Follow this link to see extended highlights of the charity game played at AFC Totton's ground in aid of Jay Young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgqBHcFEmw
The game was organised to raise money for Jay's rehabilitation treatment and the teams were made up of close friends and players from two of Jay's former clubs.
All money taken on the gate, as well as proceeds from other fundraising activities on the day, went towards his specialist treatment.
Hope you all enjoy the film.
Filmed and Edited by Aimee Pickering
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tom Wolfe and The New Journalism
Tom Wolfe’s New Journalism deals with what made the new style of journalism so absorbing and gripping. Social realism is incredibly important to the new journalists and it was said that the most important literature being written in America at the time of the movement was non-fiction. There are a few specific devices that new journalism uses and below are notes from the chapters in which they are discussed.
1. The Feature Game
- a humorous, detailed lead up to Wolfe’s work on the New York Herald Tribune
- in his opinion, reporters at the time lacked ambition
- journalism is a game –its all about getting the scoop and is rife with competition
- all journalists were working towards, what Wolfe calls, the final triumph – writing a novel
- Wolfe had very little respect for feature stories
- Portis, Breslin, Schaap, Mok and the “fat man” – Wolfe would do anything for a story
- The importance of the novel: a psychological phenomenon
- “By the 1950s The Novel had become a nationwide tournament” asserts Wolfe
- Portis lived ‘the dream’ – he wrote a novel, in a fishing shack in Arkansas
2. Like a Novel
- the increasing popularity of novel writing influenced traditional journalism – using conventions from a novel
- reporters started finding stories for themselves
- Wolfe had a dim view of local reporters, believing they ‘ran out of stories’ far too quickly
- Approaching journalism in the same way you would a novel; with imagination
- Writing with a different point-of-view – for example, beginning with narration
- Writing in a different dialect, known as chameleon writing, to attract a larger audience and simply make the writing more interesting
- Resulted in more intense, detailed and time consuming journalism that entered into the audience’s mind rather than merely stated facts
- Included an over-use of punctuation
- Tom Wolfe pioneered New Journalism, bringing it away from the novel’s stylistic writing
3. Seizing the Power
- The New Yorker affair – April 1965
- The Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Review of books
- June 1966, The personal voice and the impersonal eye – the literary world was starting to recognise non-fiction as an artistic form
- Works such as “M”, a book on the Vietnam way by a reporter and “Paper Lion” a piece on American football
- The 1960s – realism, scene-by-scene construction, full dialogue, third-person point of view and describing everyday things
- Truman Capote used third-person point of view, although Wolfe was highly critical of this technique
1. The Feature Game
- a humorous, detailed lead up to Wolfe’s work on the New York Herald Tribune
- in his opinion, reporters at the time lacked ambition
- journalism is a game –its all about getting the scoop and is rife with competition
- all journalists were working towards, what Wolfe calls, the final triumph – writing a novel
- Wolfe had very little respect for feature stories
- Portis, Breslin, Schaap, Mok and the “fat man” – Wolfe would do anything for a story
- The importance of the novel: a psychological phenomenon
- “By the 1950s The Novel had become a nationwide tournament” asserts Wolfe
- Portis lived ‘the dream’ – he wrote a novel, in a fishing shack in Arkansas
2. Like a Novel
- the increasing popularity of novel writing influenced traditional journalism – using conventions from a novel
- reporters started finding stories for themselves
- Wolfe had a dim view of local reporters, believing they ‘ran out of stories’ far too quickly
- Approaching journalism in the same way you would a novel; with imagination
- Writing with a different point-of-view – for example, beginning with narration
- Writing in a different dialect, known as chameleon writing, to attract a larger audience and simply make the writing more interesting
- Resulted in more intense, detailed and time consuming journalism that entered into the audience’s mind rather than merely stated facts
- Included an over-use of punctuation
- Tom Wolfe pioneered New Journalism, bringing it away from the novel’s stylistic writing
3. Seizing the Power
- The New Yorker affair – April 1965
- The Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Review of books
- June 1966, The personal voice and the impersonal eye – the literary world was starting to recognise non-fiction as an artistic form
- Works such as “M”, a book on the Vietnam way by a reporter and “Paper Lion” a piece on American football
- The 1960s – realism, scene-by-scene construction, full dialogue, third-person point of view and describing everyday things
- Truman Capote used third-person point of view, although Wolfe was highly critical of this technique
George Orwell and the politics of language
Below is a brief look into the politics of language:
The main thing I took away from the HCJ lecture on language was thus: if you can control language, you can manipulate reality. Language is the way in which we express and determine facts, and so if you can control it you control what people believe is true - ultimately the way in which they live.
George Orwell writes about the idea of 'thought crime' in his celebrated novel '1984'. This is the idea that the state can even control your mind and the way you think. Orwell has been championed by many as the best journalist in the English language. He was politically left-minded but anti-Communist.
He created the phrase "Doublethink" - believing that two contradictory statements are true and therefore controlling thought. His most famous phrase was “Newspeak” and referred to the way in which thought was controlled through the use of language.
Orwell took this concept from Totalitarianism and was horrified at the use of propaganda – controlling language through censorship and complete media control.
The use of euphemisms in language became incredibly important with linguistic reform and the introduction of politically correct language and metaphorical speech. Orwell heavily influenced this reformed language and examples of this include “War is Peace” and referring to nuclear weapons as “the Deterrent”.
In modern day almost all advertising is Orwellian – we constantly speak in metaphors, similes and euphemisms.
From the lecture I learnt that in a journalist’s world there are four things you must never do with language:
1. never use a cliché
2. never use a long word when a short one is adequate
3. never use the passive form when you can use the active
The main thing I took away from the HCJ lecture on language was thus: if you can control language, you can manipulate reality. Language is the way in which we express and determine facts, and so if you can control it you control what people believe is true - ultimately the way in which they live.
George Orwell writes about the idea of 'thought crime' in his celebrated novel '1984'. This is the idea that the state can even control your mind and the way you think. Orwell has been championed by many as the best journalist in the English language. He was politically left-minded but anti-Communist.
He created the phrase "Doublethink" - believing that two contradictory statements are true and therefore controlling thought. His most famous phrase was “Newspeak” and referred to the way in which thought was controlled through the use of language.
Orwell took this concept from Totalitarianism and was horrified at the use of propaganda – controlling language through censorship and complete media control.
The use of euphemisms in language became incredibly important with linguistic reform and the introduction of politically correct language and metaphorical speech. Orwell heavily influenced this reformed language and examples of this include “War is Peace” and referring to nuclear weapons as “the Deterrent”.
In modern day almost all advertising is Orwellian – we constantly speak in metaphors, similes and euphemisms.
From the lecture I learnt that in a journalist’s world there are four things you must never do with language:
1. never use a cliché
2. never use a long word when a short one is adequate
3. never use the passive form when you can use the active
Albert Camus and The Outsider
Below are my notes on the HCJ lecture and seminar on Albert Camus' work 'The Outsider' and the philosophical theory of Phenomenolgy..
- Phenomenology – making the familiar, unfamiliar
- Consciousness is intentional, and meaning is fixed subjectively
- Knowing is a structure: some ideas have more priority than others – it depends on intention
- Heidegger – accepts that Husserl’s idea that consciousness is nothing without intention
- CHOOSING: what is the source of decisions?
- There is no individual (against the enlightenment and romanticism)
- Kant asserts that all people are fundamentally the same
- Existence is “Dasein” – a way of being/ a structure of your decision
- Time for Heidegger is ‘the structure of being’
1. The past = guilt
2. The present = dread
3. The future = unknown or fear
- existentialism – don’t care about the past or future – no consequences
In the book:
- Meursault is a 'hero' – non-romantic, racist, murderer, existentialist, refuses to be determined by other people
- has no guilt about his actions
- there are no consequences in his world, despite the views of other people
- Phenomenology – making the familiar, unfamiliar
- Consciousness is intentional, and meaning is fixed subjectively
- Knowing is a structure: some ideas have more priority than others – it depends on intention
- Heidegger – accepts that Husserl’s idea that consciousness is nothing without intention
- CHOOSING: what is the source of decisions?
- There is no individual (against the enlightenment and romanticism)
- Kant asserts that all people are fundamentally the same
- Existence is “Dasein” – a way of being/ a structure of your decision
- Time for Heidegger is ‘the structure of being’
1. The past = guilt
2. The present = dread
3. The future = unknown or fear
- existentialism – don’t care about the past or future – no consequences
In the book:
- Meursault is a 'hero' – non-romantic, racist, murderer, existentialist, refuses to be determined by other people
- has no guilt about his actions
- there are no consequences in his world, despite the views of other people
The main theories and learning points from Semester 2 of HCJ...
The Verification Principle:
The verification principle comes from the concept of logical positivism and is the idea that any proposition must be verified, otherwise it is left meaningless. Essentially it is concerned with truth claims – things are either true, false (if they cannot be verified) or meaningless. Within this there is a logical problem, as no proposition can prove itself. In Austria, the Vienna Circle (a group of philosophers) actively lived by logical positivism, believing in Wittgenstein’s attitude to philosophy. They assert that there are two types of things: things that can be related to experience or empirical knowledge and can therefore logically proven to be true, and things that can’t and are thus meaningless.
As a journalist, it is important to find links between our HCJ course and professional life, and the verification principle is incredibly applicable to a journalist’s day-to-day life. A journalist is concerned with fact – is this true? How do we know it is true? And how can we prove it, should we need to? There is a constant doubt surrounding journalism – one wrong fact and you could be facing the end of your career. The most applicable aspect of logical positivism, in my opinion, is the methodical approach to verifying something. There is no innate knowledge, so coming at a fact as if it is false and working to prove it is key.
Phenomenology:
Phenomenology is a concept we have come back to again and again on the course. In broad terms it can be defined as a branch of philosophy that deals with subjective experience. Kant began the concept of phenomenology with his ideas of phenomena. In his opinion, everything has a phenomenal and a noumenal nature. The phenomenal nature is things that are perceived, whilst the noumenal nature is concerned with when things are unperceived. It’s the classic – if a tree falls in the wood and no-one is around, does it still make a sound? In the same vain, if we look away from something there is a theory that it remains in place, but becomes‘different. This is confirmed by modern science and quantum mechanics.
Husserl asserts that we all have intention- if you want to see something, you will. Thus YOU create the world.
Economics - Keyne and Hayek
Keyne and Hayek had very different views on economics. The Great Depression brought about the Keynesian revolution – from the war to the 1950s/60s. The Government printed money because of the cost of war, which lead to inflation (HOWEVER full employment which Keyne advocated). In Keyne's mind it was good to print money! “Better to have people digging holes and filling them up again than unemployed” However Hayek criticised this plan as it led to huge state control; all people were ultimately employed by the state. Hayek disputed that money influences anything. This very much links back to Arendt and Totalitarianism – the lack of freedom from the state. Keyne wanted to steer the markets whilst Hayek wanted them set free, although understandably both economists feared a boom and bust cycle. For Hayek the capital structure was key and any bad investments could ruin the economy – SAVING was vital. For Keyne EMPLOYMENT was more important and in fact the main solution for the Depression.
Wittgenstein and The Tractatus
The opening chapter of The Tractatus concerns the world and how we define it. Wittgenstein asserts that "the world is everything that is the case" and that "the world is the totality of facts, not of things".
Wittgeinstein rejects naïve materialism and idealism – there are no ‘perfect’ things.
The concept of Logical Positivism, as mentioned above, was followed by Wittgenstein and states that all knowledge that we can rely on is factual, scientific knowledge. The world is purely made up of facts that are just in our minds, however they all need verifying.
Syllogism = a logical argument which states that facts must be verified by existing facts.
The verification principle comes from the concept of logical positivism and is the idea that any proposition must be verified, otherwise it is left meaningless. Essentially it is concerned with truth claims – things are either true, false (if they cannot be verified) or meaningless. Within this there is a logical problem, as no proposition can prove itself. In Austria, the Vienna Circle (a group of philosophers) actively lived by logical positivism, believing in Wittgenstein’s attitude to philosophy. They assert that there are two types of things: things that can be related to experience or empirical knowledge and can therefore logically proven to be true, and things that can’t and are thus meaningless.
As a journalist, it is important to find links between our HCJ course and professional life, and the verification principle is incredibly applicable to a journalist’s day-to-day life. A journalist is concerned with fact – is this true? How do we know it is true? And how can we prove it, should we need to? There is a constant doubt surrounding journalism – one wrong fact and you could be facing the end of your career. The most applicable aspect of logical positivism, in my opinion, is the methodical approach to verifying something. There is no innate knowledge, so coming at a fact as if it is false and working to prove it is key.
Phenomenology:
Phenomenology is a concept we have come back to again and again on the course. In broad terms it can be defined as a branch of philosophy that deals with subjective experience. Kant began the concept of phenomenology with his ideas of phenomena. In his opinion, everything has a phenomenal and a noumenal nature. The phenomenal nature is things that are perceived, whilst the noumenal nature is concerned with when things are unperceived. It’s the classic – if a tree falls in the wood and no-one is around, does it still make a sound? In the same vain, if we look away from something there is a theory that it remains in place, but becomes‘different. This is confirmed by modern science and quantum mechanics.
Husserl asserts that we all have intention- if you want to see something, you will. Thus YOU create the world.
Economics - Keyne and Hayek
Keyne and Hayek had very different views on economics. The Great Depression brought about the Keynesian revolution – from the war to the 1950s/60s. The Government printed money because of the cost of war, which lead to inflation (HOWEVER full employment which Keyne advocated). In Keyne's mind it was good to print money! “Better to have people digging holes and filling them up again than unemployed” However Hayek criticised this plan as it led to huge state control; all people were ultimately employed by the state. Hayek disputed that money influences anything. This very much links back to Arendt and Totalitarianism – the lack of freedom from the state. Keyne wanted to steer the markets whilst Hayek wanted them set free, although understandably both economists feared a boom and bust cycle. For Hayek the capital structure was key and any bad investments could ruin the economy – SAVING was vital. For Keyne EMPLOYMENT was more important and in fact the main solution for the Depression.
Wittgenstein and The Tractatus
The opening chapter of The Tractatus concerns the world and how we define it. Wittgenstein asserts that "the world is everything that is the case" and that "the world is the totality of facts, not of things".
Wittgeinstein rejects naïve materialism and idealism – there are no ‘perfect’ things.
The concept of Logical Positivism, as mentioned above, was followed by Wittgenstein and states that all knowledge that we can rely on is factual, scientific knowledge. The world is purely made up of facts that are just in our minds, however they all need verifying.
Syllogism = a logical argument which states that facts must be verified by existing facts.
HCJ Semester 2... The New Industrial State – John Kenneth Galbraith
In the forewords and introductions to the book, Galbraith sets out his reasons behind the writing and looks to reply to any criticism. He writes as an insight into corporate society, referring to “technostructure” which is my chosen chapter to analyse. Glabraith tells the reader that the book took him ten years to write, saying it was necessary because corporate society was constantly changing. Galbraith led an interesting life – he was ambassador to President Kennedy in 1961 which he says gave him a lot of knowledge and experience to draw upon when writing. His main point, as far as I can determine, is that in society the individual has increasingly less power. Galbraith was criticised for writing too matter-of-factly: he states “I succeed rather better in telling what exists than in drawing the moral”. But he is quick to remedy this in his new book - he is always writing a new book because things are ever-changing.
Chapter 6 – The Technostructure
The Technostructure is the group of decision makers within a corporation.
As Galbraith has previously stated, the individual’s power is almost a myth. Instead, in the industrial state the power to make decisions lies with groups or committees. He asserts that this is due to the fact that technology requires specialists, simply to understand it. It’s simply not viable for an individual to become a specialist in all the required fields of knowledge. It is much better to have a team of ordinary men, all specialised in their field but only their field, than to have one exceptional man who knows it all – educate them narrowly and deeply.
Also, the organisation of tasks within the industrial state needs more than the individual – another example of their lack of power. However, creating a committee of ‘talented’ people creates a problem in itself – it’s a difficult thing to do. In essence, Galbraith’s point is that all important decisions in the industrial state are made (and should be made) by groups. This has several consequences: lack of a superior to veto a group decision (because one individual can only be superior to another individual). This is why the significant decisions made by a corporation are made by groups – usually in the middle of the company hierarchy. Any individual who makes a decision is undermining the process.
Below are some key quotes and ideas from Galbraith's chapter on Technostructure:
“The replacement of the free market with a planned solution puts action and decision-making beyond the reach of individuals.”
“The prevalence of group, instead of individual, action is a striking characteristic of management organisation in the large corporation”
The individual has more standing in our culture than a group – they have souls, evoke sympathy and are easily relatable to. However, within business the group is king. To be part of the “group” with which decision making is their task, any individual must first be vetted for reliability and relevance. The need for genius is “dispensed”, as Galbraith puts it, as a group of able yet unremarkable men take on each task. He gives the example of the moon-landings which were orchestrated by great teams of men, not an individual.
“Better orderly error than complex truth” – the example of a farmer from Wisconsin whose life is controlled by the market and society… he need not think or worry. Galbraith discusses how one man ultimately has no power – referring to Major General Leslie R. Groves and the development of the atomic bomb. In the footnotes he writes of his own experience of this during WW2 in which he was put in charge of price control. “Effective power of decision is lodged deeply in the technical, planning and other specialised staff”.
The Technostructure is concerned with asserting control over the company and then retaining it. Long term planning, the predictability of results and the assured reliability of its groups are crucial.
Chapter 6 – The Technostructure
The Technostructure is the group of decision makers within a corporation.
As Galbraith has previously stated, the individual’s power is almost a myth. Instead, in the industrial state the power to make decisions lies with groups or committees. He asserts that this is due to the fact that technology requires specialists, simply to understand it. It’s simply not viable for an individual to become a specialist in all the required fields of knowledge. It is much better to have a team of ordinary men, all specialised in their field but only their field, than to have one exceptional man who knows it all – educate them narrowly and deeply.
Also, the organisation of tasks within the industrial state needs more than the individual – another example of their lack of power. However, creating a committee of ‘talented’ people creates a problem in itself – it’s a difficult thing to do. In essence, Galbraith’s point is that all important decisions in the industrial state are made (and should be made) by groups. This has several consequences: lack of a superior to veto a group decision (because one individual can only be superior to another individual). This is why the significant decisions made by a corporation are made by groups – usually in the middle of the company hierarchy. Any individual who makes a decision is undermining the process.
Below are some key quotes and ideas from Galbraith's chapter on Technostructure:
“The replacement of the free market with a planned solution puts action and decision-making beyond the reach of individuals.”
“The prevalence of group, instead of individual, action is a striking characteristic of management organisation in the large corporation”
The individual has more standing in our culture than a group – they have souls, evoke sympathy and are easily relatable to. However, within business the group is king. To be part of the “group” with which decision making is their task, any individual must first be vetted for reliability and relevance. The need for genius is “dispensed”, as Galbraith puts it, as a group of able yet unremarkable men take on each task. He gives the example of the moon-landings which were orchestrated by great teams of men, not an individual.
“Better orderly error than complex truth” – the example of a farmer from Wisconsin whose life is controlled by the market and society… he need not think or worry. Galbraith discusses how one man ultimately has no power – referring to Major General Leslie R. Groves and the development of the atomic bomb. In the footnotes he writes of his own experience of this during WW2 in which he was put in charge of price control. “Effective power of decision is lodged deeply in the technical, planning and other specialised staff”.
The Technostructure is concerned with asserting control over the company and then retaining it. Long term planning, the predictability of results and the assured reliability of its groups are crucial.
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