Suicides Among Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) Cast Members

In mid-April, Franck, a Euro Disney Chef, committed suicide. As one might be expect from a company with such a family-friendly image to uphold, the news of the suicide was quite controversial. As one blogger noted, “The image of chain-smoking, suicidal Frenchmen may not be quite the image Disney is going for at the Magic Kingdom” (Turley, 2010). Furthermore, this suicide is one of three that have already occurred this year among Euro Disney employees--two of them chefs. The other chef committed suicide by throwing “himself in front of a train after working in conditions which a trade union spokesman called ‘humiliating’ (Roussel, 2010).

Franck committed suicide on the day he was to return to work after a period of sick leave. Ten days after the suicide, a note was found in his home reading, “Je ne veux pas retourner chez Mickey” (I don't want to work for Mickey any more) (Lichfield, 2010). The note only added fuel to the controversy as many earlier voices had already pointed fingers at Euro Disney in causing the suicides.

These suicide incidents have been compared to last year's suicides among France Telecom's employees (Souchard, 2010). In 2008 and 2009, France Telecom dealt with 35 employee suicides and 14 of those are “considered directly linked with the company's managerial techniques – such as pressuring employees to change jobs or giving them work the employees considered ‘devaluing’” (Hall, 2010).

Many workers unions have taken the recent suicide as opportunities to pursue better working conditions for employees. Fortunately for Disney, all but one of the unions, Force Ouvrière (FO), agreed to cooperate on a "social audit" of the parks to assess needed improvements in working conditions. FO would not make any compromises and continue to pursue its own agenda. While passionately condemning Disney for the most recent suicide, the FO website read, “I remain convinced that the tragedy that has happened could have been avoided” (Mboe, 2010). The other unions have condemned FO for "exploiting" (Lichfield, 2010) the sensitive suicide incident.

Euro Disney believes the suicides were not direct results of employment conditions at the resort. Jeff Archambault, vice president of communications for Euro Disney  stated, “We do not accept that either of these tragic events [the suicides] can be directly linked to Disneyland, Paris. But we do recognise that, with the financial crisis, all of us are under increased stress. At home. At work” (Lichfield, 2010).

While many have pointed fingers at Euro Disney’s working conditions as the cause of the suicides, Disney has been working in accordance with French law. According to one report, Disney’s employment practices had been certified a day before one of the deaths (Frost, 2010). Just after the suicide, Euro Disney issued a press release detailing the company's long- and short-term actionable plans to pursue better psychological and physical health among its employees.  The press release also mentioned that the company would analyze current working conditions among its employees--the so-called “social audit” (Manologlou, 2010)

Many have speculated about the effects the suicides and their subsequent press coverage have had on Euro Disney. On a recent poll by About.com, 48% of respondents said the incidents weren't cause for forming negative opinions about the park. These respondents concluded that with such tragedies, specific causes are difficult to pinpoint and that “many workplaces are stressful” (Traub, 2010).

And yet, it seems that French public opinion still holds a bad taste for Disney. Consequently, many Disney employees have been led to find relationships between the poor working conditions and the suicides. One Euro Disney employees, Herve Saumade, a maintenance worker, said, “What we sell is something wonderful. We sell smiles. We sell the happiness of children. We all love our jobs, or what our jobs represent. But in the last few years, there has been a new management approach, which has, in many cases, made our working lives intolerable” (Lichfield, 2010). The FO also accused Euro Disney of a poor management structure that led to too few employees for too much work.

Employee suicides linked to poor work environments conjure many questions to be considered. First, what was the cause of the tragedies? As suicide is such a complex and individual issue, the exact causes will probably remain unknown.

In the case with the France Telecom suicides, after thousands of layoffs, remaining employees became de-motivated or depressed because their job security had decreased. These employees also had to increase their workloads in order to make up for a smaller workforce.

In a May 2010 report issued by Euro Disney, attendance dropped along with revenue while costs remained the same (Manologlou, 2010). Clearly, the current global economic crisis has affected Euro Disney. But an economic crisis will put a great deal of strain on any business. However, when these economic crises arise, how should a company like Euro Disney handle cost-cutting measures like layoffs, higher workloads, and fewer employee benefits and resources? If circumstances allow, this might be the time for a company to cash out its reserves (if it has any) and spend more in order to keep employees and continued benefits. This is not only good for operations, but also good public relations. Perhaps, Euro Disney needs to rely on the revenue of the other Disney parks during poor economic crises situated in Europe. 

This may also be an issue of cross-cultural management styles. Historically, the French have never been wholly gleeful about a Disneyland Paris. In 1992, when the park was first opened, many called it “a cultural Chernobyl” (Corliss, 1992). American Disney executives need to understand the cultural differences of the French working styles. They need to be prepared to accommodate their French employees in ways that respect their culture while still upholding Disney core values. In short, an understanding of culture needs to be reached and compromises to the current system must be made.

While two of the suicides were committed by chefs, perhaps a detailed audit needs to be taken of the food department. Is there a manager in the food department who is running his or her employees into the ground? The said manager may be younger and less experienced than some of the other staff, while the employees who committed suicide were fairly seasoned employees. Many of the unions claimed that in the last six years, a younger management has taken over in the park (Lichfield, 2010).

After the social audit, when and if Disney decides to restructure policies and organization, I would submit that better motivation factors need to be put into place for employees. Promotions need to be made to employees who have worked at the park for long periods of time.

Giving the chefs in the food department more recognition might also help to stem problems of depression and job dissatisfaction. One idea might be to allow the chefs to greet and eat with guests during meal character greetings. Another idea would be to reward chefs who perform admirably the opportunities to create new items for the menu at their respective in-park restaurants.

On a more general, park-wide level, management should allow employees the opportunities to perform more diverse roles, thus breaking up the monotony. An employee who works as a ride operator in the morning, might enjoy the experience of waiting and greeting guests at a restaurant in the evening. Maybe an employee in custodial might be given the opportunity to perform crowd control during one of the shows.

Another future plan for Euro Disney might be to instruct managers to become more mindful of their employees’ stress levels and attitudes. They should be instructed on how to read suicide warning signs among their employees and how to offer them assistance from the proper counseling services. It would also be wise for Euro Disney to hold motivational, team-building workshops. They could hire corporate behavioral trainers to offer motivational lectures and confidence building exercises.

From a public relations perspective, whether the suicides were directly caused by Euro Disney or not, the ensuing negative press can be devastating to an already financially stressed company. It would have probably been less expensive had Disney noticed the warning signs of poor working conditions and deficient management and corrected those problems.

As most companies have already realized, running a large corporation in the 20th and 21st centuries is not all about profit and loss. Providing optimal human resource settings can be a delicate task.

References
Corliss, R. (1992, April 20). Voila! Disney Invades Europe. Will the French Resist? Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,975357-1,00.html
Frost, J. (2010, April). Cast Member suicides shock Disneyland Paris family. Retrieved from http://thedisneyblog.com
Hall, B. (2010, April 10). Fresh Probe on France Telecom Suicides. The Financial Times. Retrieved from http://www.ft.com
Lichfield, J. (2010, May 6). The dark side of Disneyland Paris. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk
Manologlou, L. (2010, April 23). Euro Disney Increases Measures Aimed At Employee Well-Being In The Workplace [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/CORP/EN/Neutral/Images/uk-2010-04-23-chsct-measures-employee.pdf
Manologlou, L. (2010, May 11). Euro Disney S.C.A. - Reports 2010 First Half Results [Press Release]. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/euro-disney-sca---reports-2010-first-half-results-93379954.html
Mboe, G. (2010, April). Disneyland Paris: an Employee Commits Suicide. Retrieved from http://www.eurodif-fo.com
Roussel, C. (2010, April 2). Suicides shock France's Disney park. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk
Souchard, P. (2010, April 9). France Telecom Suicides: Authorities Probe Dozens Of Mysterious Employee Suicides. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Traub, C. (2010, April 2). Disneyland Paris Investigates Worker Suicides. Retrieved from http://goparis.about.com/b/2010/04/02/disneyland-paris-suicides-probe.htm
Turley, J. (2010, April 5). The Unhappiest Place on Earth: Paris Disney Experiences Rash of Suicides Among Complaints Over Working Conditions. Retrieved from http://jonathanturley.org

The Many Faces of Machiavelli

This is Machiavelli

He wrote a book called The Prince

In the book, he tells rulers how to maintain stability and hold power

Many rulers have followed his agenda

Now it's common to refer to the devil as 'Old Nick'

Machiavelli's first name: Niccolo

Below you'll find a vector image of Machiavelli, I created. Move the transparent images, below, over this image of Machiavelli to transform his face into another person. Can you guess the people I've turned him into?

 

Well, you probably guessed it right: Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin.

These despots all learned from Machiavelli and utilized some of his principles in their rule. Napoleon wrote extensive notes about The Prince. Hitler was affected by Mussolini, who read and followed Machiavelli's The Prince. And Stalin kept a copy of The Prince on his nightstand.

For this project, I created a framed image of Machiavelli with transferable Plexiglas sheets showing the other faces.

 

Disneyland Deconstructed: Postmodernism Revealed

Disneyland has been considered, among other things, the mind controlling, child knapping, psychotic dream world of the 20th and 21st centuries. Millions of visitors make their way to the park every year to put away adult obligations for a few days in order to re-live their childhoods. One LA Times columnist summed up his experience: “We eavesdrop as self-described mouse freaks trade esoteric tips for milking the most fun from every Mickey moment. We meet families who never vacation anywhere non-Disney. We learn of couples who get married here and ride in Cinderella's coach. With resolve that is nothing short of heroic, I fight the mind control.”

Indeed, Disneyland has created a fascinating cultural movement worth a bit of study. Rather than simply explaining this cultural movement, a deeper significance is found: Although Disneyland seems to model American idealism (an attribute at odds with postmodernism), park visitors (including the majority of American visitors) are, in effect, embracing postmodernism.


American idealism is forever branded in the American dream: The belief that with some hard work and clever thought, one can achieve his or her utopian world—a world where happiness abounds among equal opportunity, capitalism, consumerism, and industrialism. Conversely, postmodernism has no such grandiose ambitions. Postmodernism might be considered the satirical twist of the American dream. It objects to objectivity; rather than searching for answers, postmodernism makes a parody of presupposed truths and juxtaposes seemingly unrelated pieces of culture together.

And yet, how can one purport such postmodernism in Disneyland when the park is literally a microcosm of early America and the American Dream? I doubt many would debate this idea. Everything about Disneyland seems to scream “American” just as anything about McDonalds and other fast food franchises do the same. If one were only to stroll down the park’s first land, Main Street USA, one would clearly recognize signs of America as it was in the 40s, such as the quaint, Victorian street shops, the barbershop quartet, and the red fire engines. Perhaps the most American feature is the first attraction visible in the park, “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”



We also can’t forget the man who dreamed up the park, Walt Disney, who is considered one of the most American men of the 20th century. We can readily see Walt Disney’s American characteristics such as his small-town, conservative personality, and his pursuit of the American Dream. However, many other typically adverse values have been characterized with Disney: emphasis on capitalism, commercial globalization, and an unseen obsession with control. Let’s analyze these characteristics and how they influenced the creation of Disneyland.

Don’t expect any deep interpretations about Disney culture from Walt Disney himself:  “I make pictures for entertainment, and then the professors tell me what they mean.” However, many meanings can be derived in Disneyland—especially with the larger, capitalist, American culture as the context.

More than anything else, says Mark Gottdiener, Disneyland exhibits signifiers of each aspect of early American capitalism. “Frontierland can be interpreted as a reference to the stage of predatory capitalism; Adventureland, as a representation of colonialism/imperialism; Tomorrowland, as state-financed capitalism, or the military-industrial complex; New Orleans Square as a signifier for venture capital; and lastly, Main Street as the period of family and mercantile capitalism.”

Take, for example, one of the newer attractions in the park, the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. Guests can embark on a daring journey past giant snakes, into skeleton-filled rooms, and over a rickety rope bridge all inside a forbidden Indian temple. The ride is obviously Disneyesque, and yet much of what is signified is completely overlooked by guests. Its capitalistic story tells of Professor Jones using the ancient temple to offer tours in order to raise money. When Indiana Jones goes missing with a group of tourists, park guests must enter into the temple to rescue them. Turning an ancient temple into an attraction is clearly capitalistic and points to the western tendency to commercialize just about anything. The temple becomes an object of exploit, where artifacts and historical information may be extracted.

In terms of globalization, just about any child in the world can recognize the iconic mouse ears. Disneyland has effectively made copies of itself in every corner of the world and before Disneyland had penetrated far off countries, Disney movies had already snuck into homes and theaters of foreigners. Before even entering the park, visitors were already attached to the characters and stories that make up much of Disneyland’s attractions.

Perhaps, these “warm-fuzzies” instilled in childhood memories by Disney’s Animated Classics have been a major factor in garnering such an attendance to the Disney parks. The idea of theming based on cinema has been imitated by successful theme parks ever since.

Although Disney was an idealist and a modernist, he sampled postmodern tendencies—taking art from the past and mashing them with his own ideals. Gottdiener said, “We know that Disneyland over the years had a profound impact on the construction of themed environments across the country by blending common mass culture symbols and an appealing physical design.”

Walt Disney was a grand storyteller—taking fairy tales and tall tales of his youth and presenting them to millions. He was extremely successful at sterilizing his image of folk culture and turning it into pop culture. In the meantime, the company raked in profits from selling park tickets and products plastered with Disney’s version of fairy tale characters. Interestingly, Cinderella and Snow White aren’t just figures from German folklore but they now hold the modern title of “Disney characters.” David Boje said, “Walt had a universal vision of a vast empire; he saw his cartoons, characters, TV shows, and films as culminating in a theme park. The theme park was based on Walt's vision of a small midwestern town, the one he knew as a boy. Disneyland is Walt's archetype of an ideal American town.”

America’s historical connection with conquering the frontier is also seen in Disneyland. In their effort to conquer and own the open land, Americans laid railroads and built cities as settlers made their way across the pioneer trails in order to gain their piece of the American Dream. Such historical westerners as Louis and Clark, Davy Crockett, Jim Bridger, and even the bandit, Jesse James, have been idealized in American folklore. Walt Disney produced films featuring some of these men, sanitizing them and molding them into archetypal characters that showed conservative dignity and determined self-reliance.

Thus, it was natural for Disney to include his version of the American West, Frontierland, in the park. The land meshes varied symbols of the Wild West such as a steamboat, an old saloon, and an out-of-control mining car. In combining such previously unrelated signs, Disney created a new image of the frontier that has since replaced the older signs. Consequently, meanings have also changed.

A discussion on hyperreality is important as it is one key component of the Disney parks.  Hyperreality exists in a state where chosen symbols of reality mask our surroundings, thus producing unreality. Jean Baudrillard, one of the leaders of postmodernism and proponent of hyperreality noted that with Disneyland, “everyday life has been captured by the signs and sign systems generated to represent it. We relate to the models as if they were reality. In his argument, California's Disneyland functions as ‘an imaginary effect concealing that reality no more exists outside than inside the bounds of the artificial perimeter.’”

As was stated earlier, Disney had an obsession with control. Every aspect of the park was micromanaged by Disney.  He even went so far as to refer to the company artists as “my musicians” and “my artists.”

And just as Disney sought to control his company environment, Disneyland, like American colonialism, controls its natural environment.  Rather than allowing nature to be “natural,” Disneyland restrains every aspect its guests’ environment, from the sights and sounds to the available directions guests may go. Furthermore, “there is no sign of decay, crime, confusion, discontent, pain, poverty, or struggle.” According to one scholar, this cultural interpretation of nature can have negative effects:  “There is a strong presumption that Disney closely records the real thing out there in mountain meadow, prairie and pound. If our first introduction to the natural world is via ‘Disneyvision’ -- and for virtually all of us, it is -- then we cannot help being disappointed by the real thing. Documentary is a dramatic form. Nature is hard put to compete with art.” Disneyland embodies the presence of an idealized world in which Americans, bred from a culture of idealizing, find comfort in the safe and happy confines of a park where nothing goes wrong.

Many of these aspects of Walt Disney and his park relate his idealistic approach to business, and this idealism coupled with modernism is engrained in the parks.

Disney utilized modernism’s emphasis on the empirical approach to management and creative thinking. He engineered what Boje called the “story machine,” where all aspects of animation and film making, including much of the creative work was systemized and compartmentalized. Similarly, the creative work and development of Disneyland was also brought about in a similar fashion.

Modernism also deals with commodification. Disneyland makes an increasingly good use of placing price tags on elements and ideas in nature and society. One scholar said that “indirect commodification is a process by which non-salable objectives, activities, and images are purposely placed in the commodified world.” Disney discovered a great source of revenue when he began commodifying the characters from his films. From that time, commercialism has only increased in the parks. At every attraction there is a retail store, and the walkways are flooded with Disney street vendors.

As Disney embedded commodification in modernism, he also did so with advertising. Globalized corporations sponsor many of the attractions at Disneyland. One scholar said Disney is the “integration of recreation and leisure with hyper-consumption advertising and public relations.”   Like a mall, one cannot escape the thousands of commercialized messages found in every corner of Disney. When the park opened in 1955, Tomorrowland’s featured attraction was CirCarama, sponsored by American Motors. Even the front entrance to the circular theater looked like an American Motors show room.


Disneyland clearly stemmed from modern thinking in the early 1900s. Disney visited the early World Fairs that presented new technology in themed environments. In fact, much of the early technology at Disneyland, such as the Monorail, were first made known at World Fairs. These technologies were developed during the modern era, where functionality determined design.

Las Vegas, a land of themed casinos, draws much upon the themed approaches which were established by Disneyland. However, modernism is no longer a driving force in contemporary America. One scholar compared modernist architecture with that of the Luxor Casino, built in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid while using mirror-like glass for the exterior: “Modernist architects once promised us cities of glass in which we would live in a continual state of revelation: all would be made clear and available to us. Here, glass hides all, inviting our desires and threatening us with the danger lurking at the heart of the cities we have built for ourselves.”

Perhaps Disneyland, although an ideal world, was never quite so modern as it was postmodern. Its hyperrealistic environment is at odds with modern thinking. Ultimately, visitors who trek to the park aren’t necessarily seeking the ideal world but rather an escape from objectivity.

Disneyland attendance is much like that of modern-day social media use. Virtual reality provides the same type of hyperrealistic world that was detailed above. In effect, it replaces a reality—social interaction, with another seeming reality—virtual interaction, which creates an element of unreality.

Disneyland has few clocks for guests to tell time and many of the attractions take place in dark environments. The buildings and attractions are also disproportionate, creating spatial illusions. These elements suspend time and space for park guests, further enhancing their notions of hyperreality. As so many have noted, the park allows for guests to relive childhood dreams in a packaged, sterilized world without consequences or adult concerns.

Hyperreality allows the guests to embrace postmodernism. For postmodernism seeks not to define truths by connections, but rather, it simply makes connections—never coming to conclusions about reality. I don’t assume to say that Americans have completely forgone attempts to find meaning, but contemporary society, as a whole, is moved by this trend, further pushed by pop culture and mass media. While Disneyland may still be considered the mind controlling dream land of the 21st century, in the end, it’s this postmodern tendency in our culture that continues to compel us to the gates of the happiest place on earth.

Wild Wilderness, “Critical Disney References,” http://www.wildwilderness.org/docs/disney2.htm

Mark Gottdiener, The theming of America: dreams, media fantasies, and themed environments (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001), 120.

Mark Gottdiener, The theming of America: dreams, media fantasies, and themed environments (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001), 119.

David M. Boje, “Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as ‘Tamara-Land,’” Academy of Management Journal 38 (1995): 997-1035.

Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992), 301.

David M. Boje, “Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as ‘Tamara-Land,’” Academy of Management Journal 38 (1995): 997-1035.

http://www.cfc.umt.edu/personnel/borrie/papers/disney/

M. J.  King, “The audience in the wilderness: The Disney nature films.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 24(2) (1996): 60-69.

David M. Boje, “Stories of the Storytelling Organization: A postmodern analysis of Disney as ‘Tamara-Land,’” Academy of Management Journal 38 (1995): 997-1035.

L. M. Benton, “Selling the Natural or Selling Out,” Environmental Ethics 17: 3-32.

S. G. Davis, “The theme park: Global industry and cultural form.” Media, Culture & Society 18 (1996): 399-422.

Aaron Betsky and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Icons: Magnets of Meaning (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1997) 232.

Hook, One of my favorites

Because I am such a Disney fanatic and so caught up in "Magic," I had to express my utter appreciation for one of the most magical movies, Hook. This film has a special place in my heart as it is a picture I remember watching as a young 6 year old.



One of the features that makes this film come to life with magic is the score by John Williams.

'Genuinely Hip Professor' Metaphor

Some professors are mediocre and some are good. Some are rather great. After a bit of thought on what makes a good professor great, I came up with three traits: (1) Contemporary, (2) Smart, and (3) Accommodating.

Because my thoughts so often veer towards marketing, I've developed the 'Genuinely Hip Professor' Metaphor. Any company that caters itself to the college-aged target market should think about these principles. Students in the 18-25 year old range can relate to the metaphor because most have dealt with the good and bad of professors.

Update: The professor in this illustration is Doug McKinlay, a former ad agency founder and owner. He exemplifies all the characteristics of a good professor. In the advertising program he is considered the King of Creativity.



First, let's analyze a bad professor. Usually bad professors don't care much about their students and they don't make many efforts to appear as if they care. In other words, 'accommodating' is not in their vocabulary. They see teaching as a 9-5 job and they rarely offer help sessions, office hours, or even in-class discussion or questions. Granted, I understand the difficulty some professors have in catering to all their students in large classes. Nevertheless, the good professors still find ways to accommodate students in the 300+ class sizes.

Bad professors are boring. They don't make efforts to teach in ways that spurn creativity and remembrance. These professors can often be worse than textbooks--because with a text book, one can at least read at one's own pace. These professors are also old-fashioned, often stuck on old-school teaching methods with old-school technology. These professors rarely relate to their students.

Students love great professors. Just take a look at ratemyprofessor.com. As I come to the close of my undergraduate education, I can remember some of the thoughtful professors I've had. These professors exhibit all three traits.

If you're marketing your products to students, I'd keep in mind these traits. Here are a few questions you might want to ask:

Contemporary: 
"They relate to me." 
"I relate to [your] brand."
Do you relate to your consumer? Can they relate to you?

Smart
"I trust their knowledge about [your] industry."
Are you smart enough about your industry that your consumers can trust your services/products?
Does your consumer know that you have a wealth of knowledge/information about the industry?


Accomodating
"They care about me."
Do you care about your consumer? Do you show that you care?

I don't want to get into the LCV (lifetime customer value) factor, but if you really think LCV is important, you might want to measure yourself in these areas.


Update - Here are a some great professors I've had throughout my BYU education: Jaren Hinckley, Susan Eliason, Gary Hansen, Cindy Brewer, Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Matt Holland, Arden Pope, Brent Strong, and Doug McKinlay

Influences of Roger Williams on Thomas Jefferson

Although he is not predominantly famed, Roger Williams can readily be considered the man who innovated the great disconnect between the state and the church. Jefferson and Madison are the American founders who receive the greatest credit for a strict separation of church and state in the new US government, however, their contributions were not necessarily original. Williams initiated a “cause of conscience” (1867, p. 3) that has permeated American hearts since his time. It is the object of this work to show Williams’ indirect influence on the writings of Thomas Jefferson.

It is quite obvious that Jefferson was deeply religious over at least one moral particular—namely that “all men are created equal” (Declaration of Independence, ¶2). Thus his views on the church involvement in government were reflected to promote religious freedom. One of his most famous letters on the subject is his reply to Danbury Baptists at the beginning of his administration. He said that the Establishment Clause in the first amendment of the Constitution (an amendment developed by Madison), effectively built “a wall of eternal separation between Church & State” (1802). The origination of this metaphor actually emerges from Roger Williams over a century earlier.

Williams came to America after witnessing persecution against his own teacher by the Church of England. Upon arriving in the Massachusetts Bay colony Williams was accepted as assistant Pastor in the Puritan church in Salem. It was a good step and an open environment for Williams to affect change among a somewhat intolerant religious community.

Although the Puritans and Separatists had deserted to America on the grounds of religious freedom they still had not purged themselves of inherited religious culture and ideals of the European faiths. Government and religion were deeply connected in Britain and Europe. For centuries, kings ruled over England claiming divine royal leadership. The Puritans, seeking for religious tolerance, came to America to merely “purify” the Church of England. Although they claimed a disconnection between state government and the church, there were still highly religious ideals that affected the community and certain legislative measures that affected the church. For example, all citizens were required to attend church and pay taxes that benefited the church. Government officials were to make oaths with God concerning their office. These close connections between government and religion were a few of the items that Williams found it his duty to preach against. Consequently, it was local legislation that banished Pastor Williams from the community.

Roger Williams can be conveniently considered “a nonconformist in a land of nonconformists” (Moore, 1965, pp. 58-59). Competing with the Puritan John Cotton on a principle of free conscience, Williams wrote some influential papers that almost mirror writings of Locke, Madison and, most importantly, Jefferson. It was in “Mr. Cotton's Letter Lately Printed, Examined and Answered” that Williams penned the original metaphor of a wall of separation:

And that when they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, and made his garden a wilderness. (Levy, 1986, p. 184)

Historians speculate on the different meanings that Jefferson and Williams had intended to portray with the metaphor. Both men called for a wall to protect both the state from the church as well as the church from the state. Williams noticed, in the Puritan community, the danger of a church imposing legislation among citizens, yet he was more concerned with a government that imposed upon the church. Jefferson was concerned with the danger of a church imposing on the government. This is where Jefferson and Williams differed about the metaphor. For example, Jefferson was strictly against any religious national holiday, whereas Williams, being highly religious, was hypocritical in his intolerance of the “unorthodox” practices of the Quakers that had settled in Providence.

Despite these differences, the writings of Jefferson and Williams are deeply similar. Jefferson, in his letter to the Baptists noted that “religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship” (1802). Similarly, Williams stated that “man hath not power to make laws to bind conscience” (1867). Roger Williams also employed Jefferson’s ideal that “the legitimate powers of government reach actions only and not opinions” (1802). Williams did not enforce obedience to the first four laws of the Ten Commandments or “the first table” (Moore, 1965, p. 62). These were commandments such as devotion and worship that dealt with personal opinions. Conversely, the “second table” of commandments that dealt with criminal actions such as stealing or committing adultery were enforced (Moore, 1965, p. 62-63).

Notwithstanding the many similarities between the two men, scholars agree that Jefferson was most likely not familiar with the writings of Roger Williams. At the time of the American founding in the late 1700’s, the name Roger Williams was not well-liked. He was remembered as an individual who was a radical that had personally defied the Puritan colony. Isaac Backus, one of the leading Baptist supporters of religious freedom, wrote an entire work that nearly copied the ideas of Williams; the work, however, never fully credited Williams (Moore, 1965, pp. 70-71). William Miller wrote, “The crotchety, disorganized, and insistently Christian writings of Roger Williams were not the sort of thing Thomas Jefferson was likely to read, but John Locke clearly had read them” (1985, p. 173). It is also known that Jefferson clearly read Locke’s writings on the natural rights of man.

Just six years after Williams’ death, John Locke published “A Letter Concerning Toleration” (1689). The letter is full of text that follows the ideals that Roger Williams had left behind. The subject of a free conscience was modeled by Locke: “Men cannot be forced to be saved whether they will or no. And therefore, when all is done, they must be left to their own consciences” (1689, ¶41). Locke argued for the natural rights of man. He explains in much detail the dangerous consequences of a government such as Massachusetts and those in Britain that infringed upon the natural rights of worship. He was right on with Williams. Nevertheless, there are some differences in the voice of the two men. Williams wrote from a religious viewpoint rather than political one. Locke wrote to a political audience that was not as inclined towards faith as was Williams’ audience. Leroy Miller designates Williams’ philosophy as “Let God be God!” while Locke’s as “Make way for Man!” (1965, p. 66).

Williams held two distinct roles. While (1) seeking to preach salvation, he acted as a religious leader. While (2) opting for religious liberty, he acted as a political leader. The roles were very different and the fact that he played both of them is ironic, seeing that his ideal world was a separation between the political and the religious. His motives were ultimately religious. Brilliance led him to discover that his preaching of salvation was in vain if religious liberty was not realized. He asked “Can the sword of steel or arme of flesh make men faithful or loyal to God? Faith proceeds alone from the Father of Lights.” (Moore, 1965, p. 64).

Jefferson may not have realized the importance that Roger Williams played on the early colonization of America. Jefferson also may not have known that his readings of John Locke were filled with the ideals of Williams. However, Jefferson did know that the spirit of America—liberty—was to be protected with all measures even if it meant erecting a “wall of separation” between church and state. The act of building this wall had already been started over 100 years earlier, brick by brick, by the revolutionary, Roger Williams.

Davis, D.H. (1999). The enduring legacy of Roger Williams: consulting America's first separationist on today's pressing church-state controversies. Journal of Church & State, 41(2) 201-213. Retrieved March 24, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com.

Jefferson, T. (1802). Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists: The draft and recently discovered text. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpost.html

Levy, L.W. (1986). The establishment clause: Religion and the first amendment. New York:Macmillan Publishing Co.

Locke, J. (1689). A letter concerning toleration. (W. Popple, Trans.). Retrieved March 28, 2007, from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/locke-t/locke_toleration.html

Miller, W.L. (1985). The first liberty: religion and the American Republic. New York:Knopf.

Moore L. (1965). Religious liberty: Roger Williams and revolutionary era. Church History, 34(1), 57-76. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from JSTOR database.

Williams, R., & Caldwell, S.L. (1867). The bloudy tenent of persecution. Publications of the Narragansett Club. (p. 3) Providence, RI:Stanford University Retrieved March 28, 2007, from http://books.google.com.

Glamour and the Famine Mystique

I have seen monumental suffering housed in women's bodies. I have seen teenage girls watch their mothers starve, deny and hate themselves, call their distorted ideas about food "will power." I have seen these mothers teach this language to their daughters, usually unintentionally. I have seen vomit in toilets across America. . . I have seen the smartest college students in the world spend the majority of their days thinking about calories. I have seen shame, loads and loads of it, piled so high that women climb on top and reign there.

-Courtney E. Martin, The Famine Mystique

Glamour plays a pretentious role in the famine mystique. At first glance, the website displays perpetuations of the mystique by including the most important features in the navigation links: fashion; beauty; sex, love & life; weddings; health & fitness; body by Glamour. None of these words actually signify the quest for true depth and meaning in womanhood. The title of the publication, Glamour, stands next to words like allurement, animal magnetism, beauty, and attraction.

Innately, humans strive for betterment. As Martin noted, media have defined “betterment” in such unrealistic terms that “you feel bad.”  Glamour is no exception. Some of the headlines read “Model Beauty Tricks We All Should Know” and “50 Most Glamorous Women of 2010.” These headlines might support a woman’s notion that she isn’t up to speed on her image if she doesn’t know some beauty tricks and stars. Furthermore, blog headlines like “For $2,000, These Jeans Better Lose Five Pounds For Me” only relate the fact that thinness should be highly important as it seems to be the main purpose for spending $2,000 on a pair of jeans.

But how does Glamour actually make one feel bad? And, is feeling bad necessarily a bad thing? Scripture passages can definitely make one feel bad, especially if one isn’t living up to the standard. Quoting “love one another” after being cut-off by a crazy driver doesn’t always calm the nerves. Motivational books can also make people feel bad if they aren’t following the positive principles contained therein.

However, feeling bad is necessary for one to change. That’s why your conscience is so good at it—as well as media and advertising. If you feel bad about your image, you might try a new diet pill or go to the gym. You also might pick up a copy of Glamour, hoping to find the latest tips to make yourself become more attractive. Advertisers love to make people feel bad in hopes of increased sales.

But if feeling bad is a natural motive for change, why does Martin condemn magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan? Perhaps, it is the end result rather than the means that scares her. Martin claims, as do many social scientists, that Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa stem from media’s portrayal of beauty and attractiveness. The unrealistic expectations that women set out to achieve become unattainable and consequently, women begin to hate themselves even more. Self-hatred and subsequent eating disorders of more than 7 million women are not the most lovely outcomes of image-loving media. Unfortunately, Glamour editors and board members don’t think about the larger consequences of the material they publish. Rather, they hope to garner larger readership and increased advertising revenue.

I don’t mean to intentionally put a plug for Christianity, but I’m grateful to believe that perfection isn’t acquired by our personal efforts. A God who motivates change but never really offers the attainment of perfection is no God of mine. As life will teach us, we cannot achieve perfection in any form whether that’s personal righteousness or outward beauty. America’s top model, won’t be at the top next year and Angelina Jolie will eventually grow old and wrinkly. But, fortunately, the Christ who said, “Be ye therefore perfect,” also said, “Take my yoke upon you… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”