Rap as a language Essay examples -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since its start in the music industry around nineteen eighty-eight rap music has always been under a lot of scrutiny for its lyrics and messages that it portrays. Rap music has a long history starting back to the days of slavery and has come a long way since then bridging gaps between all genres of music including jazz, blues, and basic drum beats. When hip hop first came about its message was simple. It was groups of black men who described the life they were living in the ghettos all over the world. They felt helpless and viewed the government in a very strong negative way based on the lack of help African American’s were given in the contexts of housing, education, and living. As rap music developed and more artists started bringing their own styles to the hip hop community more messages were being brought. Hip hop as a culture was formed on the political views of many black gang bangers who society cast aside and never thought would even be able to have political thoughts. In the mid nineties rap changed in a way that surprised many by having female artists come onto the scene. They were usually portrayed in a degrading manner by male artists in their lyrics and videos, but now women came forward and described themselves as sexual beings and how they have power over men based on their sexuality. Many critics have taken these stances that rap artists take and speculated over whether or not they convey a positive or negative message. Many view that the lyrics and videos provide children with the wrong idea and are the reason for sex at younger ages, and STD’s being at an all time high. Rap is not responsible for the actions of young adults and music has always been a scapegoat for parents since the days of Elvis, and KISS. Rap is like all other genres of music in the sense that it is a statement. During times of war artists criticized presidential actions and sang about peace. Rap is a declaration of life for black men and qu estions the politics involved in their lifestyles and for women it is a way to express themselves as powerful independent beings because of their sexuality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stereotypes are often placed into the minds of many people in the general public based on fixed images set in the minds of many MTV viewers. This has always been the case with generational music culture to fight for mor... ...in the ghettos of the world. He claims that rap is a political stance and a language that is powerful in its ability to create movement and progress in the minds of its audience. This helps my argument because this is exactly what I want to argue. It gives crucial examples of how and why rap music can stand alone as its own well educated language. Rose, Tricia. â€Å"Fear of a Black Planet†: Rap Music and Black Cultural Politics in the 1990’s. The Journal of Negro Education vol. 60 (1991) 276-290. Rose argues that hip hop music in the 1990’s when it really began to make a name for itself came out with bang that seemed to slap many unsuspecting people in the face with its crude lyrics and â€Å"I don’t care† mentality. She gives quotes and respect to many groups of that time such as NWA and Public Enemy who gave face to the up rise of gangster rap and gave a window into the lives that black men and women where actually living. This helps my argument because I mainly was going to quote lyrics from the 1990’s because that was when rap was most political. I am however going to quote some more recent rappers such as Eminem to show how that decade has still rolled over to today’s generation.

Drugs Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized

Running Head: SHOULD DRUGS BE LEGALIZED Comp II Drugs: Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized Arnold Heningburg Palm Beach Atlantic University Instructor: Heather Patton Drugs: Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized? In the last 50 plus years, the support of legalization of drugs has been a very hotly argued topic in the United States society and the world. Many believe that â€Å"street drugs† should be legal and everyone should have the choice of using them if they desire. After the introduction of these street drugs, (some that were legal for medicinal purposes), they had to be banned in society because people were abusing them.Many of these drugs now known as illegal substances were considered legal and were manufactured and created by chemists, and at some point were used for medical reasons. Unfortunately, due to many detrimental effects of prolonged use that caused human beings to become sick or die, these drugs were deemed dangerous and made illegal by the government. William Bennett's â€Å"Drugs: Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized† goal was to tell the general American public or the communities know how important it was to uphold the countries current drug policy.The beginning of Bennett’s statement started by saying, â€Å"The issue I want to address is our national drug policy and the intellectuals† (Bennett, William). He was particularly addressing our nation about the danger of making these drugs legal. Bennett wanted everyone to know that he undoubtedly was on the side of keeping and imposing the ban on making narcotics illegal. Bennett’s article seems to be motivated by the desire to confirm his support for the current U. S. national and international policies regarding narcotics. .†Bennett’s purpose was to win over those individuals who were not sure and those who were opposing the nations drug policy, by sharing where he stood on the issue of the nations drug policy. In the article that was w ritten by Elliott Currie which was called â€Å"Toward a Policy on Drugs†, Currie maintained that illegal drugs are an deep-rooted problem for law enforcement agencies, therefore the only resolution that could aid in resolving the problem is by seeking the views or ideas of the public on how the police and the court would take action in reducing the impact of use and sale of illegal drugs in the community and society.Curie argued that by using the free sell approach it would advocate making laws less restrictive on drugs, as well the law being less discriminating of drug users. This would mean that the government ‘s ban on illegal imports would be downgraded, which would also cause the drug users not to be treated as criminals and not being punished for their illegal activities. Currie felt that this approach has been proven effective in some of the European countries like Netherlands, where they have legalized the use of small amounts of marijuana.He also argued that d ecriminalization and deregulation are not the definitive resolution to the deteriorating drug condition, but could significantly lessen the unscientific and cruel methods currently used to battle the use and sale of illegal drugs. Currie contended that it has proven and studied that there is a correlation between the prevention of drugs and the existence of crimes and violence in communities. His contention was that if illegal drugs would be made legal then it would be safe to assume that the incidence of drug-related crimes will decrease and eventually lead to the eradication of drug problems.Although, he did contend that people should not exclusively depend on this type of approach, since there are other factors and complication implicated that cannot be addressed by this approach. In my opinion, legalization of drugs will cause an increase in drug problems and in crime. The reason I state this is that while dealing research and reading the journals and articles I found that many experts agree that illicit drugs are addictive and dangerous.Those that want to legalize can admit this, but contend that if we legalized them we would have less of a problem because by making illegal drugs legal less people would consume them and therefore by legalizing it and making it accessible people would be less likely to become addicted because they would use drugs more moderately or some may just stop using drugs altogether, since it is available if they ever did want to use, comparing it to those that don’t use cigarettes or alcohol because it is legal to use.But as I read different research and journals I found that the message from history is that periods of careless controls are accompanied by increased drug abuse and that when there is strong drug control, there is less drug abuse. References Barnet, Sylvan, Bedau, Hugo, Contemporary & Classic Arguments, A Portable Anthology, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. Caulkins, Jonathan P. and Haijing Hao (2008). Modeli ng Drug Market Supply Reductions: Where Do All the Drugs Not Go? Journal of Policy Modeling. 30(2), pp. 251-270, DOI: 10. 1016/j. olmod. 2007. 04. 003. Hartnett, Edmund, Deputy Chief and Executive Officer, Narcotic Division, Drug Legalization: Why it Wouldn’t Work in the United States, New York City Police Department, New York [FN1] Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization, U. S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC U. S. A. May 2003, www. DEA. gov; David Corcoran, Legalizing Drugs: Failures Spur Debate, New York Times, November 27, 1989; Morton M. Kondracke, Don’t Legalize Drugs, The New Republic, June 27, 1988

Project Management and Virtual Teams Essay

Athabasca University Abstract Due to advanced communication technologies, globalization and outsourcing most of the project management teams are based on groups of individuals called virtual teams who work across time and space using communication technologies. Members of virtual teams may be employees of same company from same country, or they can be contractors, suppliers and company employees around the globe. Managing projects using virtual teams have some advantages and disadvantages. Also several studies have been done to try to determine the factors that are positively co-related to the effectiveness of virtual teams (Schwalbe, 2011). To manage virtual teams successfully in project management, the project manager must manage these factors successfully and also minimize the impact of disadvantages. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual teams in project management and outlines the factors that are positively correlated to the success of projects based on virtual teams. The paper also outlines some of the recommendations to successfully manage the virtual team in information technology projects. Keywords Globalization, outsourcing, virtual teams, video conferencing, telecommuting, Project Management, Trust and relationship, Advantages of Virtual teams, Disadvantages of virtual team. Introduction Imagine that you are a project manager in a multinational organization and managing a project to upgrade the server operating system and your team members are from different countries with different cultures and working in different time zones. To complete the project successfully that is based on virtual teams, project manager must understand the advantages and disadvantages of managing virtual teams and factors that positively affect the team members. Today most of the project management teams are based on virtual teams whose members work across time and space using communication technologies and project managers cannot rely on previous methods of project team management where they were able to build trust between team member by social interaction, face-to-face meetings, and direct observations of fellow team member commitment. Literature Review Virtual teams do have some advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages outlined by Kathy Schwalbe are: 24/7 availability of workers increasing competiveness and responsiveness, lowering the cost of project as many virtual team members do not need office space and support, providing more flexibility and expertise as project managers have access to the talent around the globe and increasing the work/life balance for team members by eliminating fixed office hours and the need to travel to work. (Schwalbe, 2011). Communication and trust are the most important factors that influence the virtual team performance. Saonee Sarker and others discussed the â€Å"theoretical linkages among trust, communication, and team member performance in virtual teams†. (Sarker1, Ajuja, Sarker, & Kirkeby, 2001). To prove their argument the researchers identified and tested three proposed models (additive, interaction, and mediation) describing the role of trust in its relationship. The results of the study indicated that the â€Å"mediating† model best explains how communication and trust work together to influence the performance of virtual team members. In simple words them study proves that â€Å"a communicative individual will be more likely to be trusted and will therefore be more likely to be a high performer†. (Sarker1, Ajuja, Sarker, & Kirkeby, 2001) Radostina K. Purvanova reviewed experimental literature and emerging field research on virtual teams. Author compared the â€Å"results from both type of literature and found that experimental literature has largely reported negative results for virtual teams, whereas ? eld investigations and case studies of real virtual teams employed by business organizations report positive outcomes for virtual teams. According to the article although results reported by experimental versus field studies are quite different, author concludes that both literatures have revealed negative attitudes toward virtual communication media. Advantages of Virtual Teams The main advantages of virtual teams include: The biggest advantage of virtual team enjoyed by an organization is the associated cost savings. The organization can save huge expenses on real estate, office spaces, utility bills such as gas, electricity, water etc. and executive’s travel. Team members can work from anywhere and anytime of the day. They can choose the place they work based on the mood and the comfort. You can recruit people for their skills and suitability to the job. The location does not matter. There is no time and money wasted for commuting and clothing. Physical handicaps are not an issue. Another advantage is the labour laws, some organizations prefer to have virtual teams because of strict local labour laws. Since the members span the time zones, there could be different team working on the same project 24/7, so when one member sleeps there will be another one somewhere else who would start work where the former had left. This shortens the product development time as well as faster response time to demands in both global and local markets. Disadvantages of Virtual Teams Disadvantages of virtual teams include: Since team members do not frequently meet or do not meet at all, the teamwork spirit may not be present. Some people prefer to be in a physical office when working. These people will be less productive in virtual environments. To work for virtual teams, individuals need to have a lot of self-discipline. If the individual is not disciplined, he or she may be less productive. The cultural difference between the members of virtual teams gives rise to number of conflicts. For example, while an employee from one part of the world would write a straightforward email describing a bad situation; this would be perceived as impolite by a member of the team from other part of the world. This would lead to conflicts, mistrust and difficulties in fruitful collaboration which is so vital for the success of virtual team functioning. These challenges are also precipitated by the absence of non-verbal cues so intrinsic to face-to-face interactions. Many members of virtual teams are adversely affected by the lack of physical interactions. Most of the communications in virtual environment is task-oriented. In today’s society where job is an important social force for most of us because many of our workplace colleagues also constitute our close friends, this gives a not-so-good feeling of social isolation. This in turn counter-effects productivity as well as leads to stress. In the virtual environment, it is better to communicate, clarify, and confirm everything to make sure that all members have the same understanding about the task at hand. This produces of ton of paperwork and files that could quickly fill your archives. Factors that positively affect virtual teams Succession planning and promotions involving virtual team members are important factors and if managed properly, virtual team members will feel that they are receiving recognition and credit and as a result they will be satisfied and their productivity will be increased. (Leonard, 2011) Since team members are not communicating face to face, constructive team and individual feedback early and often becomes more important and if managed properly can avoid many problems before hand. Trust between team members and project leader is an important factor that can affect the performance of team members. One important way to build trust between team members is effective communication. The more they communicate with each other and with project more they build the trust. Well defined and documented team process also important which saves a lot of time for especially new team members to find answers to their questions related to policies and procedures. A team member selection and role preference is also important factor to successfully manage the virtual teams. â€Å"Dr. Meredith Belbin defined a team role as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. 15 It is important to select team members carefully and to form a team where all roles are covered. Each virtual team member must also understand his or her role(s) on the team. † (Schwalbe, 2011) Discussion and Conclusions Organizations such as IBM, Microsoft, Whirlpool as well as SMEs are reaping the benefits of virtual teams for some time now. It has been a well-recognized fact that virtual team is not a passing tide but it is here to stay. Virtual teams are rising in numbers nowadays and even small technology companies are now adapting virtual team practice for recruiting the best people from all over the globe and reduce the cost. As outlined in previous sections, virtual teams do have advantaged and some disadvantages as well. To benefit from advantages and to minimize the impact of disadvantages a project manager can focus on factors that positively affect the virtual team’s performance. As indicated by previous researchers, increase in trust, comfort level and communication effectiveness leads to better project success. All of the above discussed disadvantages can be overcome by following a different leadership approach, trainings, greater role clarity and effective communication strategies. Also earlier discussed factors that affect virtual teams, if managed properly can result in a successful project. In addition, the companies using virtual teams can minimize their operating costs and maximize the profit margins. Additionally, the employees working in virtual teams are at advantages when it comes to working in their own home, own time, and reduction of commuting costs. Therefore, organizations should look into setting up virtual teams for different tasks whenever possible. To reap the benefits of virtual teams in projects and minimize the impact of disadvantages virtual team managers should manage the outlined factors properly and should also follow best practices outlined in next section. Best Practices When running virtual teams, some of the best practices include: An instant messaging program can be used to create a sense of presence amongst members of the team. Chat is a good way to have side conversations during meetings to gain consensus, confirm understanding or ask questions. Quick questions can be asked through instant messenger as a substitute for popping into someone’s cubicle. Services for syncing files, bug tracking, project management, source control, web conferencing, conference calls, screen recording, usability testing and so on. A virtual phone system allows mapping of phone extensions to any phone number. Advance features allow callers to dial by name, get placed into a phone queue or get recorded answers back from a phone tree. In-person meetings are also a good option; it helps build team cohesion and trust and can help people get to know each other on a deeper level. But they are by no means critical. Bringing everyone together once a year may cost a little, but it’s still often cheaper than paying local salaries and rent, and increases the efficiency of team.