Breaking Through—working With Japanese Creatives
Creatives and clients, with account service caught in the middle. Around the world, wherever advertising is made, their quarrels are legend. Japan is no exception.
On one side are seers and shamans whose search for the new and original may lead in directions that seem quite mad. In their ceaseless search for something new, creatives who fail to probe the limits of sense and taste are not doing the job their clients should be demanding. In advertising, job No. 1 is impact, and safe too often is dull—is dead.
On the other side are the makers and guardians of corporate policy. Managers on the client side must check and check again to be sure that ads are in line with marketing strategy and consistent with brand and corporate image. Their nightmare is going too far, causing a scandal that damages the business for which they are held responsible.
The problem on both sides is keeping the quarrel contained and tapping the tensions it generates to power creation of more effective ads. When creatives and clients share a common language and culture, finding an answer is hard enough. When creatives are Japanese and the clients are not, the difficulties may seem overwhelming. My argument here is, however, one of hope. With patience, cunning and the right preparation, they can be overcome.
In what follows, we will look first at the typical process by which Japanese creatives and their non-Japanese clients get to know each other. (Knowing where you are in this process is vital to dealing effectively with the issues that come up.) We will then examine some of the ways in which differences in language and culture make problems worse. Finally, when the outlook is dark indeed, I will offer a few suggestions for finding solutions and preventing problems before they occur.
Getting from #@!!#%&!! to Ads That Satisfy It often starts here. A foreign marketing manager arrives in Japan. The agency assigns a creative team to work on his account. He is new to Japan. They are new to working with non-Japanese. If he works for a major, multinational corporation, he comes equipped with clear corporate guidelines for making good advertising. His new creative team is eager to show him "How it's done in Japan." Both are quickly disillusioned.
He is upset by their seeming inability to come up with ideas that fit corporate strategies and present them in ways that he (and his bosses back home) will find convincing. On their side, the Japanese creative team is fuming. "Doesn't the stupid gaijin realize that this is Japan!"
What the foreign manager asked for were top-flight creatives who have made their mark working for Japanese clients. It may seem instead that what he got were amateurs who don't know their business at all. On their side, if they are top-flight creatives—and especially if they work for a large agency—they see themselves, quite properly, as members of an elite. "Doesn't this stupid gaijin know who he's talking to?" If the team's members are real primadonnas, their impulse at this point is to walk out. "I don't have to put up with this! Find someone else to do it." And, if they are top-flight, yes, they can get away with it. First-class creative talent is as rare in Japan as anywhere else, and those who have it are pampered. Yes, the foreign manager can find people who are easier to work with. The results are rarely exciting.
Stage two occurs when the team doesn't walk away. Instead its members realize that the gaijin is hopelessly rikutsuppoi, which is to say, logical in a nasty, rigid, narrow-minded sort of way. "OK," they say. "Shiyou ga nai"( It can't be helped), we'll do it his way. At this point, they start, in effect, working to rule. The result is check-list advertising. It satisfies the criteria laid down by corporate guidelines. In a simplistic, mechanical way it conforms to corporate strategy. It is generally less than exciting, often simply dull.
The ideal, of course, is to reach stage three. Here the creative team has learned and accepted the limits imposed by corporate strategy but is fired up and producing great ideas within them. They have learned that working with a foreign client is remarkably like writing haiku, where you only have seventeen syllables, their pattern is fixed, and, oh yes, you must include the appropriate words for the season. The framework is rigid, the demands obsessive, the challenge enormous. The possibilities are endless.
When insights and emotions merge in precisely the right images, the result is exciting advertising. The problem, of course, is getting there. Language and culture stand in the way.
Language, It's a Problem. When you live and work in Japan, you will soon come to realize the awful truth of Jackson Huddleston's introduction to Gaijin Kaisha: Running a Foreign Business in Japan.
Too many foreign corporations take the attitude, "We're not paying you to go over there and learn a language. We're paying you to do a job." Why do they not realize that language is part of a job? Would any foreign CEO in the United States go to work without reading the Wall Street Journal? I doubt it. Every day in Japan, 99 percent of the foreign general managers go to work without knowing what is in the current Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the principal economic newspaper in Japan. Nor can they understand the television news, advertisements, or social commentary. Who would run a business in the United States without knowing English, or a business in Paris without knowing French, and without being able to communicate with employees in their native language? Is it out of ignorance or arrogance that we think we can run businesses successfully as illiterates in the second most important economy in the world?
Huddleston is speaking to CEOs. For their marketing managers, whose task is effective communication in the Japanese language, the problem is, if anything, worse. Consider a few examples:
Manager A has finally decided that the only way to get the ad campaign he wants is to brief the agency's Japanese creatives directly. His material is carefully organized; his presentation is forceful. Then he asks for questions. If he's lucky he may get one or two. He makes a point of asking "Do you understand?" "Yes," they say. "Yes, we understand," is what he thought they said. "Yes, we're listening," is all that they actually said. He is, then, understandably, angry when the agency's next presentation is wildly out of line with what he thought were the clear directions he gave them.
Manager B has chosen an indirect approach. She has spoken to her Japanese staff and given them the job of briefing the agency. They have met with the agency's account service people, who have then gone back to the agency to brief the creatives. She, too, is justifiably angry when the agency's presentation seems wildly off strategy.
On the whole my sympathies lie with Manager A. The indirect approach adopted by Manager B ensures that translation problems will be compounded as each of the people involved in the chain tries to communicate what it is they think they heard. (The often-asserted Japanese preference for non-verbal communication frequently results in missing details, some of which are vital points. Preventing this from happening is one of the principal functions of what may seem to foreign managers to be the endless meetings at which nothing much gets done but confirming what has been said before.)
I suspect, however, that Manager A simply said too much, too quickly. His presentation style was perfect for the bosses he needs to please back home. He was, however, misled by the token questions he heard, which, more often than not, came from account executives chosen to work with him because they "speak his language." Had he imagined himself hearing the same presentation in Japanese, while getting only a rough synopsis of what he said in his own language, he would have realized that much of what he wanted to say, while it might have been said very well indeed, was not heard by those to whom he was speaking. He should also be aware that the way in which he made his presentation created, in effect, a classroom situation. And in Japanese schools the one thing you certainly learn is not to question the teacher.
For Manager C all this is history. The agency has come up with what seem to be plausible ideas, not perfect perhaps, but possible. His problem is now to choose between them. Since he doesn't read Japanese himself, he is forced to rely on translations in making his judgments. But what, in fact, is the real relation between the translation and the Japanese copy he approves for publication? The Japanese copy may be wonderful, the translation inept. The reverse is also possible. If the agency employs a translator who is both a native speaker of the language into which the translation is made and is also a good writer, the translation may be more interesting than the Japanese original. Is the Japanese copywriter brilliant? Or has he gone too far? Is what he has written appropriate for the audience to whom he is speaking? Or boring, offensive, or worse? Who is to say? That's the crunch.
The agency will do its best to sell its creative product. Let the buyer beware. It would seem only natural then for the foreign manager to depend on his Japanese staff. But what if his staff and the agency disagree? What if his staff disagree among themselves? One experienced manager I know says ruefully that given a Japanese headline and 10 Japanese, he is sure to hear 20 opinions. And the knowledge he needs to choose among them is more knowledge of culture than of language per se.
Culture, What Are We Talking About? Culture is what we take for granted. Therein lies the problem. Whenever one person makes assumptions not shared by another, there is potential for conflict. In the case of the foreign manager and the Japanese creative team, the root of the problem is often what one assumes the other knows and thus doesn't bother to explain—in a way that the other can grasp. Finding that way is the key to working together smoothly.
On the side of the foreign manager, nothing is more frustrating than hearing people say, "But, this is Japan." In a conflict situation "Japan" is a word that literally means, "You don't understand, you can't understand. Shut up and do what I want you to do." And no manager worthy of the name should let anyone get away with that.
The question is how to counter the claim without making everyone angry and making the situation worse. The place to begin is to ask yourself, "What is this 'Japan' we are talking about? What is it that's being taken for granted by them that I don't understand yet?"
It is possible that the answer lies somewhere in Japanology, in the unceasing flood of articles and books that scholars and journalists write about Japan, or in the remarks that "old Japan hands" like to offer to newcomers. There is much of value here. Knowing, for example, that "sauce" goes on fried foods but not on sushi can save you from ruining a good meal and embarrassing yourself in front of Japanese colleagues. Knowing that promotion to kacho (section chief) is a key step up on a Japanese manager's career ladder can help you make sense of a recent commercial for beer. Knowing that Japan is a "vertical society" in which the group to which a person belongs is likely to be more important to him than sharing a certain professional skill with members of other groups illuminates Japanese labor relations. The examples are endless, and precisely because they are so exotic they attract the attention of foreigners when they start to think about Japan. They are only sometimes relevant to what creatives are trying to do. They only become significant when someone thinks he has found a new twist on something he takes to be common sense.
The Japanese creative's judgment more often reflects a sense of what is trendy and fashionable, not just in Japan but, more often than not, in the international worlds of fashion, film and music to which he or she is very much attuned. As much or more than other Japanese, Japanese creatives devour information about the latest trends. And their appetite is largely satisfied by mass media whose uniformity is striking.
This last point is vital. The result is a constantly moving wave of common knowledge that is typically months or years ahead of the Japanologists' efforts to grasp what is going on in Japan. If the foreign manager had the time as well as the language skills to keep up with what is going on, he, too, would share that knowledge. He, too, would have a sense of what is coming in and what is going out. Dealing with the fact that he doesn't is one of his most pressing problems.
His problems may be compounded by the ages of the people he's working with. In Japan as in other parts of the world, generation gaps are growing. The greying corporate warriors who rebuilt Japan after World War II grew up in a different world from that of their children and grandchildren. A man in his fifties may remember his first drink of Coca-Cola, a gift from a GI. To him a Coke is, above all, an American drink. A woman in her twenties grew up with Coke vending machines across from her elementary school. She is pleasantly surprised when she travels abroad to find that Americans drink Coke, too. That same man remembers when German automobiles were an almost unattainable peak of automotive perfection. His son has grown up in a world where Japanese cars set quality standards, and some offer longer lists of features.
"All right," the foreign manager says, "I can't be expected to know these things. It's up to you, the agency, to tell me what's going on here. And your presentations?You call these presentations!"
First, let's remember what we've just learned. There's a lot they assume is common knowledge. It isn't common knowledge to you, but it is, or at least they assume it is, for their other, i.e., Japanese, clients. It may be worth pondering, too, what effects the '80s had on Japanese advertising. The economy was booming. Everybody's sales were going up. People played their hunches, tried things out, had a good time. The disciplines needed to build an image and hold on to market share were not much in evidence. When you need to persuade people who don't have the glorious freedom to choose whatever they feel like, that's when you need carefully planned presentations. Who were those people?
In Search of Solutions First, forget about who is to blame. The issue is how to reach stage three and develop a working relationship that produces great advertising for one of the world's most important markets. Blame doesn't help. Asking questions does.
Yes, you are busy. Yes, it seems to take much, much longer to achieve the results you want than it would back home. At least for the first year or two that is probably unavoidable. The question is how to use effectively all that extra time it takes.
Resign yourself to moving slowly—but make every step count. If they won't ask you questions, you can ask them questions. Ask about everything. Why that word? That color? That gesture? Why a woman instead of a man? Why not younger? Older? Bigger? Smaller? You can win a lot of respect by showing a craftsman's concern for details. By challenging assumptions, you can find out, finally, what they are. You can also gradually train people to provide you with more of the information you need.
Listen for useful Japanese phrases. One of the best is, "Mou sukoshi,...nanika,...hoshii...," which is to say, "I'm not sure just what, but I want a little something more." It's a gentle but very effective way to indicate dissatisfaction and motivate people to think again.
Above all—be very specific about the form of the presentation you want to see. Better still provide an example, on paper, a model the team can work with. These are your assumptions, a part of your corporate culture that you may take for granted. To them they may be alien. So don't just give them the model. Go over it with them, step-by-step. And don't assume that "Yes (we're listening)" means "Yes (we understand)."
Your patience will be sorely tried. Stage one may be awful, stage two depressing. Reaching stage three will be all the sweeter.
About the Author
John McCreery is an anthropologist who has lived and worked in Japan since 1980. For thirteen of those years, he was a copywriter and creative director for Hakuhodo Incorporated, Japan's second largest advertising agency. In 1984, he and his wife and business partner Ruth McCreery founded The Word Works, a supplier of fine translation, copywriting, research and consulting services to firms doing business in Japan.
You may also find articles by John at TalentZoo.com.
There is no single magic formula for developing a winning business plan (But you knew that anyway., right?)
And now the good news ..
There are some common elements that appear to have appeared in all successful business plans that can be modeled successfully by everyone in business. (Hooray!)
The problem is that generic / Formula plans (perhaps built using a template business plan) are easy to "see through" professional investors and reviewers plan. These guys are like bloodhounds in this regard.
Ask any professional investor anywhere in the country, and you'll hear sometimes funny, often embarrassing stories of ill-conceived, poorly written or carelessly together business plans. Oh and you are not happy with that alone, there will be no more stories about presentations also laughable.
OK, you receive the item, so now what?
Its overall objective is a credible plan, professional, unique in nature, with features that indicate a sound business proposal, along with finance is considered and well researched.
Before preparing your plan really need to have a clear idea of what a great example of a business plan looks, feels and sounds like to the investor.
We are obliged to do some work. Start with some Google searches on MSN or through "business plan sample" or "sample business plans," as the search phrase and read the results to extract the best parts.
It is a common misconception that business plans are written with the sole purpose of obtaining investment capital. Clarify objectives and set goals and communicate effectively to other members of the company are all objectives that can achieve effective business plan.
While plans business are a mandatory requirement for any business seeking new external financing, are also a great way to draw a comprehensive strategy, yet you need to control your business: - financial ratios and key performance indicators, calendar schedules, staffing requirements, marketing tactics, procedures operation and of course funding.
But trying to be all things to all audiences is a recipe for failure. Keep your plan tight and concise - no more than 15-20 pages, and tailored to their specific audience.
Remember that the magical powers of review. Proof read your plan in a day different from the day it was written, and better yet, get an outsider who is knowledgeable of business plans (an accountant, bank manager, local enterprise agency) for review. Comments and constructive criticism is worth its weight in gold.
Practice the presentation of his plan to friends and family before having to do truth, and be prepared for some pointed questions to test their commitment and knowledge.
Role playing is the potential investor or a bank and think of so many questions as possible for you to ask, and then prepare responses in advance. The surprises unless you get, the more professional you can be seen, and can only be a good thing ..
Islam word has been derived from arabic languge word salam, it meaning is peace ofcourse islam is religion of peace and humanity , which is not only religion of muslim but also religion of the entire universe.Since the early 1980s, commentators have argued that Islam is suffering a crisis of identity, as the crumbling of Islamic civilization in the modern age has left Muslims with a profound sense of alienation and injury. Challenges confronting Muslim nations -- failures of development projects, entrenched authoritarian regimes and the inability to respond effectively to Israeli belligerence -- have induced deep-seated frustration and anger that, in turn, contributed to the rise of fundamentalist movements, or as most commentators have preferred to say, political Islam. But most commentators have been caught off guard by the ferocity of the acts of mass murder recently committed in New York and Washington. The basic cruelty and moral depravity of these attacks came as a shock not only to non-Muslims, but to Muslims as well. The extreme political violence we call terrorism is not a simple aberration unrelated to the political dynamics of a society. Generally, terrorism is the quintessential crime of those who feel powerless seeking to undermine the perceived power of a targeted group. Like many crimes of power, terrorism is also a hate crime, for it relies on a polarized rhetoric of belligerence toward a particular group that is demonized to the point of being denied any moral worth. To recruit and communicate effectively, this rhetoric of belligerence needs to tap into and exploit an already radicalized discourse with the expectation of resonating with the social and political frustrations of a people. If acts of terrorism find little resonance within a society, such acts and their ideological defenders are marginalized. But if these acts do find a degree of resonance, terrorism becomes incrementally more acute and severe, and its ideological justifications become progressively more radical.
To what extent are the September 11 attacks in the US symptomatic of more pervasive ideological undercurrents in the Muslim world today? Obviously, not all social or political frustrations lead to the use of violence. While national liberation movements often resort to violence, the recent attacks are set apart from such movements. The perpetrators did not seem to be acting on behalf of an ethnic group or nation. They presented no specific territorial claims or political agenda, and were not keen to claim responsibility for their acts. One can speculate that the perpetrators' list of grievances included persistent Israeli abuses of Palestinians, near-daily bombings of Iraq and the presence of American troops in the Gulf, but the fact remains that the attacks were not followed by a list of demands or even a set of articulated goals. The attacks exhibit a profound sense of frustration and extreme despair, rather than a struggle to achieve clear-cut objectives. Some commentators have viewed the underpinnings of the recent attacks as part of a "clash of civilizations" between Western values and Islamic culture. According to these commentators, the issue is not religious fundamentalism or political Islam, but an essential conflict between competing visions of morality and ethics. From this perspective, it is hardly surprising that the terrorists do not present concrete demands, do not have specific territorial objectives and do not rush to take responsibility. The September 11 attacks aimed to strike at the symbols of Western civilization, and to challenge its perceived hegemony, in the hope of empowering and reinvigorating Islamic civilization. The "clash of civilizations" approach assumes, in deeply prejudiced fashion, that Puritanism and terrorism are somehow authentic expressions of the predominant values of the Islamic tradition, and hence is a dangerous interpretation of the present moment. But the common responses to this interpretation, focusing on either the crisis of identity or acute social frustration in the Muslim world, do not adequately explain the theological positions adopted by radical Islamist groups, or how extreme violence can be legitimated in the modern age. Further, none of these perspectives engage the classical tradition in Islamic thought regarding the employment of political violence, and how contemporary Muslims reconstruct the classical tradition. How might the classical or contemporary doctrines of Islamic theology contribute to the use of terrorism by modern Islamic movements?
By the eleventh century, Muslim jurists had developed a sophisticated discourse on the proper limits on the conduct of warfare, political violence and terrorism. The Qur'an exhorted Muslims in general terms to perform jihad by waging war against their enemies. The Qur'anic prescriptions simply call upon Muslims to fight in the way of God, establish justice and refrain from exceeding the limits of justice in fighting their enemies. Muslim jurists, reflecting their historical circumstances and context, tended to divide the world into three conceptual categories: the abode of Islam, the abode of war and the abode of peace or non-belligerence. These were not clear or precise categories, but generally they connoted territories belonging to Muslims, territories belonging to enemies and territories considered neutral or non-hostile for one reason or another. But Muslim jurists could not agree on exactly how to define the abode of Muslims versus the abode of others, especially when sectarian divisions within Islam were involved, and when dealing with conquered Muslim territories or territories where sizable Muslim minorities resided. Furthermore, Muslim jurists disagreed on the legal cause for fighting non-Muslims. Some contended that non-Muslims are to be fought because they are infidels, while the majority argued that non-Muslims should be fought only if they pose a danger to Muslims. The majority of early jurists argued that a treaty of non-aggression between Muslims and non-Muslims ought to be limited to a ten-year term. Nonetheless, after the tenth century an increasing number of jurists argued that such treaties could be renewed indefinitely, or be of permanent or indefinite duration. Importantly, Muslim jurists did not focus on the idea of just cause for war. Other than emphasizing that if Muslim territory is attacked, Muslims must fight back, the jurists seemed to relegate the decision to make war or peace to political authorities. There is a considerable body of legal writing prohibiting Muslim rulers from violating treaties, indulging in treachery or attacking an enemy without first giving notice, but the literature on the conditions that warrant a jihad is sparse. It is not that the classical jurists believed that war is always justified or appropriate; rather, they seemed to assume that the decision to wage war is fundamentally political. However, the methods of war were the subject of a substantial jurisprudential discourse. Building upon the proscriptions of the Prophet Muhammad (SWS), Muslim jurists insisted that there are legal restrictions upon the conduct of war. In general, Muslim armies may not kill women, children, seniors, hermits, pacifists, peasants or slaves unless they are combatants. Vegetation and property may not be destroyed, water holes may not be poisoned, and flame-throwers may not be used unless out of necessity, and even then only to a limited extent. Torture, mutilation and murder of hostages were forbidden under all circumstances. Importantly, the classical jurists reached these determinations not simply as a matter of textual interpretation, but as moral or ethical assertions. The classical jurists spoke from the vantage point of a moral civilization, in other words, from a perspective that betrayed a strong sense of confidence in the normative message of Islam. In contrast to their pragmatism regarding whether a war should be waged, the classical jurists accepted the necessity of moral constraints upon the way war is conducted.
Muslim jurists exhibited a remarkable tolerance toward the idea of political rebellion. Because of historical circumstances in the first three centuries of Islam, Muslim jurists, in principle, prohibited rebellions even against unjust rulers. At the same time, they refused to give the government unfettered discretion against rebels. The classical jurists argued that the law of God prohibited the execution of rebels or needless destruction or confiscation of their property. Rebels should not be tortured or even imprisoned if they take an oath promising to abandon their rebellion. Most importantly, according to the majority point of view, rebellion, for a plausible cause, is not a sin or moral infraction, but merely a political wrong because of the chaos and civil strife that result. This approach effectively made political rebellion a civil, and not a religious, infraction. The classical juristic approach to terrorism was quite different. Since the very first century of Islam, Muslims suffered from extremist theologies that not only rejected the political institutions of the Islamic empire, but also refused to concede legitimacy to the juristic class. Although not organized in a church or a single institutional structure, the juristic class in Islam had clear and distinctive insignia of investiture. They attended particular colleges, received training in a particular methodology of juristic inquiry, and developed a specialized technical language, the mastery of which became the gateway to inclusion. Significantly, the juristic class engaged as a rule in discussion and debate. On each point of law, there are ten different opinions and a considerable amount of debate among the various legal schools of thought. Various puritan theological movements in Islamic history resolutely rejected this juristic tradition, which reveled in indeterminacy. The hallmark of these puritan movements was an intolerant theology displaying extreme hostility not only to non-Muslims but also to Muslims who belonged to different schools of thought or even remained neutral. These movements considered opponents and indifferent Muslims to have exited the fold of Islam, and therefore legitimate targets of violence. These groups' preferred methods of violence were stealth attacks and the dissemination of terror in the general population. Muslim jurists reacted sharply to these groups, considering them enemies of humankind. They were designated as muharibs (literally, those who fight society). A muharib was defined as someone who attacks defenseless victims by stealth, and spreads terror in society. They were not to be given quarter or refuge by anyone or at any place. In fact, Muslim jurists argued that any Muslim or non-Muslim territory sheltering such a group is hostile territory that may be attacked by the mainstream Islamic forces. Although the classical jurists agreed on the definition of a muharib, they disagreed about which types of criminal acts should be considered crimes of terror. Many jurists classified rape, armed robbery, assassinations, arson and murder by poisoning as crimes of terror and argued that such crimes must be punished vigorously regardless of the motivations of the criminal. Most importantly, these doctrines were asserted as religious imperatives. Regardless of the desired goals or ideological justifications, the terrorizing of the defenseless was recognized as a moral wrong and an offense against society and God.
It is often stated that terrorism is the weapon of the weak. Notably, classical juristic discourse was developed when Islamic civilization was supreme, and this supremacy was reflected in the benevolent attitude of the juristic class. Pre-modern Muslim juristic discourses navigated a course between principled thinking and real-life pragmatic concerns and demands. Ultimately, these jurists spoke with a sense of urgency, but not desperation. Power and political supremacy were not their sole pursuits. Much has changed in the modern age. Islamic civilization has crumbled, and the traditional institutions that once sustained the juristic discourse have all but vanished. The moral foundations that once mapped out Islamic law and theology have disintegrated, leaving an unsettling vacuum. More to the point, the juristic discourses on tolerance towards rebellion and hostility to the use of terror are no longer part of the normative categories of contemporary Muslims. Contemporary Muslim discourses either give lip service to the classical doctrines without a sense of commitment or ignore and neglect them all together. There are many factors that contributed to this modern reality. Among the pertinent factors is the undeniably traumatic experience of colonialism, which dismantled the traditional institutions of civil society. The emergence of highly centralized, despotic and often corrupt governments, and the nationalization of the institutions of religious learning undermined the mediating role of jurists in Muslim societies. Nearly all charitable religious endowments became state-controlled entities, and Muslim jurists in most Muslim nations became salaried state employees, effectively transforming them into what may be called "court priests." The establishment of the state of Israel, the expulsion of the Palestinians and the persistent military conflicts in which Arab states suffered heavy losses all contributed to a widespread siege mentality and a highly polarized and belligerent political discourse. Perhaps most importantly, Western cultural symbols, modes of production and social values aggressively penetrated the Muslim world, seriously challenging inherited values and practices, and adding to a profound sense of alienation. Two developments became particularly relevant to the withering away of Islamic jurisprudence. Most Muslim nations experienced the wholesale borrowing of civil law concepts. Instead of the dialectical and indeterminate methodology of traditional Islamic jurisprudence, Muslim nations opted for more centralized and often code-based systems of law. Even Muslim modernists who attempted to reform Islamic jurisprudence were heavily influenced by the civil law system, and sought to resist the fluidity of Islamic law and increase its unitary and centralized character. Not only were the concepts of law heavily influenced by the European legal tradition, the ideologies of resistance employed by Muslims were laden with Third World notions of national liberation and self-determination. For instance, modern nationalistic thought exercised a greater influence on the resistance ideologies of Muslim and Arab national liberation movements than anything in the Islamic tradition. The Islamic tradition was reconstructed to fit Third World nationalistic ideologies of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism rather than the other way around. While national liberation movements -- such as the Palestinian, Kashmiri or Algerian resistance -- resorted to guerrilla or non-conventional warfare, modern day terrorism of the variety promoted by Osama bin Laden is rooted in a different ideological paradigm. There is little doubt that organizations such as the Jihad, al-Qaeda, Hizb al-Tahrir and Jama'at al-Muslimin were influenced by national liberation and anti-colonialist ideologies, but they have anchored themselves in a theology that can be described as puritan, supremacist and thoroughly opportunistic. This theology is the byproduct of the emergence and eventual dominance of Wahhabism, Salafism and apologetic discourses in modern Islam.
The foundations of Wahhabi theology were put in place by the eighteenth-century evangelist Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab in the Arabian Peninsula. With a puritanical zeal, 'Abd al-Wahhab sought to rid Islam of corruptions that he believed had crept into the religion. Wahhabism resisted the indeterminacy of the modern age by escaping to a strict literalism in which the text became the sole source of legitimacy. In this context, Wahhabism exhibited extreme hostility to intellectualism, mysticism and any sectarian divisions within Islam. The Wahhabi creed also considered any form of moral thought that was not entirely dependent on the text as a form of self-idolatry, and treated humanistic fields of knowledge, especially philosophy, as "the sciences of the devil." According to the Wahhabi creed, it was imperative to return to a presumed pristine, simple and straightforward Islam, which could be entirely reclaimed by literal implementation of the commands of the Prophet(PBUH), and by strict adherence to correct ritual practice. Importantly, Wahhabism rejected any attempt to interpret the divine law from a historical, contextual perspective, and treated the vast majority of Islamic history as a corruption of the true and authentic Islam. The classical jurisprudential tradition was considered at best to be mere sophistry. Wahhabism became very intolerant of the long-established Islamic practice of considering a variety of schools of thought to be equally orthodox. Orthodoxy was narrowly defined, and 'Abd al-Wahhab himself was fond of creating long lists of beliefs and acts which he considered hypocritical, the adoption or commission of which immediately rendered a Muslim an unbeliever. In the late eighteenth century, the Al Sa'ud family united with the Wahhabi movement and rebelled against Ottoman rule in Arabia. Egyptian forces quashed this rebellion in 1818. Nevertheless, Wahhabi ideology was resuscitated in the early twentieth century under the leadership of 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Sa'ud who allied himself with the tribes of Najd, in the beginnings of what would become Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabi rebellions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were very bloody because the Wahhabis indiscriminately slaughtered and terrorized Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Mainstream jurists writing at the time, such as the Hanafi Ibn 'Abidin and the Maliki al-Sawi, described the Wahhabis as a fanatic fringe group.
Nevertheless, Wahhabism survived and, in fact, thrived in contemporary Islam for several reasons. By treating Muslim Ottoman rule as a foreign occupying power, Wahhabism set a powerful precedent for notions of Arab self-determination and autonomy. In advocating a return to the pristine and pure origins of Islam, Wahhabism rejected the cumulative weight of historical baggage. This idea was intuitively liberating for Muslim reformers since it meant the rebirth of ijtihad, or the return to de novo examination and determination of legal issues unencumbered by the accretions of precedents and inherited doctrines. Most importantly, the discovery and exploitation of oil provided Saudi Arabia with high liquidity. Especially after 1975, with the sharp rise in oil prices, Saudi Arabia aggressively promoted Wahhabi thought around the Muslim world. Even a cursory examination of predominant ideas and practices reveals the widespread influence of Wahhabi thought on the Muslim world today. But Wahhabism did not spread in the modern Muslim world under its own banner. Even the term "Wahhabism" is considered derogatory by its adherents, since Wahhabis prefer to see themselves as the representatives of Islamic orthodoxy. To them, Wahhabism is not a school of thought within Islam, but is Islam. The fact that Wahhabism rejected a label gave it a diffuse quality, making many of its doctrines and methodologies eminently transferable. Wahhabi thought exercised its greatest influence not under its own label, but under the rubric of Salafism. In their literature, Wahhabi clerics have consistently described themselves as Salafis, and not Wahhabis.
Salafism is a creed founded in the late nineteenth century by Muslim reformers such as Muhammad 'Abduh, al-Afghani and Rashid Rida. Salafism appealed to a very basic concept in Islam: Muslims ought to follow the precedent of the Prophet and his companions (al-salaf al-salih). Methodologically, Salafism was nearly identical to Wahhabism except that Wahhabism is far less tolerant of diversity and differences of opinion. The founders of Salafism maintained that on all issues Muslims ought to return to the Qur'an and the sunna (precedent) of the Prophet. In doing so, Muslims ought to reinterpret the original sources in light of modern needs and demands, without being slavishly bound to the interpretations of earlier Muslim generations. As originally conceived, Salafism was not necessarily anti-intellectual, but like Wahhabism, it did tend to be uninterested in history. By emphasizing a presumed golden age in Islam, the adherents of Salafism idealized the time of the Prophet and his companions, and ignored or demonized the balance of Islamic history. By rejecting juristic precedents and undervaluing tradition, Salafism adopted a form of egalitarianism that deconstructed any notions of established authority within Islam. Effectively, anyone was considered qualified to return to the original sources and speak for the divine will. By liberating Muslims from the tradition of the jurists, Salafism contributed to a real vacuum of authority in contemporary Islam. Importantly, Salafism was founded by Muslim nationalists who were eager to read the values of modernism into the original sources of Islam. Hence, Salafism was not necessarily anti-Western. In fact, its founders strove to project contemporary institutions such as democracy, constitutions or socialism into the foundational texts, and to justify the modern nation-state within Islam. The liberal age of Salafism came to an end in the 1960s. After 1975, Wahhabism was able to rid itself of its extreme intolerance, and proceeded to coopt Salafism until the two became practically indistinguishable. Both theologies imagined a golden age within Islam, entailing a belief in a historical utopia that can be reproduced in contemporary Islam. Both remained uninterested in critical historical inquiry and responded to the challenge of modernity by escaping to the secure haven of the text. Both advocated a form of egalitarianism and anti-elitism to the point that they came to consider intellectualism and rational moral insight to be inaccessible and, thus, corruptions of the purity of the Islamic message. Wahhabism and Salafism were beset with contradictions that made them simultaneously idealistic and pragmatic and infested both creeds (especially in the 1980s and 1990s) with a kind of supremacist thinking that prevails until today. The predominant intellectual response to the challenge of modernity in Islam has been apologetics. Apologetics consisted of an effort by a large number of commentators to defend the Islamic system of beliefs from the onslaught of Orientalism, Westernization and modernity by simultaneously emphasizing the compatibility and supremacy of Islam. Apologists responded to the intellectual challenges coming from the West by adopting pietistic fictions about the Islamic traditions. Such fictions eschewed any critical evaluation of Islamic doctrines, and celebrated the presumed perfection of Islam. A common apologist argument was that any meritorious or worthwhile modern institution was first invented by Muslims. According to the apologists, Islam liberated women, created a democracy, endorsed pluralism, protected human rights and guaranteed social security long before these institutions ever existed in the West. These concepts were not asserted out of critical understanding or ideological commitment, but primarily as a means of resisting Western hegemony and affirming self-worth. The main effect of apologetics, however, was to contribute to a sense of intellectual self-sufficiency that often descended into moral arrogance. To the extent that apologetics were habit-forming, it produced a culture that eschewed self-critical and introspective insight, and embraced the projection of blame and a fantasy-like level of confidence. In many ways, the apologetic response was fundamentally centered on power. Its main purpose was not to integrate particular values within Islamic culture, but to empower Islam against its civilizational rival. Muslim apologetics tended to be opportunistic and rather unprincipled, and, in fact, they lent support to the tendency among many intellectuals and activists to give precedence to the logic of pragmatism over any other competing demands. Invoking the logic of necessity or public interest to justify courses of action, at the expense of moral imperatives, became common practice. Effectively, apologists got into the habit of paying homage to the presumed superiority of the Islamic tradition, but marginalized this idealistic image in everyday life. Post-1970s Salafism adopted many of the premises of the apologetic discourse, but it also took these premises to their logical extreme. Instead of simple apologetics, Salafism responded to feelings of powerlessness and defeat with uncompromising and arrogant symbolic displays of power, not only against non-Muslims, but also against Muslim women. Fundamentally, Salafism, which by the 1970s had become a virulent puritan theology, further anchored itself in the confident security of texts. Nonetheless, contrary to the assertions of its proponents, Salafism did not necessarily pursue objective or balanced interpretations of Islamic texts, but primarily projected its own frustrations and aspirations upon the text. Its proponents no longer concerned themselves with coopting or claiming Western institutions as their own, but defined Islam as the exact antithesis of the West, under the guise of reclaiming the true and real Islam. Whatever the West was perceived to be, Islam was understood to be the exact opposite.
Of course, neither Wahhabism nor Salafism is represented by some formal institution. They are theological orientations and not structured schools of thought. Nevertheless, the lapsing and bonding of the theologies of Wahhabism and Salafism produced a contemporary orientation that is anchored in profound feelings of defeat, frustration and alienation, not only from modern institutions of power, but also from the Islamic heritage and tradition. The outcome of the apologist, Wahhabi and Salafi legacies is a supremacist puritanism that compensates for feelings of defeat, disempowerment and alienation with a distinct sense of self-righteous arrogance vis-à-vis the nondescript "other" -- whether the other is the West, non-believers in general or even Muslims of a different sect and Muslim women. In this sense, it is accurate to describe this widespread modern trend as supremacist, for it sees the world from the perspective of stations of merit and extreme polarization. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, several commentators posed the question of whether Islam somehow encourages violence and terrorism. Some commentators argued that the Islamic concept of jihad or the notion of the dar al-harb (the abode of war) is to blame for the contemporary violence. These arguments are anachronistic and Orientalist. They project Western categories and historical experiences upon a situation that is very particular and fairly complex. One can easily locate an ethical discourse within the Islamic tradition that is uncompromisingly hostile to acts of terrorism. One can also locate a discourse that is tolerant toward the other, and mindful of the dignity and worth of all human beings. But one must also come to terms with the fact that supremacist puritanism in contemporary Islam is dismissive of all moral norms or ethical values, regardless of the identity of their origins or foundations. The prime and nearly singular concern is power and its symbols. Somehow, all other values are made subservient. <!-- / message -->
All of us know that a resume is a self created application for a job. It is a brief document which points out the individual's experience, education, and skills, in the hopes of securing a job interview. It is that important piece of paper that can build your career and enable you to secure the job of your choice. However, with employers receiving hundreds of resumes you must make sure that your resume hooks an employer's attention within a 5-second glance!
Writing a resume for a Pastor is quite different form the usual ones because Churches employ people on a different basis than business. So, your "standard resume" format is not going to work here! Churches are looking forward to "see you as a person and to hear your experiences with life and God" than merely looking at your qualifications or credentials. So, writing a resume to become a Pastor/associate pastor can be quite different from writing other resumes.
Of course, you need to follow the standard resume writing format and include all the necessary information such as name, qualification, experiences, contact number, date of birth, marital status, and your skills in an orderly pattern. Now, make sure that you include terms such as Personal testimony (how you came to Christ), Philosophy of Ministry (how did you understand pastorate and why did you like it) and the Doctrinal Statement as well.
You may include information about your Spiritual journey, Spiritual foundations and Personal sketch as well. It is also important to include your references because references are one more way to show your connections. Note that churches often hire connections and networks as much as individuals, so you need to list down at least 5-6 references for making a good impression.
Your experiences with life and Christ matter a lot while writing this resume. Include information about how old you were when you became interested in attending church, and whether or not it was due to your family's influence. Another important thing that you might include in your resume is why want you want to be involved with the ministry. It is also important to list your perspectives or views about the ministry. Tell the Church that how should the Pastors function? For example, apart from their normal duty what other activities can they carry out (like teaching, train other pastors for future).
A Pastor plays an important role in guiding people and bringing them close to Christ. Hence, your resume must state that you are in love with God and you want everyone to know about the message of God. This is not something that you need to be told-it is something that should come straight from your heart!
Well, above are some beneficial/helpful tips which you can use for writing a resume for a pastor. I hope that you will like the above suggestions and implement them while writing your resume!
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Confused about how to create Resume Objective . Read tens of resume objectives at http://www.resumeobjectiveexamples.net/
Writing Cocoa application with plugin support (part 1)
Spanish Speakers - differences between Preterite and Imperfect - visual ideas are needed!!?
Here is the translation for the project rubric (it was in spanish):We will work in groups of one person to create a design with visual examples written to explain the differences between preterite and imperfect.
(then you have to write sentences in pret. and imperfect. then write 2 sentences with the preterite and imperfect in the same sentence. but i think i can do that on my own)
Her example in class was: A drawing of a stoplight.
Red - Stop, done, over with (preterite)
Green - Go, continue, keep on going (imperfect)
Now I cannot use her example. I have one day to think of one, and I have absolutely no creative juices that I can use.
Please help, I need ideas and FAST! thanks everyone!!!!
Well, "preterit" kinda sounds like "precise," like it's an event that occurred at a precise time. Imperfect is kind of like someone keeping track of time (they're not perfect at it, so it's a general, unknown length of time). So you could have two different watches or something, one with a precise time, like 7:30 a.m. and one with a general time, like during the summer.
Video Direct - Quick Video Projects for the Classroom
How a U.S. Army Drill Sergeant Would Teach Writing
Teaching reading and writing in the classroom is like being a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army. As it pertains to writing, drill sergeants would do repetition, model, and show their soldiers how to make a paragraph They would do so in a manner that would command attention and they would lead by example. No one would dare stop or interrupt them in the process of teaching.
In paragraphing, drill sergeants would model how to do a paragraph, then they would meticulously inspect everyone's writing, and if it wasn't correct, they'd have them do it over and over again. Picture if you will a fully uniformed Army Sergeant pacing the room looking for correctness and noting errors immediately. Wait a minute, I think I hear Sergeant Writer now: "Atten-Hut Students, check that form, check that content, who will read theirs first? Yes, private, what did you write? Ah, very good, you started that paragraph by indenting on your first new thought! Good soldier! Now who's next?"
A U.S. Army drill sergeant would go into the topic sentence, and then the supporting details, he's have his recruits repeat aloud the steps to supporting details for the topic sentence, and everyone would give an example Then everyone would write again, get inspected, and be rewarded with verbal praise and extra medals. The Sergeant would give immediate feedback. So many teachers these days seem to forget about this step. If you grade the papers later, you don't have the student to inform of their errors, and they cannot correct them on the spot. One of my greatest strategies teachers can utilize is just plain doing a "scan-correct" or a quick happy face, etc., letting the child know his progress right there on the spot. I use this technique daily in my classroom, and I can't tell you how many smiles I've seen over the years when the light bulbs come on and the students say something like: "Oh, that's how you do it, how did I mess up on that?, that's where you put the four, oh, I get it, thank you I get it now, oh, that's easy!" and many more explicatives!
Over next few days, the drill sergeant would then go into descriptive, narrative, and expository writing Then he would expect to see examples from every recruit. He would hold each of them accountable, and he would grade them with a bold pen! He would not tolerate late papers and those who were late would be in the Kitchen on KP Duty washing dishes or washing the bathroom floors with a toothbrush. That would soon end tardiness or late papers!
I believe that teachers need to be participative motivators, like the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant, that the job must be done, and that it needs to be quality writing, not sloppy, disordered, or nonsense words. Teachers need to model the structure, command the presence, and be the U.S. Army style coaches to their students. When expectations are high, as they are in the U.S. Army, the student will arise!
About the Author
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Don Alexander, Noted Writer & Online Business Leader
Do kids in kindergarten normally have daily homework?
my 6 year old is required to read for 15 minutes every evening, write spelling words (they have a spelling test every friday - with 20 words), do daily writing, and read a 3 page list of sight words. It takes about 1 and a half hours for her to complete.
Her class does not have nap time.... they have recess 2 times a week.... they have coloring & singing activities by rotation, only 1 time a week for each.
She comes home every evening worn out & starving. I pack her a snack to eat every day, and some days she tells me she didn't have time to eat it.
It seems rather harsh to me, I was wondering if it is normal?
It really depends on the school (public or private), the state and whether it's full day or half day kindergarten. But in my eyes: this is too much.
Her kindergarten class seems way above average. I've never heard of kindergarteners having spelling tests or only being active 2 times a week. At many of the schools I've taught at, studied and looked into, I'd say about 90% of the kindergarten classrooms are still practicing letter writing and words no longer than 3-4 letters. If she is in half day kindergarten, they do not need nap time. If she's in full day, the should DEFINITELY have a nap or rest period. I know the state I live in REQUIRES it. They should also have more time to run around outside or in a gym class. Music once a week is understand able. Arts and crafts once a week is not. Reading and practicing sight words sounds about normal. It being 3 pages long and taking 90 minutes to complete is way off the charts.
This whole situation to me sounds more like a 1st-2nd grade classroom setting. A kindergarten classroom shouldn't be this structured. Free time, arts and crafts and music are JUST AS IMPORANT as reading, writing etc. 6yrs are still developing motor skills, socialization skills and expression. They can't do that in this kind of classroom setting.
I don't know where you live or anything about the school so I couldn't tell you what to do. I'd suggest signing her up for an after school art/music/sport but if she's head tired when she gets home...
Best Wishes =]
Early Education : How to Teach Kindergarten Drawing
Writing Tools For Revising A Research Paper - Write Easily !
I'll bet that the bulk of writers are in the dark as to what a paper writing & revising tool is and how one can be of great assistance to us to communicate effectively in english. Using words to effectively communicate with others can help us to realize our hopes and plans - what we want in terms of work, family, community… I'm going to share something with you that's welcome and useful to people who grow up speaking english and esl learners.
Because of the affordability and ease of modern computers, it's almost a given that we utilize any of the accepted word processing tools for all our written output. When i was looking for a method to better my english language skills, there was something that piqued my interest. Happily, you can now benefit from an advanced technological solution that will act like an english teacher and check whatever you've written for spelling, grammar, and style trouble. A huge improvement upon ordinary word processors, this system is not just able to catch your english writing errors; it can even "grade" the quality of your written english text. Just imagine creating documents that are sophisticated, correct, and interesting without having to enlist the help of a proofreader or tutor.
It is almost certain that anyone currently searching the internet for help with english grammar questions would immediately bump into this one-of-a-kind system. Struggling writers everywhere now have it easier; you can be certain that this technology will help your text to be of superior quality. Is this a tool that anyone can profit from? what types of people? Business people, artists, contractors - all professions can benefit. It seems like with today's cutting-edge tools, we can consider almost anything possible.
Will a paper writing & revising tool be able to improve the way we handle text and even the nature of our writing? This appears to be the case. The written word is surely the most important way you can communicate, thus it's important for it to be upheld at consistent and superior quality. Because this discipline seems to have no bounds, It's amazing to think about what will happen with computer program development in the next decade or so. Struggling writers can already benefit from this tool as it's there on the internet, ready and willing to help, so take the opportunity to further explore it. Here's a last tip: prior to turning in an upcoming english composition, check it out first by taking advantage of this utility.
Record Keeping is a topic which is frequently bought up at homeschooling meetings and forums, and its importance in the homeschooling curriculum can not be overlooked. Record Keeping for homeschooling is not only legally required in various States, but also provides important goals in your child's learning experience. An interest-initiated homeschooling approach means that the topic of studies is far ranging and diverse. It can become very confusing to write accurate homeschooling reports, due to the interest-initiated approach to learning being so difficult to classify and pigeon-hole.
Record keeping in homeschooling is vital not only for the sake of regulations, but is also an exciting way to record and document the learning process of the child. When most of the learning is done through play and there is no clear indication of topics that have to be covered, it becomes necessary for the parent to keep some sort of a log which records the child's progress.
The method for your record keeping can be as simple as a piece of paper and and as complex as a computer pro gramme- it is completely up to you to decide which method will be more effective. If you are participating in a support group, you most likely have set forms and requirements. However, staying on top of daily assignments and reports will make the process so much more efficient and easily achievable in the homeschooling environment.
The most popular record keeping methods used by various home schools are listed below.
Daily planner:
Lay out the plans and the assignments for the week in a teacher's planning notebook. Check each item as it is covered, and make additional notes if issues arise which might be improved on in the next semester. Maintain a separate area where any additional things can be recorded. This may include educational trips, visits and videos, homeschooling online materials etc. Any extra topics that were covered should also be recorded in this area. Make sure you make a summary at least once every quarter.
Journal:
This can be maintained by either the teacher or the student. This basically aims to keep a log of what was learned and what was done in the homeschooling sessions. No only is keeping a journal of your homeschooling a fantastic way to reminisce in the future, it is also a means to monitor the effectiveness of your teaching and your child's interpretations of the homeschooling process.
Portfolios:
This consists of a collection of diverse materials that display what the child has achieved and done during the course of his/her homeschooling study. Portfolio assessment is a very effective way to chart the child's progress. It gives structure to the otherwise loose and flexible form of schooling called homeschooling. A drawing portfolio will consist of some paintings or sketches that are considered the best in that quarter. A language portfolio may consist of essays, stories, reading-logs, spelling samples or letters. Progress in subjects such as mathematics, fine arts, history, science and social studies can all be recorded in this manner. The biggest advantage is that portfolio assessment places control in the hands of the home schooled child. Having a tangible record of what they have achieved in their homeschooling will only serve to motivate them to achieve more and more.
Conclusion
Other than the above-mentioned systems, there are also purchased record-keeping systems that lay out a great checklist and help to automate the homeschooling process. There is now an abundance of homeschooling organizers and planners available online- do use due diligence when considering homeschooling products- preferable use a recommendation where you can see how effective the product is going to be. Whichever method of record keeping you decide on for your homeschooling, it is an essential part of the homeschooling process and will be beneficial to initiate from the start. You never know, your child's future may depend on this system of record-keeping.
The Significant Effort Of Jewish Education Towards Children
Early childhood education is not all about providing the right experiences at the right stage of child's development but also a guide for preschool teachers and home-schooling parents to give preschools student the best start in life. . Preschool curriculum activities should provide a structured, fun, and natural approach to early childhood education.
The supportive families and faculty members have to work together with community to develop bright future of the students to attain maximum potential from them and develop them as lifelong learner. The environment is well maintained and helpful for students to develop high morals of the life.
The basic foundation of Hillel Jewish education system is based on torah mishamayim. The Hillel program is grounded by the three primary concepts of Torah, Avodah or Prayer and Gimilut Chassadim or Charity.
One of primary objectives is to instill a deep knowledge, understanding and ability to analyze the Torah in order to find within it practical everyday lessons. These include the pleasure of such basic concepts as pride versus humility, materialism versus spirituality, Lashon Hara versus productive speech and all of which students may identify with as conventional norms.
Hillel education system shows how the torah is an essential guide at various stages of life at regular interval of the study. From various stages of life, it supports people in their roles of child, sibling, parent, spouse, as well as school roles of student, teacher, and administrator. It is even present in the daily interactions of business world. Hillel students will learn the secular values and importance of torah in daily life.
Hebrew language has also significant part in the Hillel's experience. In addition to serving as an key tool for the study of the written and oral Torah, it also is taught for the purpose of communication with Jews in Israel and those who inhabit in diverse communities around the world. It serves as a window to contemporary Israeli culture and society, strengthening vibrant Zionistic community.
Hillel teaches an individual, the communal process of prayer, as it is described in the Code of Jewish Law. As Judaism emphasizes the need for man to communicate with G-D, Hillel teaches students to praise G-D, to ask Him for achievement of their needs and then to offer Him thanks.
This is satisfactory for every parent to imagine and to see their child who has high moral values and even confident towards life. They will also gain good self-esteem, good thinking skills, well developed senses and awareness , creativity and able to socialize, read, write and communicate ideas. Isn't it a fantastic way for overall growth of a child?
About the Author
Author is an executive with hillel-nmb.org. For more information visit: Jewish preschool
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