Ferdinand de Saussure Essay Example for Free

Ferdinand de Saussure Essay Stylistics is the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective. As a discipline it links literary criticism and linguistics, but has no autonomous domain of its own. [1][2] The preferred object of stylistic studies is literature, but not exclusively high literature but also other forms of written texts such as text from the domains of advertising, pop culture, politics or religion. [3] Stylistics also attempts to establish principles capable of explaining the particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language, such as socialisation, the production and reception of meaning, critical discourse analysis and literary criticism. Other features of stylistics include the use of dialogue, including regional accents and people’s dialects, descriptive language, the use of grammar, such as the active voice or passive voice, the distribution of sentence lengths, the use of particular language registers, etc. In addition, stylistics is a distinctive term that may be used to determine the connections between the form and effects within a particular variety of language. Therefore, stylistics looks at what is ‘going on’ within the language; what the linguistic associations are that the style of language reveals. * | Early twentieth century The analysis of literary style goes back to Classical rhetoric, but modern stylistics has its roots in Russian Formalism,[4] and the related Prague School, in the early twentieth century. In 1909, Charles Ballys Traite de stylistique francaise had proposed stylistics as a distinct academic discipline to complement Saussurean linguistics. For Bally, Saussures linguistics by itself couldnt fully describe the language of personal expression. [5] Ballys programme fitted well with the aims of the Prague School. [6] Building on the ideas of the Russian Formalists, the Prague School developed the concept of foregrounding, whereby poetic language stands out from the background of non-literary language by means of deviation (from the norms of everyday language) or parallelism. [7] According to the Prague School, the background language isnt fixed, and the relationship between poetic and everyday language is always shifting. [8] Late twentieth century Roman Jakobson had been an active member of the Russian Formalists and the Prague School, before emigrating to America in the 1940s. He brought together Russian Formalism and American New Criticism in his Closing Statement at a conference on stylistics at Indiana University in 1958. [9] Published as Linguistics and Poetics in 1960, Jakobsons lecture is often credited with being the first coherent formulation of stylistics, and his argument was that the study of poetic language should be a sub-branch of linguistics. [10] The poetic function was one of six general functions of language he described in the lecture. Michael Halliday is an important figure in the development of British stylistics. [11] His 1971 study Linguistic Function and Literary Style: An Inquiry into the Language of William Goldings The Inheritors is a key essay. [12] One of Hallidays contributions has been the use of the term register to explain the connections between language and its context. [13] For Halliday register is distinct from dialect. Dialect refers to the habitual language of a particular user in a specific geographical or social context. Register describes the choices made by the user,[14] choices which depend on three variables: field (what the participants are actually engaged in doing, for instance, discussing a specific subject or topic),[15] tenor (who is taking part in the exchange) and mode (the use to which the language is being put). Fowler comments that different fields produce different language, most obviously at the level of vocabulary (Fowler. 1996, 192) The linguist David Crystal points out that Halliday’s ‘tenor’ stands as a roughly equivalent term for ‘style’, which is a more specific alternative used by linguists to avoid ambiguity. (Crystal. 1985, 292) Halliday’s third category, mode, is what he refers to as the symbolic organisation of the situation. Downes recognises two distinct aspects within the category of mode and suggests that not only does it describe the relation to the medium: written, spoken, and so on, but also describes the genre of the text. (Downes. 1998, 316) Halliday refers to genre as pre-coded language, language that has not simply been used before, but that predetermines the selection of textual meanings. The linguist William Downes makes the point that the principal characteristic of register, no matter how peculiar or diverse, is that it is obvious and immediately recognisable. (Downes. 1998, 309) Literary stylistics In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Crystal observes that, in practice, most stylistic analysis has attempted to deal with the complex and ‘valued’ language within literature, i. e.  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœliterary stylistics’. He goes on to say that in such examination the scope is sometimes narrowed to concentrate on the more striking features of literary language, for instance, its ‘deviant’ and abnormal features, rather than the broader structures that are found in whole texts or discourses. For example, the compact language of poetry is more likely to reveal the secrets of its construction to the stylistician than is the language of plays and novels. (Crystal. 1987, 71). Poetry As well as conventional styles of language there are the unconventional – the most obvious of which is poetry. In Practical Stylistics, HG Widdowson examines the traditional form of the epitaph, as found on headstones in a cemetery. For example: His memory is dear today As in the hour he passed away. (Ernest C. Draper ‘Ern’. Died 4. 1. 38) (Widdowson. 1992, 6) Widdowson makes the point that such sentiments are usually not very interesting and suggests that they may even be dismissed as ‘crude verbal carvings’ and crude verbal disturbance (Widdowson, 3). Nevertheless, Widdowson recognises that they are a very real attempt to convey feelings of human loss and preserve affectionate recollections of a beloved friend or family member. However, what may be seen as poetic in this language is not so much in the formulaic phraseology but in where it appears. The verse may be given undue reverence precisely because of the sombre situation in which it is placed. Widdowson suggests that, unlike words set in stone in a graveyard, poetry is unorthodox language that vibrates with inter-textual implications. (Widdowson. 1992, 4) Two problems with a stylistic analysis of poetry are noted by PM Wetherill in Literary Text: An Examination of Critical Methods. The first is that there may be an over-preoccupation with one particular feature that may well minimise the significance of others that are equally important. (Wetherill. 1974, 133) The second is that any attempt to see a text as simply a collection of stylistic elements will tend to ignore other ways whereby meaning is produced. (Wetherill. 1974, 133) Implicature In ‘Poetic Effects’ from Literary Pragmatics, the linguist Adrian Pilkington analyses the idea of ‘implicature’, as instigated in the previous work of Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. Implicature may be divided into two categories: ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ implicature, yet between the two extremes there are a variety of other alternatives. The strongest implicature is what is emphatically implied by the speaker or writer, while weaker implicatures are the wider possibilities of meaning that the hearer or reader may conclude. Pilkington’s ‘poetic effects’, as he terms the concept, are those that achieve most relevance through a wide array of weak implicatures and not those meanings that are simply ‘read in’ by the hearer or reader. Yet the distinguishing instant at which weak implicatures and the hearer or reader’s conjecture of meaning diverge remains highly subjective. As Pilkington says: ‘there is no clear cut-off point between assumptions which the speaker certainly endorses and assumptions derived purely on the hearer’s responsibility. ’ (Pilkington. 1991, 53) In addition, the stylistic qualities of poetry can be seen as an accompaniment to Pilkington’s poetic effects in understanding a poems meaning. Stylistics is a valuable if long-winded approach to criticism, and compels attention to the poems details. Two of the three simple exercises performed here show that the poem is deficient in structure, and needs to be radically recast. The third sheds light on its content. Introduction Stylistics applies linguistics to literature in the hope of arriving at analyses which are more broadly based, rigorous and objective. {1} The pioneers were the Prague and Russian schools, but their approaches have been appropriated and extended in recent years by radical theory. Stylistics can be evaluative (i. e.  judge the literary worth on stylistic criteria), but more commonly attempts to simply analyze and describe the workings of texts which have already been selected as noteworthy on other grounds. Analyses can appear objective, detailed and technical, even requiring computer assistance, but some caution is needed. Linguistics is currently a battlefield of contending theories, with no settlement in sight. Many critics have no formal training in linguistics, or even proper reading, and are apt to build on theories (commonly those of Saussure or Jacobson) that are inappropriate and/or no longer accepted. Some of the commonest terms, e. g. deep structure, foregrounding, have little or no experimental support. {2} Linguistics has rather different objectives, moreover: to study languages in their entirety and generality, not their use in art forms. Stylistic excellence — intelligence, originality, density and variety of verbal devices — play their part in literature, but aesthetics has long recognized that other aspects are equally important: fidelity to experience, emotional shaping, significant content. Stylistics may well be popular because it regards literature as simply part of language and therefore (neglecting the aesthetic dimension) without a privileged status, which allows the literary canon to be replaced by one more politically or sociologically acceptable. {3} Why then employ stylistics at all? Because form is important in poetry, and stylistics has the largest armoury of analytical weapons. Moreover, stylistics need not be reductive and simplistic. There is no need to embrace Jacobsons theory that poetry is characterized by the projection of the paradigmatic axis onto the syntagmatic one. {4} Nor accept Bradfords theory of a double spiral: {5} literature has too richly varied a history to be fitted into such a straitjacket. Stylistics suggests why certain devices are effective, but does not offer recipes, any more than theories of musical harmony explains away the gifts of individual composers. Some stylistic analysis is to be found in most types of literary criticism, and differences between the traditional, New Criticism and Stylistics approaches are often matters of emphasis. Style is a term of approbation in everyday use (that woman has style, etc.), and may be so for traditional and New Criticism. But where the first would judge a poem by reference to typical work of the period (Jacobean, Romantic, Modernist, etc. ), or according to genre, the New Criticism would probably simply note the conventions, explain what was unclear to a modern audience, and then pass on to a detailed analysis in terms of verbal density, complexity, ambiguity, etc. To the Stylistic critic, however, style means simply how something is expressed, which can be studied in all language, aesthetic and non-aesthetic. {6} Stylistics is a  very technical subject, which hardly makes for engrossing, or indeed uncontentious, {7} reading. The treatment here is very simple: just the bare bones, with some references cited. Under various categories the poem is analyzed in a dry manner, the more salient indications noted, and some recommendations made in Conclusions. Published Examples of Stylistic Literary Criticism G. N. Leechs A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry (1969) Laura Browns Alexander Pope (1985) Roy Lewiss On Reading French Verse: A Study in Poetic Form (1982) George Wrights Shakespeares Metrical Art. (1988) Richard Bradfords A Linguistic History of English Poetry (1993) Poem The Architects But, as youd expect, they are very Impatient, the buildings, having much in them Of the heavy surf of the North Sea, flurrying The grit, lifting the pebbles, flinging them With a hoarse roar against the aggregate They are composed of — the cliffs higher of course, More burdensome, underwritten as It were with past days overcast And glinting, obdurate, part of the Silicate of tough lives, distant and intricate As the whirring bureaucrats let in And settled with coffee in the concrete pallets, Awaiting the post and the department meeting —  Except that these do not know it, at least do not Seem to, being busy, generally. So perhaps it is only on those cloudless, almost Vacuumed afternoons with tier upon tier Of concrete like rib-bones packed above them, And they light-headed with the blue airiness Spinning around, and muzzy, a neuralgia Calling at random like frail relations, a phone Ringing in a distant office they cannot get to, That they become attentive, or we do — these Divisions persisting, indeed what we talk about, We, constructing these webs of buildings which, Caulked like great whales about us, are always. Aware that some trick of the light or weather Will dress them as friends, pleading and flailing — And fill with placid but unbearable melodies Us in deep hinterlands of incurved glass.  © C. John Holcombe 1997 Metre Though apparently iambic, with five stresses to the line, the metre shows many reversals and substitutions. Put at its simplest, with: / representing a strong stress \ representing a weak stress x representing no stress, and trying to fit lines into a pentameters, we have -| /| x| x| x| /| -| \| x| /| x| | But| as| youd| ex| pect| | they| are| ve| ry| x| /| x| x| /| x| /| x| \| x| x|. Im| pat| ient| the| build| ings,| hav| ing| much| in| them| x| x| \| x| /| x| x| \| /| /| x x| Of| the| heav| y| surf| of| the| North| Sea,| flurr| ying| x| /| -| /| x| x| /| x| /| x| \| The| grit,| | lift| ing| the| pebbl| es,| fling| ing| them| \| x| /| -| /| x| \| x| /| x| \| With| a| hoarse| | roar| a| gainst| the| agg| re| gate| x| \| x| /| \| x| /| /| x| x| /| They| are| com| posed| of,| the| cliffs| high| er| of| course| \| /| x| \| -| /| x| / | x| \| | More| burd| en| some,| | un| der| writ| ten| as| | x| /| x| /| -| /| -| /| x| /| | It| were| with| past| | days| | o| ver| cast| | x| /| x|. \| /| x| \| -| /| x| x| And | glit| ter| ing,| ob| du| rate,| | part| of| the| -| /| x x x| /| -| /| -| /| x x| /| x x| | Sil| icate of| tough| | lives| | dist| ant and| in| tricate| -| \| x| /| x| /| x| \| -| /| x| | As| the| whir| ring| bu| reau| crats| | let| in| x| /| x x| /| x| \| x| /| x| /| x| And | set| tled with| cof| fee| in| the| con| crete| pal| lets| x| /| x x| /| x| \| x| /| x| /| x| A| wait| ing the| post| and| the| de| part| ment| meet| ing| x| \| x| /| \ x | /| x| x| \| /| x| Ex| cept| that| these| do not| know| it, | at| least| do| not| -| /| x| /| x| /| x| /| x| \| x|. | Seem| to| be| ing| bus| y| gen| ER| all| y| \| x| /| x x| /| x| \| x| /| x| /| x| So| per| haps| it is| on| ly| on| those| cloud| less| al| most| -| /| x| /| x| \| x| /| x x| \| /| x| | Vac| uumed| af| ter| noons| with| ti| ER u| pon| ti| ER| x| /| x| \| /| /| -| /| x| /| x| | Of| con| Crete| like| rib| bones| | packed| a| bove| them| | x| /| \| /| x| \| x| /| /| x| \| | And | they| light| head| ed,| with| the| blue| air| i| ness| | -| /| x x| /| x| /| x| \| x| /| x x| | | Spin| ning a| round| and| muz| zy,| a| neu| ral| gia| | -| /| x x| /| x x| /| x| /| x x| /| |. | Cal| ling at| ran| dom like| frail| re| lat| ions a| phone| | -| /| x x x| /| x| /| x x| /| x| /| x| | Ring| ing in a| dist| ant| of| fice they| can| not| get| to| x| /| x| /| x| /| x x| /| /-| \| | That| they| be| come| at| ten| tive, or| we| do| these| | x| /| x x| /| x x| /| \| x| /| x| /| Di| vis| ions per| sist| ing, in| deed| what| we| talk| a| bout| -| /| x| /| x x| /| x| /| x| \| | | We,| con| struct| ing these| webs| of| build| ings| which| | -| /| x| /| \| /| x| /| x x| /| x| | Caulk| Ed | like| great| whales| a| bout| us are| al| ways| x| /| x x| /| x x| /| x| /| x| | |. A| ware| that some| trick| of the| light| or| weath| ER| | | \| /| x x| /| -| /| x x| /| x| | | Will| dress| them as| friends| | plead| ing and| flail| ing| | | x| /| x| /| x| \| x| /| x x| /| x x| And| fill| with| plac| id| but | UN| bear| able | mel| odies| -| /| x| \| -| /| x x x| /| \| /| | | Us | in| deep| | hint| erlands of| in| curved| glass| | Poets learn to trust their senses, but even to the experienced writer these (tedious) exercises can pinpoint what the ear suspects is faulty, suggest where improvements lie, and show how the metre is making for variety, broad consistency, shaping of the argument and emotive appeal. Though other scansions are certainly possible in the lines above, the most striking feature will remain their irregularity. Many lines can only roughly be called pentameters; Lines 16 and 17 are strictly hexameters; and lines 27 and 28 are tetrameters. In fact, the lines do not read like blank verse. The rhythm is not iambic in many areas, but trochaic, and indeed insistently dactylic in lines 9 and 10, 21 and 22 and 28. Line 27 is predominantly anapaestic, and line 3 could (just) be scanned: x x| / x| /| x x \| /| | /| x x | Of the| heavy| surf| of the North| Sea| | flurr| ying|. Reflective or meditative verse is generally written in the iambic pentameter, and for good reason — the benefit of past examples, readers expectations, and because the iambic is the closest to everyday speech: flexible, unemphatic, expressing a wide range of social registers. Blank verse for the stage may be very irregular but this, predominantly, is a quiet poem, with the falling rhythms inducing a mood of reflection if not melancholy. What is being attempted? Suppose we set out the argument (refer to rhetorical and other analyses), tabbing and reverse tabbing as the reflections as they seem more or less private: {8} 1. But, as youd expect, 2. they are very impatient, the buildings, 3. having much in them of the heavy surf of the North Sea, 4. flurrying the grit, 5. lifting the pebbles, 6. flinging them with a hoarse roar against the aggregate they are composed of — the 7. cliffs higher of course, more 8. burdensome, 9. underwritten as it were with past days 10. overcast and glinting, 11. obdurate, 12. part of the silicate of tough lives, 13. distant and intricate as 14. the whirring bureaucrats 15. Let in and settled with coffee in the concrete pallets, awaiting the post and the department meeting — 16. except that these do not know it,  17. at least do not seem to, being busy, 18. generally. 19. So perhaps it is only on those cloudless, almost vacuumed afternoons with tier upon tier of concrete like rib — bones packed above them, and 20. they light-headed 21. with the blue airiness spinning around, and 22. muzzy, a 23. neuralgia calling at random like 24. frail relations, a 25. phone ringing in a distant office they cannot get to, that 26. They become attentive, 27. or we do — 28. these divisions persisting, 29. indeed what we talk about, 30. we, constructing these webs of buildings which 31. Caulked like great whales about us, are 32.  always aware that some trick of the light or weather will dress them as friends, 33. pleading and flailing — and 34. fill with placid but unbearable melodies 35. us in deep hinterlands of incurved glass. The structure should now be clear. Where Eliot created new forms by stringing together unremarkable pentameters, {8} this poem attempts the reverse: to recast an irregular ode-like structure as pentameters. And not over-successfully: many of the rhythms seemed unduly confined. But once returned to the form of an eighteenth century Pindaric ode, however unfashionable today, the lines regain a structure and integrity. Each starts with a marked stress and then tails away, a feature emphasized by the sound patterns. {9} Sound Patterning To these sound patterns we now turn, adapting the International Phonetic Alphabet to HTML restrictions: 1. But | as | youd | expect | u | a | U | e e | b t | z | y d | ksp kt | 2. They | are | very | impatient | the | buildings | A | a(r) | e E | i A e | e | i i | th | | v r | mp sh nt | th | b ld ngz | 3. Having | much | in | them | of | the | heavy | surf | of | the | North | Sea | a i | u | i | e | o | e | e | e(r) | o | e | aw | E | h v ng | m ch | n | th m | v | th | h v | s f | v | th | n th | s |. 4. flurrying | the | grit | u E i | e | i | fl r ng | th | gr t | 5. lifting | the | pebbles | i i | e | e | l ft ng | th | p b lz | 6. flinging | them | with | a | hoarse | roar | against | the | aggregate | they | are | composed | of | i i | e | i | e | aw | aw | e A | e | a E A | A | a(r) | o O | o | fl ng ng | th m | w th | | h s | r | g nst | th | gr g t | th | | k MP zd | v | 7. the | cliffs | higher | of | course | more | e | i | I e | o | aw | aw | th | kl fs | h | v | s | m | 8. burdensome | u(r) e e | b d ns m | 9.underwritten | as | it | were | with | past | days | u e i e | a | i | (e)r | i | a(r) | A | nd r t n | z | t | w | w | p st | d z | 10. overcast | and | glinting | O e(r) a(r) | a | i i | v k St | nd | gl NT ng | 11. obdurate | o U A | bd r t | 12. part | of | the | silicate | of | tough | lives | (a)r | o | e | i i A | o | u | I | p t | f | th | s l k t | v | t f | l vz | 13. distant | and | intricate | i a | a | i i e | d St NT | nd | NT r k t | 14. as | the | whirring | bureaucrats | a | e | e(r) i | U O a | z | th | w r ng | b r kr ts | 15. let | in | and | settled | with | coffee | in | the | concrete | pallets | e | i | a | e ie | i | o E | i | e | o E | a e | l t | n | nd | s tl d | w th | k f | n | th | k Kr t | p l Ts | awaiting | the | post | and | the | department | meeting | e A i | e | O | a | e | E e | E i | w t ng | th | p St | nd | th | d p tm NT | m t ng | 16. except | that | these | do | not | know | it | e e | a | E | U | o | O | i | ks pt | th | th z | d | n t | n | t | 17. at | least | do | not | seem | to | being | busy | a | E | U | o | E | U | E i | i E | t | l St | d | n t | s m | t | b ng | b z /td | 18. generally | e e a E | j nr l | 19. so | perhaps | it | is | only | on | those | cloudless | almost | vacuumed | afternoons | O | e(r) a | i | i | O | o | O | ou e | aw O | a U | a(r) e oo | s | p h ps | t | z | nl | n | th z | kl dl s | lm St | v k md | ft n nz | with | tier | upon | tier | of | concrete | like | rib | bones | packed | above | them | and | i | E e(r) | e o | E e(r) | o | o E | I | i | O | a | e u | e | a | w th | t | p n | t | v | k nkr t | l k | r b | b nz | p Kt | b v | th m | nd | 20. they | light | headed | A | I | e e | th | l t | h d d | 21.with | the | blue | airiness | spinning | around | and | i | e | U | (A)r i e | i i | e ou | a | w th | th | bl | r n s | sp n ng | r nd | nd | 22. muzzy | a | u E | e | m z | | 23. neuralgia | calling | at | random | like | U a E a | aw i | a | a o | I | n r lj | k l ng | t | r nd m | l k | 24. frail | relations | a | A | e A e | e | fr l | r l zh nz | | 25. phone | ringing | in | a | distant | office | they | cannot | get | to | that | O | i i | i | e | i a | o i | A | a o | e | oo | a | | f n | r ng ng | n | | d St NT | f s | th | k n t | g t | t | th | | 26.they | become | attentive | A | E u | a e i | th | b k m | t NT v | 27. or | we | do | aw | E | oo | | w | d | 28. these | divisions | persisting | E | i i e | e(r) i i | th z | d v zh nz | p s St ng | 29. indeed | what | we | talk | about | i E | o | E | aw | e ou | in d | wh t | w | t k | b t | 30. we | constructing | these | webs | of | buildings | which | E | o u i | E | e | o | i i | i | w | k nz str Kt ng | th z | w bs | v | b ld ngz | wh Ch | 31. caulked | like | great | whales | about | us | are | aw | I | A | A | e ou | u | a(r) | k kd | l k | gr t | w lz | b t | s | | 32. always | aware | that | some | trick | of | the | light | or | weather | will | dress | them | as | friends | aw A | e (A)r | a | u | i | o | e | I | aw | e e(r) | i | e | e | a | e | lw z | w | th t | s m | tr k | v | th | l t | | w th | w l | dr s | th m | z | Fr ndz | 33. pleading | and | flailing | E i | a | A i | pl d ng | nd | fl l ng | 34. will | fill | with | placid | but | unbearable | melodies | i | i | i | a i | u | u A(r) a e | e O E | f l | w th | PL s d | b t | n b r b l | m l d z | | 35. us | in | deep | hinterlands | of | incurved | glass | u | i | E | i e a | o | i e(r) | a(r) | s | n | d p | h NT l ndz | v | nk v d | GL s | Sound in poetry is an immensely complicated and contentious subject. Of the seventeen different employments listed by Masson {10} we consider seven: 1. Structural emphasis All sections are structurally emphasized to some extent, but note the use (in decreasing hardness) of * plosive consonants in sections 1, 5, 6, 7, 10-13, 19, 28-50; 31 and 35. * fricative and aspirate consonants in sections 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 19, 25, 28, 32, 35. * liquid and nasal consonants in sections 3, 4, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 31-35. Also: * predominance of front vowels — in all sections but 6, 7, 11, 16, 17, 19 and 31. * predominance of vowels in intermediate positions — only sections 16 and 17 having several high vowels and section 3 low vowels. 2. Tagging of sections Note sections 1, 7, 13 and 15. 3. Indirect support of argument by related echoes * Widely used, most obviously in sections 3-7, 12-13, and 15. 4. Illustrative mime: mouth movements apes expression * Sections 2, 6, 11-13, 19, 31 and 35. 5. Illustrative painting * Sections 3-6, 10-13, 15, 19 and 33. Most sections are closely patterned in consonants. Those which arent (and therefore need attention if consistency is to be maintained) are perhaps 8, 9, 14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 27. Originally the poem was cast in the form of irregular pentameters. But if this is set aside in favour of the 35 sections listed above, how are these sections to be linked in a self-evident and pleasing form? A little is accomplished by alliteration: * f in sections 3 to 7. * s and t in sections 12 to 15 * w in sections 29 to 32 And also by the predominance of front and intermediate level vowels, but these do not amount to much. Certainly we do not find that the overall shaping of the poem emphasizes the argument or content. Sociolinguistics Language is not a neutral medium but comes with the contexts, ideologies and social intentions of its speakers written in. Words are living entities, things which are constantly being employed and only half taken over: carrying opinions, assertions, beliefs, information, emotions and intentions of others, which we partially accept and modify. In this sense speech is dialogic, has an internal polemic, and Bakhtins insights into the multi-layered nature of language (heteroglossia) can be extended to poetry. {11} Much of Postmodernist writing tries to be very unliterary, incorporating the raw material of everyday speech and writing into its creations. This poem seems rather different, a somewhat remote tone and elevated diction applying throughout. Let us see whats achieved by grouping under the various inflections of the speaking voice. * urgently confidential But, as youd expect, cliffs higher, of course, that they become attentive or we do * obsessively repetitious flurrying the grit, lifting the pebbles, flinging them Burdensome, underwritten overcast and glinting, obdurate * over-clever silicate of tough lives  distant and intricate constructing these webs of buildings distracted and/or light-headed except that these do not know it at least do not seem to with the blue airiness spinning around calling at random like frail relations * melancholic and/or reflective some trick of the light or weather will dress them as friends pleading and flailing and fill with placid but unbearable melodies. The exercise hardly provides revelation. Heteroglossia is an interweaving of voices, moreover, not shifts of tone or reference. And yet there is something very odd about the opening line. Why should we expect the buildings to be very impatient? This is more than the orators trick of attracting attention, since the animate nature of buildings and their constituents is referred to throughout the poem. To be more exact, the attitude of the inhabitants — observers, bureaucrats, architects — to the buildings is developed by the poem, and is paralleled by the tone. But why the confidential and repetitious attitude at the beginning. Why should we be buttonholed in this manner? Why the But, which seems to point to an earlier conversation, and the urgency with which that earlier conversation is being refuted or covered up? Because the blame for something is being shifted to the buildings. What error has been committed we do not know, but in mitigation we are shown the effect of the buildings on other inhabitants. Or perhaps we are. In fact the whirring bureaucrats seem to grow out of the fabric of buildings, and we do not really know if the we, constructing these webs of buildings is meant literally or metaphorically. The poems title suggests literally, but perhaps these constructions are only of the mind: sections 17, 20-29, 32 and 34 refer to attitudes rather than actions, and there is an ethereal or otherworldly atmosphere to the later section of the poem. So we return to heteroglossia, which is not simply borrowed voices, but involves an internal polemic, {12} that private dialogue we conduct between our private thoughts and their acceptable public expression. The dialogue is surely here between the brute physicality of a nature made overpoweringly real and the fail brevity of human lives. That physicality is threatening and unnerving. If the we of the later section of the poem is indeed architects then that physicality is harnessed to practical ends. If the constructing is purely mental then the treatment is through attitudes, mindsets, philosophies. But in neither case does it emasculate the energy of the physical world. Architects may leave monuments behind them, but they are also imprisoned in those monuments (us in deep hinterlands) and hearing all the time the homesick voice of their constituents. Conclusions: Suggested Improvements The greatest difficulty lies in the poems structure. An pentameter form has been used to give a superficial unity, but this wrenches the rhythm, obscures the sound patterns and does nothing for the argument. If recast in sections defined by rhythm and sound pattern the form is too irregular to have artistic autonomy. A return could be made to the eighteenth century Pindaric ode in strict metre and rhyme, but would require extensive and skilful rewriting, and probably appear artificial. A prose poem might be the answer, but the rhythms would need to be more fluid and subtly syncopated. Otherwise, blank verse should be attempted, and the metre adjusted accordingly. The internal polemic is a valuable dimension of the poem, but more could be done to make the voices distinct. http://www. textetc. com/criticism/stylistics. html1. On StylisticsIs cognitive stylistics the future of stylistics? To answer this question in the essay that follows, I will briefly discuss Elena Semino and Jonathan Culpeper’s Cognitive Stylistics (2003), Paul Simpson’s Stylistics (2004), and a recent essay by Michael Burke (2005). However, because questions are like trains – one may hide another – any discussion of the future of stylistics raises intractable questions about stylistics itself. French students of stylistics, for example, will come across definitions of the discipline like the following. According to Brigitte Buffard-Moret, â€Å"si les definitions de [la stylistique] – que certains refusent de considerer comme une scien

Use of Irony, Diction, and Imagery in My Last Duchess :: Robert Browning, My Last Duchess

In his dramatic monologue, Robert Browning uses irony, diction, and imagery to achieve a haunting effect. Robert Browning frequently wrote dramatic monologues to enhance the dark and avaricious qualities in his works. Browning's use of this particular style is to "evoke the unconstrained reaction of a person in aparticular situation or crisis" (Napierkowski 170). A poem may say one thing, but when mixed with dramatic monologue, it may "present a meaning at odds with the speaker's intention"(Napierkowski 170). This change may show the reader more insight into the poem without directly stating the underlying facts. The reader is allowed to "isolate a single moment in which the character reveals himself more starkly" (Napierkowski 171). Browning's use of dramatic monologue "disposes the reader to suspend moral judgement" (Napierkowski 171) causing a haughtiness to hover over many of his works. Browning uses irony in conjunction with dramatic monologue to produce a sinister and domineering effect. Irony, much like dramatic monologue, can make the reader question the true underlying meaning of the passage. This brief confusion causes an eeriness to be brought about in the work. In "My Last Duchess," verbal irony is demonstrated when the Duke says to his guests, "even had you skill in speech . . . which I have not"(35-36). Throughout the poem the Duke proves that he is "quite a polished speaker"(Markley 172). The Duke is not a modest man, but him making this seemingly humble statement in the midst of all his power stricken remarks establishes situational irony. Dramatic monologue can make an unforseen ironic statement have an ominous surrounding that totally encompasses the reader's attention. An individual may initially become very disturbed if an unannounced late night visitor knocked on their door, just as the Duke's unanticipated remark brought a weary feeling to the reader. Throughout "My Last Duchess," Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Count's emissary. The Duke refers to his former wife's portraits "depth" and "passion" in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the "faint" and "half-flush" appearance that "dies along her throat," brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Duke's "trifling" lack of "countenance" is evident in his jealousy of the Duchess's kindness toward others. Her benevolence "disgusts" the Duke, and causes him to "stoop" down to spouting off "commands" in her direction.

Common Attributes of Peter Carey’s Short Stories Essay

An analysis of several of the stories in The Collected Stories of Peter Carey reveals numerous common attributes, leading to the aspects of entrapment and isolation appearing as common aspects of the stories. These come across in both the physical and mental form. Often the entire experience of entrapment and isolation is the result of the interaction of both forms. The quality of entrapment seen throughout Crabs, Peeling and A Fat Man in History relies on lies. In Crabs, the main character and his girlfriend become â€Å"stranded† at the drive in after their car parts have been stolen and the manager of the drive in tells them there is no way that they can leave, in effect lying to them. The same form of lying is adopted by Florence Nightingale in A Fat Man in History, as she makes them believe that they really can’t do anything to escape their place as the hated fat people in society except rebel against the government, suggesting all sorts of odd methods to do so such as ‘eating the statue’. The lying is slightly different in Peeling. The narrator has fallen into a trap of self-deception, unwilling to accept the harsh truth, preferring to take ‘slow pleasure’ in ‘superficial things’. This allows him a more pleasant state of mind, but at the same time entraps him in a world of lies which will undoubtedly cause some distress once he is forced to see the truth. For entrapment to be further entwined in these three Peter Carey stories, the use of blind acceptance is also employed. This means the characters need to believe that they are physically trapped. Those in Crabs are told they can’t get out of the drive in but aren’t physically trapped at first, yet they don’t try to rebel against the government by walking out of the drive in or attempting to escape in any way unless they have a functioning car. At some point they do become physically trapped as the government fence them in. The gang in A Fat Man in History just accept that they are obese and are hated by society, which may be true but they don’t want to do anything sensible to change this. Instead, they stay inside the house unless working or involved in some scheme to steal or gather supplies for a highly irrational rebellion. Finally, in Peeling the man is not physically trapped in his room, yet due to his unemployment he rarely leaves the house. The thick fog of the London day feeds the idea of the physical side of entrapment. The frame of mind shown by the narrator due to this feeling is one that might be adopted by a person with a terminal illness or a criminal on death row; it’s the attitude of someone who knows their life will be over soon. This mindset is one of everything must be superficial and savoured, that life shouldn’t be rushed and moments of seriousness can be left to rot. Love and inter-character relationships cause the characters of each story to become both isolated and entrapped within themselves. Peeling shows the reader the effect of love on the narrator, as he knows exactly what Nile is doing by listening only to her footprints, although they are both physically isolated the majority of the time. He isolates himself from her in his entrapped mindset, not wishing to discuss such deep, serious things as feelings for abortion babies and their souls, yet loves her, or at least lusts after her, enough to know her schedule, talk with her about the mundane going on in life and tell what she’d doing when she’s rearranging the dolls on the floor above. It’s only when the narrator is freed of his self-deception, which was causing his entrapment, by Nile’s babbling about abortion babies and their souls does he integrate himself with her. He is once again isolated by her transformations from woman to man to woman to doll. The fat men in A Fat Man in History all lust after â€Å"Florence Nightingale†. The simple fact they call her that despite her name being Nancy Bowlby suggests this much, with more evidence found when they all crowd into the room with expectation the night the rent is due and clamour to get her attention when she arrives. Furthermore, Finch admits to fantasising about her in one of her â€Å"secret visits† to his room, and the-man-who-won’t-give-his-name obviously feels something towards her as he sleeps with her. This love and adoration of Florence leads to a divide between all members of the gang, isolating them mentally. It also allows Florence to trap them as part of her social experiment. In Crabs, the main character borrows the car from his friend Frank. He is then targeted by the Karboys who steal parts of the loaned car, leaving Crabs unable to get himself and his girlfriend home. This incident, combined with the fact the car was loaned, leads to Crabs’ entrapment in the drive in, as he is determined to return the car with the right parts. It also isolates him as he waits for the correct car to come to steal the parts from, and he becomes more irritated and edgy as time goes by. The relationship between him and Frank is what causes his isolation from his girlfriend and others in the story. In all three Peter Carey stories studied from The Collected Works of Peter Carey, entrapment and isolation are common attributes of the characters. This comes across in many forms, both physical and mental, with these two features relating closely to each other. Entrapment and isolation closely linked as a character who feels trapped consequently feels isolated. The stories of Peter Carey are written using surrealism which has the ability to give the reader the impression that the characters are more isolated than they really are as their lives are not streamlined with reality. Carey uses these ideas to highlight their place in today’s society, suggesting that all humans feel entrapment and isolation regularly, however it is fully controllable through our state of minds and ideals, yet at the same time is unavoidable, as everyone has relationships with others that cause them to feel certain ways, whether it be a relationship of love or of respect.

Joan Makes History- Kate Grenville Essay - 1268 Words

Kate Grenvilles episodic novel Joan Makes History (1988) is also good to think with in term of national identity. Grenville deviates from exploring Amanda Lohreys suggestion of a suitable past (1996). Instead of celebrating what Lohrey describes as mindless nationalism (1996, p 150), in the invented traditions of Australian society, national identity, political progression and territory, Grenville explores the key periods of Australian history through the first-person narration, presenting subjective perspectives on the cultural ‘turning points of the past century. The episodic structure of the story allows Grenville to fully explore the diverse cultural perspectives of these events, as thus communication the message of how†¦show more content†¦Joan feels the strains of domesticity and the remoteness of her personal time and place impact upon her dreams as she figuratively becomes a prisoner of the tadpole inside me. As Joan moves into the country with Duncan, she mo ves further away from her believed destiny, World!... You could have been mine! (p110). The remoteness of Joans home continues to reflect her distant feelings towards Duncan, nothing here but dust and monotonous sun (p111). Jennifer Craik (1990), uses the house the Queenslander as a form of everyday material culture that affects the identity of its occupants. Craik identifies the home as the key arena in which these [urban] politics are played out (1990, p1). However, as Craik continues to assert that the home has a need to facilitate the dynamics of domestic life (1990, p15), the lack of Joans domestic dynamics becomes apparent, I was on my own now, every bond snapped. Joans ironic attempt to make history by becoming a man, I was Jack, a woman of destiny, was how she realized her true destiny- as a mother. Craiks assertion that within the house, everyday life appears to be innocent is complimented by Williams, who asserts culture is ordinary. In order to interpret ones social identity, we must start with a basic proposition so we canShow MoreRelatedBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pagesrelationships, ideas as well as the places, events and societies, by different composers through their use of language modes, forms, and their relevant structural forms and language features engage personally with their texts and draw on their own experience make connections to their perceptions of the world and the worlds represented in the texts. Waverley Library database Log on to the database Literature Resource Centre - HSC English Syllabus via the Waverley library home page either though the internet

Brief Overview of the Anti-Lynching Crusade Movement

The Anti-lynching movement was one of many civil rights movements established in the United States. The purpose of the movement was to end lynching of African-American men and women. The movement was comprised mainly of African-American men and women who worked in a variety of ways to end the practice. Origins of Lynching Following the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, African-Americans were considered full citizens of the United States. As they sought to build businesses and homes that would help establish communities, white supremacist organizations sought to repress African-American communities. With the establishment of Jim Crow laws prohibiting African-Americans from being able to participate in all aspects of American life, white supremacists had destroyed their enfranchisement. And to destroy any means of success and oppress a community, lynching was used to create fear. Establishment Although there is no clear founding date of the anti-lynching movement, it peaked around the 1890s. The earliest and most reliable record of lynching were found in 1882 with 3,446 victims being African-American men and women. Almost concurrently, African-American newspapers began  publishing news articles and editorials to show their outrage at these acts. For instance, Ida B. Wells-Barnett expressed her outrage in the pages of Free Speech a paper she published out of Memphis. When her offices where burned in retaliation for her investigative journalism, Wells-Barnett continued to work from New York City, publishing A Red Record. James Weldon Johnson wrote about lynching in the New York Age. Later as a leader in the NAACP, he organized silent protests against the actions--hopeing to bring national attention. Walter White, also a leader in the NAACP, used his light complextion to gather research in the South about lynching. The publication of this news article bought national attention to the issue and as a result, several organizations were established to fight against lynching. Organizations The anti-lynching movement was spearheaded by organizations such as the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), the Council for Interracial Cooperation (CIC) as well as the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL). By using education, legal action, as well as news publications, these organizations worked to end lynching. Ida B. Wells-Barnett worked with both the NACW and NAACP to establish anti-lynching legislation. Women such as Angelina Weld Grimke and Georgia Douglass Johnson, both writers, used poetry and other literary forms to expose the horrors of lynching. White women joined in the fight against lynching in the 1920s and 1930s. Women such as Jessie Daniel Ames and others worked through the CIC and ASWPL to end the practice of lynching. The writer, Lillian Smith wrote a novel entitled Strange Fruit in 1944. Smith followed up with a collection of essays entitled Killer of Dreams in which she bought the arguments established by the ASWPL to the national forefront. Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill African-American women, working through the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), were among the first to protest lynching. During the 1920s, the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill became the first anti-lynching bill to be voted on by the Senate. Although the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill ultimately did not become a law, its supporters did not feel they had failed. The attention made citizens of the United States condemn lynching. In addition, money raised to enact this bill was given to the NAACP by Mary Talbert. The NAACP used this money to sponosor its federal antilynching bill that was proposed in the 1930s.

Social And Psychological Needs For Clean Drinking Water

Humans are complex beings because unlike animals, we need more than just food and water to survive. Most living creatures depend on food and water to meet their fundamental needs for survival. Likewise, humans also require these basic needs, but we also have large egos that need to be satisfied. As privileged members of a well-developed society, we do not see how fortunate we are to have easy access to unlimited amounts of fresh clean water. All of our basic needs are easily met, so the focus for most of us is to fulfil our social and psychological needs. Can you imagine the women and children lined up at the verge of dehydration, burning in the hot African sun for clean drinking water? Did you feel pity for the helpless population, desperately in need of an essential? Would you feel that same pity for the helpless crowds in first world countries trying to be socially accepted? Whatever the answer may be, we have become paralyzed, paralyzed by the desire to be wanted. In this way, we become very self-centred because, while the literal thirst for people in developing nations is a major issue of concern, the thirst for social acceptance in our westernized world seems to be the primary focus of our society. Therefore, the sense of belonging is now becoming more destructive than dehydration. To begin with, one of the most vital and influential time of one’s life is during their school years as it is the portal to finding one’s identity. My first few days of gradeShow MoreRelatedThe Failure Of Sanitation Intervention1260 Words   |  6 Pagesbetter than non-sanitation for reducing contagious diseases, which refers to Relative Advantage. Compatibility could be the most influential factor for the failure, because sanitation is not compatible with the intended users’ perceived needs or value that boiled water is only served for sick people. The complexity is not a great issue in this case since the sanitation methods in this intervention are easy to adopt. Trialability and Observability both are not problems in this scenario, but the interventionistsRead MoreThe Baseline Engagement At Target Behavior Occurred1096 Words   |  5 Pagesto a mean occurrence of .33 times per session. While competing behaviors occurred at a heightened rate of: d rinking coffee 19.3 times per session; consuming candy 5.3 times per session; and going outside 13.3 times per session. When treatment was introduced there was an immediate reduction in both candy (1.2 times per session), and coffee consumption (2.7 times per session); while water consumption improved dramatically; increasing to a mean of 21.5 times per session. Going outside showed a variableRead MoreThe Pollution of East Kazakhstan796 Words   |  3 Pagespollution,smoke which go out from factory. The main role in pollution of the city belongs to anthropogenic sources . Nevertheles , social- economic, psychological and other factors in the complex have a significant adverse impact the public health.Man-made sources of pollution , including historical, chemical and physical factors of influence. Meanwhile, people use this water for watering gardens. Also all the heavy metals enter the body , environmentalists say . However even more dangerous mines thatRead MoreIs Evian A Brand I mage For The Bottled Water Product?2160 Words   |  9 PagesEvian is a brand which sells mineral water owned by a French multinational corporation. It used to be portrayed as a luxury and expensive bottled water which is made by natural spring water. It used to be extremely popular because of its high quality. However, after all this years, it seems like that Evian has gradually losing its brand value and gradually turning into a normal good, so the company desperately needed a new idea to help it becoming fashionable once again. 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Business Ethics of Google in China Free Essays

string(84) " expanded into many other countries and now hosts over 150 country website domains\." â€Å"The Great Firewall† Prepared by Kristina Wilson, Yaneli Ramos, and Daniel Harvey under the supervision of Professor Wayne Norman (edited by Professor Chris MacDonald) In early 2006, search-engine giant Google struck a deal with the People’s Republic of China and launched Google. cn, a version of its search engine run by the company from within China. Launching Google. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Ethics of Google in China or any similar topic only for you Order Now cn required Google to operate as an official Internet Service Provider (ISP) in China, a country whose Communist government requires all ISPs to selfcensor, removing content that is considered illegal from search results. From a financial perspective, China represented for Google a dynamic and fast-growing, though increasingly competitive, market. Google’s decision to self-censor Google. cn attracted significant ethical criticism at the time. The company’s motto is â€Å"Don’t Be Evil,† and prior to entering China, Google had successfully set itself apart from other technology giants, becoming a company trusted by millions of users to protect and store their personal information.The choice to accept self-censorship, and the discussion and debate generated by this choice, forced Google to re-examine itself as a company and forced the international community to reconsider the implications of censorship. This case was prepared as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either the effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – Noncommercial – No Derivative Works 3. 0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3. /. You may reproduce this work for non-commercial use if you use the entire document and attribute the source: The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Case Studies in Ethics dukeethics. org â€Å"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google’s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission. † – Google senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin. †1 Introduction In early 2006, search-engine giant Google struck a deal with the People’s Republic of China and launched Google. n, a version of its search engine run by the company from within China. Launching Google. cn required Google to operate as an of? cial Internet Service Provider (ISP) in China, a country whose Communist government requires all ISPs to self-censor, removing content that is considered illegal from search results. Such censored content ranges from political subjects such as â€Å"democracy† and â€Å"Tibet,† to religious subjects such as â€Å"Falun Gong† (a spiritual movement banned by the government) and â€Å"the Dalai Lama,† to social subjects like â€Å"pornography. By choosing to launch Google. cn, Google seemed to be implying that its mission and values could be consistent with selfcensorship in China. From a ? nancial perspective, China represented for Google a dynamic and fast-growing, though increasingly competitive, market. With over 105 million users online in early 2006, China’s Internet market was the second in size only to that of the United States, but it still represented only about 8% of the Chinese population. Though Google’s U. S. -based site, Google. om, had been available in China since the site’s inception in 1999, service was slow and unreliable due to extensive Chinese government censoring of international content. Google’s major U. S. competitors, Yahoo! and Microsoft MSN, had each entered the Chinese market as ISPs years earlier, agreeing to self-censor. In addition, escalating competition from Chinese search engine Baidu. com was quickly eroding Google. com’s Chinese market share: between 2002 and 2007, Baidu. com’s market share increased from a mere 3%2 to a dominant 58%. Google’s decision to self-censor Google. cn attracted signi? cant ethical criticism at the time. The company’s motto is â€Å"Don’t Be Evil,† and prior to entering China, Google had successfully set itself apart from other technology giants, becoming a company trusted by millions of users to protect and store their personal information. However, in early 2006, Google found itself in front of the Committee on International Relations of the U. S. House of Representatives, defending its actions in China side by side with Microsoft, Yahoo! , and Cisco Systems.Google’s choice to accept self-censorship, and the discussion and debate generated by this choice, forced Google to reexamine itself as a company and forced the international community to reconsider the implications of censorship. Google and its Mission History and Services4 Google is the world’s largest search engine. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two Stanford graduate students, Google began as a college research project. While at Stanford, the founders created an innovative technology that would analyze webpages and retrieve the most pertinent information for any given search query. 2 3 4 Oliver, C Shinal, J. â€Å"Google will censor new China service†. MarketWatch. (January 25, 2006). Thopmpson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine (April 23, 2006): LexisNexis. Duke University Library. 6 Nov. 2007. Liu, J. â€Å"Baidu and Google at logger heads in China; Business Asia by Bloomberg†. International Herald Tribune (July 26, 2007): LexisNexis Duke University Library. 6 Nov. 2007. â€Å"Milestones†. Available from www. google. com. Accessed on November 4, 2007. Case Studies in Ethics 2 ukeethics. org Their innovation caught the attention of their classmates, and of others who knew them, and later on of a few investors. After they generated suf? cient capital from investors, family, and friends who saw potential in their idea, they opened their ? rst of? ce in a garage in Menlo Park, California. This of? ce had a washer and dryer and a hot tub that was emblematic of what today continues to be Google’s laid-back corporate culture. Now the company has moved into the â€Å"Googleplex,† a much larger of? ce in Mountain View, California. As the company grew, so did its range of products and services. Today, not only is Google a search engine, but it is also a mapping service, a translator, an e-mail account, and a blog-hosting service, among many other services. In fact, Google now has over 40 products and features on its website which extend beyond its basic search engine, with many more in development. The company has also expanded into many other countries and now hosts over 150 country website domains. You read "Business Ethics of Google in China" in category "Papers" It is continually growing and expanding and has a solid position as the world’s #1 search engine.It was also named the best company to work for in 2007 by Fortune magazine. Corporate Culture5 Even though their company has expanded considerably, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have apparently managed to maintain some of the same personal, small-company feel that they started off with. Likewise, despite the company’s move into the Googleplex, it still seems to have kept a corporate culture that re? ects its modest beginnings. Employees do not work in cubicles; instead they work in an open space where dogs and large rubber exercise balls are free to roam.They have a health-conscious company chef and host bi-weekly rollerblade hockey games in the parking lot. The founders host weekly â€Å"TGIF† meetings and promote a laid-back culture. The purpose of this is to create an ideal setting for innovative ideas to ? ow freely. The informal atmosphere makes this possible. Google’s internal structure is a standard corporate hierarchy, yet personnel try not to let hierarchy dominate their personal encounters. Everyone performs tasks outside of their specialty and position whenever needed.Core Values and Mission6 Google’s mission statement asserts that â€Å"Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. †7 The core message under the company’s code of conduct is that â€Å"being a Googler means holding yourself to the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct. †8 The company wants to be able to save its users time and frustration by making the information that the user is looking for readily available, without having to sift through tons of useless information.Not only does Google want to provide fast and ef? cient service, but the company also wants to make its information available for everyone who has access to the internet; they want their product to be â€Å"universally accessible. † Also, the company claims not to want to make ethical sacri? ces just in order to incre ase value for shareholders. The company has made it a priority not to sell high placement in search results to anyone and to show only non-? ashy ads that are relevant to the user’s search query. 5 6 7 8 â€Å"The Google Culture†.Available from www. google. com. Accessed on Nov. 4, 2007. â€Å"Our Philosophy†. Available from www. google. com. Accessed on Nov. 4, 2007. â€Å"Company Overview†. Available from www. google. com. Accessed on Nov. 4, 2007. â€Å"Google Code of Conduct†. Available from www. google. com. Accessed on Nov. 4, 2007. Case Studies in Ethics 3 dukeethics. org China, Censorship, and the Golden Shield Project History China has been playing a game of catch-up in recent years, attempting to modernize and become a larger player in the global market.As it attempted, and eventually succeeded in, entering the World Trade Organization, China was forced to open its markets to foreign companies, granting â€Å"unprecedented access to the Chinese market. †9 During this period of increased foreign access, companies within China started demanding more advanced telecommunications, as well as modern infrastructure. The Chinese government agreed that modernization was necessary, and so quickly began to ? nance this modernization, making the nation one of â€Å"the world’s largest consumers of telecommunications equipment. 10 However, China’s acquisition of more modern forms of information technology leads not only to increased trade and communication ? ow out of the country, but into the country as well. The ? ow of information into the country is what concerns China’s Ministry of Public Service (hereafter referred to as MPS), whose responsibility statement says: The responsibilities of public security agencies in China include: the prevention, suppression and investigation of criminal activities; ? ght against terrorist activities; maintenance of social security and order; ? ght against behaviors jeopardizing social order . . security and inspection of public information networks. 11 These responsibilities include policing the expression of certain ideas and the acquisiti on of sensitive information. As Collings notes, In February 1996, all private subscribers to Chinanet, the main Internet service provider, run by the state telecommunications monopoly, were required to register with the Public Security Bureau, provide the government with detailed personal information about themselves, and sign a pledge not to â€Å"read, copy or disseminate information that threatens state security. . . . In addition to the state-run Chinanet, all Internet service providers were required to take steps to ? lter out anything deemed harmful. 12 As part of their effort to keep up with the more advanced information networks being put in place, â€Å"Chinese authorities are keen to acquire new technologies that will serve to increase their surveillance capabilities. †13 As the new millennium began, the MPS started to implement these new technologies in its censorship activities, using them to restrict access to ideas and information that are outlawed in China.The Golden Shield Project In early 2000, the MPS introduced its new system, the Golden Shield project, which aimed to use state-of-the-art technology as a means of more effectively policing the Chinese people. Although this technology is used to monitor everything from video to voice to Internet traf? c, controlling the ? ow of information over the Internet is the focus of this case. 9 Foreign Policy in Focus. http://www. fpif. org/briefs/vol4/v4n38china. html. Walton, G. (2001). China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China.Canada: Rights and Democracy. Online: http://www. dd-rd. ca/site/_PDF/publications/globalization/CGS_ENG. PDF 11 Chinese Government’s Of? cial Web Portal. http://www. gov. cn/english/2005-10/02/content_74192. htm. 12 Collings, A. Words of Fire. (New York: New York University Press, 2001). 187. 13 Walton, G. (2001). China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China. Canada: Rights and Democracy. 10 Case Studies in Ethics 4 dukeethics. org To control the information ? owing over the Internet, the MPS has installed, not ? ewalls exactly,14 but a content? ltering system that works similarly to parental control systems that can block out speci? c material. A story in The New York Times Magazine describes the system this way: There are three main ? ber-optic pipelines in China, giant underground cables that provide Internet access for the public and connect China to the rest of the Internet outside its borders. The Chinese government requires the private-sector companies that run these ? ber-optic networks to specially con? gure â€Å"router† switches at the edge of the network, where signals cross into foreign countries.These routers – some of which are made by Cisco Systems, an American ? rm – serve as China’s new censors. 15 Once the â€Å"? rewall† checks to see if the sites being searched are blacklisted or not, it next utilizes a â€Å"censorship system that uses a keyword blacklist and routers that reach deep into Internet traf? c to ? nd forbidden words or phrases†16 on the sites being searched. This, combined with the fact that those in China know that all of their Internet activities are being monitored, instills fear of imprisonment and limits the in? ux of information that the Chinese government ? ds objectionable. 17 However, the system still only blocks out information coming from outside the country. Peer-to-peer and internal servers are able to avoid the ? lters. Controversy has arisen because the Chinese government’s system fails to prevent access to all content they deem inappropriate. To tighten the net further, and prevent Chinese Internet users from accessing prohibited subject matter available on servers within the country, China has asked providers of Internet services with local out? ts to remove contentious material and to censor their own customers.Additionally, â€Å"[f]or companies inside its borders, the government uses a broad array of penalties and threats to keep content clean. †18 This is required of textmessaging services, search engines, and blogging sites and provides the ultimate way for the Chinese government to block content within the country without having to create more dif? cult-to-implement censorship systems. 19 Backing up all of these censorship mechanisms is the constant threat of imprisonment or other hostile reaction to violations of the censorship laws.This fear keeps both Internet users and se rvice providers vigilant in censoring their own actions within China. In some cases, Internet users even get very pointed reminders that their government is exercising control over their Web-sur? ng habits. Consider the following of? cial announcement: Starting today, when netizens visit all the main portals of Shenzhen city, Guangdong, they will see two cartoon ? gures â€Å"Junghing† and â€Å"Chacha† (Jing Cha = Police). The image of Shenzhen Internet Police will of? cially be online.From now on, when netizens visit websites and web forums of Shenzhen, they will see these two cartoon police images ? oating on their screen20 (see Appendix III). 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Einhorn, B. â€Å"The Great Firewall of China†. BusinessWeek. (September 23, 2002): LexisNexis. Duke University Library. 3 Nov. 2007. Thompson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine. (April 23, 2006). â€Å"Toppling the Great Firewall of China. † eWeek. (September 12, 2007): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. Duke University Library – Perkins. 3 Nov. 2007.Ibid. Thompson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine. (April 23, 2006). Einhorn, B Elgin, B. â€Å"THE GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA; How a vast security network and compliant multinationals keep the mainland’s Net under Beijing’s thumb†. BusinessWeek. (January. 23, 2006): LexisNexis. Duke University Library. 3 Nov. 2007. Qiang, X. â€Å"Image of Internet police: JingJing and Chacha online – Hong Yan ( )†. chinadigitaltimes. net. (January 22, 2006). Case Studies in Ethics 5 dukeethics. org Google’s Decision to Launch Google. n The Internet Market in China According to Google’s 2006 projections, the Chinese internet market was expected to grow from 105 million users to 250 million users by 2010. Moreover, in early 2006 there were already 350 million mobile phones in use in China and that number was projected to grow by about 57 million annually. 21 Before choosing to launch Google. cn, Google was already a player in this Chinese market. Since the site’s inception in 1999, U. S. -based Google. com had been available to Chinese users as it had been to users worldwide.Unlike its major U. S. competitors, though, Google did not rush to set up a China-based version of its search engine, and thus to acquiesce to government censorship regulations, as had Yahoo! in 1999, when it established Yahoo! China,22 and Microsoft in 2005, with its establishment of MSN China. 23 Unlike its competitors, Google chose instead to create a version of its search engine capable of understanding character-based languages like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, which it would run out of its California headquarters. With this U. S. based version of Google. com, the company was able to control an estimated 25% of the Chinese search market by 2002 and to avoid Chinese government censorship completely. 24 By the year 2002, Google. com’s Chinese user base mainly consisted of white collar, pro-Western Chinese businesspeople. 25 However, in the fall of 2002, problems struck. Suddenly, in early September, computer users in China could not access Google. com. The Chinese government had blocked access to the site, and users were instead diverted to rival Chinese search sites. 6 Two weeks later, it again became possible to access Google. com, but government censorship had been heightened, making the search engine far slower and less reliable. 27 Much speculation exists as to why China suddenly chose to shut down and then to stringently censor Google. com. Google Co-founder Sergey Brin and many technology professionals in China believe it was the result of an effort by a Chinese competitor, like the then-new search engine Baidu. com, to gain market share at Google’s expense through pulling strings in the government. 8 The stoppage could also have been due to heightened Internet security in anticipation of a November 2002 shift in political leadership. 29 Whatever the cause, Google was left offering users in China a slow and less-than-satisfactory version of Google. com. Moreover, Baidu. com, now Google’s chief rival in China, began to grow, blossoming from a 3% market share player in 200230 to a 63. 7% market share player in fall 2006, catering in large part to young users looking to download MP3 ? les. 31 Concurrently, Google dropped its market share from 25% in 2002 to 19. % in 2006. 32 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Schrage, E. , Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. , â€Å"Testimony of Google Inc. before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations. † (February 15, 2006). Amnesty International. â€Å"Undermining Freedom of Expression in China: The role of Yahoo! , Microsoft, and Google†. (July 2006). Kerner, S. M. â€Å"MSN China Opens its Doors†. InternetNews. com. (May 27, 2005). Thompson, C. Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine. (April 23, 2006). Ibid The New York Times. â€Å"Beijing Blocks Access to Google†. NYT Late Edition, East Coast. (September 4, 2002). Kahn, J. â€Å"China Seems to Re? ne Bid to Restrict Web Access. † The New York Times. (September 14, 2002). Thompson, C. Kahn, J. â€Å"China Seems to Re? ne Bid to Restrict Web Access. † The New York Times. (September 14, 2002). Thompson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem). † The New York Times Magazine (April 23, 2006): LexisNexis. Duke University Library. 6 Nov. 2007. Thompson, C. Fong, Mei. â€Å"Google Builds China ties; Software ? rm deal is part of a move into other services. † The Wall Street Journal. (January 5, 2007). Case Studies in Ethics 6 dukeethics. org Making the Decision to Expand into China Given the commercial potential of the expanding Chinese market and Google’s decrease in Chinese market share between 2002 and 2006, it was imperative for Google to make decisions about whether to escalate operations in China at the price of having to self-censor.To begin the discussion, Google had to make the business opportunity clear. The case was put this way, in February 2006, by Elliot Schrage, Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. : There is no question that, as a matter of business, we want to be active in China. It is a huge, rapidly growing, and enormously important market, and our key competitors are already there. It would be disingenuous to say that we don’t care about that because, of course, we do. We are a business with stockholders, and we want to prosper and grow in a highly competitive world. 3 However, since expanding into China would require Google to self-censor its content on behalf of the communist Chinese government, clearly more was at stake in this decision than potential commercial gain. Co-founder Sergey Brin was born in the Soviet Union and said that â€Å"having felt that kind of oppression, I would never have wanted to compromise in that direction. †34 In order to analyze the potential options, Google developed an analytical framework based on its corporate mission.In the words of Vice President Elliot Schrage: Google’s objective is to make the world’s information accessible to everyone, everywhere, all the time. It is a mission that expresses two fundamental commitments: (a) First, our business commitment to satisfy the interests of users, and by doing so to build a leading company in a highly competitive industry; and (b) Second, our policy conviction that expanding access to information to anyone who wants it will make our world a better, more informed, and freer place. Some governments impose restrictions that make our mission dif? ult to achieve, and this is what we have encountered in China. In such a situation, we have to add to the balance a third fundamental commitment: (c) Be responsive to local conditions35 To understand Google’s decision, it is important to examine the nexus of user interests, the expansion of access to information, and unique local conditions in China. In terms of satisfying user interests, Google prides itself on providing a high-quality user experience. After the Chinese government’s 2002 Internet censorship crackdown, the Google. om experience for a user in China was no longer of high quality. Google. com generated search results extremely slowly because, regardless of the terms searched, each search had to pass through the elaborate â€Å"Great Firewall of China† censoring system. As a site hosted outside of China, and not within the Great Firewall itself, Google. com took a particularly long time to load search results, as compared to search engines hosted in-country like Baidu. com or Yahoo! China. Moreover, 33 34 35 Schrage, E. , Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. â€Å"Testimony of Google Inc. before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations. † (February 15, 2006). Brin, Sergey, quoted by Hannah Clark. â€Å"The Google Guys in Davos. † Forbes. com. (January 1, 2007). Schrage, E. , Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. , â€Å"Testimony of Google Inc. before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations. † (February 15, 2006). Bold text included by Mr. Schrage.Case Studies in Ethics 7 dukeethics. org Chinese users found that Google. com was down over 10% of the time; Google News was never available; and Google Images was available only 50% of the time. 36 Another important concern related to user interests is the importance of user privacy. In early 2006, just as Google was planning to launch Google. cn, it became known that Yahoo! China had turned over private user e-mail data to the Chinese government and that this had led to the ten-year, eight-year, and four-year prison sentences of Chinese cyberdissidents Shi Tao, Li Zhi, and Jiang Lijun.In addition, Microsoft had recently shut down the blog of famous Chinese political blogger Michael Anti (a penname for Zhao Jing) at the request of the Chinese government. 37 Clearly any decision made by Google to enter China would have to take into account concerns about user privacy and government surveillance. In terms of expanding access to information, it was Google’s position that due to the poor quality of Google. com for users in China after 2002, Google was in fact not providing the population of China with good access to information. As Google, Inc. Senior Policy Council Andrew McLaughlin put it: Filtering our search results clearly compromises our mission. Failing to offer Google search at all to a ? fth of the world’s population, however, does so far more severely. Whether our critics agree with our decision or not, due to the severe quality problems faced by users trying to access Google. com from within China, this is precisely the choice we believed we faced. 38 Finally, in terms of local conditions, it was important for Google to determine to what extent self-censoring would affect the company’s search results.For users of Google. com in China, searches for censored subject matter, ranging from political subjects like â€Å"democracy† and â€Å"Tibet† to religious subjects like â€Å"Falun Gong† and â€Å"Dalai Lama† to social subjects like â€Å"pornography†, would generate the same list of links as would be generated for a user based in the United States. However, if the user in China tried to open any censored links, either the user’s browser would shut down or the user would be re-directed to a non-censored site.As noted earlier, the â€Å"Great Firewall of China† censorship system is complex and depends largely on intimidation and fear tactics to elicit vigorous self-censorship on both the corporate and the individual level. No of? cial list of banned terms exists. Before laun ching Google. cn, the company estimated that fewer than 2% of all search queries in China would result in pages that would have to be censored. 39 In early 2006, a study by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School shed light on the extent and effectiveness of China’s censorship initiatives.According to the Center’s study, the Chinese state was able to block 90% of websites about the â€Å"Tiananmen massacre,† 31% of sites about independence movements in Tibet, and 82% of sites with a derogatory version of the name of former President Jiang Zemin. 40 This study serves to show that as of 2006, Chinese censorship was effective, though not total, and that information was available, though on a limited scale. 36 37 38 39 40 McLaughlin, A. Senior Policy Counsel, Google Inc. , â€Å"Google in China. † The Of? cial Google Blog. (January 27, 2006). Kristof, N. D. â€Å"China’s Cyberdissidents and the Yahoos at Yahoo†.The New York Times. (February 19, 2006) Kristof, N. D. â€Å"China’s Cyberdissidents and the Yahoos at Yahoo†. The New York Times. (February 19, 2006) Schrage, E. , Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. , â€Å"Testimony of Google Inc. before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations. † (February 15, 2006). Bold text included by Mr. Schrage. Kristof, N. D. â€Å"China’s Cyberdissidents and the Yahoos at Yahoo†. The New York Times. (February 19, 2006) Case Studies in Ethics 8 ukeethics. org Google’s Expansion into China After taking into account user interests, the expansion of access to information, and unique local conditions, Google decided to launch the self-censored Google. cn in January of 2006. In a move toward transparency that distinguishes it from competitors like Baidu. com, Yahoo! , and MSN, Google. cn provides users with a brief message indicating if any pages have been censored from their search results. The message does not inform users what speci? c pages have been censored; it simply lets them know that censorship has occurred. The Washington Post printed a list of the words and phrases that seem to be censored by Google. cn, reporting that these words are the result of Google’s research into what they needed to censor in order to fall under Chinese legal guidelines (see Appendix I). In addition to Google. cn, Google has kept Google. com available to users in China, despite its limited ease of use. Google describes Google. cn as â€Å"an additional service, not a replacement for Google. com in China. The Chineselanguage Google. com will remain open, un? ltered and available to all Internet users worldwide†. 1 To account for user privacy concerns and to avoid having to co-operate with Chinese government investigations of dissidents, as Yahoo! and Microsoft have done, Google chose to refrain from offering products such as Gmail and Blogger (its e-mail and blog services) for Google. cn’s initial release. Amid questions of whether Google would pressure the Chinese government to end its policy of censoring, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, â€Å"I think it’s arrogant for us to walk into a country where we are just beginning operations and tell that country how to run itself. 42 Clearly, as of early 2006 Google had no plans to shake up the Chinese censorship system beyond making Google. cn censoring transparent to users. Google’s hiring of the extremely accomplished and well-known Kai-Fu Lee to head up Google. cn demonstrates the company’s hope for Google’s presence in the region. Having worked in high positions at Apple and Microsoft and having written a guide for Chinese university students about how to succeed in American business, Lee packs university auditoriums in China wherever he goes to speak. 43 In terms of Google. n’s future, Schmidt expects China to eventually become one of Google’s most important markets, though it only accounts for a small piece of Google’s overall revenue today. In addition, he expects Google’s China research centers to be major sources of innovation for Google, particularly due to the rich talent pool of software engineers coming from Chinese universities. 44 Fallout from Google’s Launching Google. cn Shortly after launching Google. cn in January 2006, Google was called in front of the U. S. House of Representative’s Committee on International Relations, along with fellow U.S. companies Microsoft, Yahoo! , and Cisco Systems, to testify before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations regarding business operations in China. 45 During the human rights hearing, James A. Leach, an Iowa Republican, asked Google Vice President Elliot Schrage to explain exactly how Google. cn self-censored. Schrage outlined how Google. cn studied competitors’ ? ltering 41 42 43 44 45 Schrage, E. , Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs, Google Inc. â€Å"Testimony of Google Inc. before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Paci? c, and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations. † (February 15, 2006). Bold text included by Mr. Schrage. Yardley, Jim. â€Å"Google Chief Rejects Putting Pressure on China†. The New York Times. (April 13, 2006) Thompson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine. (April 23, 2006). Thompson, C. â€Å"Google’s China Problem (And China’s Google Problem)†. The New York Times Magazine. (April 23, 2006). Zeller, T. Web Firms Questioned on Dealings in China. † The New York Times. (Feb. 16, 2006). Case Studies in Ethics 9 dukeethics. org methods along with the Chinese government’s method to come up with its own self-censoring system. Leach replied, â€Å"So if this Congress wanted to learn how to censor, we’d go to you – the company that should symbolize the greatest freedom of information in the history of man? †46 Due to this hearing and others – and particularly in light of Yahoo! China and Microsoft MSN’s collusion with the Chinese government, which put three Chinese yberdissidents in jail in Yahoo! ’s case and which shut down a popular political bloggers MSN blog space in Microsoft’s case – in October 2007 the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously voted in favor of the Global Online Freedom Act of 2007, which prohibits U. S. companies from disclosing to foreign governments the names and information of speci? c individuals using a given company’s services. 47 The Committee has urged Congress to act with alacrity and pass the Act as s oon as possible. In addition to the U. S. government, Google had to explain its actions to its shareholders.In May 2007, a majority of Google shareholders voted against an anti-censorship proposal which was submitted by the Of? ce of the Comptroller of New York City on behalf of various New York City pension funds which own Google stock (see Appendix II for the full proposal). Google as a company, along with Google’s Board of Directors, recommended stockholders to vote against the proposal. In the words of David Drummond, Senior Vice President for Corporate Development, â€Å"Pulling out of China, shutting down Google. cn, is just not the right thing to do at this point, but that’s exactly what this proposal would do. 48 Google in China Two Years Later In the two years following the launch of Google. cn in January 2006, Google has done well in the Chinese market, remaining second only to Baidu. com in terms of market share. As of the second quarter of 2007, Google had increased its share from 19. 2% to 22. 8% and Baidu. com had fallen from a 63. 7% to a 58. 1% share. 49 In order to penetrate the China search market further, Google aims to make Google. cn as â€Å"Chinese† as possible, both by hiring Chinese employees and by partnering with Chinese technology ? rms.According to CEO Eric Schmidt, one of Google’s â€Å"big projects† during the year 2007 is to grant greater autonomy to Google’s local management in China. Google has tried to distinguish Google. cn as distinctly Chinese by adopting the local Chinese name of â€Å"Guge,† which roughly translates to â€Å"harvest song,† though this name choice has been widely mocked by Chinese users. Overall, Schmidt says, â€Å"As [Google] China gets more established, it will have its own voice, its own expression and, I think, its own look. †50 Already Google has established two research centers, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai. 1 Since launching Google. cn, the company has set up key partnerships with Chinese ? rms that should help Google increase its Chinese market share. In early 2007, Google. cn set up a partnership with China Mobile, the government-owned dominant mobile-phone carrier in China, to manage the ? rm’s mobile Internet search services. 52 Also in early 2007, Google. cn partnered with the Chinese music and video sharing YouTube-like site Xunlei. com. 53 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 Ibid PEN American Center. â€Å"House Foreign Affairs Committee Unanimously Passes Global Online Freedom Act. † (October 23, 2007).Larkin, E. â€Å"Google Shareholders Vote Against Anti-Censorship Proposal†. PC World. (May 10, 2007). Litterick, D. â€Å"Google takes a byte out of the Chinese market†. The Daily Telegraph (London). (August 21, 2007). Dickie, M. â€Å"Google feels upbeat about China market†. Financial Times (London, England). (April 30, 2007) â€Å"Google Adds Local Partner. † Chinadaily. com. en. (August 21, 2007). Poon, T. â€Å"Google to Open Research Center in Shanghai†. The Wall Street Journal. (June 15, 2007). Barboza, D. â€Å"Google Makes Another Investment in the Internet in China†. The New York Times. (January 6, 2007).Barboza, D. â€Å"Google Makes Another Investment in the Internet in China†. The New York Times. (January 6, 2007). Case Studies in Ethics 10 dukeethics. org In April 2007, Google announced a deal with China Telecom, the world’s largest wireless telecommunications and broadband services provider. 54 Finally, in August 2007 Google. cn entered into a partnership with Tianya. com, a Chinese online community. 55 Overall, while Google. cn remains far behind Baidu. com, the company is optimistic. In the words of Schmidt, â€Å"We were late entering the Chinese market and we are catching up.Our investment is working and we will eventually be the leader. †56 54 55 56 Liu, John. â€Å"Google and China Telecom agree on Internet ad sales deal; Business Asia by Bloomberg†. The International Herald Tribune. (April 26, 2007). China Telecom Corporation Limited. http://www. chinatelecom-h. com/eng/corpinfo/overview. htm Accessed Nov. 2007. â€Å"Google Adds Local Partner. † Chinadaily. com. en. (Aug. 21, 2007). Dickie, M. â€Å"Google feels upbeat about China market†. Financial Times (London, England). (April 30, 2007) Case Studies in Ethics 11 dukeethics. org Appendix I: Blacklisted Words57 This is not an of? ial list. It was released by The Washington Post as a list of the words that Google censors on its google. cn site. Names of People Bao Tong Chen Yonglin Cui Yingjie Ding Jiaban Du Zhaoyong Gao Jingyun Gao Zhisheng He Jiadong He Weifang Hu Xingdou Hu Yuehua Hua Guofeng Huang Jingao Jiang Mianheng Jiang Yanyong Jiang Zemin Jiao Guobiao Jin Zhong Li Zhiying Liang Yuncai Liu Jianfeng Liu Junning Liu Xiabobo Nie Shubin Nie Shubin (repeated) Sun Dawu Wang Binyu Wang Lixiong Xu Zhiyong Yang Bin Yang Dongping Yu Jie Zhang Weiying Zhang Xingshu Zhang Zuhua Zhao Yan Zhou Qing Zhu Chenghu Zhu Wenhu 57From The Washington Post, February 18, 2006. Obscenities withheld. Case Studies in Ethics 12 dukeethics. org Zi Yang (in English) Ziyang (in Chinese) Ziyang (in English) zzy (in English, abbreviation for Zhao Ziyang) Chinese Politics 17th party congress Babaoshan Beat the Central Propaganda Department Blast the Central Propaganda Department Block the road and demand back pay Chief of the Finance Bureau Children of high of? cials China liberal (in English) Chinese Communist high of? ials Denounce the C entral Propaganda Department Down with the Central Propaganda Department Impeach Lin Zhao Memorial Award Patriots Alliance Patriots Alliance (abbreviated) Patriots Alliance Web Police chase after and kill police Pollution lawsuit Procedures for dismissing an of? cial Red Terror Set ? res to force people to relocate Sons of high of? cials The Central Propaganda Department is the AIDS of Chinese society Villagers ? ht with weapons Wang Anshi’s reform and the fall of the Northern Song dynasty Speci? c Issues and Events Buy corpses Cadres transferred from the military Cash? esta Cat abuse Changxin Coal Mountain China Youth Daily staff evaluation system Chinese orphanage Chinese Yangshen Yizhi Gong Demobilized soldiers transferred to other industries Dongyang Dongzhou Fetus soup Foot and mouth disease Case Studies in Ethics 13 dukeethics. orgFuzhou pig case Gaoxin Hospital High-speed train petition Hire a killer to murder one’s wife Honghai Bay Horseracing Jinxin Pharmaceut ical Kelemayi Linyi family planning Market access system Mascot Military wages No Friendlies Prosecutor committed suicide Pubu Ravine Shanwei government Suicide of deputy mayor Suicide of Kuerle mayor Swiss University of Finance Taishi village Top ten worst cities Wanzhou Weitan Zhang Chunxian welcomes upervision against corruption Falun Gong Terms related to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, including phrases from its â€Å"Nine Commentaries† manifesto against the Communist Party: Chinese Communist Party brutally kills people dajiyuan (in English) Defy the heavens, earth and nature. Mao Zedong Epoch Times Epoch Times (written with a different character) Epoch Times news Web site Evaluate the Chinese Communist Party Evaluate the Chinese Communist Party (abbreviated) falundafa (in English) ? (in English) Fozhan Qianshou Fa Guantong Liangji Fa In the Chinese Communist Party, common standards of humanity don’t exist Li Hongzhi lihongzhi (in English) Master Li ming hui (in English) Mother and daughter accused each other, and students and teachers became enemies New Tynasty TV Station Case Studies in Ethics 14 dukeethics. org Nine Commentaries No. evil cult in the world Obedient citizens under its brutal rule People become brutal in violence, Chinese Communist Party People developed a concept of the Chinese Communist Party, but People who could escape have escaped, and had people to seek refuge with Quit the party Run the opposite direction of the so-called ideals of Communism Shenzhou Jiachifa Spring Festival Gala of the World’s Chinese Steal people’s painstaking work Truth, Compassion, Tolerance Zhenshanren (in English) Overseas Web Sites, Publications and Dissident Groups Century China Foundation China Issues Forum China Renaissance Forum China Society Forum China Spring Chinese Current Affairs Chinese World Forum EastSouthWestNorth Forum EastWestSouthNorth Forum Forum of Wind, Rain and the Divine Land Freedom and Democracy Forum Freedom to Write Award Great China Forum Han Style Huatong Current Affairs Forum Huaxia Digest Huayue Current Affairs Forum Independent Chinese PEN Center J imaoxin Collection Justice Party Forum New Birth Web New Observer Forum North American Freedom Forum reminbao (In English) remingbao (In English) Small Reference Spring and Summer Forum Voice of the People Forum Worldwide Reader Forum You Say I Say Forum Zhengming Forum Case Studies in Ethics 15 dukeethics. org Zhidian Jiangshan Forum Zhongshan Wind and Rain Forum Taiwan Establish Taiwan Country Movement Organization Great President Chen Shui-bian Independent League of Taiwan Youth Independent Taiwan Association New Party Taiwan Freedom League Taiwan Political Discussion Zone Ethnic Minorities East Turkestan East Turkestan (abbreviated) Han-Hui con? cts Henan Zhongmu Hui rebellion Hui village Langcheng Gang Nancheng Gang Nanren Village Tibet independence Xinjiang independence Zhongmu County Tiananmen Square Memoirs of June 4 participants Redress June 4 Tiananmen videotape Tiananmen incident Tiananmen massacre Tiananmen generation World Economic Herald Censorship Cleaning and rectify ing Web sites China’s true content Internet commentator News blockade Case Studies in Ethics 16 dukeethics. org International Indonesia North Korea falls out with China Paris riots Tsunami Other Armageddon Bomb Bug Handmade pistol Nuclear bomb Wiretap Chinese People Tell the Truth Chinese People Justice and Evil China Social Progressive Party Chinese Truth Report Dazhong Zhenren Zhenshi Jingdongriji Night talk of the Forbidden City People’s Inside Information and Truth Case Studies in Ethics 17 dukeethics. org Appendix II: Proposal Number 558 Stockholder Proposal The Of? e of the Comptroller of New York City has advised us that it intends to submit the proposal set forth below for consideration at our annual meeting. It is the custodian and trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the New York City Teachers’ Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, and the New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, and custodian of the New York City Board of Education Retirement System (the â€Å"Funds†), which bene? cially own 486,617 shares of Google’s Class A common stock. The proposal, along with the Funds’ supporting statement, is included verbatim below. The Funds’ request was submitted by Patrick Doherty, The City of New York Of? ce of the Comptroller, 1 Centre Street, New York, New York, 1007-2341.The Funds’ Stockholder Proposal Internet Censorship Whereas, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are fundamental human rights, and free use of the Internet is protected in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom to â€Å"receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers†, and Whereas, the rapid provision of full and uncensored information through the Internet has become a major industry in the United States, and one of its major exports, and Whereas, political censorship of the Internet degrades the quality of that service and ultimately threatens the integrity and viability of the industry itself, both in the United States and abroad, and Whereas, some authoritarian foreign governments such as the Governments of Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam block, restrict, and monitor the information their citizens attempt to obtain, and Whereas, technology companies in the United States such as Google, that operate in countries controlled by authoritarian governments have an obligation to comply with the principles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and Whereas, technology companies in the United States have failed to develop adequate standards by which they can conduct business with authoritarian governments while protecting human rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, Therefore, be it resolved, that shareholders request that management institute policies to help protect freedom of access to the Internet which would include the following minimum standards: 1) Data that can identify individual users should not be hosted in Internet restricting countries, where political speech can be treated as a crime b y the legal system. 2) The company will not engage in pro-active censorship. 58 http://investor. google. com/pdf/2007_notice_n_proxy_statement. pdf. Pgs 30-31. Case Studies in Ethics 18 dukeethics. org 3) The company will use all legal means to resist demands for censorship.The company will only comply with such demands if required to do so through legally binding procedures. 4) Users will be clearly informed when the company has acceded to legally binding government requests to ? lter or otherwise censor content that the user is trying to access. 5) Users should be informed about the company’s data retention practices, and the ways in which their data is shared with third parties. 6) The company will document all cases where legally-binding censorship requests have been complied with, and that information will be publicly available. Required Vote Approval of the stockholder proposal requires the af? rmative â€Å"FOR† vote of a majority of the votes cast on the proposal.Unless marked to the contrary, proxies received will be voted â€Å"AGAINST† the stockholder proposal. Recommendation Our board of directors recommends a vote AGAINST the stockholder proposal. Case Studies in Ethics 19 dukeethics. org Appendix III: ChaCha and JingJing59 Cyber Police to Guard all Shenzhen Websites Shenzhen police plan to equip all Shenzhen Websites and electronic bulletin board systems with two virtual policemen icons on the main pages to maintain order in cyber space. People may click the two cartoon policemen to enter the cyber space (http://66110. qzone. qq. com, http://777110. qzone. qq. com ) of two virtual cops and ask questions about information safety. Real policemen will answer their questions immediately.Internet users may also learn information about the Internet laws and regulations and some typical Internet criminal cases from these two virtual policemen. â€Å"The two dummy policemen were made to remind Netizens the Internet is protected by the law. People should pay attention to their behavior when they are sur? ng on the Net,† a senior of? cial of the Shenzhen cyber police told China Youth Daily. 59 â€Å"Cyber Police to Guard All Shenzhen Websites†. Shanghai Daily. (January 5, 2006). Available from http://www. china. org. cn/english/government/154200. htm. Retrieved on November 6, 2007. Case Studies in Ethics 20 dukeethics. org Study Questions 1. Which factors best explain why Google was so successful in the ? rst place?Were any of these conditions for success put in jeopardy by the decision to launch Google. cn? 2. Was Google right to have entered the Chinese market the way it did? Did Google’s mission compel it to create Google. cn? What speci? c aspects of the mission does Google address in making its decision to enter? What other reasons could there have been for entering China? How do Google’s conclusions ? t with its motto, â€Å"Don’t be Evil†? 3. Where is the success of the Chinese censorship system? In other words, what makes their censorship system work so well? Where does Google ? t in to this system? Has Google worked to improve the situation? What more could it do? Case Studies in Ethics 21 dukeethics. org How to cite Business Ethics of Google in China, Papers