Friday, March 20, 2020

Reality Television Research Paper Example

Reality Television Research Paper Example Reality Television Paper Reality Television Paper Entertainment for some, humiliation for others, new beginnings for some, bad endings for others, dreams turned into reality for some and dreams shattered for others. Reality television on which anything can happen, millions of viewers gripped to their seats, pulses racing ogling at a box. Millions of people they can not all be crazy to watch reality television, or can they? Little did Philo Taylor Farnsworth, the inventor of the television know that one day lazy people who sit in a house all day or people who eat bugs in a jungle will be shown on his invention. How can reality television be useful? Deviant, destructive and disastrous, what knowledge will viewers gain by watching diabolical fools shouting abuse and using profanity? Teenagers are believed to be influenced by the media very easily, seeing all this negativity it clearly shows what they will gain from it. weak brained On the other hand, reality television can be seen as educational. Youngsters get to see the real world and different people who all have different personalities. Reality television teaches youngsters about the real world and the situations that can arise in life. Humans learn by seeing things and experiencing them, everyone must have seen how children want to touch a flame despite the parents shouting, but once the child touches the flame the child never does it again knowing it burns, in the same way teenagers watch reality television and learn from the situations that contestants have to face and apply it to their own lives and consider it while making decisions. Also, the contestants who participate in reality television shows are from a broad spectrum of society which enables youngsters to see the behaviour of wealthy and poor alike. However, how can people be sure what they are watching is reality? All they see is what the camera wants them to see and when the camera is on all they see us people wearing masks of disguise, pretending to be someone else for popularity, fame, money and crazy viewers to become obsessed with them. Humans are so pathetic that they sit in front of a box watching the lives of other lame people, who are just acting. Why call it reality television when people are acting? Theatres are made to watch people act, why watch shameless people act on what is supposed to be called reality television? In contrast to this, reality television is full of entertainment. In this modern world with all the stress from grumpy managers and resentful co-workers, entertainment is necessary and if people can be relieved from a tough day at work, by seeing the humiliation of other people who themselves chose to enter the show, then what is the harm? Adding on, youngsters who instead of causing crime and irritating old people on streets, enjoy watching reality television and enjoy the embarrassment of other people then what is the harm? However it can be argued that those ordinary people, who like many others, dream high however get disgraced and degraded in front of millions of people which immediately knocks down their confidence. Reality television is derogatory which has a negative effect on the contestants. Reality television acts as a catalyst to defame and suppress personality characteristics of the participants. Nevertheless, reality television benefits contestants despite the derogatory behaviour, due to reality television shows contestants are able to express themselves which relieves their emotional trauma and catharsis. Moreover it helps contestants build positive relations with others and living in a different lifestyle helps them appreciate their own lifestyle and helps them to improve it. In Celebrity Big Brother 2007, millions of viewers witnessed the famous racial row between the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and English celebrity Jade Goody however, after the row Shilpa and Jade became friends and held no grudges against each other which shows that despite the controversy the contestants experienced they learnt to resolve the problems amicably. However, reality television shows send a bad message and fixation on instant celebrities. Shows like Big Brother suggest that anyone can become famous by participating on a reality television show and lounging around in a house all day shouting abuse without working hard or having any particular talent at all. Youngsters who watch these shows will assume that education is not important and that they do not need to study hard in school or train hard for a regular job. Producers of reality television shows themselves earn thousands of pounds however they show influential shows which influence others in a negative way and make them loose out on education, is this right? It can be argued that we believe in freedom and free speech. In this modern day society many people do a variety of things and fairly speaking, they all have a right to do anything they want as long as they abide the law. Moreover, it can be said that millions of viewers watch reality television and we have to accept reality television as an expression of popular and democratic taste. Adding on, nobody is compelled to appear in reality television or indeed watch it. Many people argue that reality television shows are a bad influence but no one forces people to watch it, everyone has the right to pick up their remote control and switch the television off or change the channel. A study found that in the year 2000, 70% of the population watched reality television occasionally or on a regular basis, so is it fair for a minority of reality television haters to stop the huge minority of people from watching the shows that they are crazy for? In contrast, the show Americas Next Top Model which last year on September 9th had 3. 22 million viewers tuned in, some groaning and moaning at the girls they dislike and some admiring the beauty of the model with the slender waist. The show on which many female contestants enter, exposing their beauty and skills to the viewers and craving to impress the judges with their bony bodies and fresh faces. However, shows like this promote being skinny and attractive and contribute to eating disorders like anorexia within teenage girls. About ninety percent of those who are known to develop anorexia are female, why? Because girls feel pressurized to be thin by shows like Americas Next Top Model and feel that the only way that they will look attractive is by having the characteristics of the models on television. Millions of people can not all be crazy watching reality television, or can they? There are many reasons for watching reality television, some people watch it simply for a laugh to cheer them up, and others watch reality television to admire the beauty of the models and celebrities. However is this all really harmless fun? Teenage girls are becoming influenced by the television and are turning as skinny as sticks, other contestants are completely embarrassed to try something new again due to the insults they received from the strict judges and the taunts and mockery from other people. Nothing in the world is ever perfect; some people love something into to bits while others feel sick at the name of it. The same principal applies to reality television, while some viewers sit all day enjoying themselves watching the humiliation of others there are some viewers who rage with anger while reading the name of a reality television show listed on the television guide. The producers make a huge amount of money from reality television shows, the contestants become famous and the viewers get entertained, everyone is happy. However on the other hand, swearing and violence are shown, teenagers get influenced by all the negativity and many youngsters become lazy in school due to the image in some shows which suggests that no talent is needed to become famous.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Take a Stand for Language Standards

Take a Stand for Language Standards Take a Stand for Language Standards Take a Stand for Language Standards By Mark Nichol English usage is always evolving, but the rate of evolution seems to accelerate all the time, and careful observers will note in a wide variety of content pervasive examples of the relaxation of standards for written English. This post discusses several categories in which it appears that even professional writers often seem unaware of basic precepts of good writing. As discussed in previous posts, the velocity of change in what is considered acceptable written English has sped up thanks to the proliferation of media resources available to the average person and the dynamics of the publishing industry. Because of the explosive increase in content produced by poorly trained writers (amateurs and professionals alike) and the decrease in rigorous editing, substandard writing spreads unchecked, with the following results. Writers often, out of ignorance and/or apathy, close compound words that are treated as open and hyphenated in dictionaries and other writer resources, so that, for instance, we increasingly see â€Å"life span† styled as lifespan and â€Å"time frame† written as timeframe, and mind-set and light-year appear, respectively, as mindset and lightyear. This process has occurred for hundreds of years as a natural progression, but we appear to be in the midst of multiple evolutions occurring simultaneously. In a similar case, â€Å"all right† frequently appears as alright. It has done so since the mid-nineteenth century, but what’s new is that it is now creeping over from lay writing such as personal blogs to professionally produced content such as online newspapers. Amateur and professional writers alike are also increasingly failing to observe two types of distinctions between essential and nonessential phrases. First, for example, is the error seen in identifications of people such as the one in â€Å"Company president, John Smith, was also named in the suit.† The mistaken use of internal punctuation, due to the confusion of the simple job description â€Å"company president† with the appositive â€Å"the company president,† which would require the name to be set off from the descriptor because that phrase and the name are interchangeable (while â€Å"company president† and â€Å"John Smith† are not), is nothing new but is becoming commonplace in professionally produced content. As an example of the second type of essential/nonessential confusion, the following sentence is flawed because it implies that more than one Emergency Alerts system exists, and the one in question, unlike one or more others, can send alerts about catastrophic events: â€Å"The agency sent the alert through the national Emergency Alerts system that can send alerts about catastrophic events.† The following revision correctly observes that â€Å"can send alerts about catastrophic events† describes the system’s function rather than explains the specific function of one type of system (which is the point of the sentence): â€Å"The agency sent the alert through the national Emergency Alerts system, which can send alerts about catastrophic events.† That type of error, published on the website of a metropolitan newspaper, unlike the others noted above, is a cardinal sin rather than a venial one because it doesn’t just â€Å"look wrong†; it affects clarity and comprehension. I’m well aware that observations such as these can make me sound like a get-off-my-lawn geezer, but this is my point: Such shifts in our language are inevitable, but as a treasure hunter tells intrepid teenage Indiana Jones when the latter fails to prevent an artifact from being sold on the black market, â€Å"You lost today, kid, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it.† That is not to say I don’t â€Å"like it,† that I don’t approve of language evolution (which is just as futile as not approving the sun going down or the tide coming in), but what I don’t like is a failure to respect and observe current standards. Just as we agree that certain letters, numbers, and other symbols represent various sounds, quantities, and functions, we should agree on precepts of grammar, syntax, usage, and punctuation. As a professional editor and writer, it is my responsibility to help preserve the language as it is now, according to standards codified in numerous writing and editing guides and other resources, and not anticipate revisions that will appear in future editions, and I recommend that you do so, too. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient10 Techniques for More Precise Writing15 Idioms for Periods of Time