As our technologies advance and our collective morality decreases, the American people are faced with a dilemma which impacts greatly the foundation of our society. What is acceptable in the media? Broadcast media is the most widespread, effective, accessible means of conveying information in the world today. With 98% of American homes having a television set, and 2/3 of those homes receiving cable, TV and movies are the most pervasive means of corruption yet known to our society. So readily available, one does not even have to leave his/her home to be affected by it. Even a child, not yet able to read, can access and be affected by broadcast media. The indecency and violence on television, coupled with the pornography, indecency, obscenity, and violence in movies, have a staggering effect on the moral state of our society. In return, the collective moral state of our society, and what is deemed acceptable by the majority, allows television and movies to contain such abhorrent and vulgar materials. The result is a downward spiral of entertainment feeding off of a dwindling moral state while at the same time promoting its degeneration.  HOW MUCH IS DUE TO BROADCAST MEDIA?      The broadcast media, through television and movies, is guilty of promoting an immoral society. Everyone who watches television and movies are effected and influenced by what is seen in them. Children learn that those ways are acceptable. Eventually after so much exposure, which causes desensitization to immoral ways, adults who at first tolerate them begin to accept them as well. Studies on both children and adults have shown them to have more violent tendencies after being exposed to violence in movies and on TV. As for indecenc... ... can succeed in regaining, rebuilding it's collapsing moral state.  Works Cited Hundt, Reed. "Television, Kids, Indecency, Violence, and the Public Interest" Speech given at Duke University School of Law. 9 Feb, 1996.             http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/Hundt.FCC.kids.html Kaufman, Ron. "How Television Images Affect Children" http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/children.html Marks, Alexandra. "Washington Turns Up the Debate on T.V. Violence." Christian Science Monitor. 14 July, 1995. Weinraub, Bernard. "Los Angeles Bishop Asks for Film Guidelines." The New York Times. 1 Oct. 1992.       (Web Pages without author, cited by number) 1. "Freedom of Expression"  http://www.aclu.org/library/pbp14.html 2. "Definitions of Pornography, Obscenity, and Indecency"  http://pw2.netcom.com/~mimnyc/obscporn.html
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Transcendentalism and Ralph Waldo Emerson    Â
      Transcendentalism was a literary movement that began in the beginning of the 1800’s and lasted up until the Civil War. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a man whose views on life and the universe were intriguing and influential. Emerson, along with other great men, helped to mold what Transcendentalism was and what it was to become. Without these men, Transcendentalism would not have been anything. Nor would these men have been anything without this concept. So what is Transcendentalism anyway and how have men’s thoughts and outlooks been able make it what it is remembered as?      Transcendentalism was prominent in the cultural life of the U.S., especially in New England from 1836 to until just before the Civil War. The Revolutionary war had ended shortly before the time of Transcendentalism; therefore, Emerson had been influenced by its affects and had shared his thoughts about war in his writings. At the age of twelve, Emerson wrote “Fair Peace and Triumph blooms on golden wings, and War no more pf all his victories sings†(“Way to Peace†2). He viewed war as being unnecessary and in his eyes, the soul has no enemies and rises above all conflicts. He thought soldiers to be ridiculous and war to “Abhorrent to all reason†(“Way to Peace†2), and against human progress. Basically he was against all war and his views on war were apparent in his writings. Even though he thought that the Civil War was good because it was trying to stop the evils of slavery, he detested the lack of freedom during the war, and he vowed that if martial law came to Concord, that he would disobey it or move away. These events developed Transcendentalism though Emerson’s views and writings on war (“Way to Peace†1-2).      Transcendentalism in America centered in Concord and Boston. The philosophy came from many different beliefs and people’s thoughts and outlooks. Emerson was a huge person whose beliefs greatly influenced how transcendentalism evolved. Around the year 0f 1836, a discussion group was formed in New England called the Transcendental Club. It met at various members’ houses and it included Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Frederick Henry Hedge, W. E. Channing and W. H. Channing, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, George Ripley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Thoreau, and Jones Very. From 1840 to 1844, a quarterl... ...ndentalists addressed were important for the people of that time to pay attention to, and end the corruption of war. Unfortunately, the transcendental movement, with its optimism about the indwelling divinity, self-sufficiency, and high potentialities of human nature, did not survive the crisis of the Civil War and its aftermath. The end of a great literary movement had arrived, but was the beginning of more to come (Abrams 217)?      ?      Emerson’s Concord home and a picture of him. Works Cited Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brau           Jovanovich College Publishers, 1985. “American Literary Movements: Transcendentalism.†Oct. 1999      <http:// www.csinet/fountain/english/transc.html.>(10/5/99). “American Transcendentalism.“(1). Oct. 1999 <http://arts.usf.edu/art/trans.html>      (10/6/99). “American Transcendentalism.“ (2). May 2000<http://www.2.cybernex.net/      ~rlenat/amertran. html> (5/29/00). “Biography of Emerson.†< http:/members.xoom.com/_XMCM/RWEmerson/      whoisheohtm. “The Way to Peace.†Oct. 1999 <http://www.san.beck.org/WP15-Emerson.html>      (10/5/99). |