The Decline of Western Civilization
Western civilization is no longer the bright, new world it once was, but a deteriorating way of life. As the western world crumbles, people will scramble trying to save every penny. Companies will fight for themselves and try to reap every dollar they can, doing whatever they can to do it. Western civilization is in a period of decline due to inflation, commercialism and censorship, which in turn, will result in a lower way of life.
Inflation is corrupting the western world by slowly draining countries of their primary resources. As a country's economic stability waivers, it is forced to export more and more of it's natural resources, resulting in a greater number of imports. ACanada=s inflation has risen 7% in the last five years. As the price of Canada's goods increase, the US, which has also had an inflation of 11%, is looking elsewhere to find its products[1]." Since Canada's imports are sold to fund the production of it's exports, high-priced imports take money away from making large amounts of quality merchandise. This results in resorting to heavy production of low-maintenance merchandise such as lumber, steel, crops and other primary resources. These primary resources are, in turn, sold to foreign countries, to maintain a steady import of high-quality products. These products must be bought in order to complete this cycle. This forces companies to heavily rely on advertisements to sell their products whenever they can.
Advertisements litter the cities of the western world and commercials pollute the airwaves and television channels. With so many advertisements out there, advertisers are beginning to push the limits of commercialism to poor taste. Today, one can find ads on cars, buildings, clothing and in the media but now, the media is being manipulated to accommodate more and more commercials. On the ever popular "Hockey Night in Canada", advertisements appear during the intros, interviews, statistic overviews and especially during the game. The shocking fact is that if somebody was to walk to that particular stadium, they would discover blank features in place of previously occupied advertisements. That is because there are certain surfaces of the building that cannot physically allow advertisements to be placed on them. Television producers have taken the liberty to digitally impose ads, posters and logos along the ice surface, and off the ice, wherever they can fit them. These ads have been known to change according to which channel is airing the program, in order to target the ads' desired demographic. As advertisers continue to target specific demographics; specific locations will be targeted. One company, which has capitalized on the system of targeted locations, is Famous Players, who have installed video screens, with non-stop digital commercials, at eye-level height above urinals and on the backs of toilet doors. If we continue on this path, advertisers are going to have to resort to desperate measures.
In the future science and marketing could be combined to create vivid, visual advertisements which could contain retinal scanners. As a person walks by, the advertisement would be able to scan the patron's eyes, which would then refer to a database of "retinal fingerprints", then give a personal product pitch; including the person's name and possibly even their last purchases at that specific place of business[2]. If advertisers continue on the path that they are, it will not only destroy the current way of life by distracting a person at their every spare moment, but it will also turn civilization into a glowing neon sign. If our cities are constantly being lit by flashy lights, covered in posters and flyers, and cluttered with useless trinkets, the lights will draw huge power from our hydro plants, trees will be cut down to create these flyers and garbage dumps will be filled with useless garbage. Once the limits of advertising have been pushed, the world will begin to deteriorate. The only control over this, is limiting the limits.
Society is a fragile environment that should be dealt with carefully. Certain things should be allowed and certain things should be kept out. Censorship is an essential tool in the longevity of society as the protection from dangerous or offensive material, but if censorship is pushed too far, it questions the aspect of free speech and the right to express oneself. In the small city of Lombardy, located in eastern Ontario, a recent uproar emerged when the word "gun" was banned from a Grade 1 spelling test. The parents, whom are pacifists, said the word was "synonymous with death[3]." If censorship, such as this, is allowed to run ramped among the west, it will not only inhibit the growth of intellectual thought, and therefore, disable human kind from evolving, but it will dampen the future by creating a past with so many censored patches, that history could become sceptical. Censorship would prohibit all the forms of entertainment, scientific discovery and mathematical ingenuity, by allowing the world to with go the dangerous material that could possibly be a miraculous breakthrough, or masterpiece of art.
Western civilization is in a period of decline due to inflation, commercialism and censorship, which in turn, will result in a lower way of life. As the West develops a lower way of life, it will either strengthen the other countries around it or poison the rest of the world by foul trade and poor craftsmanship. Once the world has been poisoned by a faltering western world, it will slowly disappear into another age of darkness.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Saxty, Phil. ACanadian GDP.@ Online Essays. 2 Feb. 2003. Student Essays. 12 Feb. 2003.
2. Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and Max Von Sydow. Dreamworks, 2002.
3. Avery, Roberta. ASchool=s Ban On Word >Gun= Causes Uproar.@ The Toronto Star 13 Feb 2003: 4
[1]Phil, Saxty. ACanadian GDP.@ Online Essays. 2 Feb. 2003. Student Essays. 12 Feb. 2003.
[2]Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and Max Von Sydow. Dreamworks, 2002.
[3]Roberta Avery. ASchool=s Ban On Word >Gun= Causes Uproar.@ The Toronto Star 13 Feb 2003: 4
Inflation is corrupting the western world by slowly draining countries of their primary resources. As a country's economic stability waivers, it is forced to export more and more of it's natural resources, resulting in a greater number of imports. ACanada=s inflation has risen 7% in the last five years. As the price of Canada's goods increase, the US, which has also had an inflation of 11%, is looking elsewhere to find its products[1]." Since Canada's imports are sold to fund the production of it's exports, high-priced imports take money away from making large amounts of quality merchandise. This results in resorting to heavy production of low-maintenance merchandise such as lumber, steel, crops and other primary resources. These primary resources are, in turn, sold to foreign countries, to maintain a steady import of high-quality products. These products must be bought in order to complete this cycle. This forces companies to heavily rely on advertisements to sell their products whenever they can.
Advertisements litter the cities of the western world and commercials pollute the airwaves and television channels. With so many advertisements out there, advertisers are beginning to push the limits of commercialism to poor taste. Today, one can find ads on cars, buildings, clothing and in the media but now, the media is being manipulated to accommodate more and more commercials. On the ever popular "Hockey Night in Canada", advertisements appear during the intros, interviews, statistic overviews and especially during the game. The shocking fact is that if somebody was to walk to that particular stadium, they would discover blank features in place of previously occupied advertisements. That is because there are certain surfaces of the building that cannot physically allow advertisements to be placed on them. Television producers have taken the liberty to digitally impose ads, posters and logos along the ice surface, and off the ice, wherever they can fit them. These ads have been known to change according to which channel is airing the program, in order to target the ads' desired demographic. As advertisers continue to target specific demographics; specific locations will be targeted. One company, which has capitalized on the system of targeted locations, is Famous Players, who have installed video screens, with non-stop digital commercials, at eye-level height above urinals and on the backs of toilet doors. If we continue on this path, advertisers are going to have to resort to desperate measures.
In the future science and marketing could be combined to create vivid, visual advertisements which could contain retinal scanners. As a person walks by, the advertisement would be able to scan the patron's eyes, which would then refer to a database of "retinal fingerprints", then give a personal product pitch; including the person's name and possibly even their last purchases at that specific place of business[2]. If advertisers continue on the path that they are, it will not only destroy the current way of life by distracting a person at their every spare moment, but it will also turn civilization into a glowing neon sign. If our cities are constantly being lit by flashy lights, covered in posters and flyers, and cluttered with useless trinkets, the lights will draw huge power from our hydro plants, trees will be cut down to create these flyers and garbage dumps will be filled with useless garbage. Once the limits of advertising have been pushed, the world will begin to deteriorate. The only control over this, is limiting the limits.
Society is a fragile environment that should be dealt with carefully. Certain things should be allowed and certain things should be kept out. Censorship is an essential tool in the longevity of society as the protection from dangerous or offensive material, but if censorship is pushed too far, it questions the aspect of free speech and the right to express oneself. In the small city of Lombardy, located in eastern Ontario, a recent uproar emerged when the word "gun" was banned from a Grade 1 spelling test. The parents, whom are pacifists, said the word was "synonymous with death[3]." If censorship, such as this, is allowed to run ramped among the west, it will not only inhibit the growth of intellectual thought, and therefore, disable human kind from evolving, but it will dampen the future by creating a past with so many censored patches, that history could become sceptical. Censorship would prohibit all the forms of entertainment, scientific discovery and mathematical ingenuity, by allowing the world to with go the dangerous material that could possibly be a miraculous breakthrough, or masterpiece of art.
Western civilization is in a period of decline due to inflation, commercialism and censorship, which in turn, will result in a lower way of life. As the West develops a lower way of life, it will either strengthen the other countries around it or poison the rest of the world by foul trade and poor craftsmanship. Once the world has been poisoned by a faltering western world, it will slowly disappear into another age of darkness.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Saxty, Phil. ACanadian GDP.@ Online Essays. 2 Feb. 2003. Student Essays. 12 Feb. 2003.
2. Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and Max Von Sydow. Dreamworks, 2002.
3. Avery, Roberta. ASchool=s Ban On Word >Gun= Causes Uproar.@ The Toronto Star 13 Feb 2003: 4
[1]Phil, Saxty. ACanadian GDP.@ Online Essays. 2 Feb. 2003. Student Essays. 12 Feb. 2003.
[2]Minority Report. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and Max Von Sydow. Dreamworks, 2002.
[3]Roberta Avery. ASchool=s Ban On Word >Gun= Causes Uproar.@ The Toronto Star 13 Feb 2003: 4
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