Search results for 'tag:Negatives tag:Resume' matching tags 'Negatives' and 'Resume'

Re: hypocrisy/false modesty

Clive — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:12:10 GMT

Hi,

We often resort to hypocrisy/false modesty in order not to hurt people's feelings in their presence.

For me, the two terms are pretty close in meaning, and I'd like to test if they are interchangeable. I presume "hypocrisy" implies negative meanings while "false modesty" doesn't. Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

Hypocrisy - Relates to pretending to have feelings, principles, morals that are not your own.

False modesty - Relates to pretending to be modest, but doing it in a way that shows people you really have feelings that are not modest, feelings of pride.

These terms don't really seem very close to me. The most you could argue is that false modesty may be seen as one of many ways that one can be a hypocrite.

'Hypocrisy' is a much more serious accusation than 'false modesty', which is a relatively minor fault. That's why the use of the term 'hypocrisy' in your sample sentence seems rather harsh and inappropriate. At the same time, I don't think 'false modesty' really fits the meaning, either, because people are not usually falsely modest for the purpose of being kind to others.

Best wishes, Clive

hypocrisy/false modesty

Angliholic — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:32:19 GMT

Re: I want to learn to speak clearly-What do I have to know/do?

Anonymous — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:49:57 GMT

I stumbled across this discussion unintentionally, looking for something completely unrelated, but was intrigued by the problems described, which relate to some I have experienced myself. Although there may not be any link in individual cases, Grrrr's connection of poor speaking with blushing is highly relevant and the following are my thoughts after years of self-observation and thought.

It is important to realise that neither problem is actually very important objectively, except perhaps causing some irritation and distraction to others present who find it difficult to understand your behaviour, but it takes on great seriousness in the eyes of the sufferer and can cause considerable self-loathing and even despair. I believe that both problems are symptoms of an abnormally heightened conciousness of one's self (which in itself is an attribute of intelligence, thoughtfulness and sensitivity). If you try harder to overcome these problems the result is a vicious circle of heightened self-conciousness. I agree with Grrrrrr that the solution to blushing is to ignore it, but that can be impossibly difficult. I have found that speaking to a group of people is actually easier than talking one-on-one, especially if you are being asked questions and forced to think of the answer under pressure, rather than concentrating on the words themselves. The reason for this is that the concentration required for this, takes your attention away from yourself. In a more relaxed environment, you can suddenly find yourself drawing attention to yourself, blushing and/or finding it difficult to express youself naturally.

This un-controllable behaviour is a form of self-punishment, leading to feelings of guilt and self-pity, which in turn reinforces the reaction next time it is triggered. I have discovered that it is no good trying to understand why or what might be causing the problem (which may not be anything significant), but I can say how I cured it, or at least got it reduced to a level not noticed by other people. You need the help of someone you entirely trust and who trusts you, in my case my partner. First admit you have a problem, and explain all your feelings honestly. This is probably the most difficult and painful step.

Once your partner understands the problem (if not already too well aware), you need to establish a daily or weekly routine roughly along the following lines. Probably unlike your previous attempts at a cure, the aim is not to tackle the problem itself directly, but rather the effects which it produces, mainly irrational guilt and self-pity. My partner agreed to note the offending behaviour, but ignore it. However, at regular intervals my partner would ask me to go over my feelings of every incident of self-conciousness I had suffered since last time, adding any additional observations if I "forgot". This was quite painful at first, and my partner would mercilessly reprimand me. This has to be done quite severely without any sympathy, because it is essential to avoid any expression of pity which will lead to that most negative of emotions, self-pity. My partner would terminate the quite unpleasant chastisement with an admonishment that I stop this undesirable behaviour followed by a sharp slap which closed the matter symbolically, cleared my feelings of guilt, stopped all further discussion, and allowed us both to put the confrontation behind us without any brooding or rancour. We would resume normal relations with a clean slate until the next session.

These sessions were quite tiring and mentally painful at the time, even more so for my partner who had to force an unsympathetic coldness and lack of pity which did not come naturally. But in a matter of days I found a noticeable improvement in my feelings about myself, and after a few weeks the problem of self-conciousness gradually receded from my thoughts, and the "treatment" was needed less and less, eventually stopping altogether.

Re: TOEIC Question IV

Pioussoul — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:14:43 GMT

Nona The Brit wrote:
How about
Not to be able to eat cake, that would be torture to me.

To not be able to eat cake, that would be torture to me.

I also googled up a book entitled 'How to not hate maths' and I see that as a different meaning to 'How not to hate maths'.

It seems to me that there are times when 'to not' is more appropriate than 'not to'.

Hi, Nona,

I concur completely with you in that there are times when "to not'" is more appropriate than "not to."

Nonetheless, in your case, I presume both are all right. 'How to not hate maths' is an instance of splitting infinitives, which are increasingly acceptable for native speakers. On the other hand, 'How not to hate maths' is a case of negative forms of infinitives, which are correct without a doubt.

Can anybody correct this please!? Thanks a lot :)

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:39:02 GMT

Hello X,

Thank you for your interest in X. I was very impressed with your cover letter/resume. We are in a very busy period right now with upcoming events and I will not have time to speak to you until early April. In reality, we could use you as an intern NOW! Come April, if you are still researching internships, please call me to discuss opportunities at X.

Take care, X

Here is what i want to write back. I need to tell him that i need a positive or negative response before the end of march. Does this work?!

Thanks Mr. X for your kind response. I realize how difficult it can be to get everything done when you have lots of things to do.

However, my university puts a lot of pressure on student about the importance of the internship to be in place by the end of March (this is basically the reason why I am planning everything so much ahead of time even if the internship will start in October).

Squeezing out 20 minutes from an extremely busy schedule can get impossible in some cases, but if you got those 20 minutes just let me know. I can assure you it will not be a waste of time and that a phone interview will not do anything but convince you that I am the person you need are that you are looking for.

Thanks again for your time,

grammatical check

Murajica — Fri, 12 May 2006 02:19:51 GMT

Dear Members!

I am a new member and I would need some urgent academic help. Tomorrow i have to submit an essay for my postgraduate study. as Slovenian I am not sure if everything is in order in the essay. I attached the essay in this message. If anybody would consider looking into my essay I would be more then glad about that.

Introduction

This essay represents a possible answer to the question of the transforming the form of power from classical physical, person-to-person alike configurations to the new formation of ubiquitous - virtual â power. In contemporary society the classical Benthamâs idea of Panopticon has been employed to society as an âElectronic Panopticonâ wherein government agencies, commercial interests and corporations use information technologies to sort people into âgroupsâ or âtypesâ. Supervisors exert power over the supervised in some manner or other (King 2001). As some authors still interpret Western society with the few-watch-many panopticon model, called as exclusionary fortress (King 2001), others are more focused on many-watch-few the Synopticon model (Bauman 1998). Yet, essay examines the similarities and differences of those two models, with an additional consideration to a hybrid model of the superpanopticism.

Why is than that this utilitarian two hundred years old idea of panopticon survived and extended in to new â hybrid â forms? This essay provides also the retrospective of the development of the power and public surveillance from the panoptic initial idea till nowadays electronic global power.

The spread of globalization and electronic era brought new technologies in everybodyâs everyday life. Over all, I should repeat the questions raised by Lyon (1994) whether do those new technologies spell a qualitatively new surveillance? If so, does this add up to the emergence of a more authoritarian, prison-like society? I conclude with the question if this is really prison-like society for everybody or only for non reluctant citizen. Therefore, is the new society really the limited society? Do we as contemporary residents have lack of opportunities and live in virtual cells or are we all just blinded and idled of all opportunities?

But again, what about the residents of the non-western, âunderdevelopedâ world â under what source and type of the surveillance do they live and what is their opportunity of resistance when they choose to âenterâ the West â so called surveillance society. What does it mean to shift the âreal jungleâ with the âmanufactured jungleâ?

From Panopticon to Synopticon

Todayâs society is often called as surveillance society. Many consider contemporary society as Post-Panopticon society, as a copy of initial idea of the total, the 360 degree surveillance area.

In the eighteen century a British reformer Jeremy Bentham presented the blueprint of optimal surveillance object called the Panopticon. This rounded structure with the watch tower in the axis of circle gives the gatekeeper/supervisor the ability to see all without being seen; ultimately it gives the keeper the ability to exert power over the inmates. Primary, it was meant to revolutionise the way in which prisons were administrate (King 2001). âThere were no more bars, no more chains, no more heavy locksâ¦â (Foucault 1991: 202)

In the Panopticon, the peripheral mass cannot see the observers, and must assume that someone may be watching over them at all time (Boyne 2000). One of the most influential theoretic of the philosophy of Panopticon, Michael Foucault describes it as a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad. In the ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing, when on the other side in the core tower, one sees everything without ever being seen (Foucault 1991). Another weighty sociologist Zygmunt Bauman foremostly sees Panopticon as a weapon against difference, choice and variety (1998). In this point, we can presume that Panopticon is really an opposite idea of democracy. But, as we will see latter, many connect the panopticism with the Western democratic society. Bauman further claims that âThe Panopticonâs main purpose was to install discipline and to impose a uniform pattern on the behaviour of its inmates.â (Bauman 1998:50)

A pictorial description of original Benthamâs Panopticon was provided by Foucault, describing it as an architectural figure of this composition. He describes the principle on which it was based:

ââ¦at the periphery, an annular building; at the centre, tower. A watchtower is pierced with wide windows that open onto inner side of the ring. The peripheral building is divided into cells, each of which extends the whole width of the building. They have two windows, one on the inside, corresponding to the windows of the tower; the other, on the outside, allows the light to cross the cell from one end to other. All that is needed, than, is a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman, a patient, a condemned man, a worker or a school boy.â (Foucault 1991: 200)

While poignant, the architecture of Foucaultâs version of Benthamâs Panopticon produces a kind of double vision; two different, divergent stories of the development of evidently modern relations of surveillance, domination and control. Firstly, the story of what goes on with the supervisor or inspector in the central tower and secondly what happens to the person in the cell. The tale of the supervisor takes us to the techniques of observation, information gathering, data management, simulation and to (what Foucault later describes as) âa biopolitics of the populationâ (Simon 2005). George Orwell (1984 in Simon 2005:4) precisely describes the effect as a result of Panopticon:

âThere was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the timeâ¦ You had to live â did live, from habit that became instinct â in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized.â

The Panoptic machine makes one visible and at the same time it hides the operations (motives, practice, and ethics) of the supervisor. This relation (being seen without being able to see) provides uncertainty which become a source of anxiety, discomfort and even terror (Simon 2005).

In The Panopticon also the observers were under possible control, it may ever provide an apparatus for supervising its own mechanisms. (Foucault 1991)

One of the important deficiencies of the Panopticon model was exposed by Simon (2005). Though, the Panopticon makes all acts in principle visible in cannot distinguish between acts that conform to the rules and acts which pretend co conform to the rules. Nevertheless, the idea of Panopticon is not always the optimal explanation for the role of power in the modern society. Although, as we will se latter, we can easily name modern public sphere with Foucaultian expression âlaboratory of powerâ, has the contemporary society mirrored the sight to the surveillance. The supervision of the few watching the many has turned to the many watching the few.

Reading with Foucault rather than against him Mathesion (in Simon 2005) theorizes a role for the synoptic machine of the contemporary culture industries; accounted for by the critical theory tradition. By the critics like Mathesion and Baudrillard the individualâs relation to the modern media is rather synoptic than panoptic; the relation is extremely visual, where the many (an audience) observe the few (the television programme). But yet we can argue, that provided synoptic apparatus is in tight symbiosis with the panoptic. But one can at this point draw on media theory and argue that synoptic function of the media is the production of homogenous knowledge and wide spread culture (ibid.).

At this point in the theory, the Synopticon emerged as the hybrid version of the Panopticon. Thomas Mathiesen coined the memorial phrase, where the introduction of panoptical power represented a fundamental transformation from situation where the few watch the many to a situation where the many watch the few (Bauman 1998). Bauman (1998) further adds that Synopticon is in its nature global. The watchers are united from their locality and at least spiritually they are transported into cyberspace. Distance no longer matters, even if bodily they remain in place. Globalization is not about what we all wish or hope to do, it is about what happening in the worldwide level, it is about what is happening to all of us (ibid.). It does not matter any more if the targets of the Synopticon mutated from the watched into the watchers stay in the place or move around the globe. And who are the new watched population at whom Synopticon âaim its arrowsâ?

âThe many watch the few. The few who are watched are the celebrities. They may come from the world of politics, of sport, of science or show business, or just be celebrated information specialists. Wherever they come from, though, all displayed celebrities put on display the world of celebrities â a world whose main distinctive feature is precisely the quality of being watched â by many, and in all corners of the globe: of being global in their capacity of being watched.â (Bauman 1998:53)

The main difference by the word of Bauman (1998) is that Panopticon forced people into the position where they could be watched, but Synopticon on the other hand needs no coercion. People are seduced into watching and the watched few are tightly selected. Surveillance and consecutively the power are therefore spreading among all of us. We-as the audience are all the part of Synopticon and therefore we are all in the possession of power. We have the possibility to survey and the possibility to be a part of the apparatus. The fictive power is dividing from our television receiver to yours receiver. The power and the surveillance are spreading through the signals, networks and internet connections and they are imaginatively connecting us. Ultimately, we are all part of the game of surveillance, gathered in the electronic arena, where in a fictive menagerie we watch over the selected few. We are covetous for their private life. Their privacy is our required publicity.

The development of new technologies and new techniques of power, consist â on the contrary â in the many watching the few. That is shown in the rise of mass media â television more than any other. That leads to the creation, alongside the Panopticon, of another power mechanism which, coining another apt phrase â Synopticon (Bauman 1998).

History review of surveillance and power

Lyon (1994) sets out as prominent work about surveillance two main traditions the Marxian and the Weberian. Karl Marxâs special attention on surveillance is in aspect of the struggle between labour and capital, where worker is viewed as a means of maintaining managerial control on behalf of capital. Opposite, Max Webber concentrates on the manners that all modern organizations develop means of storing and retrieving data in the form of files as part of the quest of efficient practice within bureaucracy. Such files contain personal information so that government can supervise population. Furthermore, we should opt on Foucaultâs contribution to surveillance theory. He claims that modern societies have introduced and employed a range of disciplinary practices rather than relaying on external controls and constrains. This practice is necessary for life to continue in a regularized patterned way. (Lyon 1994)

For Foucault (1991) the panopticism is the general principle of new political elites, who use it as a relation of discipline and not the relation of sovereignty. He sees the idea of panopticism have spread over the globe:

ââ¦although the universal juridicism of modern society seems to fix limits on the exercise of power, its universally widespread panopticism enables it to operate, in the underside of the law, a machinery that is both immense and minute, which supports, reinforces, multiplies the asymmetry of power and undermines the limits that are traced around the law. /â¦/ in the genealogy of modern society, they have been, with the class domination that traverses it, the political counterpart of the juridical norms according to which power is redistributed. (Foucault 1991: 223)

Governments in 1960s and 1970s developed large-scale date integration projects, which had raised the fear of the omniscient âBig Brotherâ state. In that time individuals knew when data about them, and for whom and for what reason had been collected. Surveillance systems at that time were discrete and bounded. The concept of databanks expressed a technological and political reality that personal information system had some clear boundaries (Bennett 2001). 1970s were also the time of Orwellian Big Brother states.â This position might be contrasted with that of Lyon (1994) who kept the Orwellian nightmare of 1984 at bay with a Foucauldian emphasis on discipline but has moved on (Lyon, 2001) to incorporate some of the arguments about risk society from Beck.â (Lyon, 2001:10-113).

Anthony Giddens (in Lyon 1994) describes some differences of surveillance in the western societies and the surveillance in the totalitarian eastern block. He finds a gap distinction between surveillance as âgathering data onâ and âsupervisingâ people. Giddens claims that totalitarianism is, first of all, an extreme focusing of surveillance (ibid.). But the changes in the political systems, the global technological progress and above all the globalization changed the rules. To conquer and survey the world, one does not need to be present in all places for all the time.

âIn the world we inhabit, distance does not seem to matter much. Sometimes it seems that it exists solely in order to be cancelled; as if space was but a constant invitation to slight it, refute and deny. Space stopped being an obstacle â one needs just a split second to conquer it.â (Bauman 1998:77)

In fact, as Kavanagh (1996 in Bauman 1998) stated, globalization is a paradox. While it is very beneficial to a very few, it leaves out or marginalizes two-thirds of the world.

Latest surveillance studies have gone further than Foucault in demonstrating new data collection with sophisticated, yet manipulated forms to alter, manage or even control the live chances of the supervised person (Gandy 1993). As an example Simon (2005) proposes census data, used to generate profiles of various populations to guide the development of government policies, which have further define effects on persons, independent of their knowledge. Only a step away is insurance data, credit information, marketing data etc. In all this cases, data obtained from people is managed independently and used to structure the lives of those people.

New forms of surveillance

As we see, in the contemporarily people are facing the paradoxical situation, where everybody can be the object of observation and simultaneously the subject that execute the surveillance. The strength of the surveillance is taking away our privacy; it prevails into ours most intimate moment and places. The systems of surveillance possess the power for assembling and finally to assemble all needed information that we have ever put into the circulation. Our credit card or post code of our home address, calls made from the mobile and even type of food that we buy in our favourite shop with our favourite club card all tell more about us than we would at anytime wanted to be known. In the traditionally disciplinary the object of surveillance was the body but in âdataveillanceâ the object of control is simply the digital representation of the body (Simon 2005). Huge data collection systems connected to each other also support each other with the latest information about us and use us and information about us as crucial capital and power.

âNo one is spying on us, exactly, although for many people that is what it feels like if and when they find out just how detailed a picture of us is available. âTheyâ know things about us, but we often donât know what they know, why they know, or with whom else they might share their knowledge.â (Lyon 1994:4)

Dataveillance (the collection, organization and storage of information about persons) and biometrics (the use of the body as a measure of identity) have not only come into focus with the post 9/11 security consciousness of state institutions. These technologies are now becoming a regular feature of the everyday lives and culture of citizens. (Simon 2005)

Deluze (1992 in Simon 2005:17) for example claims that in societies of control what is important is no longer either a signature or a number, but a code â the code is a password and it stand in for bodies. He remarks âthe numerical language of control is made of codes that mark access to information, or reject it. We no longer find ourselves dealing with the mass/individual pair. Individuals have become âdividualsâ and masses, samples, data, markets or âbanksâ.â We can support the Deluzeâs idea with a claim that societies have shifted from disciplinary societies to societies of control. This idea parallels the critiques of panopticism, which point to a shift away from classical visual surveillance to dataveillance as a mode of ordering information. Clark (1988 in Howard et al. 2005:69) coined the term dataveillance to signify âthe systematic use of personal data systems in the investigation or monitoring of the actions or communications of one or more personsâ in an effort to analyze the potential for new digital technologies to allow âincreased surveillance of the citizen by the state, and the consumer by the corporation.â

Simon (2005) claims, that the surveillance apparatus does not act on bodies or minds but on information about them. Thus, we can say that dataveillance corresponds to the modulatory effects of power, as it is described by Deleuze (1992 in Simon 2005:15):

âthe image of a city âwhere one would be able to leave oneâs apartment, oneâs street, oneâs neighbourhood, thanks to oneâs âdividual electronic card that raises a given barrier; but the card could just as easily be rejected on a given day or between certain hours; what counts is not the barrier but the computer that tracks each personâs position â licit or illicit â and effects a universal modulationâ.

Poster (1992) explains the shift to control societies in terms of the superpanopticism. He argues that, it does not operate through external force or expected internal norms but rather in terms of discourse and the linguistic properties of digital computation. The electronic database is the core of the superpanopticon, it is a sorting machine that organizes and produces subjects. As David Lyon summarizes:

the subject is multiplied and decentred in the database, acted on by remote computers each time a record is automatically verified or checked against another, without ever referring to the individual concerned /â¦/ computers become machines for producing retrievable identities (Lyon 2001: 115).

Poster (1992??preveri ker spodaj maÅ¡ 1996) writes about new forms of power where the unwanted surveillance of personal choice becomes a discursive reality through the willing participation of the surveilled individual. In this instance the play of power and discourse is uniquely configured. The one being surveilled provides the information necessary for surveillance.

The diagram of superpanopticism is not a diagram of surveillance in the traditional sense, no one is watching us and we do not perceive ourselves as being watched. We simply go about our business while our databased selves are assembled, scrutinized and evaluated in much more detail than the inmates at Foucaultâs Mettray prison ever experienced (ibid.).

At the same time we allow the surveillance as we are part of surveillance society â where for exchange of our information we can be part of âthe manyâ that watch âthe fewâ. We live in the Panopticon but at the same time we participate and even with ease enjoy the Synopticon. Foucaultâs version of Benthamâs plan has been upgraded, so that the inmate is aware of the gaze of the supervisor through signs of their presence. This is initially ominous tower with its shielded windows signifying the presence of the guards, but it could also easily be the insidious sign of the CCTV camera or the spy satellite as material extensions of the human eye (Simon 2005).

However, it is the sign of presence of surveillance and not its actual presence that matters here. Yet we can say that this is what makes possible to substitute fake supervisor (cameras) for real ones and still achieve the same effects of power and domination. (Norris 2003). Or as Foucault (1991:200) claims âvisibility is a trap.â

Lyon (1994) claims that interesting challenge to surveillance studies presented by processes such as computer-matching is than an essentially technical procedure contribute to the blurring of conventionally conceived boundaries.

King (2001) asserts that Panopticon is still a useful metaphor for the examination of the world we live in and as well understanding of its history and how it is mirrored in nowadays Western society.

It is on this point that the critique of Foucault takes on its strongest form. As Anthony Giddens (1990) has noted, modern surveillance can be denoted by increasing distances between the observer and the observed. So can we ultimately find the connections between the initial Panopticon prison idea and modern surveillance society? Following Gary Marx (1988 in Simon 2005) we can extrapolate from guards in the watchtower to some hi-tech management and policing systems: a kind of prototypical hybrid-police-cyborg using progressively more sophisticated technical capacity for monitoring (CCTV, infrared cameras, electronic tags), data storage (huge hard drives systems), networking (data conversion) and analysis (systems capable of advanced pattern recognition and multivariate sorting) (ibid.).

Particular forms of communication are vital aspects of what it means to be human. What we disclose to whom, and under what conditions, is highly significant. What once we might have revealed, consciously, about ourselves to someone we trust â friend, doctor, priest, therapist â may now be involuntarily disclosed by electronic means to organizations or machines that we cannot know, let alone trust, in the same way (Lyon 1994).

âPrecise details of our personal lives are collected stored, retrieved and processed every day within huge computer databases belonging to big corporations and government departments. This is âsurveillance societyâ.â (Lyon 1994:3)

An interesting comparison with the new Lyonâs surveillance society was a lot earlier provided by Foucault, when he talked about the power of the Panopticon. He considers the activity of the Panopticon also as a kind of laboratory of power. Because of its mechanisms of observation, it gains in efficiency and in the ability to penetrate into menâs behaviour; knowledge follows the advances of power, discovering new objects of knowledge over all the surfaces on which power is exercised (Foucault 1991). Introducing the Panopticon into the contemporary society, we can understand the present public sphere â surveyed, tracked and surrounded with the linked apparatuses filled with data of citizens as a huge laboratory of virtual power.

For Mark Poster the post-modern is classified as a âmode of informationâ. He raises the question of location of human self if fragments of personal data constantly circulate within computer systems, beyond any agentâs personal control. (Lyon 1994)

Further, for Bauman (1998), then, the dream of total control, exemplified by the Panopticon, is really fully applicable only within a âclockworkâ society, whose inhabitants are required to have fixed places, functions and appetites. âAdvanced Westernâ societies are not like this. On the other hand, for the inhabitants of the first world state borders are levelled down, as they are dismantled for the worldâs commodities, capital and finances. But for the inhabitant of the second world, the walls built of immigration controls, of residence laws, and of âclean streetsâ and âzero toleranceâ policies, grow taller. (Bauman 1998)

My thesis and conclusion

The provided literature and shown examples have, therefore, made a systematic case in support of the proposition that technology and advance have made possible the systems of domination and power, especially virtual apparatus to supervise with supremacy over the people of postmodernity. As power is indeed strongly roped with forms of technology, it is possible to agree that power is nowadays virtual in form, with âsurveillance /â¦/, as an institutionally central and pervasive feature of social lifeâ¦â (Lyon 1994:24)

In fact, it is interesting to accept the fact that new virtual forms of information technology are constructing society as well physically (modern surveillance systems) as also socially (changing of public behaviour, new ways of pleasure and voyeurism â when many watch the few, or surveillance for pleasure, etc.). Although, it is significant to point out that in contemporary society â as Anthony Giddens called it with felicitous phrase, a âmanufactured jungleâ no physical presence of âanotherâ is needed to perceive his influential power and surveillance; no matter what place or what moment in the society do we take into consideration.

The power of supervision has developed in recent years with the speed of the development of science and technology. With introduction of new â especially virtual technology apparatuses, one is becoming even more âthe objectâ of observation and surveillance. Discrepancy between private â intimate side of life and the public access to oneâs personal matters has blurred to the degree, where one can no more foresight when, how and by who is observed at the particular moment. Yet, I could agree with intimidated and tighten theories of âtotal disclosureâ proposed by theoretic of surveillance (Orwell, Lyon, Foucault, etc.), where apparatus of the state, economic and media govern its population in the scheme of matrix. Individual can be metaphorical staged with the famous Foucaultian quote:

âHe is seen, but he does not see he is the object of information, never a subject in communication.â (Foucault 1991: 200)

One has no more option to be under self control only, but has become the object of the total observation drawled in the matrix of the mass.

Is the new democracy really the new totalitarianism with millions of pigeonholes or is it opposite of the verified systems with negative connotation, known from the past?

At the Titoâs Yugoslavia there was a well known âbrainwashâ rule proposed by the government to its population saying that âNon-friend never sleeps! Everybody has to be aware at all time.â Citizens attended to be continuously frightened and therefore they suppose to trust the state and follow and obey its instructions. Police, army and other political commissars controlled the nation with ceaseless personal control. The possibility of resistance was at minimum, boundaries were almost closed and one had almost no place to manoeuvre.

Therefore, I can somehow not find the direct linking between new âWesternâ types of surveillance and old totalitarian types of all-time pressure surveillance and I can easily argue that at this moment one has a possibility of choice whether he would like to allow (or not disallow) to be supervised or yet he can resist and try to ignore the systems of surveillance in the name of his belonging right to the privacy. Resistance always demands more inclusion then following and obeying â but what matters here is the choice of not being supervised and therefore at least in the legitimate way choice of own personal private life. In the time of the stateâs personal surveillance â this possibility was not directly an option.

Such arguments, I would argue and widen with the fact that global life is possibly becoming multidimensional and as well extremely rapid â consecutively one has no more energy, time or even possibility to pay attention of own surveillance. Equally, it can be also possible to argue King (2001) which claims that information and communication technologies have advanced at an incredible rate, so that we can do things that at one time were not possible but at the same time we have become traceable to an unprecedented degree. But the fact remains: power has become in modern society virtual in form â whether we accept it or not. The only question is, whether we are utterly loosing the connection when and how the new technologies is going to track us.

Resources:

- Bauman Z. (1998) Globalization â The Human Conequences Cambridge: Polity.

- Bennett J. C. (2001) âCookies, web bugs, webcams and cue cats: Patterns of surveillance on the world wide webâ Ethic and Information Technology Vol.3 pp.197-201.

- Boyne R. (2000) âPost-Panopticismâ Economy and Society Vol.29 No.2 pp.285-307.

- Foucault M. (1991 [1975]) Discipline and Punish â The Birth of the Prison London: Penguin Books.

- Gandy, O. (1993). The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information. Boulder, CO, Westview Press.

- Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press.

- Green, S. (1999) âA Plague on the Panopticon: Surveillance and Power in the Global Information Economy.â Information, Communication and Society 2(1): 26-44.

- Howard N. P., Carr N. J. and Milstein J. T. (2005) âDigital Technology and the Market for Political Surveillanceâ Surveillance & Society Vol.3 No.1 pp.59-73.

- King L. (2001) âInformation, Society and the Panopticonâ The Western Journal o Graduate Research Vol. 10, No.1 pp.40-50.

- Norris, C. (2003) âFrom Personal to Digital: CCTV, the Panopticon and the Technological Mediation of Suspicion and Social Control.â Surveillance as Social Sorting. D. Lyon (ed.). London, Routledge.

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Re: Assume

CalifJim — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 17:40:10 GMT

The three are very close in meaning. "Presume" is probably less used than the other two.

"Presuming" is often considered a negative. It's not considered good behavior to be presumptuous.

"I don't know what Mary's problem is. She just presumes I have nothing to do but help her whenever she needs something done."

"Don't presume that Robert will come with us. He's very busy with other matters just now."

"assume" could substitute for "presume" in either of the two statements above - "suppose" less convincingly.

In mathematics, "Suppose that line AB intersects line CD". "assume" can substitute for "suppose", but not "presume".

Of the three, "presume" is the least objective, the most involved with personal interrelationships.

Re: Why do so many Moslems hate the Western World - New Yorker

Guest — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 09:26:19 GMT

After the 9/11 tragedy that has befallen the almighty USA, the western world seem to perceive all muslims as terrorists. Muslims do not hate the western world, that is a misconception that has become a stereotype due to an epidemic of negative media. Islam is a religion that has been used by terrorists such as bin laden to cause destruction; however, it is a religion built on the very foundations of peace. If Muslims hate the western world then I doubt Americans would have a base in Kuwait. If Muslims hate the western world then I doubt Mcdonalds and starbucks would exist in the Middle East. If Muslims hate the western world then I doubt Islam would be their true religion.
I ask, is it Muslims that hate the western world or is it the other way round?

- Disney's Alladin is famous against kids, but has anyone heard the opening track? âOh I come from a land, from a far away place, where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear, If they donât like your face, Itâs barbaric, but hey, Itâs homeâ
- Bill OâReilly of Fox News is evidently not a serious journalist in respect to people. When he interviewed President Bush on September 27th, 2004, regarding the war in Iraq, OâReillyâs first question was, "Are you surprised they don't appreciate the American sacrifice more?" (Bush talks to OâReilly). In his opinion, Iraqi people should appreciate the deaths of 37,000 innocent civilians, the torture and humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghuraib, the fact that American troops plagued Iraq with uranium, the invasion of their country, and the destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure. Unfortunately, Bill OâReilly is a popular reporter amongst the American people. If this biased attitude is being taken seriously by the nation, then hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims will persist. This ignorant reporter is feeding a nation with thoughts of suspicion, and ingratitude.

- When CNN did a poll, nearly a third of Americans surveyed supported concentration camps for Arab-Americans. Peter Kirsanow, a U.S. civil rights commission member, affirmed on the news that American-Arabs can forget about their civil rights if another terrorist incident transpires. If a person who represents civil rights thinks in such a negative way, then a third of the American people may be pardoned for their heinous beliefs: that American-Arabs should be put into concentration camps.

- Travelers who have Arab surnames often are subjected to more intensive searches than other passengers at airports, a practice some have dubbed TWA (Traveling While Arab).â (El Nasser 2) With the intention of avoiding lawsuits, U.S. customs inform Arab and Muslim passengers that they are chosen for a ârandom check.â How ârandomâ are these inspections, if they occur every time an Arab or a Muslim arrives at the airport?

- FBI reports of hate crimes show a dramatic increase of hate crimes after the 9/11 tragedy, especially towards Arabs and Muslims, and others thought to be Muslims or Arabs.

- The Oklahoma city bombing and the TWA crash are minor examples of how Arabs and Muslims have been depicted in an immoral portrait by Westerners.

The two million American criminals in American jails do not represesent the American majority; and Osama bin Laden with his terrorists are do not represent Islam or Arabs and they never will. There is a significant difference between knowledge and ignorance, it is this difference that makes people presume that Arabs and Muslims hate the western world.

Re: Grammar Questions

sextus — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 07:05:43 GMT

Hi MrP, thanks for your answers. I have some more questions.

1) "Unperturbedness closely followed by chance he who suspended judgment". This is actually a translation of a Greek text. A translator renders it thus: "When they suspended judgment, tranquillity followed fortuistously". But this is not literal. If I knew that you know Greek, I could transliterate the text.

2) "I don't think that such an adherence necessarily entails that action must be wholly based upon tradition and law". Maybe like this is acceptable?

3) "Whether the Skeptic's peace of mind is boring or enjoyable depends on each individual psychological makeup". Here I'm referring to the view of an author who says that the Skeptic "will have nothing to enjoy in life". But I don't know how to resume this.

4) "We are passive with regard to our bodily affections in the sense that at least up to now we have not been able to eliminate completely the affections of hunger and thirst, and hence to stop having the desire for food and drink. On the contrary, a person's acting in accordance with the laws and customs of his community and a given skill has not appeared to be wholly inevitable and inescapable". Is this clear?

5) "Even with this interpretative keys in hand, I recognize that it is not always easy to account for all the texts in which he seems to adopt a negative dogmatic outlook" ("interpretative keys in hand"?).

6) "He does not really espouse the conclusions of his arguments" (espouse?).

7) "A Skeptic's individualism would be the result of his having grown up in a rather individualistic society or of his having been raised in a way that has made him regard philanthropy as a naÃ¯ve attitude". I'm not sure about the verbs in general.

8) "Consider an action, say, a murder. In this case..." (is murder an action? I cannot think of any other noun).

Thanks and good night (or probably good morning for you)

Sextus