Okay, this is James P. Madonna of Megalife 21 and progressive discussions as seen on the web. It is Tuesday election day June 2018 the first of two very important election days for 2018 and the two most important election days before 2020 Presidential election. I am here only five minutes away from where I live Let me get out of the car Here in New Jersey we vote electronically in voting booths All right, we push buttons No levers just buttons. All right Some feel the paper ballot is better some like the technology of Electronic voting booth But I'm only like five minutes from home all right it's a relatively cool and comfortable breezy day and I will be voting for the our revolution Progressive candidate not the The two-party system candidates Definitely not the Republicans and then definitely not the Establishment demon crats. I will be voting for Progressive Lisa McCormick here for New Jersey State Senate. Okay entrance vote here Okay, it's in Spanish and Korean I believe right? All right. Here we go Okay, I'm entering the hilltop school in Lodi, New Jersey, which is in my district Of course, I'm gonna have to turn it off Except when I'm inside the booth, of course, there we go now I am entering Okay, James P. Madonna here in the voting booth The good thing is there's no questions. Thank God Korean Spanish and English Okay official primary election ballot, okay Spanish and Korean Earl of Lodi District 6 June 5th 2018 Okay, so for election day June 5th 2018 there she is Okay primary election, of course, I'm going to ignore this section Yeah, right Not not if hell froze over but I vote Okay, here we go. Here. She is The the progressive liberal. I mean the progressive candidate. Okay? There she is right there Here is the establishment demon crats Fat the ones that they're all favours to the fat cats, right? They're over here Now here Cast vote push button here we go. I'm done. Isn't that wasn't that quick? Beautiful


Good afternoon. My name is Paul Cantor, and it's a great pleasure to be speaking here. I thank Professor Hopper for inviting me. It's my first trip to the property and freedom society. It's my third trip to Turkey, the country I like very much, and it was an extra-added pleasure to be here. Now, in case any of you checked the internet and read today's Mises Daily article, I am the same Paul Cantor that writes about zombies in today's Mises Daily article. I've considered giving a speech on that because I do a lot of work on Austrian economics and popular culture, but I thought I'd be somewhat more elevated than usual today and talk about literature, especially since this is the announced topic, title of my talk. Now, I am a professor of English and some ways that pursued a conventional career as such. A lot of my writing is about Shakespeare and really doesn't have much to do with Austrian economics. But on the other hand, I have studied Austrian economics since my teenage years. I had the great privilege of attending a book of Mises' seminar in New York in 1961 to 1962, and it took a while for me to see how to put Austrian economics and literary study together, and I'm trying to give you some sense of that. Today, I'll be referring to work that appears in the book that I co-edited with Stephen Cox called Literature and the Economics of Liberty, which the Mises Institute published. I'm going to begin with really the differences between literature and economics and why there's, in fact, a gulf between them and especially it seems between literature, literary study on the one hand, and free market economics, but I'm going to move towards showing how they can work together and specifically around the idea of spontaneous order as Hayek and other Austrians have understood it, and I would say some ways the main contribution that the study of literature can make for economists is to help work towards a kind of higher order definition of spontaneous order to show that if literature is another example of spontaneous order, it can give us some more abstract or generalized sense of what constitutes a spontaneous order, but let me begin with the problem. Most people see economics and literature as very much at odds. More generally, there's a sense of the antithesis between commerce and culture. There's a prevailing idea that commerce can only corrupt culture, and this has led to a great deal of hostility on the part of authors and literary critics towards capitalism. And I'll try to explain that by beginning with a very common idea of literary order, which is the antithesis of the idea of spontaneous order. When many people conceptualize literary order, they think of an artistic perfection. They think that a great work of literature, as it's often said, forms an organic whole, and that means that every part of the work contributes to the whole, and if you remove any part of it, you would damage the whole. If you know the movie Amadeus, that's what Sardieri says of Mozart's music in that play and in that film, that is that remove one note and you've destroyed the work. And there's an analogous sense with literature that if you have a perfect poem, if you changed one word, you would change the whole poem. And this is a very powerful idea. I think it characterizes some of the greatest literature ever written, especially the great lyric poems. They are one of the great models of human perfection. When you see Shakespeare's sonnet, it's 14 glorious lines, you just feel he's chosen the exactly right word at every point. And the sense then is that a great artistic genius has created a single moment artistic perfection. It's as if the resulting poem exists outside of time. It's part of what we mean when we call great literature timeless. And this has interesting implications for economics in this sense, that the notion behind this kind of perfection is that the creator is solitary and acts in perfect autonomy and a kind of glorious isolation, that he has a total vision of the work of art and nothing must be allowed to interfere with the integrity of that vision. This is where a lot of artists and the critics that write about them develop their hostility to commercial culture. The idea is that all the commercial aspects of culture can only interfere with the great artist's perfect realization of his vision. And he must not have to make any compromises, must not have to meet his audience halfway. If in any way he takes into account his audience, he's catering to them and violating his integrity, this is why we get so many arguments for government support of the arts. That government must shield the artists from the demands of the marketplace, which would otherwise corrupt his work. The other negative effect of this attitude, and again it's a legitimate attitude and does characterize some of the greatest poetry ever written, some of the greatest works of art ever created, but still the other negative effect of it is that artists often carry around this idea of the perfect plan. And what happens is it spills over into their economic, social and political attitudes. They are used to planning out their works by themselves with no interference and they think the result is perfection, that they can design a perfect order. And lo and behold when they think about how society ought to be organized, they are often attracted to the same idea that what society needs is a perfect plan. And this explains the rather curious and annoying fact that so many artists and even great artists have been attracted to dictators. Famous example out of America would be the poet Ezra Pound and his love for Benito Mussolini. But it explains the attraction of many Latin American artists of Fidel Castro. It explains the way the Soviet regime attracted many artists in its view. It comes up in literature particularly in the genre of utopia. Many writers have created utopian visions in fiction and they have almost always been socialist utopias of one kind or another. And there's a kind of convergence between the act of writing the perfect book and the visioning of a perfect society that would be created similarly by a single organizing intellect. Orson, excuse me, H.G. Wells is a good example of this. He wrote many utopian books.  But he as an author was used to shaping his novels just the way he wanted them to be. And he shapes the novels to create a vision of society that has the similar organization, the similar sense of being designed and having a plan. In literature and the economics of liberty, I have an essay on Wells' novel The Invisible Man. Well, I noticed the curious fact that at one point Wells' narrator admits these, you'll excuse me, but he's lost sight of The Invisible Man. And he says that for several days nobody knew what this character was doing. It's a funny moment because Wells is the author and obviously he can say whatever he wants. But to me it showed something about Wells. He was a little frightened of his characters that maybe they wouldn't always obey him. Maybe they'd go off and do something on their own. And he didn't want to, as an author, he didn't want to allow freedom to his characters. They had to be part of the plan, part of the scheme, part of the authorization. And again, that's the way his mind worked when he thought about society. It's a very interesting book, The Invisible Man, because it shows that what Wells didn't want was invisible man, the underground economy, the shadow economy. He doesn't want human beings who can escape the all-seeing knowledge of the state just as he doesn't want his characters to escape his knowledge. So there is, again, there have been many authors who supported freedom and Steve Cox and I discussed them in our book. But if there's one reason for this nasty attraction of so many authors to socialism, I think it's almost an occupational hazard that they're so used to having their characters within their control that the vision of society is as if every human being should be part of the plan, part of the program. So, and for many years I operated with this understanding of literature myself. It is a very powerful pedagogical tool. If you want to understand the work of literature, you really ought to give it some credit and think it's perfectly planned and try to figure out what the plan is and try to see how each part fits into a whole. And, you know, I was as much captive of that idea of literature as the next guy. It took me a long time to think through to another conception of literature, which I'll now offer. And it began by my reflecting on the novel. When you have a 14-line sonnet, there is a plausibility to saying that every word is perfect and that if you changed one word, you would have changed the poem. In fact, that's probably not true. But one of my colleagues, E. D. Hirsch, once said to me, war and peace, if we changed one word, would it be another different novel? And, you know, that starts to sound impossible. And yet there is this literary critical dogma that, you know, changed one word in the work of art. And it's a different work. It's not perfect. It's not complete. And yet when you deal with novels, in fact, it turns out that if you check the publication history, a lot of novels, some editor changed one word or changed two words or took out a whole chapter. The author didn't even notice it. And again, that's not surprising if you think, you know, did Tolstoy remember every word he'd written. And in some ways that sounds like a trivial point, just a matter of the length of novels. But then I began to look more carefully, particularly at the 19th century novel and its mode of publication, which as some of you may know was called serial publication. That is, many of the great novels of the 19th century were published over time in installments, sometimes in issues, successive issues of magazines, sometimes in separate parts. They were often published on a two-week schedule or a one-month schedule, typically with Dickens, for example, three chapters at a time, roughly. A Dickens novel, one serialized, would take between a year and a year and a half to be completed. If you go, for example, to the Dickens house at London, they have collections and you can see how these novels originally came out. Now that method of production, which by the way was very much a commercial enterprise, resulted in the novels taking a different form than we would normally think of as the perfect 14-line poem. That is, we do, in Dickens' case and other cases, know that these novelists did plan the works in advance. In Dickens' case, we have his notes and we can see where he thought he was headed. But by that very fact, we also know that he changed his plans always in the course of writing the novel. We can see he's saying, one character is going to do this and turns out the character doesn't do that. And as a result, these novels are a bit messy by comparison with perfect brief poems. Sometimes, quite frankly, the authors end up contradicting themselves. They forget that one of the characters was married and chapters later he turns out he's a bachelor. Or they forget which political party a character was in. They forget the financial details they put in. And so many of these 19th century novels do not have that kind of perfection that is often so valued in literature. There are contradictions, there's forms of sloppiness. And some of this is carelessness and you could legitimately say it diminishes the aesthetic value of the novel. On the other hand, in many cases what we're looking at is a process in which in fact the author is improving the novel as it goes along. And what's particularly interesting in the case of serial publication is that what resulted was a process of feedback from the audience. That is that the novelists were able to monitor the periodic sales, bi-weekly or monthly sales and they were not immune to looking at what was selling or what wasn't selling. And what we find, what we study, the histories of individual novels is that some of these novelists would change their plans. The most extreme example is again with Dickens. I take Dickens because he was the most commercially successful novelist of the 19th century England but also acknowledged generally to be artistically the greatest novelist so he's a real test case. He started something called Master Humphrey's Clock which was supposed to be a new magazine and a kind of miscellaneous collection of stories and news items and suddenly he had this story about a character named Little Nail and circulation jumped from 60,000 to 100,000 in one installment. That's a lot of installments to be selling. And lo and behold the magazine Master Humphrey's Clock transformed into a novel called The Old Curiosity Shop. And some of you may know Little Nail was one of Dickens greatest triumphs. One of his most popular books resulted. As a result Old Curiosity Shop is against a bit of a mess. Artistically certain characters change nature, go from villain to good guy just because Dickens needs it for a new purpose. Now again I would say by certain aesthetic standards you can say there are problems with the Old Curiosity Shop. On the other hand it's typical of Dickens greatest power which is his power to create characters that audiences fall in love with and that move us to this day when we read about that. Now I would understand some predictor would say well look this is what we're talking about how commerce corrupts culture. Dickens was on his way to creating this great magazine Master Humphrey's Clock and we ended up with the Old Curiosity Shop. The fact is very few people would trade the Old Curiosity Shop for Master Humphrey's Clock. Most people would say Dickens discovered something as a result of following his audience. And this is what we see throughout the 19th century in fiction in England and elsewhere that is that these novelists were in a active relationship with their public. And they learned from their public. Now part of it was anticipatory. They were always imagining how their audience might react. In that sense they were not working in this aesthetic vacuum that many people hold up as the ideal for culture. But what I'm saying is that in many ways their work improved as a result of this. So the model now is not a model of the single let's say divine creator producing the perfect work of art in a single moment of inspiration and producing a work that is outside time. Instead we have something that's very much like a market process very much like spontaneous order. We have authors who are projecting a work but then looking at feedback and changing the work as they go along to perfect it in a sense of making it better without necessarily achieving this particular form of artistic perfection that people hold up when they say that the work has to be entirely perfect. Now it happens with these serialized novels that most often they were then issued in book form and the authors had a chance to clean them up, correct errors, sometimes write new endings, sometimes tighten them up and that we can definitely see that happening. On the other hand it's quite surprising to see how often authors just said okay collect it you know I've written all the chapters just publish it as is or made very minor changes or in curious cases actually introduce new errors into the work when they put them together as whole. But the point is what results is something that's very much alive and I think benefits from the interaction between the author and his public. Now there's a scholar of the Slavic literature named Gary Saul Morrison who is particularly interested in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and their method of serial production. He claims I think rightly that they truly exploited this method of publication as a way of representing human freedom in fiction. Morrison has a wonderful book called Shadows of Time, Narrative and Freedom and I think it's the best book I've ever seen that tries to correlate narrative form with a vision of freedom. What he says about both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in different ways is that they fully committed to this serialized form by saying I'm going to write the book as I write it and I will not change anything no matter what happens. Though you know maybe I'll look at what the audience is thinking but I'm not going to go back and rewrite the earlier chapters and he points out with some of their novels that you could actually see how intervening events change the novel that Dostoevsky is writing a novel and five months after he starts he reads a newspaper story and he catches his eye and he works it into his book. Clearly that was not pre-planned. It was chronologically impossible for Dostoevsky to have written those episodes, planned to write those episodes when the star Ryan had booked these events hadn't even happened yet and Morrison makes the particular striking claim that both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy waited to see what their characters would do on their own. Now I know that sounds crazy because after all again we're talking about an author who's creating a novel and ought to be in full charge but what he points out and you can see in their comments that their characters would surprise them. You know you can see the narrative is setting up a marriage but at the last moment Dostoevsky understands well this character wouldn't marry that one so I got to change the story. Now that's the way in which Morrison sees these authors. Reflecting human freedom, Morrison makes a very strong argument that there are many novelists, he actually includes Dickens among them although I think he's wrong in that respect, but many novelists who really have an idea of fate in their stories they really present outcomes as fated or providential that two characters are meant for each other in marriage let's say at the beginning of the book. He sees again both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy is having a very different view and at one point where when Morrison comes very much in line with Austro-Economist he's convinced that contingency is a basic element of human life and he feels that the best novels embody and reflect it. That's why Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are his heroes because here are two authors who in a crazy way let their characters work it out and they don't know ahead of time what's going to happen and very much see that as a negative view of life that they don't want their characters to be predictable. So when you put this all together you see that there is a vision of possible in literature that's much closer to the Austro-Economics vision of human life where central planning doesn't work, where you can't plan out everything ahead of time and where things develop over time and improve over time in a way as I try to argue in this introductory essay in our volume. The artist, literary artist, is like an entrepreneur. His characteristic is trying to envision what the public wants in that sense he is thinking ahead but he allows his vision to be corrected. Now again there are some artists who are extremely stubborn. Anthony Trollop for example did publish his novel serially but secretly wrote them all in advance. He would wait till he finished the novel and then approach a publisher and say you want to serialize this. That way he felt he wouldn't ever betray himself. He wouldn't change it. He would write it out all in advance but most of the novelists we think of as the greatest of the 19th century participate in a process in which the public played a role, the commercial public and also in which the publishing industry played a role. I make a great deal of that in this essay that there's a tendency to view everyone but the author as a negative force in the process and I don't like editors much myself. I don't like seeing my work edited but there are many examples where editors have done a great deal to improve works and the fact that authors were participating in a publishing process. A commercial publishing process made their works better. Helped shape them up, helped keep them at a reasonable length for example. There's a historian of France named Robert Darney who's done a great deal of work on the French publishing industry actually on a Swiss publishing firm that worked for the French market and he does a wonderful job of showing the cultural role as mediators that this publisher he studies perform that it it sent out agents to booksellers all over France basically asked what do people want so what books are selling what should we be publishing and at the same time the publisher firm would go to authors and say well this is what people want you write this kind of book we will publish it. Darden found this treasure trove of something like 50,000 letters this publishing firm had kept a very good archive. He was able to study the nuts and bolts of this publishing process and what he showed is that this publishing firm provided a real service to authors and readers. It served as a kind of cultural middleman and it's not an insignificant firm I mean they were publishing major French philosophers like Diderot they became instrumental in the publishing of French encyclopedia which actually was a huge commercial venture made a lot of money for a lot of publishers so this is the way in which I've gradually had to overcome the attitudes in which I was brought up where he taught a certain contempt for culture the idea that if an artist makes any concession to his public somehow that's violating his integrity. This is what has resulted I believe in so much of modern literature and its obscurity that's deliberate obscurantism authors now pride themselves on not being understood on having outright contempt for their readership and again governments and universities and other quasi-public institutions step in to give subsidies to artists so that they don't have to worry about the commercial public and that was supposed to create a new glorious era of literature and art in the 20th century I mean again I like the great deal of modern literature and modern art but it does not work out quite the way the theories anticipated and what I've gravitated towards working on popular culture because I think a lot of the greatest art in our world is coming out of motion pictures and television because they are commercial media and some of the very same principles are at work. When I was talking about the serial novel I don't know if any of you people are fans of television soap operas but it's a famous principle in television soap operas that if ratings go down when your character appears in the story watch out you're probably gonna meet an accident in a couple of weeks and be off the show and similarly if certain characters are popular with the audience they get their roles written large and I have studied this in film and television and often the same principles at work so that's the sense then in which I think literature can teach something to economics it shows us that the realms of culture and commerce are not simply antithetical again I will grant that there are moments when they don't work together and read stories of artists frustrated by the demands of their publishers and the demands of their public but that story has been overtold and oversold I believe by literary critics and I've been trying to tell the other story where an artist actually flourishes because of getting feedback from the audience and flourishes by working in a very commercial enterprise now again the the 19th century novel was an extremely commercialized enterprise Shakespeare worked in an extremely commercial theater other examples Italian opera in the 19th century very commercial actually when you look at the history of art I would say it turns out that more great art has come out of commercial situations than have come out of the alternative certainly out of state support art I think aristocratic patronage worked pretty well in the Renaissance and I wouldn't diminish its control so anyway that's that's my point and I think we can we don't have to turn to literature or culture in general and enter an extremely strange different world for us as Austrian economists in fact if we turn that into that world we can see many of the same principles we understand from Austrian economics operating culture especially the idea of spontaneous order orders where things are not pre-planned perfectly by solitary geniuses but a world in which there's a process in which the market creates a form of cooperation between authors and readers and often publishers and editors that actually works to improve culture and literature thank you


The St. Lucia Marketing Board recently celebrated a significant milestone with the official opening ceremony of a newly constructed compost house. As part of the ongoing efforts under the enhancement of the efficiency of the production distribution supply chain of the fruit and vegetable sector project in its second term, this initiative aims to increase efficiency and build capacity within the agricultural sector. Ambassador of the Republic of China Taiwan to St. Lucia, His Excellency Peter Chien-Chien says the compost house stands as a symbol of innovation and sustainability, providing farmers with essential resources to enhance productivity while promoting environmentally friendly practices. This compost house will be used for St. Lucia Marketing Board to turn wasted fruit and vegetable into fertilizer that can be used to produce agricultural products. It can also be a training facility used to pass down knowledge and skills to other farmers. By utilizing wasted matter to produce fertilizer, we are not only reducing the burden of our landfills but also creating a sustainable solution to enrich our soils and promote agricultural productivity. One of the key highlights of the ceremony was the announcement of subsidized inputs for farmers which will play a crucial role in reducing the overall cost of production. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Honourable Alfred Prospects, explains that the establishment of the compost house underscores the commitment of the St. Lucia Marketing Board to support local farmers. With access to subsidized inputs, farmers can expect reduced production costs, ultimately enhancing their profitability and contributing to the growth of the agricultural sector. By harnessing the power of composting, we not only reduce the environmental impact of organic waste but also create a valuable resource that can be utilized to enhance soil fertility and crop productivity. This in turn holds the potential to revolutionize farming practices and improve the livelihoods of our farmers who take advantage of this opportunity. This compost house will play a pivotal role in providing a perfect model which can be scaled on or up for use on individual farm holdings where transforming organic waste into nutrient rich compost results in a valuable resource for our farmers. Signifying a step forward in achieving the objectives of the project, the Agriculture Ministry anticipates continued collaboration and investment in initiatives that drive efficiency and sustainability across the agricultural supply chain, ensuring a prosperous future for farmers and the wider community. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.


Top area from a CPR perspective. I'm talking about a really nice set up And this is this is the reason why that CPR can be used on any and every time frame right up because Traders trade daily time frames, right? So let's literally look at why I'm very keen on this From a CPR perspective All right, so lovely Look at that you would have had traders looking at getting involved in this trade on That pinball perfect pinball, right level has been touched once twice three times So it's just Really doesn't get really more perfect than this from a set up perspective now again I have no idea whether Price is gonna react from here, but from a set up perspective This is you know as perfect as it gets because everybody who trades, you know daily time frame everyone can see This pinball right here and then all of a sudden you just get this massive Move up so it not only does a stop stop hunt people if they're using stop loss stop losses It continues going higher, right? Continues going higher. So this is like once they've committed capital here This is the pain phase and it hasn't let them off the hook It really hasn't it off the hook until Pretty much now and where we are Right, so this was the height of pain if they're still in that and then you've got relief So relief is coming around here because they would have put their stop losses above there So they're trying to get out for their original trade. Yeah, their original stop loss Which would have been somewhere around here now if they're getting out for first The original loss then and they sell here, then they have to do what here buy Yeah, so that adds to the demand equation You've also got new traders who are looking at this level. This is the reason why I should like this Resistance zone, I guess resistance should turn to what support buying Yeah, because new traders are getting involved. This is a very obvious level new traders are getting involved here And then you've got traders who sold here and if they're looking to take profit where they're going to take profit At a problem area where it may reverse because it bounced off of here bounced off of here For example bounced off there and it's just a technical pattern So there's going to be new traders looking at taking profit around here if you sold here You've got a buyer to exit so you've got loads and loads of you know demand Coming in here from a technical analysis perspective So when we're looking at from a CPR zone perspective Rather than a daily demand zone perspective in fact this whole area, I would say that whole area there is actually Demand, yeah, there's got to be demand coming in from the top of this Resistance zone and I guess that turn it into support But everything just below that that whole area is demand and that's it's slight differences between, you know Obviously the CPR zone and and the daily demand zone, but this just happens to be on a daily But if I was trading this that's how I would look here. That's an area that one two five You know up down to maybe the round number, you know just before that round number is a really really nice area to look for buy trades You're right also last week. We went over the The reasons why this zone Should likely have more demand there from a technical analysis perspective and understanding all the market participants Then really a supply and you can see that you know, it worked out Of course, we do our fundamental analysis. Why do we want to be a buyer of the euro? Why do we want to be a seller of the yen? Why is the euro a bargain here? But technically from last week's, you know in-depth video the members video You know, we pretty much just broke down exactly why and it might seem obvious for example Well, that's just a level of you know resistance resistance resistance Resistance should turn to support that's a no-brainer But what you need to understand is that not is that not all Support and resistance zones are the same Yeah, and what you want to do is you want to understand why? That support and resistance zone is likely to you know reverse. Yeah, so what we do is we understand all possible market participants Why there's more likely to be demand more demand orders here. Yeah, then suppliers We know as previously explained you've got traders that were caught in their positions here. Yeah pain Up here and then relief and if they went short Here then they have to do what to exit. Yeah, but the buyer to exit Why would a trader stay in their trade because of loss aversion bias loss aversion biases pain feels worst in games feel good traders who don't trade with stop losses tend to move and remove their stop losses and They want to try and get out for their original loss break even how many of us have done that in the past or Continuing to do it still now for example And then you've got new traders entering positions here, right based off of just basically support and resistance very basic Not really understanding why they're getting involved as far as it's only just an accurate level of support and resistance But they would buy here as well Which adds to the the buy equation and you've got traders who went short here and taking profit And if they went short here, then they have to do what to exit they have to buy So this is all demand orders buying is demand orders But if you don't understand that on the levels that you know with we do at trading 180 Then you're not going to be able to distinguish between You know the best support and resistance and supply and demand zone areas So I hope that video helps and you can see pretty much from that absolute low when we were calling this Depending on the entry prices went up at least about 131 pips Within that trade if you managed to get involved at the lows. So yeah, very nice trade and Potentially could still continue to go a lot higher if the yen continues to weaken In a risk with risk on sentiment So decent for the trade, but there was definitely Intra-day, you know examples of being able to get involved in and around these areas here or this area here for a long trade All right guys take care until the next video. Speak to you soon


a very good evening aspirants we are happy to bring to your attention that Shankara IS Academy is launching two initiatives for the benefit of aspirants in the mains exam preparation. You all are aware about the mains booster 2023 under which you will be provided 40 mains oriented tests in 90 days. The booster is a quick plan drafted for you to boost your main score. It starts on October 31st and will include sectional tests, half papers and civil service examination emulators. It is available in both online and offline modes for just 4500 rupees. On top of that we are launching a new initiative called SA Augmentar 2023. Under this initiative you will be provided with four tests to enhance your essays. It is also available in both online and offline modes. You will get a different approach towards essay rating along with pre-SA and post-SA discussions. To further enhance the content of essays you will be provided with a summarized essay material combined with mentorship. All these for just 6000 rupees. Grab this chance to kickstart your mains exam preparation and improve the mains score. With this note now let's get into the Hindu news analysis for the date 21st of October 2022. Displayed here are the stuff articles that we are going to discuss today. You can go through it. Without much delay let's get into the discussion. Take a look at this news article. It reports that competition commission of India has levied a penalty of rupees 1338 crore against Google. For better understanding of the issue let me explain the background. See the operating system android is owned by Google. Majority of our phones has android as its operating system. Google as the owner of android system made sure the mandatory pre-installation of entire Google mobile suit on the mobile phones operating on android OS. The competition commission of India taking cognizance of the issue and it has concluded that the prominent placement of Google apps in the android ecosystem amounted to the imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let's learn about the competition commission of India. See the competition commission of India is a statutory body under the ministry of corporate affairs. Know that the commission was established in October 2003 by the provisions of competition act 2002. Here note that the act follows the philosophy of modern competition laws and it prohibits anti-competitive agreements abuse of dominant position by enterprises which causes an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India. To appreciate the role played by the competition commission of India first we have to understand the significance of competition in an aspiring economy like India. See competition is the best means of ensuring that the common man or Aam Admi has access to the broadest range of goods and services at the most competitive prices. With increased competition producers will have maximum incentive to innovate and specialize. This would result in reduced costs and wider choice to customers. A fair competition in market is essential to achieve this objective. So competition commission of India functions with clear mandate of creating and sustaining fair competition in the economy that will provide a level playing field to the producers which will ultimately result in market working for the welfare of the consumers. Here note that competition commission of India aims to establish a robust competitive environment through proactive engagement with all stakeholders including consumers, industry, government and international jurisdictions. Competition commission of India also tries to be a knowledge intensive organization with high competence level ensuring professionalism, transparency, resolve and wisdom in enforcement. An important fact to note here is that Monopoly's Unrestricted Trade Practices Act 1969 was repealed and replaced by the competition act 2002 on the recommendations of Raghavan committee. Now moving on to see the composition of a commission it consists of a chairperson and six other members appointed by the central government on talking about their qualifications the chairperson and every other member should be a person of ability, integrity, special knowledge and professional experience of not less than 15 years in areas like international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance, accountancy, management, industry, public affairs or competition matters including competition law and policy. Note that both chairperson and other members will be appointed by the central government based on the recommendations of a selected committee headed by the Chief Justice of India or his nominee. The other members of the selection committee include the secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs and the secretary in the ministry of law and justice. Here note that the members of the selection committee include the secretaries of respective ministries and not the ministers. Apart from them two experts possessing special knowledge and professional experience are also a part of the committee. Also know that the chairperson and every other member of the team hold office for a team of five years provided they have not attained the age of 65 and they are eligible for reappointment in case of a vacancy caused by the resignation or removal of the chairperson or any other member then the position shall be filled by fresh appointment based on the committee recommendations and in case of vacancy in the chairperson's office the senior most members shall act as the chairperson until the new person is chosen. So this is all with respect to the competition commission of India through this discussion we learned about competition commission of India its mandate and all about the importance of competition in an economy. With these learned points now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Let's take up this editorial article this editorial article while touching upon the recent report of the official language committee talks about the issues with the report. The article also gives us some important points highlighting the merits of the use of English along with the Hindi as the official language of our country. So this is the crux of the news article so in this context in our today's discussion we will focus on the eighth schedule official language committee the recent report of the official language committee issues with the recommendations and finally some solutions to address the issue before that the syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here for your reference kindly go through it. First let's take the eighth schedule see the eighth schedule is mentioned in article 344 1 and article 355 of the constitution the article 344 1 provides for the constitution of a commission by the president on expiration of five years from the commencement of the constitution and thereafter every 10 years this commission will have a chairman and such other members representing the different language specified in the eighth schedule but here what are the different languages mentioned in the eighth schedule see currently there are 22 languages mentioned in the eighth schedule I have listed the 22 languages here you can go through it see initially there were only 14 languages mentioned in the eighth schedule later some languages were added to the schedule through subsequent constitutional amendments the latest being 92nd amendment act of 2003 which added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santali to the list an additional point that you have to note here is that there is no fixed criteria for any language to be considered for inclusion in the eighth schedule now coming to article 351 article 351 gives the directive for the spread of Hindi language in article 351 it is mentioned that steps must be taken to assimilate other languages mentioned in the eighth schedule into the Hindi language without interfering with the core of the Hindi language this is about the eighth schedule now before looking at the official language committee that published the report that is mentioned in the editorial there is an official language commission mentioned in the constitution first let's see about the official language commission see part 17 of the constitution that includes article 3432 article 351 deals with the official language as I already mentioned article 344 deals with the official language commission so now let's see the functions of the commission firstly it is the duty of the commission to make recommendations to the president regarding the progressive use of Hindi language for the official purposes of the union secondly the commission also makes recommendations to the president for the restriction of use of English language in the official business of the union thirdly the commission recommends to the president regarding what language shall be used in the supreme court high court and in acts and bills fourthly the commission also makes recommendations about the form of numerals to be used in the official business of the union finally the commission also deals with other matters referred by the president as regards the official language of the union and the language of communication between the union and the states these are the functions or duties of the official language commission one another thing you have to note here is that article 3443 mentions that the commission while making recommendations must give due regard to the interest of people belonging to the non-hindi states mainly regarding public services so this is important point so note this down so this is about the official language commission and article 344 now moving on to see official language committee while the formation of an official language commission is mentioned in the constitution the official language committee is mentioned in section four of the official language act 1963 but why was the official language act passed article 343 of the constitution mentions that the official language of the union shall be hindi in devanagari script and article 3432 allows for the use of English along with hindi as the official language of the union for 15 years from commencement of constitution here article 343 mentions that after the end of 15 year period the parliament may be law provides for the extension of use of hindi language when the 15 year period mentioned in article 3432 was about to end the non-hindi speaking states mainly the southern states were worried so to alleviate the fears of non-hindi speaking states the parliament using the provisions of article 343 three enacted the official language act 1963 here the section three of the official language act allowed for the continued use of English for the official purpose of the union the act came into force on 26 January 1965 now coming to section four of the official language act see the section four says that 10 years after official language act comes into effect a committee on official language shall be formed this committee is formed by the resolution of the parliament the committee on official language or the official language committee is a 30 member body 20 members are from lokshaba and 10 members are from rajasabha they are elected by the members of each house the main duty of this committee is to review the progress made in the use of hindi for the official purpose of the union here note the difference the official language commission mentioned in the constitution make recommendation for the progress use of hindi as the official language but the official language committee reviews the progress made in the use of hindi for the official purposes of the union so kindly note the difference once the official language committee submits the report of the president the president submits the report in both houses of parliament and then send it to all the states the president after going through the report and taking into consideration the views expressed by the states issues direction and accordance with the whole or any part of that report so basically it is mandatory for the president to act upon the report of the official language committee so this is all about official language committee mentioned in section four of the official language act 1963 now moving on let's look at the important recommendations mentioned in the 11th volume of the report of official language committee the report says that hindi should replace english as the language of examinations for recruitment to the government this is the first major recommendation then it goes on to say that hindi should be the only medium of instruction in kndhri Vidyalaya's indian institute of technologies indian institutes of management and central universities finally the report says that it should be constitutionally binding on state governments to propagate hindi having seen the major recommendations now let's see the issues with the recommendations firstly if hindi replaced english as the sole language for the recruitment of all day services then candidates from the non-hindi states the southern states in particular will face a great disadvantage when compared to those people whose mother tongue is hindi this recommendation will give unfair advantage to the people who have hindi as their mother tongue in all day services and gradually eliminate the intake of people who do not speak hindi so this is the first issue the second issue is regarding the legality of recommendation nowhere in the official language act 1963 this mentioned that the official language committee has powers to recommend the medium of instruction in universities and professional institutions the only power the committee possess is to review the progress made in the use of hindi for the official purpose of the union and report to the president so this is the second issue thirdly language is a complex issue in the 1960s there was a huge uproar in the southern states when the center tried to make hindi as a sole official language the official language act 1963 was enacted to give confidence to the people of the south for the continued use of english along with hindi and we already saw about article 3443 right which mentioned that due regard must be given for the interest of people of non-hindi speaking states in public service see the recommendations made by the official language committee are against both official language act and article 3443 see if due respect is not given to the people who speak different languages then complex problems will emerge see one of the main reasons for the breakup of bangladesh from pakistan was due to the imposition of urudu on the bangladeshis who mainly preferred bangali so the recommendations made by the committee might open up old wounds for the people of the south so basically giving importance to one language or another language will affect the unity of our country so this is the third major issue finally the recommendations ignores the role played by english see hindi is an arian language and all the southern languages are devidean in origin so english in our country act as a link between north and the south in the constitut assembly maulana asad said the union of north and south has been made possible only through the medium of english note the point here so the role played by english must be appreciated in addition to this english is also a global language through english we indians are able to connect with the world one of the major reasons for the boom in the it service in india is due to our familiarity with english so these are all some of the issues with the recommendation see all major changes must come from the grassroots our government instead of imposing hindi must allow people to make their own decision even without government intervention people down south will learn hindi in the next few decades this is mainly due to the free movement of labour when a person from tamiladu moves to delhi for work he will eventually pick up hindi likewise when a person from up when he moves to tamiladu will help his co-worker pick up hindi so if the government just encourages free movement of people the dispersion of hindi in india will be a natural process in the meantime the government must take steps to translate the knowledge in modern science medicine and technology into the indian language this will help india in the long term finally instead of imposing one nation own language india can take example from canada which has two official languages which are french and english so that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about eight schedule of the indian constitution and then the official language commission and the official language committee and the recent recommendations of the official language committee and the issues and finally the possible solutions with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion see this article here it says that tamiladu government has increased the spot fines for traffic violations this is done in line with the amendments made by the central government in the motor vehicles act of 1988 in 2019 which enhanced the fine amount for traffic violations so this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us understand about the motor vehicles amendment 2019 first of all let's see why such amendment was needed see with every step towards increased urbanization it is evident that the traffic on roads has increased nowadays each household in almost every city or town has at least one motor vehicle with this increasing traffic on roads the probability of accident also increases and what do you think is the reason for such high number of accidents see the reasons are many negligent and rash driving dishonoring the traffic rules unavailability of an efficient enforcement mechanism inefficient traffic police force etc they are all the reasons why such accidents are happening so the motor vehicles act was amended recently to address this only know that this act majorly aims at ensuring road safety compensation for the victims of accidents third-party insurance and the health of the vehicles now coming to the basis of the act see the motor vehicles amendment act 2019 came into effect on 1st September 2019 this amendment act made the rules more stringent for offenders and more importantly this amendment has made it difficult for those in the habit of breaking traffic rules now let's see some of the major amendments made in the motor vehicle act one by one first is compulsory insurance the act requires the central government to constitute a motor vehicle accident fund this is to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India and this fund is utilized for several reasons such as treatment of persons injured in road accidents as per the golden horse scheme then compensation to representatives of a person who died in a hit-and-run accident then compensation to a person grievously hurt in a hit-and-run accident and compensation to any other persons as prescribed by the central government and the next provision is national transportation policy it says that the central government may develop a national transportation policy in consultation with state governments the policy will establish a planning framework for road transport then develop a framework for grant of permits and specify priorities for the transport system and the next provision is the road safety board the act provides for a national road safety board to be created by central government through a notification the board will advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management they include standards of motor vehicles registration and licensing of vehicles standards for road safety and promotion of new vehicle technology and the next one is the definition of Samaritan see the act defines a good Samaritan as a person who renders emergency medical or non-medical assistance to a victim at the scene of an accident this assistant must have been in good faith voluntary and without the expectation of any reward such a person will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim caused due to their negligence in providing assistance to the victim see this provision encourages people to take actions when needed and finally the act says that the central government will develop a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during golden hard that defines golden hard as the time period of up to one hard following a traumatic injury during which the likelihood of preventing death through prompt medical care is the highest so these are all some of the important provisions regarding motor vehicles amendment act 2019 that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about the background of our such amendment act then some of the important provisions of the act with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article talks about the month long program organized by the union government to strengthen and rekindle the cultural and civilizational bond between Tamil Nadu and Varanasi union education minister has said that the program will be held as a part of the egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative and is aimed at rekindling the civilization link between Tamil Nadu and Varanasi this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us learn about egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative in detail see India is a diverse country with diversities in its geography religion culture and race although the problem diversities there is an element of interconnectedness between the citizens of India which has been reflected in the cultural traditions of our society to foster and to further develop this interconnectedness egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat scheme was launched in 31st October 2015 on the occasion of 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel see this was done to commemorate Sardar Patel for making sure India remained as a single nation during the difficult times of post independence period here the ministry of education has been designed as the nodal ministry for coordination of the program the states and union territories performs activities in cohesion with the spirit of unity in diversity and showcase the activities which are reflected on the official website of egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat the activities are also publicized through different social media platforms online publicity print coverage digital media television and radio programs see the activities are performed to highlight special features of the pad state and to celebrate diversity of the cultural spectrum of our country all states and union territories will be covered under the program there will be pairing of states or union territories at national level and these pairings will be in effect for one year or till the next round of pairings the state or union territory level pairings would be utilized for state level activities and there will be also district level pairings that would be independent of the state level pairings the activity will be very useful to link various states and districts in annual programs that will connect people through exchanges in areas of culture tourism language education trade etc and here the citizens will be able to experience the cultural diversity of a much larger number of states or union territories while realizing that India is one now we will see the objectives of the egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative the foremost objective is to celebrate the unity and diversity of our nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our country then to promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all states and union territories through a year long planned engagement between states then to showcase the rich heritage and culture customs and traditions of either state for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India thus fostering a sense of common identity then to establish long-term engagements and finally to create an environment which promotes learning between states by sharing best practices and experiences so that's all regarding egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative in this discussion we learned about the objective and importance of egg Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion that is to discuss preliminary practice questions let's take up this first question which of the following organizations are statutory bodies first one competition commission of india second one nithya yog third finance commission fourth central bureau of investigation fifth central vigilance commission here from our discussion itself we know that competition commission of india is a statutory body now coming to nithya yog it is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body in 2014 it was announced by the prime minister and was created through an executive resolution so it is not the statutory body now coming to the finance commission it is a constitutional body established according to the article 280 of the indian constitution and it is not a statutory body now coming to the cba here cba is a non-statutory body and it was established by the resolution of home ministry in 1963 so it is not a statutory body then comes central vigilance commission here it is a statutory body unlike cba here note that both cba and central vigilance commission were established by the recommendations of santhanam committee on prevention of corruption in our discussion we discussed competitive commission of india was established by a special committee recommendation could you remember comment the name of the committee in the comment section so here the question asks for correct statement here competition commission of india and central vigilance commission alone are statutory bodies so the correct answer for the question is option a one and five only now moving on to the second question with reference to ek barath shrestha barath initiative consider the following statements first statement the nodal ministry for ek barath shrestha barath is the ministry of education second statement one of the objectives of this initiative is to promote the spirit of national integration coming to the statement one yes the statement is correct a nodal ministry for ek barath shrestha barath initiative is the ministry for education then the second statement from a discussion itself we can find the statement is correct apart from this statement there are also four other objectives which you have discussed in today's analysis kindly go through it here the questions asks for incorrect statement so the answer for the question is option d neither one nor two displayed here is the main question for you today go through the question write your answer and post it in the comment section with this we come to the end of the video if you like our analysis please like comment and share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe to shankara is academy youtube channel thank you


What is happening with the job market at the moment? So yes, the Dubai market has definitely picked up. If I'm starting to look for a job in Dubai, what are your recommendations? What should I start with? Hey guys, welcome to OxyVlogs. On this channel, I talk about life, work and business in Dubai. And today I have a guest, Trisha Chapman. She is a career consultant. And we're going to talk about the job market in Dubai after COVID-19. So Trisha, can you tell us what is happening with the job market at the moment? Has it returned back to normal or not yet? Absolutely well. First of all, thank you so much for having me back. It's an absolute pleasure to be here. I'd love to be able to help you all, especially your audience. It's fantastic that people are aspiring to come to Dubai. So definitely the market has picked up. It might not be at the same level as what it was pre-COVID, but definitely there are things on the horizon that are showing an improvement. So there's lots of new opportunities across a number of sectors. And I'm sure we'll come to it, but the matter is just trying to get here, to be able to get the job. So yes, the Dubai market has definitely picked up, maybe even just under where we were pre-COVID. And what do you think? Is it easy to get a job from abroad if you live in another country? Yeah, it's a good question. Unfortunately, a lot of companies are not hiring unless the job seeker or the candidate is in the country. You know, they might be taking on a couple of interviews, but to be able to be signed in contracts, you really need to be located here. You know, the talent pool is quite big within the UAE. So definitely recruiters are selecting or trying to negotiate and work with people who are already based in the UAE. And what do you think? Does it make sense to apply for a tourist visa and come to Dubai and start looking for a job or it's touristy? Yeah, first of all, maybe we could take a step back because there's quite a lot of countries that at the moment at the time of this recording, and of course things change on a daily, weekly basis, there's a lot of countries that have got bans on flights. So for example, the likes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, you know, South Africa at the moment, people are not even able to fly here. So then if they're applying for jobs, you know, it makes it very difficult to become accepted when you don't even know when you can get to the country.  Guys, before we continue, I want to say that if you've been looking for a job in Dubai, but you have no success, you feel frustrated, Trisha can help you with your job search journey. So Trisha, please, can you tell us what services you provide and how you can help? With my pleasure. I would absolutely love to be able to help you in unlocking your potential. I'll be able to assist with all of the necessary tools for a successful job application. So what does that mean? A CV, an ATS compliant resume, of course, LinkedIn optimization, cover letters, personal branding and showcasing how you can unlock your potential. And the most important question, do you help to conduct with recruiters? Absolutely. So in all of my packages, you receive a list of all of the UAE recruiters here, as well as a list of available jobs. But are there any updates on employment visa in Dubai at the moment? So in terms of employment visas, it's the same. So if you're already here, you'll be able to swap your tourist visa to your employment visa. Your employer will be able to help you with the PRO, but you wouldn't be able to do that if you're outside of the country. Can you recommend any companies that are hiring at the moment or what jobs are in demand? Yeah, definitely. So to be honest with you, there's been a big influx in terms of financial managers, business analysts or finance analysts, digital marketing. Again, I know that I mentioned this on the last little chat we had a few months ago, but healthcare is really big drive for nurses and the likes. Obviously, we're still suffering a little bit from the pandemic. So it's a big drive in terms of healthcare, but definitely the finance industry is a sector to target and big data. So yeah, I think also fintech, that's up and coming. You know, a lot of emerging cryptocurrency world, this is really taking off in this region. It's sort of the hub for innovation here. So that would be definitely, you know, my recommendations to focus on or upskill yourself. You know, if it's something that you're not quite 100% familiar with, but you still want to get into the industry, have a look at some courses to be able to upskill yourself to get into that industry. And if I'm starting to look for a job in Dubai, what are your recommendations? What should I start with? Well, your network is your net worth. So what I mean by that is if you don't know someone, that would be able to try to get you in the door or put in a recommendation for you. It can be a little bit tricky to get some traction going because there's so many applicants here. I mean, you can imagine. And I'm sure you would have seen, like sometimes on LinkedIn, for example, you've got 500 applicants for the one position. So if you can get an internal referral in, you know, whether it's you're reaching out to the marketing manager, to the business development manager or HR to try and put your name or your application forward through the internal processes, you'll have a better chance than just being selected from the one out of 500 applicants. So your network, make sure that you've got an ATS-compliant resume, which I think we touched on before. And of course, making sure that you are applying to the positions that are relevant. So even I, myself, have been recruiting a little bit of late and I'm getting, you know, civil engineers for a position of a finance role. And then you tell 100 series that they're not relevant. Exactly. And then it diminishes the job seekers, mindset and confidence and, you know, you're not hearing back and because you're not applying for a relevant position. Yeah, that's true. And can you recommend any recruitment agencies? Definitely. I want to maybe give myself a little bit of a plug here if you allow me because I've got a UAE job seeker package. And of course, any services on a one-to-one basis, you would receive a list of the 56 recruiters that I've got in one document, all in one list. Oh, that's amazing. So instead of like having to search individually, any of the packages working with me, you would be able to have this list. And it also includes Saudi Arabia recruiters. What are the major portals that people can apply through and find a job? Yeah. Okay, first of all, it's really important that you do your homework guys because there's a lot of scams out there. I'll just go back to another example. I was recruiting for a role and someone has screenshotted that application that I have hosted and then posted that through themselves on Indeed. We double the salary. So obviously, you know, it's really, you need to be really careful do your homework, make sure that you, the job that you're applying for is legitimate. And how you can do that is go through the most common portal. So LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Indeed, Bayet and Nakiri Gulf. These are probably the top five, you know, most common ones. And top of this, there's a platform that's newly launched. It's called I Want to Work. They've got multiple different jobs, plus the locations of where they all are. But I definitely recommend that you do your homework and make sure that that job is legitimate before you go and apply because otherwise, it's just a lead generator. Vaccination is a hot topic at the moment, especially in the UE because I think more than 80% of people has got a vaccine here. So people who are traveling to Dubai and want to move here, they're very concerned about this topic. What do you think, like the company they require to do vaccinated in the UE or not yet? Yeah, it's a good question. It can maybe be sensitive for some because there's obviously still data that's still quite emerging. So at the moment, you know, and again, at the time of the recording because obviously things happen quite quickly here in Dubai. So Abu Dhabi, for example, you know, a separate Emirates, you have to be vaccinated to be able to enter the malls and the shopping centres or complexes and public areas or be presenting a negative PCR test within your 48-hour period. In terms of employment, some companies are mandating it or either it's mandated to have or you have to test, you know, quite frequently. Specific to Dubai, you know, being the other Emirate, it's not currently mandated to be able to enter malls or public spaces. But who knows? I mean, this could come. Change. Yeah, could change. And at the end of the day, you know, everyone's choice, if you're willing, if you would like to take it, take the vaccine, it's readily available here in Dubai. And on the other hand, you know, it's really easy to go and get a COVID test as well, a PCR test. So I think it's a great environment.  Do you know if it's required to get the vaccine if you work in a healthcare sector? Every employer is different.  Again, every institute has got their own policies. So I probably won't comment, you know, for specific... So there is no law that it's mandatory in specific sectors? Yeah, not at the moment. Not at the moment. Again, they would be highly encouraging you to, or you have to test really frequently. Okay, guys, that was a quick update about the post-COVID situation in Dubai. If you're looking for a drop here, but you feel frustrated, you don't hear back from recruiters, Trisha can help you to get a dream job. So there is a link in the description under this video where you can find more information about her services. And also all my subscribers get a special discount. So check it out and we will see you in the next episode.


Amidst the clashing of steel and an island plagued by war, Ghost of Shishima provides us some reprieve in the form of meditation and poetry composition. The haiku, a popular poetic format hailing from Japan, serves as the template, and we have to choose from a variety of inspirations in our immediate environment to lend poignance to our contemplative reverie. It's a moment of serenity to juxtapose the madness, allowing our protagonist Jin Sakai to reflect on what has passed and what is to come. Haikus have a defined compositional structure, usually in a 575 pattern, and illustrate the beauty of form and constraint in poetry composition. It is also soothing and induces consternation, and like most poems, its meaning is elusive and bound to its form, inviting analytical thought, but also enabling escapism. Poetry is hardly the only medium Ghost of Shishima borrows from. The game, plain clear, managed to samurai films in a Kirokura Sawa in particular. Everything from the lighting to the camera movement to the dynamic weather system have a cinematic cadence to it, framing this tale of rebellion and honor with a different kind of poetic flair. The story itself borrows from heroic fiction and Japanese lore, following Jin Sakai as he tries to thwart the Mongol forces from the island of Shishima. The central dilemma, of course, is whether he is justified in renouncing the honor of the samurai code, a path that will surely lead to his demise, and to instead become a ghost, hunting his enemies from the shadows. Ghost of Shishima expertly weaves many other art forms together, cinema and poetry and story at an aesthetic weight we recognize as sophisticated, but what of video games? Interactivity alters the way we interface with other mediums, but what are the aesthetics of the video game? What is the poetry of play? Will it exist in the aesthetics of combat as we twirl between enemies like a feudal ballerina? It manifests in the joy of exploration as the divine wind guides us. It exists in challenge and improvement and escalation and encounter design, of character optimization, resource acquisition and strategic acumen. It is a pluralistic form of engagement, captured by much talked about frameworks like the aesthetics of play. But like the humble haiku illustrates, poetry is not just about the formalism of language, it is not just about rhyme schemes, consonance, alliteration and progression, but also reflection. It is about being both engaged and disengaged, immersed, but with an aesthetic distance. On the subject of love, Shakespeare wrote, It is the star to every wandering bark, whose words unknown, although his height be taken. Its syntax is beautiful, but so too is its meaning. Love is the north star to every ship, a wandering bark, and we know not what it is made of. Its words unknown, but we embrace it all the same. Its height is taken. Then we have this poem by Aram Saroyan. It is not aesthetic in syntax or semantics, but in itself awareness. What on earth is this, you might ask? How do we even pronounce it? And then you realize, the poem highlights through incongruity, the absurdity of the silent G.H. to begin with. It uses a deliberate mistake and dissonance to force us to pay attention to the medium itself, language. So poetry is both about a formalism, as well as a deconstruction of its own formalism. This is the duality of poetry. So video games also have an established formalism. We have genres and mechanics and tropes plenty. Ghost of Shashima borrows readily from many of them. It is an open-world game with combat stealth and linear narrative progression. In its open-world design, it tries to be a hybrid between Zelda, Breath of the Wild's unguided expanses, and the more structured zoning of a Ubisoft title. In its combat, it blends the deliberate rhythm of a Souls game, with the dance-like antics of Assassin's Creed. There is a formalism in games that is more subtle, though, one not just rooted in mechanics, but also experience. Take Flower. A game designed as an interactive poem exploring the tension between nature and humanity. It communicates its meaning through mechanics, the joy of weightless traversal to signify nature's freedom, but it is also in its use of spatial metaphors, symbolism, and music that it creates an interactive poem. The meaning here is enabled by the formalism, but ultimately, it is in the player's emotional experience that grants the game its poetry. Flower and its successor Journey are among many indie and avant-garde games that have championed different forms of emotion-based experiential design that, much like the poem we just saw, challenge as much of the formalism of games. In their essay titled in a decidedly non-poetic way, A Preliminary Categorization of Techniques for Composing Poetic Gameplay, the authors argue that poetic gameplay is gameplay that is deliberately made strange or defamiliarized to create a poetic effect, drawing attention to the form of the work as a way to encourage reflection. Defamiliarization is a term coined by Viktor Slavsky, which he explains as the process of undermining expectations so as to slow down perception and to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. In essence, it is about challenging preconceptions, resisting a formalism, about invoking the unfamiliar to get people to reflect on the medium itself. Another expression used by Russian formalists is to make this stone stony, or in other words, to draw attention to things more acutely to reveal their machinery to all. The authors create an extensive categorization scheme of these techniques in games, and you will notice that each of these challenges a convention of game design. For example, one device is counter-intuitive controls. The kind scene in Brother is a Tale of Two Sons, when you control both brothers with two analog sticks. It seems silly, till you realize this symbolizes conflict. It has a poetry that transcends convenience. Two of these devices are used in the game Shadow of the Colossus, slowing down the interaction loop and reframing success as failure. It rejects conventions with regards to pacing and power fantasies, and in unquestioningly listening to the designer's desires. With their interaction, time, agency, boundaries, or in gameplay, there are a bevy of games that challenge the status quo when it comes to design formalism. Much of this poetic design comes from gaming's indie and avant-garde sectors. In his book Handmade Pixels, Jesper Ewell documents the history of indie games and how they have altered our conception of aesthetics, and in his book Avant-Garde Video Games, Brian Trank does the same for avant-garde games, and further creates a categorization scheme for how subversive games can exist on both formal and political dimensions. In both instances, the creative freedom afforded by lower budgets, by artistic cross-pollination, and by people inspired to push the medium further, has transformed the medium from within. These have all seeped into more mainstream games and have enriched the medium with a poetry that pure formalism could never truly capture. And so we come back to Ghost of Shushima, which is a massive AAA game but also embraces poetic gameplay both literally and figuratively. The paradox here is that the game feels both derivative and avant-garde. It feels like a distillation of many of the elements of design that characterize this generation. From open-world design to third-person action games and cinematic gameplay, but also carries many of the conventions brought forth by the poetic underground. It invites contemplation and reverie. It blends mediums. It has a story that is not too dissimilar to Shadow of the Colossus and how it asks us to question our purpose, our moral code, our reason for play. Another interesting thing to note is how the game was made by Sucker Punch, a western studio, but has been best received by people from Japan. This is actually not uncommon in other mediums. The Spaghetti Western is a western film, directed mostly by Italians, that brings an outsider's eye to the events of a culture. As meticulous as Sucker Punch were in recreating Shishima, they also explicitly stated that the game is historical fiction. It brings an aesthetic, a poetry, an interpretation to the events of the past. In this story we can see the poetry of defamiliarization more clearly. Ghost of Shishima not only reflects the duality between formalism and subversion, but reconciles east and west not through its mechanics, but its poetics. As Jin sits contemplating his actions and the implications for his home, so too does Ghost of Shishima reveal elements of our past and perhaps the future of our medium.