World Com and Accounting Ethics Essay Example for Free

World Com and Accounting Ethics Essay Current business and regulatory environments are more conducive to ethical behavior due to many new laws that have been put into effect in recent years. For many companies, especially small ones, the checks and balances are not put into place as well as they should be. With new laws in effect and more and more accountants paying attention to their clients’ accounts, ethical behavior is on the rise although it will take a long time to recover from the scandals that rocked the world beginning with Waste Management in 1998 and following with Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, HealthSouth, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff and Saytam in 2009. For 10 years unethical behavior and choices almost brought our country to its knees and even now many people are losing their homes and their jobs because the economy has still not fully recovered. In 1983 in a small coffee shop in Hattiesburg, MS, the business concept that would become WorldCom was born. The company was to become one of the largest telecommunications companies that would one day rival ATT. WorldCom began as a small long distance telephone company and through an aggressive acquisition strategy, evolved in the second-largest long distance telephone company in the United States and one of the largest companies handling worldwide Internet data traffic. WorldCom achieved its position through a large number of acquisitions and between 1991 and 1997, WorldCom spent almost $60 billion in the acquisition of many of these companies and accumulated $41 billion in debt. With each acquisition, WorldCom’s stock continued to rise as the company became more noticeable, rising from pennies per share to over $60 per share in 1997. As the company grew people sat up and took notice and Wall Street investment banks as well as analysts and brokers began making buy recommendations to investors worldwide. All of this would have ended well if WorldCom had obviously played by the rules but alas, that was not the case. As with any acquisition, let alone 65 of them in six years, management at the top level requires considerable attention to make the merging of the two companies run smoothly. Secondly, the accounting of the financial aspects of each merging company must be accomplished through the application of generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP). WorldCom’s merger with MCI was the beginning of the end. Bernie Ebbers (CEO) paid little attention to the details of the operations and many things began deteriorating, mainly customer service. Customers were told they were not customers, computer systems conflicted with each other and billing systems were not coordinated – a recipe for disaster. Although WorldCom had an immense talent for buying competitors, it was not up to the task of merging them. WorldCom also used their own interpretation of accounting rules when preparing financial statements. â€Å"In an effort to make it appear that profits were increasing, WorldCom would write down in one quarter millions of dollars in assets it acquired while, at the same time, it â€Å"included in this charge against earnings the cost of company expenses expected in the future. The result was bigger losses in the current quarter but smaller ones in future quarters, so that its profit picture would seem to be improving.† (Moberg) WorldCom managers also made their own assumptions regarding accounts receivables which if the money customers owe the company. They chose to ignore the accounts receivables because this allowed for a lower assumption of non-collectable bills which in turn required a smaller reserve fund. The end result allows for higher earnings. All of these practices could continue as long as WorldCom continued to acquire additional companies, using those companies as their â€Å"merry-go-round† to utilize poor accounting practices. Not only poor practices but unethical. In 2000, the merry-go-round stopped when the government refused to allow WorldCom to merge with Sprint. Another accounting practice that that was uncovered was the allowance of the board of directors to authorize loans to senior executives. Mr. Ebbers received a $341 million loan authorized by the board of directors which is the largest amount any publicly traded company has lent to one of its officers in recent memory. This brings concerns about conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty but nevertheless WorldCom was not the only company allowing this practice. And on top of that the loan interest rate was as low as 2% which was not much of a return for the company that loaned him that large of an amount. WorldCom’s unethical accounting practices were found by Cynthia Cooper who worked as an internal auditor for WorldCom. Cynthia and her team became suspicious of a number of peculiar financial transactions and began their own private investigation. What they found were multiple entries that were misallocated and unauthorized to the tune of $4 billion dollars in capital expenditures. It appeared the company was trying to represent operating costs as capital expenditures in order to make the company look more profitable. By allowing these kinds of practices and attempting to have others following the same kind of unethical behavior, moral and trust were at an all time low within the company. Beginning in 2002 everything began to unravel. The SEC began an investigation on the company and WorldCom was trying to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Within months they laid off more than 17,000 employees, almost 20 percent of their workforce. By the time it was all said and done, 30,000 employees lost their jobs and investors lost over $180 billion dollars. WorldCom improperly booked $3.8 billion as capital expenditures which improved cash flow and profit over a 5 quarter period. This disguised the actual net loss for 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. It is possible that the accounting irregularities go back to 2000. In simple terms WorldCom did not account for expenses when it incurred them, but hid the expenses by pushing them into the future, giving the appearance of spending less and therefore making more money. This apparent profitability pleased investors who pushed the stock up to a high of $64.51 in June 1999. When WorldCom was stopped from acquiring Sprint they had to find a way to hide their large expenses so that the price of the stock would not go down. They did this by treating $7 billion of line costs as capital expenditures. These line costs were basically rental fees paid to other phone companies to use their phone lines. Up until 2001 these fees (expenses) had always been properly expensed in previous years but when WorldCom placed them in the capitalization category the expense was delayed to future periods which in turn boosted current-period profits. The accounting guideline that made this decision fraudulent was materiality. Materiality refers to the impact of an item’s size on a company’s financial operations. Materiality states that if an item would not make a difference in decision-making, the company does not have to follow GAAP in reporting the item. In this case, $7 billion dollars in expenses makes a huge difference so GAAP guideline should have been followed. Consequently profits for 2001 and 2002 were overstated greatly. This ethical breach could have been avoided long before it became a huge problem basically by maintaining the accounting system from the very beginning. Because WorldCom was more interested in acquiring companies than in merging them properly, accounting systems from various companies did not work together well. After a time and more and more acquisitions it became a huge mess and nobody really had any idea what was right and what was wrong. Senior management used that disorganization to conceal their fraudulent activities. This large of a fraud should have been easily detected by doing a routing comparison of the actual physical assets with a list of the physical assets shown in the accounting records. Following the scandal of WorldCom which closely followed the Waste Management Scandal in 1998 and the Enron scandal in 2001, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, introducing the most sweeping set of new business regulations since the 1930s.

Forest Gump Essay Example for Free

Forest Gump Essay Gump, motion picture chronicling the adventures of Forrest Gump, a kind, but slow-witted man who has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Released in 1994, the film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects. Tom Hanks earned an Academy Award for portraying Gump as a sweet, simple, straightforward man with incredible luck. Gump happens upon many pivotal moments of American history during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s—for example, he teaches Elvis Presley how to dance and he witnesses the Watergate burglary. Gump also makes a million dollars, runs across the United States, and falls in love with the girl next door. Director Robert Zemeckis Sergeant Forrest Gump Sr. (born June 6, 1944 also known as Forrest Gump in Greenbow, Alabama) is a fictional character who first appears in the 1986 eponymous novel by Winston Groom. Forrest Gump also appeared on screen in the 1994 film of the same name directed by Robert Zemeckis. Gump was portrayed as a child by Michael Conner Humphreys and portrayed as an adult by Tom Hanks, who won an Academy Award for the role. The portrayal of Forrest in the novel is notably different from the portrayal in the film. He later reappears in the 1995 novel Gump and Co. In 2008, Forrest Gump was named the 20th greatest movie character of all time by Empire Magazine. Introduction The world will never be the same once youve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump: a film chronicling the life of a mentally challenged man present during three of the most distinctive and dynamic decades in American history. While on the surface lies a heartwarming and inspirational story, the underlying narrative tends to explore progression of American society while depoliticizing history. Throughout the film Forrest is directly involved in major events of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, yet he never shows any initiative of his own. What is the filmmaker trying to insinuate? Contents ? 1. Life 1. Early Years 2. College 3. In The Army 4. Washington, D. C. 5. Ping-Pong 6. Shrimping Boat Captain 7. Home in Alabama 8. Running 9. Back To Present ? 2. Different from the Novel ? 3. Sociological Analysis ? 4. Awards ? 5. Trivia ? 6. Quotes ? 7. Question and Answer Event ? 8. Conclusion ? 9. References [pic]Life 1. 1 Early Years Gump was born near the fictional small town of Greenbow, Alabama, on June 6, 1944 (the same day that the Allied forces began Operation Overlord). His father was absent during his life, his mother saying he was on vacation. His mother named him after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a noted Confederate general in the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who is supposedly related to Gump. She intended his name to be a reminder that sometimes we all do things that, well, just dont make no sense. Forrest was born with strong legs, but a crooked spine. He was forced to wear leg braces which made walking difficult and running near impossible. He also had a relatively low I. Q. of 75 which nearly prevented him from being accepted into public school (his mother managed to get the principal to reconsider by allowing him to sleep with her). Despite his physical and mental challenges, Forrests mother told him not to let anyone tell him he was different, telling him stupid is as stupid does. Forrest and his mother lived in a large house just outside the town of Greenbow. They made money by renting out rooms to travellers. One of their guests was a young Elvis Presley. Forrest liked dancing to his music and his leg braces gave him a peculiar dancing style that would supposedly inspire the young Elvis famous hip dancing after he became famous. On the bus ride to school, Forrest met Jenny Curran and was instantly taken with her. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life, he would later say of her, She was like an angel. The two became close friends, often playing around a large nearby tree. Jenny was one of the few people besides his mother to accept Forrest as he was, helping him learn to read and standing up to bullies who harassed him. However, Jennys home life was not nearly as happy as Forrests: her mother had died when she was five and her father was an abusive alcoholic who molested his children (until Jenny was taken away to live with her grandmother), and Forrests friendship offered her an escape. One day, a group of bullies were throwing fallen fruit at Forrest and chasing him on their bikes. Jenny told Forrest to just run away. As Forrest struggled to run, his leg braces broke apart. Once he was free of them, Forrest was able to run incredibly fast. Forrest would never wear leg braces again and was able to run everywhere he wanted to after that. 1. 2 College Forrest and Jenny remained close friends all the way through high school, though he remained a target for bullies. One day, while running from some bullies, he interrupted the local high schools football practice by running across the field faster than all the players. This feat caught the attention of Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Paul Bear Bryant, who was at the practice scouting football players. After his incredible running ability impressed the coach, Forrest received a football scholarship to the University of Alabama, where his speed helped them win several games. He was later named to the All-American team and got to meet President John F. Kennedy at the White House. When asked by the President how he felt, Forrest (having drunk about fifteen Dr Peppers) gave an honest answer of I gotta pee. Forrest was also present at the University when it was desegregated and observed Governor George Wallace denouncing the desegregation. While several citizens jeered the black students entering the campus, Forrest, not entirely understanding the situation, simply walked up to a black woman and handed her a book she dropped, saying simply Maam? You dropped your book maam? before following her and the others into school. 1. 3 In the Army At his college graduation in 1967, Forrest was approached by an army recruiter who asked if hed given any thought to his future. Soon after, Forrest would join the United States Army. On the bus Forrest met Benjamin Buford Blue, a young black man from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, who went by the nickname Bubba. Bubba told Forrest about his family history of cooking shrimp and how he had planned to buy his own shrimping boat after getting out of the army. Forrest did well in the army as he followed orders well without distraction; for example, he set a new company record for assembling his M14 rifle with his drill sergeant, who regularly singled him out as an example for the recruits, replying he would be a general. Meanwhile, Jenny had been kicked out of school for posing in Playboy and had gotten work singing in the nude at a strip club in Memphis, Tennessee. Forrest went up to visit her one night and beat up some patrons who were harassing her. Forrest tells Jenny that he loves her, but Jenny replies that he [doesnt] know what love is. Jenny is angry but later becomes concerned when he tells her he was being deployed to Vietnam. Jenny tells him not to try being brave if he was ever in trouble and to just run away instead. While in Vietnam, and assigned to company A, 2/47th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division Forrest and Bubba meet their platoon leader Lieutenant Dan Taylor, whom Forrest would refer to as Lieutenant Dan. While on patrol, Bubba proposed that he and Forrest go into the shrimping business together after their time in the army was finished. Forrest agreed. After several uneventful months, their platoon was ambushed by the Viet Cong and several soldiers were wounded and killed. In the confusion, Forrest initially was ordered to retreat, and was separated from the rest of his platoon, but after becoming concerned for Bubba, he ran back to look for him. Instead, Forrest found Lieutenant Dan and several other wounded soldiers and carried them to safety before looking for Bubba. Forrest finally found Bubba badly wounded and managed to carry him away from the combat area before it was hit with napalm from an air strike. His last words were I wanna go home. Sadly, Bubba died of his wounds soon after. Forrest himself was shot in the buttocks during the firefight and recovered in an army hospital. Lieutenant Dan was in the bed next to his, having lost his legs because of his injuries. Lieutenant Dan was angry at Forrest for cheating him out of his destiny to die in battle with honor (as several of his ancestors had) and rendering him crippled. . 4 Washington, D. C. Forrest later receives the Medal of Honor for his bravery in Vietnam. When being awarded, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked where he was hit and when Forrest told him he whispers in his ear hed like to see it, so Forrest, despite knowing there were people watching, drops his pants right there to show him. Shortly thereafter, Forrest went out sightseeing in Washington, D. C. and accidentally found him self among a group of veterans attending an anti-war rally led by Abbie Hoffman. While at the rally, he was reunited with Jenny, who had since become a hippie. Forrest was less enamored with her new boyfriend Wesley, the president of the SDS at Berkeley, and beat up Wesley after he saw him hit Jenny during an argument at a Black Panther Party gathering. Forrest and Jenny stayed up all night while Jenny told Forrest of her travels. Before they went their separate ways again in the morning, Forrest gave Jenny the Medal of Honor he earned in Vietnam. 1. 5 Ping-Pong While in the hospital, Forrest had taken up ping-pong. Rather than returning to Vietnam, Forrest was assigned to the Special Services, entertaining wounded veterans with his ping-pong skills. He would later travel to the Peoples Republic of China during the Ping Pong Diplomacy period. When he returned in 1971, he was a national hero, famouser than even Captain Kangaroo and was invited by Dick Cavett on The Dick Cavett Show. John Lennon was also a guest on the show at the time and hearing Forrest talk about the Chinese having no possessions and no religion too, inspired him to write the song Imagine. Soon after, Forrest was briefly reunited with Lieutenant Dan, now a bitter alcoholic, confined to a wheelchair, having lost his faith in God. Lieutenant Dan was also dismayed that Forrest, whom he declared as an imbecile who embarrassed himself on television, was given the Medal of Honor. When Forrest told him of his and Bubbas plan to go into the shrimping business, Lieutenant Dan only laughed and joked that if Forrest was ever a shrimping b oat captain, he would be Forrests first mate. Upon visiting President Richard Nixon he was invited by the President to stay at the Watergate Hotel complex. He was awakened by flashlights in the offices opposite his room. Believing the tenants to be having difficulty with a fusebox, Forrest calls Frank Wills at the security office to notify the maintenance crew, inadvertently initiating the Watergate scandal, which leads to President Nixons resignation. Shortly after this, Forrest was honorably discharged from the army with the rank of Sergeant and returned home to Alabama. 1. 6 Shrimping Boat Captain Upon his return Forrest finds the house filled with memorabilia capitalizing on his fame as a ping-pong player in China. At his mothers insistence, Forrest made $25,000 endorsing a brand of ping-pong paddles and used most of the money to travel to Bubbas home town of Bayou La Batre and purchase a boat. When someone pointed out it was bad luck to have a boat without a name, Forrest names his boat after Jenny (whom, unbeknownst to him, had descended into a life of drugs and sexual promiscuity at this point and even contemplated suicide over her choices). Sometime later, Forrest was visited by Lieutenant Dan, who as a man of his word, had come to be Forrests first mate, just as he said he would do on New Years Eve. For several weeks, the two had no luck catching shrimp. Things changed, however, when the area was hit by Hurricane Carmen. Forrests boat was the only one left standing and they found themselves with a monopoly of shrimp. Under the name Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, they soon became very wealthy. Lieutenant Dan, having faced his demons during the storm, thanked Forrest for saving his life in Vietnam, and Forrest assumes that Dan (without actually saying so) made peace with God. 1. 7 Home in Alabama Forrest returned home to Greenbow when he learned his mother was dying of cancer. After her death, Forrest stays and leaves his shrimping industry in the hands of Lieutenant Dan and retired to mowing and cutting grass and lawns, as he apparently enjoys doing it. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dan participated in a substantial investment into what Forrest says to be some kind of fruit company. In reality, the company was the fledgling Apple Computer, and it is implied that their investment largely kick-started Apples rise and success. With the money he got from the Apple Computer investment, Forrest spent them on renovating the church he frequents, establishing a medical center at Bubbas hometown and gave Bubbas family his share of the investment money that is enough for them to never work again. Jenny returns to Greenbow and moves in with Forrest. The two spend time together and Forrest later describes it as the happiest time of my life. One night, Forrest asks Jenny to marry him, but she turns him down, saying You dont want to marry me. Forrest replies with, Im not a smart man, but I know what love is. After this exchange, Jenny comes to Forrests bedroom, tells him she loves him, and the two make love. Jenny hails a cab very early the next morning and leaves, unbeknownst to him before he wakes up. 1. 8 Running Forrests newfound loneliness leads him to take a run for no particular reason. At first, he decides to run to the end of the road, then across town, then across the county, then all the way to the Missis sippi border. Eventually, he criss-crosses the country several times over a span of three years. Forrest attracts media coverage, and eventually, dozens of followers. During the run, he inspires the phrase Shit Happens to a bumper-sticker salesman after stepping in a pile of dog droppings. He also uses a yellow t-shirt provided to him by a designer to wipe off his face after being splattered by mud. In the process, he forms the iconic Smiley face logo and tells the man to Have a nice day. One day, while running in the Western United States, Forrest decides hes tired and stops. He immediately turns around and walks back to Alabama. His followers are dumbfounded at his sudden decision. Meanwhile, Jenny has taken a job as a waitress in Savannah, Georgia and sees news coverage of Forrests run on television. 1. 9 Back to the Present Back to the present (the present in the film being around 1981, as seen from a car and on a bus, and televised footage of Ronald Reagans assassination attempt), Forrest tells his latest companion on the bench, an elderly woman, hed recently received a letter from Jenny asking him to come see her. When he tells her the address and directions hed been given, she tells him its only a few blocks away, and he hurries over on foot. Forrest and Jenny are happy to see each other. Before they can do much catching up however, Forrest is introduced to Jennys young son, a bright young boy whom she named Forrest after his father. Forrest at first thinks she met another man named Forrest, until she explains Youre his daddy, Forrest. Forrests fearful inquiry as to Little Forrests intelligence leads Jenny to quickly assert that he is completely normal. Forrest learns that Jenny is sick from a virus (implied to be HIV). He invites her and Little Forrest to come home and stay with him. She asks him to marry her and he accepts. Forrest and Jennys wedding is a quiet, intimate ceremony attended only by a handful of family and friends. Among the attendees is Lieutenant Dan, who has titanium prosthetic legs, with his Vietnamese fiancee Susan. It is the only time Jenny and Dan meet. Forrest, Jenny, and Little Forrest have a few happy months together as a family before Jenny dies on Saturday March 22, 1982 (which was actually a Monday). Forrest has her buried under the tree where they played as children, and then buys her childhood home (where her ather had mistreated her) and has it bulldozed. Though he misses Jenny terribly, Forrest becomes a good father to Little Forrest. Visiting Jennys grave one day, he reflects on the idea of fate and destiny, wondering if Lt. Dan was right about people having their own destiny, or if his Mother was right about description of life as floating around accidentally like on a breeze. He eventually decides maybe its both, maybe both are happening at the same time. Forrest is last seen outside his home, seeing Little Forrest off on his bus ride to school, telling his son he loves him. . Differences from the novel The portrayal of Forrest in the original novel is notably different to how he was portrayed in the film. Largely, in the novel Forrest is shown to be somewhat cynical and abrasive, while in the film he is a more placid and naive person. He is also described as being an autistic savant and has extraordinary talent in numerical calculation. Changes from the novel to the film include: the deaths of Forrests mother; and Jenny, neither of whom died in the original book. The novel also provides additional back-story on his father. It is revealed that his father was a dockworker, who worked for United Fruit Company. He was killed when a crate of bananas being loaded off a boat fell on top of him, crushing him to death. Forrest goes on a number of different adventures including being an astronaut, playing the harmonica in a band called the Cracked Eggs, becoming a professional wrestler (The Dunce) and running for the United States Senate (with the campaign slogan I Got to Pee). 3. Sociological analysis An understanding of Forrests background in an important and characterizing element in the film. Disadvantaged by a terrible spine condition and a low IQ, Forrest struggles through childhood in small-minded Greenbow, Alabama. Due to his mental disabilities, Forrest becomes the victim of academic discrimination, which his mother fights desperately to resolve. He might be a bit on the slow side, but my boy Forrest is going to get the same opportunities as everyone else, she stated to the principal of Greenbow County Central School. Hes not going to some special school to learn to how to re-tread tires. (Gump 1995) Forrests mother was determined. Taking advantage of this, the principal coerced Forrests mother into trading a sexual favor for enrollment in school. In addition to these unsettling events, Forrest finds himself tormented and isolated by neighborhood children and townspeople who seem incapable of treating him with anything but reproach and disdain. Forrest was also an active part of many important events, including protests lead by George Wallace against desegregation, the Vietnam War, the Ping Pong Diplomacy period, anti-war activism lead by Abbie Hoffman, Black Panther Party meetings, and the Watergate scandal. It would be reasonable to say that being part of such important events and would make him vulnerable to the social forces of the times, yet his lack of critical thought as a result of low intelligence seemed to indicate the complete opposite he remained wholly oblivious and ignorant of their significance. During George Wallaces Stand in the Schoolhouse Door protest, Forrest stands curiously in the background, more interested in his surroundings rather than the actual protest. During the Vietnam War, Forrest never questions the morality or the agenda of the U. S. government, and receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his efforts. His entire experience during the Vietnam War can be summed up into one conversation between him and the Drill Sergeant: Gump! Whats your sole purpose in this Army? To do whatever you tell me, Drill Sergeant! (Gump 1995) Still, the most dismaying portion of impassive responses glorified in this film can be contributed to Forrests careless involvement in the anti-Vietnam War rally lead by Abbie Hoffman. He was entirely clueless as to the purpose of the anti-war movements. His view of Abbie Hoffmans role? There was this man, giving a little talk And every time he said the F word, people, for some reason, well, theyd cheer. Though the focus of the film is directed towards Forrest Gump, the effects of social forces are most often expressed and implied through Jenny Curran. Forrests generally unobservant nature contrasts harshly with Jennys forthright and independent character. Without Jenny, we would have a collectively unrealistic and uncertain portrayal of many occurrences that contributed to the structure of todays society. Unlike Forrest, Jenny was consciously and intentionally involved in the counterculture movements of the 60s, as she is seen trailing the countryside with fellow hippies, participating in anti-war movements, and secretly involving herself in Black Panther Party meetings. Before Jenny sets off on what turns out to be downward spiral towards debasement, she speaks to Forrest of her motives. I want to reach people on a personal level. I want to be able to say things, just one-to-one. (Gump 1995) However, Jennys plans for a better society are brought to a staggering halt when Jenny develops a fatal disease stemming from precarious drug use. 4. Awards Academy Award for Best Picture (1994) Academy Award for Best Actor (1994): Tom Hanks Academy Award for Best Director (1994): Robert Zemeckis Academy Award for Best Screenplay—Based on Material Previously Published (1994): Eric Roth Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1994): Arthur Schmidt Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (1994): Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Allen Hall Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Drama (1995) Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor—Drama (1995): Tom Hanks Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Director (1995): Robert Zemeckis 5. Trivia In this movie, every still photograph of Forrest Gump shows him with his eyes closed. 6. Quotes Forrest Gump (explaining his run across the United States):â€Å"I just felt like running. † Forrest Gump: â€Å"My mama always said, life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. † 7. Question and answer event (The delightfully sarcastic humor of film critics David Edelstein helps narrate this question ad answer about this movie. ) Here is another big one that didn’t (surprisingly) make your list: Forrest Gump. This one did make it close to the top ten, didn’t it? A: Well, I certainly agree with you about Titanic, and after my less than positive review in Slate, I had 500 pieces of hate e-mail (mostly from teenage girls and much of it unprintable here) to prove it. But while I found Titanic mostly square and dumb (not badly acted, though—DiCaprio and Winslet are marvelous romantic leads), it’s almost never pernicious. The movies I wrote about are ones I found not just overrated, but objectionably, infuriatingly overrated. Which brings us to Forrest Gump. Yes, it came close to making my top ten most hateful. I have little patience for the conceit of the radiant simpleton, and even less when the radiant simpleton is positioned as morally superior in every way to, say, anti-Vietnam War activists. But Gump was just well made (and weird) enough to keep me in my seat. Let’s put it at number eleven. 8. Conclusion Although Tom Hanks (Star in Forrest Gump) affirms that the film was non-political and thus non-judgmental, the previous examples show implications otherwise. Though the film does take a stand against disability discrimination by shedding some light on the difficulties that accompany being handicap during a callous time in American history, its motives were generally ambiguous and unclear. Based on the filmmakers unattractive outlook on counterculturalism, his lack of discretion when touching on issues like desegregation and independence, as well as his insensitive approach to the deaths of activists, we can arrive at the following conclusion: the harrowing experiences exposed in this film can be easily discarded as something warranted only by devoted individuals who attempt to foster humanity. 9. References

The Critical Contextual Studies Media Essay

The Critical Contextual Studies Media Essay Marshall McLuhan wrote of existing in the age of re-tribalised man and residing in the global village. Throughout my research I will examine these concepts in relation to the effects of modern media, especially television and the internet, and how it has changed the way we communicate with others around the world. Canadian born theorist Marashall McLuhan (1911-1980) was an English graduate turned media analisist. His first Popular book the mechanical bride looked at advertising and it was a ground breaking piece of writing as it was the first time that anyone had ever studied advertisments as a form of communication, from then McLuhan had the concept that the content of the media was irrelevant, but the form of which the media took was the importance the medium is the message. The telephone for example as a medium has significant impact on our enviroment and the way we live and communicate however the conversation we have on the telephone affects very few people just as what we print is nothing to the effect of the idea of the printed word. This can be better explained in another quote from McLuhan: the content of a medium is like a juicey piece of meat by the burgular to distract the watchdog of the mindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without rissistance he recoginised and understood the power of media and argued how it plays an important part in shaping and structuring human culture in terms of the way we communicate and the way we experience the world. we shape our tools and then our tools shape us McLuhan also saw the importance of new media technologies as new media brings new forms of communication. Mcluhan formed the concept of hot media and cool media: In this theory McLuhan gave the lable of hot media to forms of media that stimulate only one of the human senses whilst interacting with it, for example he suggests listeing to the radio or reading a book, watching a film, Viewing a photograph or sitting in a lecture require one sense. However cool media requires more active partisipation this form of media can be Conversation, television, telephone, comics, the seminar. he belives the electonic age offers a more diverse multi sensory environment, he claims we use more of our senses with multimedia rather than singlular media and this makes us more true to our natural state. In this theory Mcluhan looks simplistically to the physical interaction in terms of senses and doesnt acknowledge the engagment the singular media has to our imagination or to our sentiment. Although McLuhan is incredibley insightful he does get critised for not leaving room for evaluation, he looks generally and broadly not looking at individuality or things suc h as values; as indicated in a dibate with Norman Mailer 1968. Re-tribalised Man McLuhan had another theory were he defined three ages of man, separated according to the means of the form of communication (media) used and which of our senses is involed. In this theory McLuhan identifies the first age was the preliterate or tribal era Where the spoken word was the main way to communicate and our hearing was our most important sense, He also identified the second age is the gutenberg Age where the main media was the written word (print) and our sight became more important than our hearing. McLuhan then goes on to suggest the third age is the electronic age of the re-tribalized Man where all our senses are involved in the interaction to the form of media. Mcluhan doesnt suggest the book or the print is not still important, there is just a shift in the nature of the book; by this he means there is change with how we interact with books and how much we depend on it. As the book before digital media was the sourse of all our information about the world and each other. before the book we relied on verbal communication to exchange information to and from each other, it was a communal interactive experience where as the book is a very private experience and he sees we are shifting back to a more social interactive way of sharing information. Mcluhan compares the writen word to an assembley line where words like parts are moving in one diraction and assembled one part at a time and he speaks of how at the time the assembley line has changed where its no longer one component at a time its now as many parts delivered mechanically all at once where ever possible. he says you relise its no longer a line but an open field , He also talkes of the tribal man in this quote The world is like a continually sounding tribal drum constantly bangingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the princess gets married in London bang bang bang we hear about ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Global Village McLuhan saw technology as having become an extension of our senses. McLuhan saw the Radio or Telephone as an extension of the ear and Television and Computer as being the extension of our eyes. These technologies allowed us to project our senses beyond our limited physical range. He saw the pace of which we can communicate through electronic media is parallel to the speed of our senses. Through technology such as the telephone, television, computer systems and the Internet, we are able to Interact with people across the world as quickly as it would take us to contact and converse with the people who inhabit the same physical space as us (i.e the people that live in the same village). To understand what McLuhan means with the term global village we need to identify what he meant by village in this metaphor. In a sense the village represents a small environment in which people can easily communicate and interact quickly and know of all the events that takes place. As McLuhan writes: Time has ceased, space has vanished. We now live in a global village a simultaneous happening McLuhan is communicating the idea that through our extended senses we can now share and experience things on a global scale, we can share things with people on the other side of the world, as if we were with people in the same physical space. McLuhan also saw the global village as a potentially invasive community in an interview McLuhan says: the global village isnt a place where you have harmony. It has extreme concern in everyone elses business and much involvement in everyone elses life. it means huge involvement in everyones affairsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The global village is as big as a planet and as small as a village post office. In many senses I think McLuhan was very insightful when talking about the global village to the shift into the digital age of which we live today, particularly when analyzing the quote above and applying it to social media such as Facebook . On sites like Facebook there is constant dramas and bickering whether this is caused by over sharing some information or people digging into someone elses information, so we can see validation in McLuhans quote. However there are many good qualities to social media too such as being instantly connected to friends and family across the world. I can also see that McLuhan also had something in his idea about certain medias being an extension of our physical selves, although he did not mean it literally one can see that todays generation are constantly attached to their mobile phones, although its not actually physically part of us we are rarely without it as if it were a detachable appendage. The device is kept at hand like a pair of glasses. I think McLuhan is not only correct when talking about the computer or telephone but also television, I think it can allow us to experience the world and some situations as close as we can without physically being there, like living life looking through a window we get to see what world wide tragedies are being broadcast in the news as if we were there viewing it for ourselves. With television we can get to experience a reality from a distance.

Howl & Kaddish By Allen Ginsberg Essay -- essays research papers fc

As you read the first lines of "Howl" and "Kaddish", the overall tone of the poem hits you right in the face. Allen Ginsberg, the poet, presents these two poems as complaints and injustices. He justifies these complaints in the pages that follow. Ginsberg also uses several literary techniques in these works to enhance the images for the reader. His own life experiences are mentioned in the poems, the majority of his works being somewhat biographical. It is said that Allen Ginsberg was ahead of his time, but in fact he was just riding the wave of a literature revolution. The decade of the 1950’s was a time of change. America and the world was experiencing a transition from innocence to a more knowledgeable society. Revolutions in all aspects of life were going on: civil rights, sexual, rock and roll and the introduction of new experimental drugs in the communities of San Francisco and Greenwich Village. Out of all of these revolutions came the beat generatio n, a group of young Bohemian writers who wrote and thought about the things that Americans used to "throw under the rug". Names can be mentioned: Jack Kerouac, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Felinghetti. Perhaps the most famous and most criticized of these "beatniks" is Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 in Newark, New Jersey. His mother, Naomi, was a Russian immigrant, and his father Louis was a poet and Paterson, NJ teacher. Allen’s childhood was not always a happy one; Naomi went back and forth from mental hospitals and endured the physical abuse of Louis. She also had Communist leanings, thinking that spies were out to get her and that Hitler was on the way. All of these are mentioned in some of Allen’s works, the topic of many of them. After being dismissed from Columbia University, he joined the merchant marines and sailed to the West Coast. In San Francisco he befriended young men just like himself: angry, pessimistic about the future, confused about their sexuality, and not knowing what their place in life really was. After he was released from the merchant marines, he went back to the Bay Area. These young men began to hold meetings where they would read poems and share ideas. They also formed a sense of friendship, because they were all that they really had. "Howl" is a three part poem writte... ... City Lights Books San Francisco 1956 Ginsberg, Allen Kaddish and other Poems City Lights Books San Francisco 1961 Hyde, Lewis (Editor) On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor, MI 1984 Merill, Thomas. Allen Ginsberg Twayne Publishers Boston 1988 Stephanchev, Stephen. American Poetry Since 1945 Harper and Row Publishers New York 1965 Turco, Lewis. Visions and Revisions of American Poetry The University of Arkansas Press Fayetteville, AK 1986 Footnotes 1) Eberhart, Richard "West Coast Rhythms" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 2) Rexroth, Kenneth "San Francisco Letter" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 3) Eberhart, Richard "West Coast Rhythms" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 4) Grossman, Allen "Allen Ginsberg:The Jew as an American Poet" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 5) Shapiro, Harvey. "Exalted Comfort" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 6) Alvarez, A. "Ginsberg and the He rd Instinct" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg 7) Shaprio, Harvey. "Exalted Comfort" from On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg"

The Vietnam Wars Effects on American Society Essay -- Vietnam War Ess

The Vietnam War's Effects on American Society Abstract The Vietnam War had a profound effect on American society. It changed the way we viewed our government, the media, and our Constitutional rights. Because of this shift in perspective, the country was torn apart and yet still came together in new and different ways. The Vietnam War's contraversiality spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself. These changes in the behavior of society have left a lasting mark on our perception and the demand to be informed since that influencial period of social turmoil. The Vietnam War's Effects on American Society  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Vietnam War had a profound effect on American society. It provided a contraversial issue that formed a catalyst for a social structure just ready to be provoked. When the American public became aware of the situation at hand, through the recently unchained media, it was only a matter of time before there was some form of action or reaction. The media played a key role in the empowerment of the sway of the people. With the addition of television journelism, a whole new depth was added to how people percieved what they were being told, because there was an added truth to seeing it. People rising and uniting in protest, and journelists bucking the government-imposed censorship began stretching the limits to how far we would take our rights to free expression. There were said to be three stages of the antiwar movements. "The first phase (1964-1965) was idealistic. The second phase (1966-1968) was more pragmatic, a period when young people characteristically protested not on principal but out of a desire not to be drafted and killed. The third phase (1969-1972) coincided with the de- Americanization of the war"(Jeffreys-Jones, 43). In phase one, people either supported the war or thought they had a clear path on how to stop it. At this point, the issue at hand appeared pretty black and white. As the years progressed, into the second phase, the protest became a little more frantic. The realization that the war was real became more apparent, people were being killed and that was that. This revealed several more shades of grey, bu... ... objectors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.geocities.com/~104670/vietnam/authors/75AND4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  602/index.html Heirser, J.M. (1974). Vietnam studies: Logistic support.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Washington D.C.: Department of the Army. Hershberger, M. (1998). Traveling to Vietnam: American peace   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  activists and the war. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University Press. Herring, G.C. (1994). LBJ and Vietnam: A different kind of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  war. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Vietnam 13 Jeffreys-Jones, R. (1999). Peace now! London: Yale   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  University Press. Katsiafica, G. (1984). Vietnam documents: American and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vietnamese views of the war. Armonk, New York: M.E.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sharpe. McCormick, A.L. (2000). The Vietnam antiwar movement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Berkely Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc. "People's Parkers neamed their real goals". (1969, June   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8). San Franscisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle. San   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fransisco. p. 12. Schlight, J. (1986). Indochina war symposium. Washington DC:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  US Government Printing Office. Spector, R.H. (1984, April 7) "Researching the Vietnam   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experience". Historical Analysis Series. p. 30-31.

Emily Dickinson :: essays research papers

Delve into a world constructed from images and thoughts streaming along at the speed of light. Watch them flow as they for buildings, people, animals and objects. Streaming along at the speed of light, one can only catch glimpses of what is truly concealed within by the river. As it travels through the mind, it touches everything. Forming, altering, defining, nothing is truly what it seems or what we interpret it to be. Hidden within the stream lies powers that are truly incomprehensible to the human mind. In â€Å"Your thoughts don’t have words†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Emily Dickinson intertwines this realization within the constructs of her poem. Dickinson explores the complex world of the mind through her poem. She delves into the realization that what we know and what flows though are minds are truly two different things and that these two things are as different as night and day. In the first two lines â€Å"Your thoughts don’t have words every day, they come a single time† can be best put into an analogy. One’s thoughts come streaming into one’s mind, flooding and saturating ones thoughts. Because one’s thoughts come pouring in without any restraint, the mind must maintain itself in the only way it seems possible. Thus, our thoughts speak with words, sentences, images that we can comprehend and understand. The next two lines, lines three and four, further solidify this interpretation. â€Å"Like signal esoteric sips of the Communion Wine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  communicates the idea that what we are able to think and comprehend is only a fraction what truly flows through our minds. As fast as we can interpret our thoughts, thousands more stream by without us even realizing it. As the lines state, the thoughts that we interpret are as occasional as when we sip the Communion Wine, coming to us only once every so often because we are always preoccupied with so many other things. However, despite the fact that we only realize a tiny fraction of the thoughts that comes to us, they are truly as precious as the Communion Wine. Lines five and six bring the realization that all that is our thoughts are just the ideas and concepts that we are familiar with. Thus, making it easier for our minds to interpret the concepts with greater ease. â€Å"Which while you taste so native seems so easy so to be†¦Ã¢â‚¬  reiterates this concept. The lines are saying that the thoughts that we interpret are familiar, or native, to us and that is why they are so easy to comprehend.

What a Black Man Wants Rhetorical Analysis

Fredrick Douglas wrote and presented his What the Black Man Wants speech during the post civil war time period to demonstrate his straightforward views on the fact that even though the black race had just acquired freedom, they remained without equality and civil rights which gave their current freedom no meaning. Throughout his entire speech, Douglas rules over his audience with his parallel and emotional diction choice along with his assertive tone shifting towards anger and the answering of his own questions multiple times to emphasize his seriousness.When Fredrick speaks to his audience, he does not choose all his words with the separation of blacks and whites in mind. He uses words such as â€Å"our†, â€Å"my friends† , or â€Å"my fellow men†, which he uses whenever he talks of his race’s desires. His words combine the whites and blacks as one, displaying to his audience that despite the discrimination, Douglas still believes that everyone is all pa rt of the same family. He places these including words all throughout his speech, assisting in the audiences grip of what Douglas wants them to know.He wants them to know everything he views about his desires for civil rights and is confidently upfront about it, using phrases such as â€Å"I want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  or â€Å"All i ask for is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in a parallel structure that way the audience does not miss one single detail. This is why throughout the entirety of his speech a lot of the same equality words resurface, and the repetitive use of the same phrases, typically starting with â€Å"I†, or â€Å"We†, or â€Å"Us†, do so as well.Again, he does this on purpose that way every point he makes and every desire he wishes to see fulfilled is imbedded in each audience members mind, and hopefully sparks a desire in at least one of them for a change. Although Fredrick approaches his diction choice with an emotional and parallel structure, his assertive tone is w hat is really at work. His entire purpose, in short, is to persuade people towards equal treatment of races and civil rights for black people.He states what he wants, backs it up with his intense emotional views and points he wants to make, and uses the same sentence structure throughout the whole speech so that the audience does not miss a beat. Fredrick openly says in the second paragraph, â€Å"I do not agree with this. †, when talking about the objection of the premature Negro’s rights to suffrage. He openly discusses his emotions towards other topics of conflict as well without any fear. In paragraph three he gladly admits, â€Å"†¦women, as well as men, have the right to vote, and my heart and voice go with the movement to extend suffrage to women†¦Ã¢â‚¬ This sentence adds rocket fuel to Fredricks lunar expedition to justice. During his time period, women’s suffrage was almost as sought for as Black’s suffrage, therefore by extending his wishes for civil rights to the opposite gender and race he wins the favor of most women further strengthening his purpose. His attitude strengthens as well come paragraph four. His tone shifts from being assertive to angry.He starts exclaiming his thoughts on the white folks need for antagonising; how they should â€Å"Do nothing with us! † a instead of harassing a black man they should, â€Å"Let him alone! You see him on his way to school, let him alone, don’t disturb him! † His anger creates an emotional anchor in the audience that isn’t sympathy like he requested no one to have, but guilt. Just as seen in the scarlet letter, guilt holds more power over other individuals than anything else, therefore this anchor will hopefully set forth the action to change within his audience.Douglas uses his deeply assertive tone to address multiple rhetorical questions that hold high significance to him. There is a recurring pattern as well. He asks each question a t a minimum of two times each, immediately provided the answer to the specific question, stating the answer a few times as well, or even answering it with another question like he did in paragraph three when he says, â€Å"Why do we want it?†¦ This is the sufficient answer. Shall we at this moment justify the deprivation of the Negro of the right to vote, because someone else is deprived of that privilege?†These questions he asks come directly from the white people, and maintain high topics of interest to Douglas. That’s why when he goes over each one, he tends to be more and more assertive and angry as he nears the end. He wants nothing more than to spark a change. He hopes that by making an emotional impact while dropping an anchor on top of them with all black peoples thoughts carved into it, that they will take responsibility and for once make justice.His rhetorical question from paragraph four where he imitates, â€Å"What shall we do  with the Negro? â₠¬ , his answer of â€Å"Do nothing! Leave him alone! † is an example of him being the spokesman for his race. Although this is demonstrated throughout the entire speech, it is more so present in the questions in the third and fourth paragraphs. He took a whole new approach and stated his opinions with a hope that his audience would make the right choice with the info. Just the fact that he presents this speech after the civil war when they were granted freedom really intensifies the problem of civil justice.Fredrick Douglas showed his audience that that freedom they had acquired honestly hardly meant a thing besides the fact that they couldn’t be owned anymore and could attend schools. Not only was his audience impacted but his fellow citizens as well. Through his parallel and heavy diction choice combined with his intense tone, and his direct focus on making sure that white people understood the answers to all the questions and points of view, his speech with heavy h opes would inspire the few good-hearted people out there to spark that needed change in racial justice. What a Black Man Wants Rhetorical Analysis Fredrick Douglas wrote and presented his What the Black Man Wants speech during the post civil war time period to demonstrate his straightforward views on the fact that even though the black race had just acquired freedom, they remained without equality and civil rights which gave their current freedom no meaning. Throughout his entire speech, Douglas rules over his audience with his parallel and emotional diction choice along with his assertive tone shifting towards anger and the answering of his own questions multiple times to emphasize his seriousness.When Fredrick speaks to his audience, he does not choose all his words with the separation of blacks and whites in mind. He uses words such as â€Å"our†, â€Å"my friends† , or â€Å"my fellow men†, which he uses whenever he talks of his race’s desires. His words combine the whites and blacks as one, displaying to his audience that despite the discrimination, Douglas still believes that everyone is all pa rt of the same family. He places these including words all throughout his speech, assisting in the audiences grip of what Douglas wants them to know.He wants them to know everything he views about his desires for civil rights and is confidently upfront about it, using phrases such as â€Å"I want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  or â€Å"All i ask for is†¦Ã¢â‚¬  in a parallel structure that way the audience does not miss one single detail. This is why throughout the entirety of his speech a lot of the same equality words resurface, and the repetitive use of the same phrases, typically starting with â€Å"I†, or â€Å"We†, or â€Å"Us†, do so as well.Again, he does this on purpose that way every point he makes and every desire he wishes to see fulfilled is imbedded in each audience members mind, and hopefully sparks a desire in at least one of them for a change. Although Fredrick approaches his diction choice with an emotional and parallel structure, his assertive tone is w hat is really at work. His entire purpose, in short, is to persuade people towards equal treatment of races and civil rights for black people.He states what he wants, backs it up with his intense emotional views and points he wants to make, and uses the same sentence structure throughout the whole speech so that the audience does not miss a beat. Fredrick openly says in the second paragraph, â€Å"I do not agree with this. †, when talking about the objection of the premature Negro’s rights to suffrage. He openly discusses his emotions towards other topics of conflict as well without any fear.In paragraph three he gladly admits, â€Å"†¦women, as well as men, have the right to vote, and my heart and voice go with the movement to extend suffrage to women†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This sentence adds rocket fuel to Fredricks lunar expedition to justice. During his time period, women’s suffrage was almost as sought for as Black’s suffrage, therefore by extending his wishes for civil rights to the opposite gender and race he wins the favor of most women further strengthening his purpose. His attitude strengthens as well come paragraph four. His tone shifts from being assertive to angry.He starts exclaiming his thoughts on the white folks need for antagonising; how they should â€Å"Do nothing with us! † a instead of harassing a black man they should, â€Å"Let him alone! You see him on his way to school, let him alone, don’t disturb him! † His anger creates an emotional anchor in the audience that isn’t sympathy like he requested no one to have, but guilt. Just as seen in the scarlet letter, guilt holds more power over other individuals than anything else, therefore this anchor will hopefully set forth the action to change within his audience.Douglas uses his deeply assertive tone to address multiple rhetorical questions that hold high significance to him. There is a recurring pattern as well. He asks each question a t a minimum of two times each, immediately provided the answer to the specific question, stating the answer a few times as well, or even answering it with another question like he did in paragraph three when he says, â€Å"Why do we want it?†¦ This is the sufficient answer. Shall we at this moment justify the deprivation of the Negro of the right to vote, because someone else is deprived of that privilege?†These questions he asks come directly from the white people, and maintain high topics of interest to Douglas. That’s why when he goes over each one, he tends to be more and more assertive and angry as he nears the end. He wants nothing more than to spark a change. He hopes that by making an emotional impact while dropping an anchor on top of them with all black peoples thoughts carved into it, that they will take responsibility and for once make justice.His rhetorical question from paragraph four where he imitates, â€Å"What shall we dowith the Negro? †, his answer of â€Å"Do nothing! Leave him alone! † is an example of him being the spokesman for his race. Although this is demonstrated throughout the entire speech, it is more so present in the questions in the third and fourth paragraphs. He took a whole new approach and stated his opinions with a hope that his audience would make the right choice with the info. Just the fact that he presents this speech after the civil war when they were granted freedom really intensifies the problem of civil justice.Fredrick Douglas showed his audience that that freedom they had acquired honestly hardly meant a thing besides the fact that they couldn’t be owned anymore and could attend schools. Not only was his audience impacted but his fellow citizens as well. Through his parallel and heavy diction choice combined with his intense tone, and his direct focus on making sure that white people understood the answers to all the questions and points of view, his speech with heavy hopes would inspire the few good-hearted people out there to spark that needed change in racial justice.