According to Douglas Rushkoff’s in his article Hating What Sucks, Beavis and Butt-head are media critics, instructing viewers on how to criticize music videos. I believe the way Beavis and Butt-head go about their criticism and commentary is undermining our value system.      In TV’s Anti-Families: Married . . . with Malaise, Josh Ozersky states “no one who watches TV is going to stop because they see TV criticized.†He goes on to say that we feel flattered by this criticism and continue watching television anyway. Beavis and Butt-head can be seen in the same light when they criticize music videos on MTV. “In doing so they again demonstrate for us how to watch TV in the nineties,†according to Rushkoff.      I can only interject that when we watch TV being criticized by these characters we feel a sort of power from the knowledge their criticism gives us. But is this the only thing keeping our eyes glued to the tube? Ozersky writes, “TV has never shown us TV; rather, it shows itself to us as a laughable, absurd, and harmless entity, much like the characters on its shows.†The criticism of TV doesn’t go far enough to keep us from watching it. We feel that TV is harmless and this is what keeps us going back for more.      Beavis and Butt-head qualify as being dysfunctional. So is this the kind of show you would find many cultural values in? Rushkoff argues that the show “promotes viewer awareness by allowing us to witness area where the characters’ own detachment has been compromised.†He says this in reference to Beavis watching an Aerosmith music video and lighting up a cigarette when the Aerosmith singer does. In this instance the author suggests he fell for the manipulation of the media. By the same token, Rushkoff contradicts himself and his pro-Beavis argument. Perhaps it is just a red herring, but by showing that the media manipulates Beavis it isn’t a very good argument for watching TV, much less Beavis and Butt-head.      In all reality, people do watch Beavis and Butt-head and other anti-family television shows. The power we feel in the act of criticizing and the seemingly harmless antics of these shows gives us a reason to keep watching and criticizing TV despite the irony of it. Because we know TV characters have no power to change their situations in the TV world we feel we are above them and can watch TV with harmless effects.
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12/13/2019 0 Comments Early Warning System Water Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 wordsEarly Warning System Water - Essay Example
Collignon(2007) points out that the protection of drinking water is achieved not only by chlorination, flocculation and other protective measures but also by the protection of water catchment areas through minimizing the entry of any kind of waste matter. Therefore if these catchment areas are infiltrated, there could be a collective risk posed through contamination of drinking water supplies. Crockett (2007) recently estimated that there is an endemic risk posed from drinking water, with the potential for 2 to 20 ML/d of waste water discharge containing pathogens to reach water supply intakes at significant concentrations that may exceed regulatory limits. Hence, normal procedures that are used for treatment of waste water may also be inadequate in some instances to provide an adequate level of protection against contamination of the water to an unacceptable level that could be dangerous to humans – to health and to lives. This highlights the importance of installing early warning systems for infiltration by biological agents, so that water supplies and distribution systems may be protected. The danger of the terrorist threat is especially potent, because vast areas of unprotected water system could form an easy target for the terrorists and it would result in large scale damages caused to numerous people who drink the water. It is a particularly dangerous form of terrorist biological warfare, which cannot be easily combated, except through adopting preventive measures. Hence, the incorporation of early warning systems into water systems could be of inestimable benefit, because they will provide a warning that contamination exists, sufficiently in time to enable the local authorities or responsible people in charge to alert citizens, so that the water suspected of being contaminated can be diverted and closed off, before it |