a cycle of four components: direction, collection, processing, and dissemination. Direction comes from policymakers: heads of government agencies, heads of state, senior government officials tasked with overseeing intelligence, and the like, who provide both specific and general roadmaps to intelligence agencies as to how they should apply their resources to defend national interests both at home and abroad. Collection is the process by which intelligence is gathered in a variety of fashions: via HUMINT – intelligence data collected by personal, human effort ‘on the ground’; electronically, e.g. SIGINT (interception of signals), IMINT (satellite, photographic imagining intelligence), etc. Processing is the analysis of the data obtained in the collection component, the means by which the nature, relevance and relative importance of the collected intelligence is ascertained by mea ns both scientific and intuitive. (Arguably, processing is the most important component of the cycle, but the least amount of money is often budgeted to this component of the cycle.) Dissemination refers to the process by which the relevant information is channeled to the appropriate decision-making party within a timetable commensurate with the importance of the information collected and the results of the processing/analysis. Each of the four components of the cycle is fraught with peril for failure and failure in any one component can be catastrophic. The two arenas where failure is most likely to occur, however, are collection and analysis. Failures in collection are often due to lack of applied resources, whether technological or human. The debate has raged for decades over whether HUMINT is superior to intelligence data gathered by increasingly advancing technological wizardry. Most likely, a healthy application of and symbiosis between the two is critical. There is no substitute for the personal presence of agents, operatives, and contacts on the ground, substantially integrated with useful components of whichever society in which they are placed. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was woefully lacking in human collection efforts in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and in Iraq during the same time period (though to a lesser extent). Compounding matters was the dearth of CIA field operatives or domestically-based personnel who spoke the common languages of the Middle East – Arabic, Farsi, Pashtun, etc. However, rapid advances in computer technology have enabled the collection of vast quantities o f raw intelligence data – telephone calls, e-mails, radio transmissions, etc., and intelligence agencies who lack such technology will invariably be at a massive disadvantage. Failures in processing/analysis can occur when the collection apparatus has delivered all of the puzzle pieces, usually due to either a collective/institutional, or individual inability to connect the proverbial dots and turn raw data into actionable intelligence conclusions. The 9/11 attacks are a regrettably perfect example of failures in analysis. Discrete entities in the U.S. intelligence community – the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and CIA, as well as other government agencies (the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Federal Aviation Administration) – all possessed nuggets of raw data which if analyzed properly, would clearly have indicated (in fact, some say did definitively indicate) that an Al-Qaida attack on the U.S. using airplanes was imminent. However, these entities failed to share this data and collaborate cooperatively to analyze it. Turf warfare, egos, bureaucratic inertia, and competing political agendas can easily cause fatal paralysis in intelligence processing. The costs of covert action tend to outweigh its benefits. Discuss. The question of whether the costs of covert action outweigh its benefits depend greatly on the context of the covert action; is it an ongoing, multi-year low-intensity campaign involving numerous agendas, or is it an urgent, high-priority single mission designed to achieve a massive single strategic goal? Also, the notion of costs must be defined in relative terms – monetary costs, human costs, opportunity costs; indirect costs (unintended consequences); other abstract and intangible costs such as ethics, legal ramifications, etc. The CIA has long been involved in low-intensity covert actions in a variety of nations, with varying degrees of success. The Iran-Contra affair, in which Reagan administration officials diverted proceeds from the sale of arms to Iran to anti-Marxist Nicaraguan rebels in the mid-1980s, was costly in both monetary terms (hundreds of millions of pounds) and legal terms – a number of Reagan administration officials were subjected to criminal charg es for their roles in facilitating both the operation itself and the cover-up of the operation (the American Congress had passed a law forbidding U.S. government direct aid to the Contras). However, in the wake of 9/11, when the U.S. government concluded that decisive force was required to respond to Al-Qaida’s attack on U.S. soil, the CIA and DoD (Department of Defense) were authorized by President Bush to spend whatever was necessary to execute some of the most bold covert actions – particularly in HUMINT undertaken by American intelligence agencies in decades. HUMINT capacity at the CIA eroded as, ironically, the moral excesses of covert activities of the 1960s-1970s caused a backlash that choked off HUMINT funding priority; also, the end of the Cold War led many policymakers to conclude that the CIA’s resources were better spent on electronic means of collection, as covert action can be prohibitively expensive in both time and money. However, the CIA was authorized and ordered to act boldly and within a matter of weeks, had substantial HUMINT on the ground in Afghanistan both collecting data and coordinating with DoD military planners to levera ge intelligence into actionable military plans. The goal: to defeat the Taliban, who had hosted Al-Qaida in a darkly symbiotic relationship which held the country in a repressive stranglehold and provided safe haven for the training of thousands of would-be terrorists. Mindful of the failure of the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, CIA realized that only an asymmetrical application of covert power (mirroring Al-Qaida’s approach to the 9/11 attacks, ironically) would be effective, as a conventional ground war could be too costly in both manpower and lives on both sides. A shrewd application of HUMINT, technology, and good old-fashioned money engineered the relatively rapid American triumph in Afghanistan in 2001. CIA operatives on the ground descended into Afghanistan with little support, made contact with sympathetic Afghan warlords, dispensed hundreds of millions of dollars to other warlords and tribal leaders, in some cases simply to bribe them into switching sides and fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaida. These same operatives also used hand-held laser GPS equipment to target enemy strongholds and transmit this location data directly to U.S. aircraft, who in turn dropped laser-guided bombs with deadly efficiency. The cost was in the billions, but the victory was swift, decisive, and – given the ramifications of the triumph – extremely inexpensive, relatively speaking. As such, not all covert operations are too costly to make them worthwhile. Discuss the importance of open sources collection in comparison to clandestine collection. Is clandestine collection indeed more valuable? Open-source(s) collection refers to the collection of actionable or otherwise valuable/relevant intelligence data from publicly available sources. Prior to the advent of the Internet, this methodology was not without value, but in many cases prohibitively time-intensive, and less prone to yield results. Though the type of information available to the public at a local library might surprise a layperson, it is dwarfed by what is now available on the Internet to anyone with a personal computer. In some cases, an intelligence analyst sitting at a desk in London can gather valuable, reliable information about conditions on the ground in a city halfway across the globe – weather conditions, local news, political and business developments, cultural idiosyncracies. Other sources of OSINT, as it is termed, include diverse sources as consultations with experts in various fields within academia or the business world, professional associations, professional conventions, to simple thought ful Google searches and reading of blogs. The trend globally is towards an ever-increasing amount of openness of information exchange thanks to the Internet. Increasingly sophisticated ‘sweeper’ data-mining software technology, which is often used to collect and in some cases process large volumes of conventional communication traffic, are being utilized by the CIA to scan millions of websites, searching for key terms, phrases, contexts, which might indicate that human review would be advantageous or essential. Instructions to make improvised explosive devices can easily be posted on websites, and 21st century intelligence collection must conform to this new reality. In comparison, the best use of clandestine intelligence vis-à  -vis OSINT efforts is to obtain highly specialized or esoteric intelligence information that is either intentionally kept confidential (classified government secrets, for example). OISINT processing and analysis can help frame and answer a number of general questions and/or analyze larger patterns and trends, whereas clandestine intelligence can help answer targeted, specific questions that cannot be ascertained by either human or computer OSINT efforts. For example, in response to the intelligence reforms demanded in the wake of the failure to anticipate and prevent the 9/11 attacks, the CIA formed an â€Å"Open Source Center† (OSC) to focus specifically on OSINT. In 2004, OSC used OSINT technology to discover that a new, powerful Chinese submarine had been constructed in an underground location heretofore unknown to the American military and intelligence community. The tip-off? Chinese military bloggers, one of whom posted a photograph of the impressive new Chinese submarine (the Yuan-class attack submarine) on a publicly viewable website. CIA in turn employed HUMINT and electronic surveillance to ascertain where the submarine had been constructed and what its operational abilities might be. In a less dramatic example, OSC searched Iraqi websites for postings related to the use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), in some cases gathering actionable data which helped avert the use of these deadly terrorist tools. (The inad vertent destruction of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 by NATO bombs might have been averted by some of the most rudimentary OSINT – having a human operative walk down the street to make sure the military target’s address was correct.) Clandestine collection activities, particularly HUMINT efforts, will always have their place, but in a world where information is available anywhere, anytime, at the click of a mouse, intelligence agencies must dedicate significant resources to OSINT.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Goethes Magical Philosophy and Possession of Nature Essay -- Goethe

Goethe's Magical Philosophy and Possession of Nature After hearing comments from the class, and especially Professor, about Goethe's appropriation of nature I began to wonder about the argument I had presented in our presentation. I decided to do further research and found some interesting arguments that both supported and detracted from my original statement. Although I think Goethe's relationship to nature is undeniable, perhaps his "appropriation" of nature is less clear. I think the term "appropriation" is the cause of the problem in identifying his true relationship to nature. In our presentation we presented examples of the appropriation of nature through Romantic literature. The most direct example of this was in Anne's detailed description of English landscape gardening where nature was physically appropriated to create the picturesque. Here we can see the distinction between any concept of Goethe's appropriation of nature and the real and physical appropriation by English landscapers. The term appropriation denotes and connotes possession on the part of the appropriator. The question of possession therefore becomes central to an idea of Goethe's appropriation of nature. Indeed, the landowners of England commissioned landscape architects to transform their grounds into models of the picturesque and this process was demonstrative of an actual possession over the land. However, I find it difficult to reduce Goethe to materialism and believe that he would take a more engaged and emotional approach to nature. It is obvious that Goethe never actually appropriated any of nature, especially when compared with the English landscapers, but I'm not sure if this satisfies an understanding of his relationship to nature... ...n cooperation. It is also interesting how this problem expands into Goethe's Faust and Italian Journey and seems to be the basis of a greater theme in his literature. The question of Goethe's appropriation of nature could be whether he subscribes to a mechanical or magical philosophy in MacLennan's terms. Either master to nature or companion, Goethe's relationship with nature is dynamic and complex. Works Cited Brown, Jane K. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. http://worldroots.com/brigitte/goethe1.htm 19 Feb. 2005. Goethe, Johann. Italian Journey. London: Penguin Classics, 1962. MacLennan, Bruce. Introduction to 'Goethe, Faust, and Science' seminar. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/Classes/UH348/Intro-IIC5.html 19 Feb. 2005. Seamon, David. "Goethe, Nature, and Phenomenology". http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/book%20chapters/goethe_intro.htm 18 Feb. 2005.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Hedda Gabler Essay -- essays research papers

TITLE : People may argue that George, Eilert, and Judge Brack are responsible for Hedda’s death, but in reality it is the fault of Hedda’s society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I’ve chosen this statement for several reasons. Ibsen’s character, Hedda Gabler, represents the women of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Hedda stands the issues of self-worth and the deflated value that each woman places upon her own importance as a result of male dominance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We can see this in the play, as we read we learn more about the character of Hedda Gabler. She is the daughter of a General who expected a life if glamour and wealth and rebels against the boredom of a dull, narrow existence by vindictively scheming against everyone around her. Hedda also strives to ruin Eilert Lovborg, the intellectual she once rejected as a suitor. She is meddling in Eilert’s life for her own amusement and control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  She lives in a male dominance society and environment which caged her and made her lose her freedom. Her desire to escape and her yearning for individual and spiritual freedom come to the surface as she discovers her father’s pair of pistols. Comparing Hedda with the other women of the play we can see that thea wasn’t the woman with the more control. She also had an unhappy marriage because of Eilert’s work. Aunt Julia is different; she likes to help people, she raised George and took care Rina. As far as Berda is concerned, there i...

Monday, September 2, 2019

Defining Myself through Writing :: Personal Narratives

Defining Myself through Writing I can write in various voices and styles and about various topics; with each piece I hope to represent different aspects of who I am. I need not say "This is me", but I show through now and then; sometimes more strongly than others as can be assumed. In writing I allow my true self to show, I can express myself and experiment with different styles. I will warn you that my writing is never too risquà ©, I remain quite practical and composed. Composed. I'll make that into a verb and say that in writing "I compose." Strange that I have a strong love for music yet have never tried to write it. I stay with stories, poems and essays. My first essay for Expository Writing entitled "Metaphorically Speaking" expressed my dull self. I knew this when I finished and racked my brain trying to think of something creative to speak metaphorically about but could not get past the practical part of me that says "Education is like a part time job." In this essay I am a student and employee speaking in first person. I don't delve too far into what they are other than seeing them as temporary work. I take a simple approach in analyzing and comparing my life in both environments. I speak confidently in "Metaphorically Speaking" due to experience. I don't sound ecstatic over the positions I now hold but I am content knowing they are temporary. I know that I will make the best of my education in college and my part time job and with continued success will go beyond. In this paper I am simply a student and employee and sound like one, be it dull. Experience was also used in "Coming Full Circle" . I gave a "play by play" of what is expected from students by teachers from elementary school on up. I spoke with "College Student Wisdom", reflecting on what I have written in the past and realizing that the writing I do now is similar to that which I wrote in elementary school; I write to please myself, to be myself and enjoy. Though it is just a blip of writing, "Sounds of Cross Country Skiing" represents me in my world of nature and heightened awareness --where I so often long to be. After it was read in class without my name mentioned a student next to me that knows me little from previous classes said "That was you wasn't it? Defining Myself through Writing :: Personal Narratives Defining Myself through Writing I can write in various voices and styles and about various topics; with each piece I hope to represent different aspects of who I am. I need not say "This is me", but I show through now and then; sometimes more strongly than others as can be assumed. In writing I allow my true self to show, I can express myself and experiment with different styles. I will warn you that my writing is never too risquà ©, I remain quite practical and composed. Composed. I'll make that into a verb and say that in writing "I compose." Strange that I have a strong love for music yet have never tried to write it. I stay with stories, poems and essays. My first essay for Expository Writing entitled "Metaphorically Speaking" expressed my dull self. I knew this when I finished and racked my brain trying to think of something creative to speak metaphorically about but could not get past the practical part of me that says "Education is like a part time job." In this essay I am a student and employee speaking in first person. I don't delve too far into what they are other than seeing them as temporary work. I take a simple approach in analyzing and comparing my life in both environments. I speak confidently in "Metaphorically Speaking" due to experience. I don't sound ecstatic over the positions I now hold but I am content knowing they are temporary. I know that I will make the best of my education in college and my part time job and with continued success will go beyond. In this paper I am simply a student and employee and sound like one, be it dull. Experience was also used in "Coming Full Circle" . I gave a "play by play" of what is expected from students by teachers from elementary school on up. I spoke with "College Student Wisdom", reflecting on what I have written in the past and realizing that the writing I do now is similar to that which I wrote in elementary school; I write to please myself, to be myself and enjoy. Though it is just a blip of writing, "Sounds of Cross Country Skiing" represents me in my world of nature and heightened awareness --where I so often long to be. After it was read in class without my name mentioned a student next to me that knows me little from previous classes said "That was you wasn't it?

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Love and sex in Geoge Orwell’s novel “1984” Essay

George Orwell’s novel 1984 explores intimate human relationships in a bleak futuristic society as experienced by protagonist Winston Smith. Since there are few bonds stronger than those developed from loving relationships among family, friends, and lovers, the only entity acceptable to love in Oceania is the face of the Party, Big Brother. This restriction is necessary to achieving complete power and control over its citizens, as the Party must dissolve all loyalties derived through love, sex, and family and redirect them upon itself. By destroying trust the Party has â€Å"cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman†(220). To train the citizens of Oceania for complete submission and devotion to Big Brother and the Party the family bond has been completely devalued, as â€Å"No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer.†(220) The Junior Spies are an organization in which children have become the police and denouncers of their parents in the name of Big Brother. By this means, the Party has managed to wedge itself between one of the most powerful instinctual bonds to turn parental devotion into fear and children into faithful machines of the Party as an extension of the Thought Police. Parsons’ remark â€Å"In fact I’m proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit, anyway†(193) in response to his daughter’s betrayal, clearly portrays the Party’s influence in the family institution. Not only does the daughter value the Party’s approval more than her father’s life, but also Parsons’ appropriate response is to be gra teful for the betrayal and to those who enforce it. The betrayal of the family bond is a common theme in 1984. Orwell illustrates how weak that loyalty has become with the skull-faced man’s desperate begging to watch his wife and children’s throats be slit as an alternative to the Ministry of Love’s room 101 with a complete lack of â€Å"private loyalties†(136). Winston’s memories of his mother’s love â€Å"in a time when there were still privacy, love, and friendship, and when the members of a family stood by one another without needing to know the reason†(28) confront his suspicions that to â€Å"remain human†, one was â€Å"not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another†(136). Technically, consorting with prostitutes is forbidden, but it seems to be tacitly encouraged just the same, as a means of relieving natural tensions. The more serious crime involves relations between Party members. The Party does not wish to allow the development of loyalties to any other acts or persons than itself, so it tends to deny permission of marriage to couples who appear attracted to one another, and it campaigns actively against sex as anything other than a slightly disagreeable duty whose sole purpose is propagation of the species. The Party feeds off the hysteria produced from sexual privation, as it is conveniently transformed into â€Å"war fever and leader worship†(110). Through its control of marriages and sexual mores, the Party resembles a conservative religious institution. By attempting to control people’s loyalties and loves, and redirect those towards itself, the Party posits itself as the end and the ultimate salvation. Katharine even calls sex â€Å"our duty to the Party,† and it is a weekly ritual almost like a martyrdom, in which both she and Winston are uncomfortable but must suffer through it anyway. Clearly, Winston’s desire to have a woman of his own with whom sex could be pleasurable is yet another instance of his heretical tendencies. It does not seem something that he has experienced yet, since his encounter with the prostitute was somehow dirtying in every sense. His desire to evoke desire is itself thoughtcrime, and part of his overall rebellion against the world he lives in. . The Junior Anti-Sex League is one of the propaganda organizations used to control desire and teach sexual orthodoxy. The Party’s sexual puritanism is due to the fact that â€Å"the sex instinct creates a world of it’s own†(110) and is therefore out of the Party’s control and must be destroyed; â€Å"The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm†(220). The sex instinct is dangerous to the Party and makes a â€Å"direct, intimate connection between chastity and political orthodoxy†(111). Sex is an act of outright rebellion, as all enjoyable sex must be in a society where the act is  supposed to be free of pleasure. In this sense Winston’s affair with Julia is a political act against the Party, which is part of the attraction. Perhaps the greatest crime they commit is declaring love for someone as an individual, someone who is separate from t he Party. Love, the clear anti-thesis to everything the Party stands for, has heavily ironic meaning in 1984. The language along with the emotion is manipulated by the Party to gain control of the people. The Ministry of Love, for example, â€Å"concerns itself with torture†, and the destruction of the individual is referred to as â€Å"love for Big Brother†. Winston battles to discover his humanity by equating the ability to feel love with the essence of being human. Winston progresses from seeing Julia as an outlet for his political unorthodoxy and his sexual energy, to seeing her as a companion, linked to him in a marriage of love. As long as Winston loves Julia, and what she represents to him, he is able to believe in himself and his humanity enough to hate Big Brother. Once he betrays that love, he violates his own humanity and can no longer love another human; â€Å"All you care about is yourself†(240). The Party, through Winston’s betrayal of Julia, has cut another link to loyalty derived by love and redirected it upon itself. Winston is left a shell of a man having â€Å"won the victory over himself† and learned to love Big Brother (245). The goal of the Party is to wipe out the individual; â€Å"There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother.†(220) In 1984 Orwell warns about the future of man who is doomed to lose his individualness without love and loyalty. Family, sex, and love are the anchors that hold the emotions of human essence to our individual selves, resulting in â€Å"Ownlife.†

Information Technology Management Essay

It is commonly argued in the Information Systems literature that a major reason why organizations fail to exploit Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) successfully is because of the lack of â€Å"alignment† between the Information Strategy, the Business Strategy and the Organizational Strategy. The provisions according to information sytem literature correspond to the real happenings in the real world. According to Campbell David, 2004, technological advancement has been embraced throughout various aspects of business, academics, finance and governance. The paper addresses one key component of information system that is considered as a challenge by organizations and business entities in the aspect of using information technology. The key value here is alignment between information, organization and business strategy. A major concern in this paper is to explain the term alignment in the context of information technology. The paper addresses reasons that make alignment one of the key values organizations seek to achieve. In this first issue of alignment the major concern is about transactions carried on in financial institutions. Information technology has been adopted in the recent past as a tool for executing and reviving business strategies in financial institutions. The development of certain business strategies has been enhanced by consideration of values that correspond to alignment. Alignment is therefore, the capacity by a business such as a financial institution to demonstrate a strong positive relationship between latest information technologies and the generally accepted financial guidelines. It calls for customer satisfaction, market share and product innovations. These measures are all essentials in value and adopting such determines the stability and the outcome of a financial institution. Before alignment financial institution needs to assemble all available information technology and carry on with feasibility study. This is because the effectiveness of a computer squarely depends on its capacity to improve or malign the organizational units. Factors to consider before alignment Planning- the original process has to be planned and agreed upon by the managers of the financial institution. Auditors should also be involved in this exercise for audits, re-examinations and readjustments of the whole project. Relation to benefits –alignment must be of benefit to the financial institution since it is a costly exercise. It is of no use to adopt latest technology if the problem is controllable by changing some management practises. This is according Culp Christopher, 2001. For example, outputs like profits and revenue do not call for information technology rather the size and organizational structure and number of staff that dictate the demand for additional computers. Alignment must stick to its purposes to overcome all obstacles as resistance to change may come from many sources including the employees and customers. Advantages of alignment The latest technologies such as client sever internet, data warehousing has positive implications which include first, incremental profit gains. Second, internal alignment in an organization remains a success factor in employee’s ability to perform effectively and become a cutting edge provider of value to customers. Third, alignment acts as business intelligence solutions for organization that helps in management and efficient customer satisfaction. For example, e-banking software where customers can access their bank accounts at home without necessarily going to the banking halls. Fourth, other than saving time it is also considered a secure method than transporting money to banks. Fifth, business intelligence solutions have been important aspects in financial institutions as they help to sort out effectively volumes of transactions within a short period of time. For example, pay roll software that is able to calculate thousand of employee’s monthly dues, deductions and contributions irrespective of their earning rates within a mater of seconds. Computers have also been used to solve complicated business calculations and at the same time update them accordingly. Take for example where a customer gets a loan from a financial institution either on a reducing interest rate. The software will auto calculate the interests based on the number of years the customer will take to clear plus the principal amount and at the same time store the information. Sixth, alignment reduces the amount of paperwork used in various departments especially in printing, faxing and laminations. This is because nowadays office memos and other information are shared online by use of internet between departments and even branches. Seven, alignment has played a key role in marketing and advertising new products through the internet. A customer can place an order and at the same time pay by transferring funds from a financial institution to account of the seller effectively. Disadvantages Alignment is a very costly exercise to an enterprise like financial institution in terms of prices and employee training as it calls for massive training. System change over might also be rejected by both the employees and the customers. Sometimes computers breakdown and will definitely slow the process in financial institution slowing down the entire process. This leads to a massive loss and failure to satisfy customer needs. For example, slowing or breakdown of machines in a Forex bureau dealing with foreign exchange will loose sales since currency changes value every minute. Business alignment methods Nowadays, many business transactions are relying on an efficient IT support system. It is remarkable to note the improved professionalism and responsibility in corporate and technical fields. Many companies and especially in the financial sector have invested massively in business IT and corporate ICT. This is a very important development in creation of personal responsibility in terms of accountability, capability and commitment. However, with the changing technology certain changes are felt through continuous exercise which cannot be exploited. New machines have to be budgeted or the old ones have to be upgraded from time to time. To achieve this objective the following steps must be put into consideration. First, planning which calls for implementation of traditional IT alignment techniques seen by many as the CEO’s work. A successful IT/business alignment calls for a more interactive approach or dialogue between the IT managers. They need to clarify what the business expects, what it delivers and how to allocate (Watson Gregory, 2005). This is achieved through prioritization and putting into considerations the rules that empower and govern the IT department. A second plan or consideration used to bring about alignment is that IT should track, adapt and modify business level services. At the same time the use of information technology in financial institutions or any other entities should be done with a purpose of supporting appropriate support of services. Another method is proper management of technological systems which helps to achieve the desired results through a consolidated service support by IT staff. A system need to be put in place to monitor and manage urgent or critical business services. The system should prioritize service requests to enable service delivery at promised levels and also track business processes at certain levels. It is important to note that worth methods are usually required to effectively manage the IT infrastructure and implement changes. The chief executive officer and his or her managers need also to ensure that the set organization standards and expectations are met through proper implementation processes. Certain considerations such as model should be considered for purpose of implementing alignment and information technologies (Selznick Philip, 1952). This involves mapping of IT assets and planning for resources that support services at critical times. It identifies the resources needed to be assembled to deliver IT services. This is done at agreeable service while at the same time reducing costs. A second consideration is measurement whereby the IT department should come up with methods of data collection and operational procedures all based on areas of functionality. According to Chester Arthur, 1994, the measurement methods should correspond with technology and be business oriented. In addition, the measures should ensure a more real time resource allocation decision. The consideration of various measurement principles gives an entity or enterprise the capacity to execute its duties fast. The methods applied by different entities in business alignment are deemed to measure up to set standards and cut down on costs. Alignment of costs and deliver of services through technological application gives entities the capacity to run their operations in a more efficient manner. Validity of alignment as a goal The role played by ICTs is paramount and evident in real life applications in business and organizations. As a goal, alignment is seen to support productivity and new innovation across the entire world. ICT play a very important role on trade development. Application of information technology is also seen as a tool for infrastructure development. Recently, the world economic performance has improved leading to global growth as a result of embracing information systems. The economic growth is seen to have an impact in both developed and developing countries with some developing countries recording a remarkable growth (Danis Wade, 2006). Most countries have recorded a positive growth of the gross domestic product. In addition international markets trade and industrial production has been boosted through alignment. Economic development has led to a smooth global supply chains that broaden the market. A number of advantages arise as evidence that alignment is a valid consideration in the scope of information technology. First, ICT is used for research to provide an organization with basic information about how to improve on performance. Organizations consider putting in place certain measures necessary to acquire information from competitors (Daghfous Abdelkader, 2006). The acquired information is essential as it helps entities to achieve their goals. Second, in the current world of changes, it is important for every organization to consider evaluating measures that support alignment to out perform their competitors. Application of ICT by entities thus promotes a common understanding of how transactions are carried within organizations at low cost. It is a future consideration that all entities should develop measures to fight threats of new entrants, threat exposed by bargaining powers of buyers, sellers, threat of substitute products and barrier to entry. According to Herman James, 2000, embracing information and communication technology will help to do away with threats imposed by five forces. A third consideration is the fact of e-commerce which is a component of electronic business. The use of information systems in carrying on with business transactions online is a true reflection about the validity of alignment. The future of using information technology in the world especially in business transactions is very certain. The concept of globalization is playing a very big role in creation of favourable environment for trading. Creation of strong communication networks enables countries from different regions to carry on with business transactions online. This is one major development of information technology embraced by both developed and developing states. Every state has the mandate to promote the application of information technology through application of the necessary measures. A fourth consideration that needs to be put in place is thorough training of individuals on how to use internet. This should be done in schools and other institutions that promote learning. Children at young age need to know how to apply technological information for purpose of establishing proper measures in business and other aspects of life.