Is Immortality Desirable?

Is Immortality Desirable? Abstract In this paper I discuss whether immortality in the physical form is desirable. In accordance with the deprivation account I seek to defend the commonsense view that death is a bad thing for the individual but will argue that consistency and logic does not require me to believe that an immortal existence is to be desired. I defend Bernard Williams claim that with an immortal life we are doomed to an eternity of never ending repetition, boredom and indifference and that death is a necessary evil if we are to avoid a life devoid of freshness. I will also argue that death and the very limitation that its sets down gives life meaning. In support of Victor Fankl I will defend the claim that it is time pressure that shapes our lives. In developing my argument I will oppose the counter argument that it is death that makes life meaningless not meaningful. Is Immortality desirable? Is it simply a design fault that we age and die? Are we living in a culture of death whereby we die simply because we accept it as an inevitability? â€Å"All men are mortal† said Socrates, however, a lifetime spent on in-depth research has led pioneering scientists to deem aging not as an inevitable consequence of the human condition but as a preventative disease. Perhaps these scientists are far too optimistic in their search for a virtual fountain of youth, or is it simply the case that death – the end of the physical being, is accepted by the mind and embraced through reinforced teachings and observation. Whether you believe that a quest for immortality will or will never be achieved is irrelevant to the question at hand. The focus will be on whether immortality is desirable, assuming something can be desired yet impossible. Clarification of what I mean by immortality is essential; I will focus on what can be described as physical immortality- by this I mean that on e can live for eternity as a human physical being on earth (where everyone is immortal). In my interpretation, I will also assume that there is no get out clause, take for example one is offered an elixir of immortal life, once taken a person cannot change their mind opting for death- immortality is forever. My definition will also incorporate a block on aging; eternity will be lived through a perfectly healthy functioning body. Accidents will be possible but can be fixed with ease. Intentionally, I have painted a picture of immortality which may at first glance seem desirable, as one may be quick to argue that an immortal life where a person is forever aging to the point of an eternity of pain and discomfort and where accidents occurred and could not be fixed is simply not one to be desired. However, throughout this essay I will put forward the argument that those who believe immortality to be desirable have made an irrational choice, it would be a mistake to crave an immortal life and take the elixir of eternal existence. I will approach this issue by initially examining Nagels (1970) question of whether it is a terrible thing to go out of existence, I will agree and defend the deprivation account of the evil and badness of death claiming it is possible to do so while maintaining immor tality would be a bad thing. The idea that boredom will develop if there was no end to human life will be explored, assessing much of the support from Bernard Williams (1973) as well as opposing and tackling one of John Martin Fischers (1994) criticisms of the above view. The second argument that I will present (which overlaps with my first) will be based on the meaning of life, I will argue that death and the very limitations that it sets down gives life meaning and this will be explored by assessing the views of Victor Frankl (1957) as well as counterarguments by Robert Nozicks (1981). Firstly, to determine whether immortality is a good thing, I pose the question of whether death is a bad thing. Death is an ambiguous term so let me be clear of the definition it will take in my essay. I will take death to mean the end of the physical being, the cessation of life. I am aware that defining death in this way is problematic but let us assume for the sake of simplicity that this is correct. My concern at this point is whether death is a bad thing for the person who dies, referring to the state of non existence (at least in the physical form), not the process of dying. For many, a rational response in life is to fear death- after all, it is our most personal and valuable asset, but is it really, as Nagel stated, a terrible thing to go out of existence? There has been extensive philosophical discussion and disagreement regarding this matter, with philosophers such as Bernard Williams (1973), who argue death has its rightful place; a point to which I will later return, and there are those such as Thomas Nagel (1970) who speak of its badness. Lucretius, however, argue that something can only be good or bad for a person if that person exists at the time the event takes place and is experienced, if we take death to mean non-existence where non-existence is nothingness then death cannot be said to be good or bad as only something can be interpreted in this way. I, however, believe that death is bad, agreeing with Nagel in most parts but at the same time believe that immortality, never dying is also bad, this is not a contradiction. I disagree with the Lucretius argument for the very same reason Nagel rejected their reasoning, Nagel presents an example of an individual betrayed unknowingly behind his back, although the person never becomes aware of this, it seems fair to say that the betrayal was a bad thing for the person involved, in this way the Lucretius connection between badness and experience does not hold true (Nagel, 1970:76). It may be the case that something can be intrinsically bad, bad in itself or in its own right, for example, pain is avoided for its own sake. It may also be the case that something can be comparatively bad, bad by virtue of what youre not getting while this other thing is present. I take the latter point to be the case for the badness of death. It seems to me that something can be bad even if you dont exist, e xistence is not a requirement, in fact it is the very fact that you dont exist that makes death bad. The central bad about death, about non existence, is that it deprives you of the goods of life you might otherwise be getting, I couldnt fall in love, enjoy a sunset or master philosophy.From this, it should follow that life is good because if I wasnt dead I wouldnt be deprived; more of a good thing is always better than less of a good thing; therefore more life is better than less life; it should follow therefore that eternal life never dying is exceptionally good. However, the rules of logic and reason do not require somebody who accepts the deprivation account to believe that immortality is to be desired. Looking closely at the deprivation account, what it claims is that death is bad insofar as it deprives us of the good things we could have otherwise experienced, but we shouldnt assume that life is good or always good (maybe Nagel does or often seems to assume this) what if it turned out that what you would have hereafter would be in fact a life full of bad things. It would there fore be a bad thing that you would go through the rest of your life which in this case would be an eternity with negative experiences. I will now go on to explain that it is an inevitability that an eternal life will somewhere down the line cease to be good, transforming into an eternity of badness in which case still in accordance with the deprivation account death will no longer be bad. I agree that at first thought immortality may be tempting the argument that life is too short will no longer exist. Think of all the things you could get done, you could devout years to writing great philosophy, you could take pleasure in countless sunsets and sunrises, you could enjoy things endlessly having more time to see and achieve things that you would have otherwise not had time to. Here is my argument, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing, medicine for example is something which is instrumentally good, however, although it is good in small doses in that it cures a disease for example if I take more than the prescribed amount it becomes harmful to my body. In this same way extending human life by 50 or even a 100 years can be good but what if someone added a thousand, a million, an eternity to your life? Having done and seen everything you could possible have imagined everything will start to feel the same, having experienced love and the sunset millions of times t hey would no longer excite you. Eternity is a very long time, forever goes on forever and boredom will eventually set in leaving you existing as oppose to living. It seems that I am in agreement with Bernard Williams, in his essay â€Å"The Makropulos Case:Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality† (1973) who also argues that an eternal existence would be intolerable, claiming that as human beings it is inevitable that by our very nature we will get bored we would be doomed to never ending repetition and boredom, life would simply be devoid of interest or freshness. He supports his view by discussing a play by Karel Capek which tells of a woman named Elina Makropulos, who at the age of 42 was given an elixir of eternal life by her father. The play is set 300 years on and Elina is now aged 342, Williams states that â€Å"Her unending life has come to a state of boredom, indifference, and coldness. Everything is joyless: â€Å"in the end it is the same,† she says, â€Å"singing and silence.† She refuses to take the elixir again; she dies; and the formula is deliberately destroyed by a young woman among the protest of some older men† (Williams,1973:82). EM has lived her life at the age of 42 for 300 years and it seems that everything that could happen to a woman of 42 has already happened to her. John Martin Fischer in an article titled Why immortality is not so bad criticizes Williams argument; Fischer asserts that if there was a sufficiently diverse package of experiences we would not get bored (Fischer 1994). He acknowledges that there are those pleasures that would be self exhausting, those which we would not want to repeat more than once or a few times as we would inevitably get bored. His examples of these self exhausting pleasures include pleasures that are disappointing which one would not want to repeat for that very reason and those non-disappointing pleasures which you do to fulfil a goal to prove something to yourself, for example, to overcome your phobia of heights you climb Mount Whitney but this is an experience you do not want to repeat. He acknowledges that there are those pleasures that are self exhausting but ther e are many repeatable pleasures that we would never get bored of like listening to beautiful music or seeing great art and we would therefore never fall victim to Williams boredom account. I disagree with Fischer, firstly it seems to me his examples of self exhausting pleasures present a distorted view of what pleasure really is. I agree that disappointing pleasures may appear to be pleasurable before the act but after we experience the disappointment they cease to fall into this category. It appears that these disappointing pleasures are not pleasures at all and should not fall into the category of self exhausting pleasures. It is a similar case for his example of non disappointing self exhausting pleasures like climbing a mountain to overcome a phobia, climbing this mountain is not done for sheer pleasure, we may experience pride and we may experience some pleasure from this pride but the very act is done reluctantly and is not pleasurable within itself. To claim that he partly agrees with Williams that there are those pleasure that are self exhausting is somewhat misleading what he presents in the above case are not pleasures at all. What Williams said, is to think of the most perfect immortality that you can imagine and imagine doing this forever, the above so called pleasures do not fall into this; it seems obvious they would not want to be repeated. Fischer also goes on to explain a second category of pleasures which he called repeatable pleasures which include listening to music and enjoying art, Fischer believed that if these pleasures were appropriately distributed (not too closely to each other ) they could be repeated countless times. I disagree; although in this case they could be classed as pleasure, it seems we would still inevitably get bored maybe not after 100 or even two hundred years but somewhere down the line of a never ending life we would get bored. I can only enjoy a piece of music a limited number of times before it no longer brings me pleasure. However at this point an objection may arise; some may argue that human potential is endless reducing the likelihood of boredom. There are millions of songs to be heard and millions more that will emerge, there is a countless number of things that can be enjoyed that will never run out so you are not doomed to be repeating the same things over and over, and maybe when things start to get tedious new things will be invented to occupy our minds. The response to this is that having heard a thousand, a million, two million, songs they will all eventually take the same shape, nothing new can be invented that would be so drastically different from all previous inventions. Another point to be made is that Elina Makropulos maintains the same character throughout her life changing only to adapt to her surroundings it could therefore be suggested that the boredom she experienced was a result of her unchanging character not the fact that she lived for such a long period of time. Williams addresses this throughout his article, he argues that as human beings we aim to be, and usually succeed, in becoming a certain type of person, we develop a certain set of interests, a certain way of acting and we become settled as that type of person. His thought is that those who can avoid boredom and continue to find things interesting are not sufficiently mature there seems to be something wrong with them as such immortality is not a life for a hu man being (Williams 1973) . Let us now introduce a way boredom can be avoided in accordance with his argument, a possibility Williams considers is rejuvenation; by this he means you remain a human being in that you maintain the same body but every so often you are rejuvenated, a certain part of your history disappears and is replaced by a new start. Although this seems to deal with the boredom issue Williams does questions whether this is in fact you? Every time I am rejuvenated I have no recollection of my prior self and build a whole new character based on different memories and experiences. It seems wrong to say that I am the same person after being rejuvenated for the hundredth time as I was prior to my first rejuvenation (Williams,1973:92). Even if we are persuaded that you are the same person Williams would argue that it is not giving you anything that you could be interested in, the absence of a continuity of consciousness is a serious problem. Even if it is not death it is as bad as death to be rejuvenated in this way. Another possibility to consider is the gradual deterioration of memory where we forget things as time goes on for example every 200 years. However I believe this raises the same question as above are we really the same person if we live in a 200 year envelope? Williams concludes that death is a necessary e vil; we should hope to die if we are to avoid the alternative of immortality. My second argument to why immortality is not desirable is based on the meaning of life. I believe that death and the very limitations that it sets down gives life meaning. My second argument overlaps with my first but what I wish to specifically argue here is that it is the very fact that we are here for what is comparatively a short time that makes our lives meaningful, in the way we act and behave, this is the idea that it is time pressure that shapes our lives. It is irrelevant whether one believes or does not believe in god or any form of creator or greater being, they will still find life meaningless without death, even if you merely carry on living out of the fear of dying. I believe that all good things have to have a beginning, middle and an end and each is necessary and is enjoyed accordingly. Victor Frankl argues that death itself is what makes life meaningful, his reasoning is as follows: â€Å"What would our lives be like if they were not finite in time, but infinite? If we were immortal, we would legitimately postpone every action forever. It would be of no consequence whether or not we did a thing now; every act might just as well be done tomorrow or the day after or a year from now or ten years hence. But in the face of death as absolute finis to our future boundary to our possibilities, we are under the imperative of utilizing our lifetimes to utmost, not letting the singular opportunities- whose finite sum constitutes the whole of life-pass by unused† (Frankl,1957:73). Nozick , however, has a problem with this argument, in his book â€Å"Philosophical explanation† he wonders whether death in fact makes life meaningless not meaningful, he argues that â€Å"Frankl assumes our only desire is to have done certain things, to put certain things somewhere on our record†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.However, we may desire to do things; our desire need not be merely to have done them. Moreover, if we had an infinite life, we might view it as a whole, as something to organize, shape and do something with† (Nozick,1981:579-580) I disagree, firstly it was not assumed by Frankl that we merely do things to put them on record, what was being said is that we have a limited amount of time to do things but we do not merely do them just to tick a box but to grow and evolve as human beings because pursuing our goals enriches our lives. It is the very fact that we have a finite time that motivates us to make those decisions and do those things that enhance our lives, which would only be forever delayed with an infinite existence. For example why should I go to school if I dont like it? The simple answer is to learn to acquire skills that would help me to achieve and make something of my self before I die and cease to exist. If I was immortal, learning trigonometry would seem less attractive than watching TV or playing computer games all day. I get more pleasure from such things (in the short term at least) and watching TV is certainly easier than studying and Ill get round to learning trigonometry sometime.Time press ure is what makes us set goals, with an immortal life tasks would forever be extended and a consequence would emerge whereby we would be less likely to do things of value, we would become a stagnant society where simple pleasures rule. Even if we are partly motivated by the desire to do things not only to have done things they would still be postponed and contrary to what Nozick claims this would matter as the desire alone to do things does not make ones life meaningful it may contribute to some poor will to carry on living (to do that specific thing) but will not give satisfaction to ones life. Nozick also questions whether death in fact makes life meaningless? Many argue that death renders life futile because we will all eventually die and so there is no point in developing character or studying calculus if our progress is ultimately going to be permanently interrupted and it will all go to waste. It seems to me that to argue that death makes life meaningless is to argue that something can only be meaningful if it lasts forever. The truth is that many things we value and find worthwhile do not last forever. I affirm that most if not all actions other than pleasures within themselves are predominantly motivated by the desire to get things done and enrich our lives from them before we die. Death is a deadline, a necessary evil; we know every day that passes we will never get back and this gives meaning and shapes how we live and thus an immortal life is not one to be desired. So far a strong argument has been provided for the undesirability of an immortal life but is there any situation in which immortality can be desired? In setting out what I meant by immortality I disallowed a get out clause, let us now suppose you would be able to live as long as you wanted and when you eventually had enough it would be possible to take your own life, is the elixir of eternal existence now more attractive? Surely it is, however, this is not all together straight forward. Take for example a mortal who chooses to commit suicide, in taking their own life he/she is giving up for example another 30 years, however, in the case of an immortal he/she is giving up what is essentially an eternity. They may be unhappy now but they could not possibly know that this would be the case in a million or a billion years time, choosing to take an immortal life is of greater consequence. In allowing a get out clause we would also become a very unadventurous and risk- averse society, who would take the risk of bungee jumping, paragliding and so forth if what they are risking is an infinite lifespan? Although this may seem a more attractive model of immortality it is complicated and can it really be called immortality if we allow this get out clause? It seems to me the very fact that we would choose this model supports my argument, that immortality would cease to be good and we would all sooner or later opt to take our own lives. In conclusion immortality in the physical human sense is never a good thing. It should not be desired; whatever perfect life you imagine to want to experience forever it will soon become tedious and boredom will eventually set in. Death is therefore necessary, even in accordance with the deprivation account, as further existence would become a bad thing sooner or later and it will no longer be the case whereby death deprives you of the good things life has to offer but where death provides an end to all that is bad with an eternal existence. It is also the inevitability of death that gives life reason and shape, the very fact that we have a limited lifespan motivates people through a sense of urgency to spend their time doing those things that contribute meaning and enrich their lives which would forever be delayed with inevitable consequences with an immortal life. Without death there would be no such thing as sacrifice, putting a lifes work into something, heroism and courage, we w ould lack appreciation for our existence, life would not be as serious or meaningful. I believe there to be an artistic necessity about dying- in the same way a picture has a frame, one cannot imagine an infinite painting, or a play has a shape and a final curtain, one cant imagine a play going on forever. Why grope for some mysterious realm for which we are not properly equipped to function in? Although I have argued that immortality is bad, this is not to say that it is a good thing that we die when we do, in accordance with all above arguments one can still think that we die too soon. Bibliography Fischer, M. (1994). Why Immortality is Not So Bad. International Journal of Philosophical Studies. 2, 257-270. Frankl, V (1957). The Doctor and the Soul. Alfred Knopf. New York Nagel, T (1970). Death. Nous. 4, 73-80 Nozick, R (1981). Philosophical Explanations. Oxford.  Clarendon Press Williams, B (1973). Problems of the Self: Philosophical Papers 1956-1972. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Women In The Geisha Society Cultural Studies Essay

Women In The Geisha Society Cultural Studies Essay When we speak about Japan we imagine a high developmet country with morden tehnology, cars, telephones so on. But the biggest industry in Japan is not shipbuilding, producing cultured pearls, or manufacturing transistor radios or cameras. It is entertainment And geisha is an important aspect of Japanese culture, and their elegant performances keep attracting many people from around the world.geisha is an important aspect of Japanese culture, and their elegant performances keep attracting many people from around the world. What do we know about geisha? In early seventeenth-century Japan (long before the word geisha was ever used), the predecessor of the geisha was a combination of actress and prostitute and worked on the stages set in the dry riverbed of the River Kamo in Kyoto. The line between actress and prostitute was blurry, as the women would perform erotic dances and skits for their audiences. This new type of performance was dubbed kabuku, meaning to be wild and outrageous. The dances were called kabuki, and this was the beginning of kabuki theater. Traditional Japanese views of sex were very relaxed. It was a society that embraced sexual delights and where men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives. In fact it was socially acceptable to be in love with ones wife, but only when she was considered a professional woman. For sexual enjoyment and romantic attachment, men did not go to their wives, but to courtesans. In order to maintain this profession, the Japanese government created pleasure quarters where the courtesans could reside and work and men could go to relax and enjoy the entertainment. These pleasure quarters quickly became glamorous entertainment centers that offered far more than just sex. The highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music. Some were even renowned poets and calligraphers. Gradually, they all became specialized and the new profession, purely of entertainment, arose. It was near the turn of the eighteenth century that the first entertainers of the pleasure quarters, called geisha, appeared. The very first geishas were men, entertaining customers waiting to see the most popular and gifted courtesans. Around 1760, women began to join men in the art of the geisha and very quickly outnumbered the men. The first woman to use the term geisha was an Edo prostitute named Kikuya and became a full-time entertainer. Soon, many women, whether they sold sex or not, began using the term geisha. The word geisha itself means  «person of the art » There are two basic types of geisha. One is called tachicata who mainly do traditional Japanese dance (mai). The other is called jikata who mainly sing or play instruments. Tachikata are usually maiko (young geisha) and jikata are older geisha women. The geisha districts are called hanamachi and some hanamachi were developed near temples and shrines where many ochay are located. Ochaya are small Japanese-style houses with wooden doors, tatami floors, Japanese-style gardens, and so on. They are different from those tea houses that merely serve tea. Its a sort of banquet house which rents rooms for dinner parties, and geisha entertain customers in ochaya rooms. Within the complex world of geisha, there is a strict ranking system. At the very top of the rank are the grand dowagers of the Gion district of Kyoto. These women consider themselves far above even the lower-ranking geisha of the same city. In Kyoto there are, in total, five geisha districts, also known as hanamachi or flower towns. The geisha of these districts are visited by powerful businessmen and politicians and are very expensive. At the opposite end of spectrum are the hot-spring geisha. These geisha work in the spa resorts and are viewed by most Japanese as no bette r than a common prostitute. Traditionally, Geisha began their training at a very young age. Some girls were bonded to geisha houses (okiya) as children. These girls were referred to as hangyoku and were as young as nine years old. This was not a common practice in reputable districts and disappeared in the 1950s with the outiawing of child labour. The students are called maiko. A maiko is essentially an apprentice and is therefore bonded under a contract to her okiya. The okiya supplies her with food, board, kimonos, obis, and other tools of her trade. Her training is very expensive and her debt must be repaid to the okiya with the earnings she makes. This repayment may continue after the maiko becomes a full-fledged geisha and only when her debts are settled is she permitted to move out to live and work independently. A maiko will start her formal training on the job as a minarai, which literally means learning by watching. Before she can do this she must find an onee-san older sister. They should sit and obse rve as the onee-san is at work. This is a way in which she will gain insights of the job, and seek out potential clients. From her, they would learn techniques such as conversation and gaming, which would not be taught to them in school. This stage lasts only about a month or so. After a short period of time the final of training begins. Maiko learn from their senior geisha mentor and follows them around to all their engagements. Since the onee-san teaches her maiko everything about working in the hanamachi, her teaching is vital. The onee-san will teach her proper ways of serving tea, playing shamisen, dancing, casual conversation and more. There are three major elements of a maikos training. The first is the formal arts training. This takes place in special geisha schools which are found in every hanamachi. The second element is the entertainment training which the maiko learns at various teahouses and parties by observing her onee-san. The third is the social skill of navigating the complex social web of the hanamachi. This is done on the streets. Formal greetings, gifts, and visits are key parts of any social structure in Japan and for a maiko, they are crucial for her to build the support network she needs to survive as a geisha.Around the age of 20-22, the maiko is promoted to a full-fledged geisha in a ceremony called erikae . This could happen after two to five years of her life as a maiko or hangyoku, depending on at what age she debuted. She now charges full price for her time. Geisha remain as such until they retire. Though geisha begin their study of music and dance when they are very young and continue it throughout their lives. They could be as old as sixty and still learning the art of their profession. The dance of the geisha has evolved from the dance performed on the kabuki stage. The wild and outrageous dances transformed into a more subtle, stylized, and controlled form of dance. It is extremely disciplined, similar to tai chi. Every dance uses gestures to tell a story and only a connoisseur can understand the subdued symbolism. For example, a tiny hand gesture represents reading love letter, holding the corner of a handkerchief in ones mouth represents coquetry and the long sleeves of the elaborate kimono are often used to symbolize dabbing tears. The dance sends a message of femininity but the small steps and the limited range of movement. The dances are accompanied by traditional Japanese music. The shamisen, originating in Okinawa, is a banjo-like three-stringed instrument that is pl ayed with a plectrum. It has very distinct, melancholy sound that is often accompanied by flute. It takes years to master and only a very experienced geisha can play with the precision and passion of a master. All geisha are required to learn to play a shamisen. Along with the shamisen and the flute, geisha also learned to play a ko-tsuzumi, a small, hourglass-shaped shoulder drum, and the taiko, a large floor drum. Some geisha would not only dance and play music, but would write beautiful, melancholy poems. Others painted pictures that gave glimpses into the mysterious lives of the geisha, and even others would compose music. The art of the geisha is her main entertainment and is most important in her training. A geishas appearence changes throughout her career, from girlish, heavily made-up maiko, to the moresombre appearence of an older established geisha. Today, the traditional makeup of the apprentice geisha is one of their most recognizable characteristics, though established geisha generally only wear full white face makeup characteristic of maiko during special performances. The traditional makeup of an apprentice geisha features a thik white base with lipstick and red and black accents around the eyes and eyebrows. Originally, the white base mask was made with lead, but after the discovery that it poisoned the skin and caused terrible skin and back problems for the older geisha towards the end of the Meiji Era, it was replaced with rice powder. The application of makeup is hard to perfect and is a time-consuming process. Makeup is applied before dressing to avoid dirtying the kimono. First, a wax or oil substance, called bintsuke-abura, is applied to the skin. Next, white powder is mixed with water into a paste and applied with a bamboo brush starting from the neck and working upwards. The white makeup covers the face, neck, and chest, with two or three unwhitened areas left on the nape, to accentuate this traditionally erotic area, and a line of bare skin around the hairline, which creates the illusion of a mask. After the foundation layer is applied, a sponge is patted all over the face, throat, chest, the nape and neck to remove excess moisture and to blend the foundation. Next the eyes and eyebrows are drawn in. Traditionally, charcoal was used, but today, modern cosmetics are used. The eyebrows and edges of the eyes are colored black with a thin charcoal; a maiko also applies red around her eyes. The lips are filled in using a small brush. The color comes in a small stick, which is melted in water. Crystallized sugar is then added to give the lips lustre. Rarely will a geisha color in both lips fully in the Western style, as white creates optical illusion s and colouring the lips fully would make them appear overly large. The lower lip is colored in partially and the upper lip left white for maiko in her first year, after which the upper lip is also colored. Newly full-fledged geisha will color in only the top lip fully. Most geisha wear the top lip colored in fully or stylized, and the bottom lip in a curved stripe that does not follow the shape of the lip.The geisha round the bottom lips to create the illusion of a flower bud. Miako who are in their last stage of training wil sometames colour their teeth black for a short period of time. This practice used to be common among married women in Japan and, earlier, at the imperial court, but survives only in some districts, or even families. While this sounds unsavoury to Western ears, it is again at least partly because of the optical illusion generated by white makeup: in contrast, teeth seem very yellow; colouring the teeth black means that they seem to disappear in the darkness of the open mouth. This illusion is of course more pronounced at a distance. For the first three years, a maiko wears this heavy makeup almost constantly. During her initiation, the maiko is helped with her makeup either by her onee-san, or older sister (an experienced geisha who is her mentor), or by the okaa-san, or mother of her geisha house. After this, she applies the makeup herself. After a maiko has been working for three years, she changes her make-up to a more subdued style. The reason for this is that she has now become mature, and the simpler style shows her own natural beauty. For formal occasions, the mature geisha will still apply white make-up. For geisha over thirty, the heavy white make-up is only worn during special dances which require her to wear make-up for her part. The hairstyles of geisha have varied through history. In the past, it has been common for women to wear their hair down in some periods, but up in others. During the 17th century, women began putting all their hair up again, and it is during this time that the traditional shimada hairstyle,f type of traditional chignon worn by most established geisha, developed. These hairstyles are decorated with elaborate hair-combs and hairpins. Geisha were trained to sleep with their necks on small supports (takamakura), instead of pillows, so they could keep their hairstyle perfect. To reinforce this habit, their mentors would pour rice around the base of the support. If the geishas head rolled off the support while she slept, rice would stick to the pomade in her hair. The geisha would thus have to repeat the tiresome process of having her hair elaborately styled. Without this happening, a geisha will have her hair styled every week or so. Many modern geisha use wigs in their professional lives, while maiko use their natural hair. However, either one must be regularly tended by highly skilled artisans. Traditional hairstyling is a slowly dying art. Over time, the hairstyle can cause balding on the top of the head. Geishas life changed during all the time. World War II brought many changes to the world of geishas. In 1944, everything in the geishas world was forced to shut down, including teahouses, bars, and houses. About a year later, they were allowed to reopen, after the women had been working laboriously in factories every day. The very few women who returned back to the geisha areas decided to reject western influence and revert back to traditional ways of entertainment and life. The image of the geisha was formed during Japans feudal past, and this is now the image they must keep in order to remain geisha World War II resulted with most of the laboring geisha not returning to their previous occupation. It was up to the few women who did return to change the thwarted view of geisha back its traditional ways. Because of the devastations of the war, people post-war wanted to bring nationalism back to the country through a reinvention of traditional values and the arts. Another major change after World War II was the absence of a young geishas mizuage, or selling her virginity to the highest bidder. This reform was also in the form of a feminist movement, because the girls wanted control over their bodies, especially sexually. There is no doubt that coerced sex and bidding on a new geishas virginity occurred in the period before WWIIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦After Japan lost the war, geisha dispersed and the profession was in shambles. When they regrouped during the Occupation and began to flourish in the 1960s during Japans postwar economic boom, the geisha world changed. In modern Japan, girls are not sold into indentured service, nor are they coerced into sexual relations. Nowadays, a geishas sex life is her private affair In her book, Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki said, I lived in the karyukai during the 1960s and 1970s, a time when Japan was undergoing the radical transformation from a post-feudal to a modern society. But I existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mi ssion and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past. Women in the geisha society are some of the most successful businesswomen in Japan. In the geisha society, women run everything. Without the impeccable business skills of the female teahouse owners, the world of geisha would cease to exist. The teahouse owners are entrepreneurs, whose service to the geisha is highly necessary for the society to run smoothly. Men are also needed, but in contingent positions such as hair stylists, dressers, and sometimes accountants. In an interview with the Boston Phoenix, Mineko Iwasaki, reportedly the most successful geisha of all time, stated, The geisha system was founded, actually, to promote the independence and economic self-sufficiency of women. And that was its stated purpose, and it actually accomplished that quite admirably in Japanese society, where there were very few routes for women to achieve that sort of independence The majority of women were wives who didnt work outside of their familial duties. Becoming a geisha was a way for women to support themselves without submitting to becoming a wife. The geisha women live in a strictly matriarchal society. Women dominate. Women run the geisha houses, they are teachers, they run the teahouses, they recruit aspiring geisha, and they keep track of geishas finances. The only role that men play in the society is that they are the people being entertained. Sometimes men work as hair stylists or kimono dressers, but their jobs are hardly ever long-term. Men arent meant to see the behind-the-scenes workings of geisha to ensure the mystery behind the women.

Free Othello Essay: The Disintegration of Othello -- Othello essays

The Disintegration of Othello Shakespeare's Othello is a play with unique characters. One such character is the one for which Shakespeare names his play. In the play, Othello disintegrates from a confident leader to a homicidal murderer. Linguistic changes throughout the play attest to this theory. In the opening scenes, Shakespeare portrays Othello as a noble character. When Brabantio seeks vengeance (for "stealing" his daughter) on Othello, Othello expresses his actions will "tongue out his [Brabantio's] complaints" (1.2.21). Thus he shows his calmness against the verbal slander of Brabantio. Throughout this scene, Othello remains calm and confident. Moreover, he humbly tells the story of his relationship with Desdemona. He does not flaunt the situation over Brabantio but speaks modestly. In the next act, Othello maintains his calm demeanor. He speaks poetically of seeing his "fair warrior" Desdemona (2.1.210). Later in the scene, Cassio fails at his military duties. Even though this deeply hurts Othello, he keeps his calm. He lovin...

Analysis of To His Coy Mistress :: To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell

"To His Coy Mistress" is a very interesting poem. The main plot of the poem is about this guy that tries to pick up a girl for the night. The poem does not tell about the setting. I assumed that it was in a bar, because of the way he talked to her and that is where most guys go to pick up a girl for the evening. We see this poem through the eyes of the guy, by doing this Marvell gives a look into his mind and what he is thinking. This helps to bring the reader into the poem. It allows the reader to get into his mind as the poem goes along. We begin to see the guy develop his words more and more until eventually by the third stanza he is pretty desperate. In the first stanza we see the guy begin to make a move. He begins to tell her all these sweet lines about how he could spend eternity with her. For instance, he says on line 11, "My vegtable love should grow vastar than empires, and more slow;...." In these two lines he is trying to tell her how his love will grow more and more everytime he sees her. He will love her until the end of time. A few lines later he continues to talk about his everlasting love. He begins to divide his love up between her body parts. He promises to her that he will dedicate a hundred years to her eyes. Then he tells her that he would dedicate two hundred to each breasts. That last line about the breasts I thought was pretty funny. Here you begin to see how his mind begins to shift toward sex. He begins to shift his thoughts from her eyes to her body. He is very nonchalant about it. After the comment about her breasts he says and thirty to the rest. I can just see this guy talking to her. He puts a little e mphasis on the breasts comment, and then I picture him mumbling, "oh yea....and thirty thousand to the rest." The guy is only out for one thing, and that is sex. He is trying to be smooth about it, but in the next stanza we begin to see his patience giving out. In the second stanza we begin to see the guy's personality shift.

Cigarettes - Addiction And Product Dangers :: essays research papers fc

It is clear that businesses have an obligation to inform their customers about their product's ingredients and dangers. Looking at the case of Rose Cipollone we see that she was a heavy smoker. Her doctor's had to remove part of her right cancerous lung and informed her that she had to quit smoking. Unfortunately, she was addicted. Her doctor's removed the rest of her lung that year and she finally quit smoking. She then sued the Liggett Group, the makers of the cigarettes she smoked. The lawsuit charged that the company knew of the link between cancer and smoking in the early 1940's. The company was found innocent of conspiring with other tobacco companies to hide the dangers of cigarette smoking but guilty on the grounds of falsely claiming its products were safe. However, things have changed. It is not 1940 anymore, when people were ignorant about the dangers of smoking. Tobacco companies now have Surgeon General warnings on cigarette packs. Unless they have been living under a rock, the general public should have been exposed to enough information by this time when it comes to cigarettes and addiction. Nicotine information is but a click away. Tobacco companies should no longer have the obligation to warn their customers, except if a new ingredient is added, in which case they should be notified. No one is saying get rid of the Surgeon General warnings, but enough is enough! If a person wants to smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day, then that is their choice; tobacco companies should not be held responsible. Let us examine the hype surrounding the supposed danger and addition of nicotine. The Food and Drug Administration tells us that nicotine (the addictive drug found in cigarettes) is just as addictive as cocaine and should be illegal."Much of the rhetoric of the anti-smoking movement seeks to demonize tobacco smokers as "nicotine addicts". In the past, of course, the term "addict" has been generally applied only to mind-altering drugs, e.g., heroin and cocaine. Even alcohol, which is mind-altering, is not generally referred to as "additive". So, the argument is one of semantics. If nicotine is addictive, so are chocolate candies, pies and cakes, etc. Indeed, if "addiction" is defined as dependence upon some chemical, everyone is addicted, to air!" Nicotine and cocaine are two different things. They may be just as addictive as each other but they certainly do not produce the same effect.

My favourite film: Avatar Essay

My favourite movie is Avatar which premiered in 2009. I went to see the film to the cinema as I heard earlier that it is very spectacular and it must be watched in the pictures. What’s more it is a 3D movie and we needed 3D glasses to experience all the special effects it contained. Avatar is a science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. The film is set in 2154, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora which is a moon. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the existence of a local tribe of Na’vi—a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film’s title refers to the hybrid bodies used by a team of human researchers to interact with the natives of Pandora. The film broke several box office records during its release and became the highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada and also worldwide. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards. The main character of the film is Jake Sully, a former Marine. When his brother is killed in a robbery, he decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions in which he wants to drive off the native â€Å"Na’vis† in order to mine for the precious material which can be found in their rich woodland. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri. Selfridge moves forward with his extermination tactics and he forces the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

Identifying Potential Risk, Response, Recovery

In this paper I have just been hired as an Information Security Engineer for a video game development company. I have previously identified all of the potential Threats, Vulnerabilities and Malicious Attacks for the videogame development company. The CIO have reviewed my report and has now requested that I draft a report analyzing and assessing any potential Malicious Attacks, Vulnerabilities and Threats that may be carried out against the company’s network. I will then choose a strategy for dealing with risk, such as mitigation, assignment, risk and avoidance.Next I will develop controls that will be used to mitigate each risk. Now let’s begin by discussing the threat of the Web/FTP server, some servers, or hosts, must be open to the internet. Web servers are examples of such hosts. You want any user to be able to access your web server- but you don’t want everyone to be able to get to your internal network (Fundamentals of Information Systems Security). The sim ple solution for this is just to isolate the host that is connected to the internet from the internal networks and then create a demilitarized zone.The risk mitigation for the Web/FTP, the FTP is very useful for working with remote systems, or to move files between systems. On the other hand the use of FTP across the internet or other untrusted networks, exposes you to certain security risk. Your object authority scheme might not provide enough protection when you allow the FTP on your system. The next risk for FTP is a hacker can mount a denial of service attack with your FTP server to disable user profile (FTP Security). This is usually done by repeatedly trying to logging on with the incorrect password for a user profile, generally until the profile is disabled.This kind of attack will disable the profile if it reached the maximum sign on count of three. If the company use a FTP server logon exit program to reject logon requests by any system user profile and those user profiles that the company designate will not be allowed FTP access. Now we will discuss the NIDS, the primary purpose of a network-based intrusion detection system is to identify attackers trying to expose vulnerable network services. The NIDS can respond to the attack or alert personnel, who can take the necessary and appropriate actions for this type of attack.NIDS allows administrator to respond to attacks with actions appropriate to their security policy. To properly analyze false alarm reduction strategies, it is necessary to quantify risk and the NIDS role in risk reduction. The NIDS uses two formulas, one formula assumes that risk is roughly equivalent to single loss expectancy. This formula for this quantification is SLE= (Asset Value x Exposure Factor) (Fundamentals of Information Systems Security). The next formula states that risk is equal to exposure multiplied by threat. Risk= Exposure x Threat.This equation determines threat and the type of threat. For example there are threats of port scans, automated scans and sweeps, Denial of Service and Service attacks and compromises. Now we will move on to Windows 2008 Active Directory Domain Controllers (DC), because domain controllers provide critical services to their clients, it is crucial to minimize the risk of any disruption of these services that may be caused by malicious attacks. Antivirus Software can be used to mitigate the risk of malicious attacks in Windows 2008 Active Directory Domain Controllers.Make sure that you verify the antivirus software you select is confirmed to be compatible with your domain controllers. Do not use domain controller systems as general workstations. Another way to prevent malicious attacks on domain controller systems is to not allow users to use domain controllers to surf the web or to perform any other activities that can allow the introduction of malicious code. Only allow browsing on sites that are known to be safe, this will be did strictly for the purpose of supportin g server operation and maintenance.Another practice to keep in mind is to make sure that all of the company’s files, including the shared ones, should be ran against a virus scanning software. This bring me to the file servers, have the potential to receive different viruses such as worms, Trojan horses and logic bombs. To allow an end user to upload files to your website, is like opening another door for a malicious user to compromise your server (acunetix. com). File uploads are permitted in social network applications. File uploads are also allowed with blogging, e-banking sites and you tube.All of these network sites allow users the opportunity to efficiently share files with corporate employees. Users are allowed to share files with corporate employees, through uploaded videos, pictures, avatars and many other types of files. The best way to prevent malicious attacks through the company’s file servers is to make sure that the file that is being uploaded is validat ed. This will prevent a hacker from uploading files with malicious codes that can lead to a server compromise. Another way to prevent a malicious attack on the file server is for the company to block all dangerous extensions.In cases like this, there would be a blacklist, the list will show the dangerous extensions and there access will be denied if the extension of file they are trying to upload is on this list. The best practices to follow when uploading files onto websites and web applications. The first risk mitigation in a file server is to estimate the size of programs, files, and transaction. Then you will need to prevent deviation in size of the files as well as the amount of users that have access to the files. Now we will move forward the Wireless access point (WAP), this is the connection between a wired and wireless network.This is also a wireless security protocol designed to address and fix the known security issues in WEP. WAP’s are radios, sending and receivin g networking information over the air between wireless devices and the wired network wireless (Fundamentals of Information Systems Security). The best way to prevent malicious attacks on a WAP is to increase security. Presently WPA provides users with a higher level of assurance that their data will remain protected by using Temporal Key Integrity Protocol for data encryption.If the data is not encrypted then it is considered as fair game, because it would be very easy for anyone that have access to a radio to access this data. The mitigation risk for a Wireless access point is to make sure your technology is updated. Failure to upgrade to newer, more advanced technologies could potentially impact productivity and lead to significant downtime, security vulnerabilities, and non-compliance issues. Older wireless technology do not support new features and functions that are proving to be so valuable.Next you will need to choose the right carrier, ensuring information is secure within t he supply chain, complying with all the latest government and retailer mandates and taking advantage of all the latest features and functions to save time and money can seem like a daunting task ( Wireless technology Migration: Mitigating risk and increasing supply chain efficiency). Now we will discuss the 100- Desktop/Laptop computers, both of these computers are subject to viruses such as worms, hoaxes, Trojans and other security vulnerabilities.The best way to prevent these from occurring is to install and use a firewall. Always make sure you are installing and updating the latest critical security software. Add a virus software scanner, to allow the software to scan your computer for potential viruses. Next we will discuss the VOIP telephone system, this is one of the newest technologies that is being rapidly embraced by the market as an alternative to the traditional public switched telephone network. The malicious attacks that can occur with this system is denial of service, impersonation or spoofing or toll  Ã‚  fraud.The best way to prevent this from happening is to add port security, cisco secure access control server, DHCP Snooping, Cisco firewall solutions and intrusion prevention. Data transit can also be used to protect the voice traffic over the wireless LAN’s. The risk mitigation for desktop/laptop is as followed is to target malware with automated defenses. One of the first line of defenses for any PC or laptop is to block or eliminate viruses, worms, spyware, and other malware, including Trojan downloaders and keystroke loggers, both on endpoints and at the gateway.Deploy anti-malware and filtering software for all email gateways, to prevent malware and spam from ever reaching the PC’s. Next you would want to patch your vulnerabilities as quickly as possible, create a password to access your PC or laptop. To really maximize security in a minimal amount of time, as part of the â€Å"acceptable use† policy, prohibit users from installing unauthorized software on PC’s or laptops (10 Ways to mitigate your security risk).