Blurry Line Research Articles

The Devil is Red: Socialist Satanism in the Nineteenth Century

AbstractDuring the nineteenth century, socialists all over the Western world employed Satan as a symbol of the workers’ emancipation from capitalist tyranny and the toppling of the Christian Church, which they perceived as a protector of this oppressive system. Starting with the English Romantics at the end of the eighteenth century, European radicals developed a discourse of symbolic Satanism, which was put to use by major names in socialism like Godwin, Proudhon, and Bakunin. This shock tactic became especially widespread in turn-of-the-century Sweden, and accordingly the article focuses on the many examples of explicit socialist Satanism in that country. They are contextualized by showing the parallels to, among other things, use of Lucifer as a positive symbol in the realm of alternative spirituality, specifically the Theosophical Society. A number of reasons for why Satan gained such popularity among socialists are suggested, and the sometimes blurry line separating the rhetoric of symbolic Satanism from actual religious writing is scrutinized.

Sloan Mahone and Megan Vaughan (eds), Psychiatry and Empire, Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), pp. ix + 243, £45.00, hardback, ISBN: 978-1-4039-4711-6.

This is not the first edited volume to gather historical essays on psychiatry and colonialism. It does, however, contain some very good new research. It also provides some helpful confirmation of observations in previous work. These include, for example, the opinion that colonial psychiatric institutions were more often reluctant and desultory responses to social problems than they were instruments of grand schemes for social control. And, while colonial psychiatrists may have given expert imprimatur to racist theories of ‘the native mind’, they reflected racist ideologies more than they were instrumental in creating them; this theme is not new to this volume, though there are some really remarkable examples in a number of the chapters of how colonial culture compromised the vision of psychiatric theory. A number of the authors also echo previous work in disavowing the utility of applying Foucault by noting, for example, the lack of ‘great confinements’ in colonies, an observation co-editor Megan Vaughan made in her pioneering original work on the subject. There is some significant new ground broken in this volume. Shula Marks contributes a chapter on psychiatric nursing, a topic relatively neglected by historians of psychiatry, and not only in colonies. Marks’s chapter, titled ‘The microphysics of power’, actually illustrates how many of Foucault’s insights about the dynamics of knowledge and power may be relevant to colonial contexts, however much those contexts may differ from those in European metropoles—about which Foucault’s empirical foundation was always shaky, anyway. Richard Keller explores therapeutics in the Maghreb as a laboratory for French psychiatry, exploring the blurry line between therapy and control—themes developed further in his recent monograph. Shruti Kapila provides a nuanced exploration of the reception of Freud in India, showing how psychoanalytic ideas were selectively appropriated, not only as theories of the mind, but as reflections of varied orientations toward both religion and the Indian nation. And Hans Pols’s chapter on psychiatric constructions of the ‘native mind’ in the Dutch East Indies goes further than many previous treatments in exploring how colonised people responded to these ideologies. For readers looking for an overview of the field, Psychiatry and Empire supplants previous edited collections. Taken together, the varied essays provide a good gauge of the state of the field.

Editorial

Welcome to the second issue of Public Communication Review. Although our journal is still in its infancy, we are delighted to be able to bring together an edition that reflects the breadth and diversity of research and practical work that falls under the banner of public communication.
 
 Our theme for this edition revolves around the notion of conversations. Public communication cannot exist without a relationship between the communicator and its audience. However, as the articles in this edition clearly demonstrate, this relationship does not flow in a single direction. Effective public communication requires two-way interaction and engagement.
 
 Jim Macnamara’s article, ‘“Emergent” media and public communication’, sets the tone for this edition. In this overview of the literature on new forms of interactive social media , Macnamara notes that attitudes towards ‘new media’ continue to be informed by the past and that focus should be on practices rather than only technologies . His call for public communication practitioners and scholars to recognise the fundamental centrality of conversations within these ‘new media’ is taken up by the other contributors in this edition of PCR.
 
 The first of these critical accounts of public communication is Mark Pearson and Hamish McLean’s examination of the recent attempts by the Queensland government to engage in a dialogue with its publics. Examining the blurry line between public information and political persuasion, Pearson and McLean demonstrate that government media relations should not be analysed as a simple one-way conversation, but rather a series of conversations. 
 
 In his discussion of anti-smoking campaigns and its impact on young smokers, Jim Mahoney investigates what appears to be a one-way conversation. Finding that the current approach is not working, Mahoney urges the creators of anti-smoking campaigns to listen to their audience and engage with them, rather than simply preaching to them and hoping that they will simply absorb anti-smoking messages.
 
 Erik Trosby’s article analyses a conversation that is yet to happen (and one that few of his respondents hope to engage in) – crisis communication within sport. His focus is Australia’s A-League football competition which has managed to avoid the crises that have dogged the NRL and the AFL in recent times. Exploring some of the reasons for this difference, Trosby reveals that A-League teams nevertheless remain vulnerable to such crises and, more worryingly, are not well poised to meet them. 
 
 Our inaugural ‘Talking Practically’ section features a speech delivered by John Bevins to the Australian Centre for Public Communication. Having recently retired from a long and illustrious career in Australia’s advertising industry, Bevins reflected on some of the lessons he learned during his time in advertising. In this informative and entertaining piece, Bevins keeps with the theme of this edition by highlighting the fundamental importance of empathy and engagement in advertising. Without this conversation, advertising, like all public communication, will fail.
 
 And finally, our inaugural reviewer, Rodney Gray, looks at Viral Change by Leandro Herrero. Here, we can see how conversations also form an important component of managing change within organisations.
 
 We thank you for your support and would like to remind you that contributions on any issue related to public communication are heartily encouraged. 
 
 
 Robert Crawford PhD Jim Macnamara PhD
 Co-editor Co-editor

Negotiation Ethics Across Cultures: An Examination of the Influence of Law and Codes of Ethics

Foreign companies negotiating in China need to tread a wavy and often blurry line that separates building relationships from paying or accepting bribes. The recent arrest and ongoing detention of commercial negotiators on bribe charges in China highlights this challenge. The arrest also highlights the lack of robust theoretical explanations about cultural differences in negotiation ethics in countries where the law is changing and arbitrarily enforced. In this paper I seek to extend our understanding of ethical decision making in negotiation by presenting an exploratory cross-cultural study that investigates if there are differences in how negotiators think about laws in China and how they view corporate codes of ethics. The two cultures investigated are Australia and China. From my interpretation of interview data, I propose hypotheses for future testing. I discuss the managerial implications of my findings that a) neither Australia nor Chinese negotiators are concerned about Chinese laws and b) that there are cultural differences in how negotiators view codes of ethics.

Beneficence, non-maleficence, distributive justice and respect for patient autonomy – reconcilable ends in aesthetic surgery?

Respect for patient autonomy, as a fundamental principle in contemporary bioethics, guides the process of informed consent through which, it is hoped, patients' wishes are determined and executed. However, when procedures are exclusively cosmetic, questions as to the ethical legitimacy of such requests and enhancements arise. The purpose of this article is a thorough evaluation of the notions of and tensions inherent to the practice of autonomy and informed consent as they apply in aesthetic surgery. The question of motivation to undergo enhancement will be discussed, as well as the significance of risk and competence in determining the legitimacy of choice. The final conclusion is that the complexity of the moral issues involved requires conceptualization of an expanded notion of responsibility, which recognises that we need to progress beyond a 'legal' to a 'moral' conception. The implications of this expanded notion of responsibility are discussed.

Student to Student: That Blurry Line between Science and Fiction

We can see science changing our daily lives constantly. So what better theme for this month’s Student to Student than that wonderful and imaginative combination of science and fiction? Here are books to stretch the imagination and leave us wondering where that line is between what is and what might be.

Healing health care

Healing health care

To the Apple of God's Eye: Christian Zionist Travel to Israel

This article examines a case of travel to Israel which might further complicate the already blurry line between tourism and pilgrimage: evangelical, Christian Zionist visits to Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism estimates that evangelical Christians account for one third of American visitors to Israel. My research investigates how Christian Zionist travel to Israel is both ‘touristic’ and ‘pilgrimage-like’ and how this case can serve to question some thinking about pilgrimage. Finally, I offer yet another definition of what constitutes pilgrimage, which avoids at least some of the particular hazards. A primary goal of the research is to provide more empirical data and deeper analysis for our understanding of Christian Zionist travel to Israel and thus to contribute additional nuance to discussions of pilgrimage and tourism more generally.

Job Well Done: Preventing the Use of Private Placement Life Insurance to Wrap Hedge Fund Investments

As the economy continues to see a significant rise in hedge fund activity, investors continue to look for mechanisms that will mitigate the tax burden on their hedge fund investments. In an attempt to avoid the harsh ordinary tax income, taxpayers may wrap hedge fund interest within a private placement life insurance contract. An insurance wrapper is a life insurance contract in which a portion of the policyholder’s premium payment is invested in a hedge fund. Because the hedge fund interests are held within an insurance policy, gains on the investments are shielded from tax. Policyholders may also be able to access their money during their lifetimes by withdrawing or borrowing funds from the policy, tax-free. While the use of private placement life insurance contracts gives wealthy investors the prospect of huge tax savings on hedge fund investments, the transaction also gives rise to the question of whether the practice is a bona fide planning device or an improper shelter. There is a blurry line between an improper tax shelter and more legitimate strategies that take advantage of the intricacies of the tax code. Improper shelters arise because of the difficulty in perfectly specifying or defining the tax base. Through revenue rulings, private letter rulings, and treasure regulations, the Treasure Department and the Internal Revenue Service convey their position and offer guidance to practitioners and taxpayers regarding the relevant transaction. This Note analyzes the effectiveness of these rulings and regulations in the context of private placement life insurance wrappers. Ultimately, the rulings and regulations have succeeded in preventing the use of life insurance as a tax shelter for hedge fund investments, leaving no cause for Congressional concern today.

Who owns your computer? [digital rights management

Sony's much-debated choice to use rootkit-like technology to protect intellectual property highlights the increasingly blurry line between who can, should, or does control interactions among computational devices, algorithms embodied in software, and data upon which they act. With respect to policy and defense, two key questions emerge: When systems or computational elements are combined, whose policy and expectation dominates? What sorts of defenses are appropriate, and in which situations? The challenge to educators is to provide the experiences, and seek the understanding, that let others make better choices when such conflicts arise in the future

IA, Therefore I Am

Les architectes de l'information, dont le role consiste a concevoir, structurer et organiser l'information sur le Web, afin de permettre sa navigation, sont en passe de constituer l'une des professions informationnelles cles du 21eme siecle. Les differences entre l'architecture de l'information et la bibliotheconomie traditionnelle montrent qu'il s'agit bien de deux disciplines differentes, confrontees a des problemes differents et pratiquees dans des contextes differents, mais qu'elles sont egalement complementaires et ont beaucoup a apprendre l'une de l'autre.