Exam time...

So today is the day of the Journo exam, and I thought I'd just blog all my revision notes/key words down here this morning for a bit of extra cramming before writing it all down in the test:

1. WAS NIETZSCHE A NAZI?

- Considering the Nazi movements didn't start until 30 years after Nietzsche had died, you couldn't really say he was a Nazi, but these claimed stemmed from his ANTI-SEMITISM which was already widespread over Europe in Germany, Poland, Russia...
- But, Nietzsche did not like ANY RELIGION; he wanted people to eradicate religion from their lives to become FREE.
- His famous statement 'God is Dead' led, Christians and Jews especially, to think he was a Nazi, but he had no specific racial hatred towards the Jews.
- Nietzsche's main philosophy was EXTREME INDIVIDUALISM; promoting self reliance and independence. In his book 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' he writes about the idea of the 'superman' or 'overman' (Ubermensch)..."I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?"
- Also the tightrope walker in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', a fairly obvious metaphor of humanity in the process of transformation from the current stage of consciousness to a more advanced stage.
- Nietzsche referred to Da Vinci, Beethoven and Wagner as 'supermen'

2. WAS MEURSAULT A BAD MAN?

- Existentialism is a key theme cited in Camus' book 'L'Etranger' (The Stranger), written in 1942, however Camus claimed not to be an existentialist, as the content explores other philosophical schools of though, such as ABSURDISM, STOICISM, DETERMINISM, NIHILISM and NATURALISM.
- Existentialism is the idea that we live right now, not yesterday, but here and now, and we are unsure of the future therefore it may not even happen; it's not there.
- "Existence proceeds essence" - Jean Paul Sartre
- Existentialists say there is no purpose in life, and that it has no value because we are all going to die anyway. You could even go as far as to say that they would commit suicide, but that requires effort, and in a pointless world it wouldn't be worth taking your own life. This is referred to as an EXISTENTIAL VOID
- In the book, Meursault kills another person, and previously his mother has died, both of these actions unaffecting Meursault or his feelings, and he ends up in jail

3. TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE NEW JOURNALISM (TOM WOLFE) REFLECT CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL TRENDS SUCH AS PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE POLITICS OF THE 'ME GENERATION'?

- New Journalism was introduced as a style of news writing and journalism in the 60s/70s, and used literary techniques which were deemed unconvetional at the time
- Wolfe published a collection of journalism articles in 1973 which codified the current meaning.
- Gonzo Journalism, which branched off of the New Journalism term, is a style of journalism written subjectively, and writes news as though it is fiction. The reporter is included in the story using a first person narrative, and often uses sarcasm, humour, exaggeration and profanity.
- The use of Gonzo journalism can be truthful without striving for objectivity
- The New Journalism was seen as a move from DIEGETIC to MIMETIC (telling/seeing), and nothing is judged, but everything is 'strange' - adopted from EXISTENTIALISM
- Gonzo Journalism is now seen as the normal way of writing, for example The Beatles are the norm when speaking of pop music
- DA Pennebaker 'Don't Look Back'
- Fly on the wall documentary - New Journalism
- Psychoanalysis (The Century of the Self) became popular in this era, and was about listening to people/following them around (gonzo) and analysing them
- Reich and the 'me generation' - INDIVIDUALISM - everyone should be happy, sexual freedom, self fulfilment (Nike - Just Do It) you will become PHYSICALLY ILL if you do not have enough sex

4. WHY MIGHT JOURNALISTS FIND THE LOGICAL POSITIVIST SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY TO BE USEFUL OR APPEALING? WHAT FAULTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE APPROACH OF LOGICAL POSITIVISTS?

- Firstly, logical positivism is a theory which combines empiricism and rationalism
- Grew from a group called the 'First Vienna Circle' and rejects all theories UNLESS they are scientific ones (Moritz Schlick)
- They assert the VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE - if a statement cannot be verified then it is not true, take for example, 'God is Dead', it cannot be verified, therefore it may or may not be true, and is just not discussed by logical positivists
- Appealing to journalists as it is to do with separating COMMENT and FACT (like Journo today, you need to be able to prove what you are writing is true, otherwise it is merely COMMENT)
- FAULTS: Karl Popper introduced the FALSIFICATION THEORY which completely destroyed the verification theory, by him claiming that the theory itself could not be verified. He said that things were only true if their opposites were
- This theory destroys the works of Freud, Hegel and Marx as you cannot verify their findings

5. KEYNES HAS BEEN HAILED AS BOTH THE SAVIOUR AND DESTROYER OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. WHY?

- Keynes rejected all economic theory of the 30s such as the free market. STEINBECK claimed that unemployment was impossible in a free market system
- Today the government give unemployed people benefits, which encourages them to stay unemployed because they are essentially getting FREE MONEY. Instead, the idea is to get them working for money, even if it is digging holes and refilling them, so that they will get salary and spend their money and join this circle of economy
- "Capitalism produces nothing except destruction for themselves"
- Cut wages + remove government spending = cures unemployment
- Even if wages are cut people have to keep spending, because the company will in turn be able to keep their employers, and within time be able to employ even more people, eventually allowing wages to increase. But, if you start cutting spendings then employees are at risk of being fired as there is not enough money in the circulation to pay them.
- Hayek 'Road to Serfdom'