Ezhil

Read or heard
when enacted
love becomes basal

When justice is farce
And honesty is scarce
Truth valued no more
Cunningness galore
Sick with fellowmen
Seeks solace elsewhere
The hope God becomes
To the man clueless
Faith in the God mean
Faithlessness in man.

Falsehood on the throne firmly saddled
Lies reign supreme, lies the truth buried
Face of innocence beyond recognition
Badly bruised by low cunning
Shameless life and everywhere strife
Men of this world how sadly bow
Not to truth but only to wealth
O, Gandhi dear! Often I hear
You were the great apostle of truth
On this earth under the spell of untruth
Please take rebirth to spread the virtue –truth.

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A sense of security in mind
For happiness needs mankind.

Man invented God to ensure
Safety from dangers, for sure
Can’t do that He man slowly learnt
So invented religion and caste.

Not really safe with also these
Invented science to ensure peace
And to keep him fully secure
Alas! In mind still insecure

Caste, religion and god we find
Can’t bestow secure feeling in mind
For, they always narrow one’s vision
And create a sense of suspicion.

Freedom from man-made barriers
And for fellow-men love sincere
Alone can bring man security
And save him from uncertainty.

Man invented many things we find
To quench the thirst of his curious mind
Cooking to make many delicacies
Clothes to cover from nature’s vagaries
Chairs and cots to sit and curl on
Language and literature knowledge to pass on
Pen to write and brush to paint
Nature’s beauty without much taint
Machines for making many items useful
Mechanisms to combat things harmful
Ships to conquer the turbulent seas
Jets to fly like birds with ease
But his greatest find above all
Is music that pleases one and all.

Music knows no colour nor creed
No nation, region or even breed
A universal language of mankind
A better unifying force, can we find?

A great companion for the lonely
A soothing force by its melody
A heart-warming and soulful music
Is like a good nurse to the sick

No stage of man’s mundane life here
Is spent without musical atmosphere
Babes in the womb need uterine soufflé
Lullaby to sleep in the cradle
Rhymes for children to learn
Ragas for pleasure when young
Love songs to give divinity to love
In people’s minds for ever and now
Music to solemnize marriage as sacred
And music to mourn the death of a beloved
Music thus in the life of human beings
Seems to influence throughout their innings

The magical influence of music on mind
Be exploited usefully to refine mankind
If used only to make money and thrive
No real benefits man, from it, will derive.

Man is born
In this world
Learns he will
One day perish
But why indulges
In evil deeds
When he can do
Always good
And be remembered
Is a mystery?

I was standing at a bus stop
Waiting to board the next bus
A man and two women of working class
Along with their two little kids
Were there, also probably waiting
-To go back home after work.
The lone man, on the floor, was squatting
And the women were comfortably sitting
While the elders were engrossed
In some lively discussion which
I could not decipher or I
Did not care to listen to,
I was attracted by the pranks
-Of their pretty little girl child.
A cute innocent tiny tot she was
About three years old I guess
Little cared of her parents’ woes
Enjoyed herself in utter bliss
Pulling her inattentive mother’s sari top
Or teasing her sibling on her mother’s lap
She burst into peals of laughter
The world became enlivened and brighter
Seeing her happiness and merriment
My heart too joined in her blissful delight
Her parents’ call to keep quiet
Could not dampen her high spirit a bit
She continued with her pranks and laughter
Until I boarded the bus ten minutes later

The bus roared and I took leave of her fun
But the mellifluous laughter continued to run
On the screen of my gladdened mind
-All through my journey and beyond.

The greatest folly
that man ever committed
is military

Let us not fight with
nations but wage war against
poverty and filth

Isms, isms, everywhere isms
But where is humanism?
Socialism, spiritualism and materialism
Promote fanaticism
Language and religious chauvinism
Drive away rationalism
Casteism, communism and capitalism
Cause here hooliganism
Man is fond of so many isms
But why no humanism?

THE OTHER SIDE OF MEDIA

Introduction
In the earlier times mediums like drama and other forms enjoyed only a peripheral status in the society. But in today’s world they have come to occupy the centre stage. This transition is inevitable as the modern society becomes completely materialistic. Now things have come to such a pass that life is impossible without media. This is not because it contributes positively to the developmental process but because it enjoys tremendous political clout and some employment potential. What were originally envisaged as pastime activities have now become professions. But this change is not without dangers. If we look at what happens in the media world, a doubt arises as to whether the modern media is actually serving the society or harming it.
Objective
The aim of this write up is to highlight the negative impact of modern media on the society. Cinema, TV and journalistic activities are the three important mediums, which have profound effect on the life of people. While the positive contribution of media is well understood its negative impact gets swept under the carpet of materialistic culture and therefore is not realized by many especially the youth.
Journalism and its Impact
The original purpose of Journalism was to inform and educate people without compromising on truth. But now commercialism reigns supreme in journalistic world. Newspapers and journals have commercial interest first and telling the truth to the people is not there in their agenda, we find. News are modified, distorted and presented, as sensational as possible, according to the assumed ideology of the newspaper or the journal concerned. Different newspapers publish the same news differently. Many are utterly confused; unable to comprehend which news is correct. We also find that the print media is misused to fish in troubled waters by making use of the existing socio-economic inequalities. Political parties and caste groups having separate newspapers of their own, serving their own partisan ends is a pointer to the sorry state of affairs in journalism. In fact, the society is choked with all sorts of journals and newspapers. Instead of spreading the message of truth, honesty and scientific temper necessary for refinement of mankind, the so called fourth estate has deviated from its goal and is found busy in maligning people, spreading falsehood, creating rivalry and deep chasm on pseudo ideologies, promoting casteism, communalism etc., The nexus between politicians and the journalists is a tragedy of grave concern. This is an emergency situation warranting immediate attention but the society pretends as if nothing is amiss, of course at a heavy cost.
Visual Media and Their Impact
Of the three modern media already mentioned, cinema plays a crucial role in affecting the life of people in general and children in particular. Synthetic stories based on success formulae, sensational dialogues, exotic background music, seminude belles singing duets with men, savage stunts and magnified images in cinema all create virtual scenes that deceive the gullible quite easily. Reel heroes and heroines become celebrities overnight. As real heroes get buried under the carpet of casteism, communalism and the like, reel heroes are able to usurp the role of real heroes and become legislators, parliamentarians and ministers, which is a distressing trend. Children ape cinema heroes and even learn behaviour from cinema and TV serials since in real life what they observe is sheer hypocrisy.
It is pertinent to analyse why cinema thrives so well here. Bitter reality like abject poverty, unemployment and social tensions make life miserable for many. So, as an escape phenomenon people like to see cinema, which helps them to forget reality atleast temporarily for a few hours. It also can be inferred that people who are unable to fight against social evils themselves are enthused to see a cinema hero or heroine doing the job with great aplomb. This kind of craze for cinema and cinema actors is not observed in developed countries as people there enjoy a better standard of life in reality. As the poor masses do not realise the fact that cinema is made with ill-gotten black money they are actually overawed by the pomp and lavishness of the settings and enjoy the virtual scenes as if they are real.
It is sad to know that people are made to see porno scenes shown in the name of love scenes. It is well known that the most sought after scene in cinema is the so-called ‘love scene’. But what is shown, as love scenes are actually sexy scenes. People fail to understand the fact that love cannot be picturised by camera. Love is a state of the mind, which can only be experienced by genuine lovers, and it cannot be emoted as shown in cinema. Love is divine only when read or heard. But, once it is enacted as in cinema, it becomes basal immediately. Love scenes of cinema in which man and woman are shown indulging in indecent and provocative actions will create only sexual arousal and therefore cannot be expected to create a feeling of divine love in the viewers. It is distressing to know that the literature and the sublime music are also denigrated in cinema. Lyricists and music directors write lyrics and play tunes respectively to the lewd scenes in cinema and earn huge money and popularity without realizing that they are actually denigrating high letters and sublime music, in the process. Obscene scenes in cinema are probably adding to the degeneration of moral values and thereby also contribute to the increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS.
Cinema makers and actors proclaim to promote great messages through cinema. But we find that their true agenda is only earning huge profits because they themselves are found indulging in unjust and exploitative actions during the actual process of filmmaking. Lower artistes like the stunt men and the female extras are the worst exploited lot in cinema industry. Cinema heroes, who get huge payments in black behind the screen, preach truth, honesty, patriotism etc., on the screen. It is incongruous that actresses who themselves do not observe modesty, talk and sing of modesty, morality, divinity of love etc on the screen. It is pertinent to note that cinema makers, who will not certainly show their wives and daughters in such poor light, exploit the dishonest and misguided poor women, without any compunction, to rake in. Therefore it can be easily inferred that cinema is produced with only money in mind and so it can never promote good human qualities among the masses, as often claimed, because of lack of credibility of source. People may feel excited momentarily by the virtual scenes but that effect will evaporate quickly. Roping in TV and Cinema to infuse values in the masses is unscientific and it is akin to providing only alcohol as staple food. In the absence of living role models all dramatized messages are certain to fail in their mission
What is important here is the fact that the negative impact cinema causes especially on children during their formative years is real and dangerous. The glitter of cinema creates a sense of permanent want in young minds because of the pomp culture shown on the screen and weans them away from reality. It is disheartening to find that such misguided youth, instead of using their bountiful energy to fight against social evils, are found languishing as sycophants of heroes and heroines forming fan clubs.
Self-respect, honesty and public decency have all become vanishing traits in the modern youth because of the influence of cinema. Unhealthy and anti –social behaviour of the youth such as eve teasing are on the rise. Cinema style crimes are increasing, we find. In short it can be said that cinema, a great invention which can be used to remove ignorance and enlighten people, is being utterly misused by the materialistic society unmindful of the grave consequences on the society.
The other media of importance is Television. Now cinema has come into the drawing rooms of every household because of T.V. T.V. banks heavily on celluloid cinema for its very existence. Even the very few original programmes imitate cinema. The most addicted to T.V. serials are the women folk at home. Their addiction is so strong that they shun friends and relatives during the telecast of serials of their liking. Such is the dehumanizing effect of T.V.! It also has a telling effect on the mental development of children. It is said that T.V. makes a child immobile, silent and thoughtless; the faculties of imagination and creativity are the natural casualties; such a child does not know how to amuse himself or herself. When murder, crimes and other horrific scenes are shown in graphic details, it can easily affect the psychology of children and promote feeling of vengeance. In the long run, these children become insensitive to such events and behave like robots. The incident described below will amply illustrate the kind of impact that T.V. and cinema cause on the young minds. When a motorcyclist was thrown off his vehicle in a road accident, some school children standing nearby had commented ‘super dive’ instead of expressing pity on the plight of the victim. Lavishly filmed advertisements in T.V. also create an insatiable appetite for luxury in many and therefore may promote criminal tendencies like steeling, cheating etc., in children and youth.
T.V. with its alluring programmes and lavish advertisements divert people’s attention from local issues and they are forced to live a life of alienation, detached from local community. This is a serious distraction not to be taken lightly. No discrimination is shown in telecasting incidents and events and all sorts of things, most of them reportedly useless, are brought live in T.V shows. Tragic events and unpleasant incidents happening somewhere in the globe is flashed to all in no time. This will certainly affect people’s daily chores because of its effect on their subconscious brain. It is desirable to show only scenes that will create a pleasant experience or a happy mood in the viewers.
Public money is squandered due to misuse of T.V. Telecasting cricket matches live wasting crores of rupees is a crime when many go hungry, shelter- less and ill clad. It is injudicious and imprudent to take video shots from different angles just to know whether a batsman is out or not in the name of fourth umpire. Sports and games meant for recreation and physical fitness need not be played with so much fierce competitiveness and accuracy. We find that TV abets the crime of making sports and games a show business. Because of this kind of portrayal of sporting events, the youth are forced to go for bettering of previous records by even taking the help of drugs. This is a sorry state of affairs. Health of many youth is affected in the process, we find. Many athletes and sports persons develop diseases related to muscles, tendons, bones and even brain at an early age. Is it not paradoxical that sports and games which should improve health actually cause illness? Why this? It is because of the unhealthy competition in the arena of sports as it is associated with money. How can sports and games meant for recreation and physical fitness become professions? Players ( cricket, tennis etc) earning their livelihood, why even amassing wealth, from sports and games, without doing any other useful work is a wrong and dangerous trend. Playing full time is a mockery. Media like TV has played a negative role, by telecasting many sporting events at all times without any discrimination, in bringing about this undesirable change in the sports movement.
Video graphing of political heavy weights and cinema actors wherever they go and whatever they do is a colossal waste of time and money. It will be more than sufficient to report many of such events only in newspapers and radio thereby millions of rupees can be saved every year. Taking video pictures of war and other civil disturbances and showing them across the world will only demoralise people. These events when reported in newspapers or radio will inform people about what is happening but when shown repeatedly in TV will actually brutalize population by making it more and more insensitive. Good things seen will last for a brief duration whereas bad information will cast a lasting spell especially on children and youth.
TV and cinema promote violence by showing heroes / heroines taking law into their own hands to settle scores with enemies. People specially the youth may become emboldened to break law as a result. Many studies have revealed that children become violent because of the influence of cinema and TV. Criminals have testified during trials that they indulged in crimes after seeing crime scenes in movies. When crime scenes are shown in graphic detail in cinema after cinema, it will lead to desensitisation and as a result large-scale dehumanisation can take place leading to insensitivity to other’s sufferings.
The horror scenes with all sorts of ugly and grotesque figures created to patronize cine goers, with money in mind, can cause psychological disturbances in children. Most of the Cinema makers do not exhibit any social responsibility. Otherwise why should they talk of box office hits? It is desirable that even real crimes committed in the society are only reported and not shown to reduce the negative impact on the young minds. Criminal activities when shown often will make children think that the world is a mean and dangerous place. Consequently, they may loose faith in social values and so will develop abnormal behaviour leading to social devance.
Social relationships like the one between parents and children and that between husband and wife and many such relationships are ridiculed in TV serials and Cinema in the name of comedy. Comedy has become so vulgar and cheap that the whole family cannot sit and watch as it will be embarrassing to the parties concerned. Children grown in such environments right from early childhood may not understand the real social relationship values and may easily deviate from normal behaviour expected as per already existing social norms. Evolution to a better society will be seriously jeopardized in such conditions.
The curiosity of youth about sex is highly exploited by the cinema industry. By showing indecent scenes, gestures and dance sequences, youth’s opinion about love is drastically changed. Such scenes can never give dignity and divinity to love. What is shown in Cinema and TV is not love but love making as love cannot be filmed and shown. In civilized societies showing sexy scenes openly as in cinema is not desirable. Should we not differentiate ourselves from the barbaric early man? If we want to create a better society, love should be depicted as a divine one. Only good literature can do this. But when man and woman are shown hugging and kissing each other it will create only sexual stimulation in the viewers. So we find that Cinema and TV are doing a great disservice to the society by depicting love in a poor light.
Women who bare their flesh for money in Cinema and TV send wrong signals to the youth. Youth will be compelled to think that money is everything in life and social norms and values can be compromised for money. Only societies based on values like truth, honesty and love can survive in the long run. All the social, political and religious disturbances seen the world over are the consequences of lack of social values. Cinema and TV do not and cannot promote lasting good human qualities. Rather they are found to promote evil tendencies with their artificial stories, crime scenes, indecent and vulgar portrayals, savage fights and horror depictions. The impact of reading stories, fictions and detective novels in print is quite different from that of seeing them in movies. Visual media like Cinema and TV is found to cause devastating effects if not handled with due care. But materialistic society is seen misusing it always for personal gains.
The subject of marriage is being treated very shabbily and irresponsibly in movies. For creating a better society marriage should be shown as divine union of hearts and not as simple cohabitation. Children, who are exposed to this kind of movies, may give very little importance to marriage as an institution. Wrong portrayal of marriage in movies is probably an important factor for the high divorce rates in certain societies. Media should project idealistic aspects of life rather than reality in serials and dramas in order to change the attitude of populations and to create a better society in future. It should not be merely informative but should be educative. More importantly they should not be allowed to become destructive.
Having run out of ideas film makers resort to sex, violence and unnatural scenes more and more in order to attract youth unmindful of the consequences they create in the society. This evil trend of the film world whose only concern is money and survival is a matter of grave concern.
The tinsel world attracts youth as it brings fame and wealth. It is sad to note that acting in cinema is seen as a life time opportunity by many a misguided youth as they have been brain washed to go for easy money. In the process, constructive activities, very much essential for the very survival of the societies, do not get due attention of youth.
Cinema and TV are likely to play a negative role and create problems in family life of many. The virtual and dramatized family scenes with tailor made incisive dialogues projected in Cinema and TV probably add to the chauvinistic tendencies of both males and females. Portrayals, created only with good patronage in mind, may instigate otherwise calm and peace loving spouses to separate by feeding chauvinistic ideas.
Round the clock telecasting robs people of their precious time. Therefore essential duties and responsibilities are certain to suffer. Especially the youth are likely to go astray due to this kind of over dose of entertainment.
It appears that politics is no exception to the evil influence of media. We find that media patronises mainly the rich and the muscle men. As a result honest and good people shun politics. Media, for its survival, is found to resort to sensationalism and in the process causing confusion and chaos among the gullible masses. As truth is buried the wicked and the mighty are able to win elections and usurp leadership.
It will not be an exaggeration to state that the influence of media has brought about a dangerous shift in value system. As media glorifies materialistic culture values are no more talked about. We find that Love and good human values, as a software, are not loaded into the brain of children at all now. Only money is focused. As a result business and money occupy central place in human affairs. Sadly, the enormous information fed through highly sophisticated media has failed to promote peace and harmony among people and the nations. Crime rates have not come down. Cold and open wars are escalating. Such adverse outcomes are not surprising as media devoid of ethics is found to fuel fanatic ideologies in the name of religion, region and the like.
Computer and its Impact
Computer science that has made man’s work easy enormously can also be added to the list of scientific developments, which has caused a negative impact on the society.
Now computer rules the roost. All other disciplines have been pushed to the background. Computer men are paid very high salaries while all other basic disciplines get only step motherly treatment. This shift is unavoidable in a commercial world, which gives respect to money rather than character. This special treatment is being accorded to the computer in spite of the fact that computer science is only an application-oriented supporting science, which has no independent functional capacity. This kind of lop sided favour will only add to the miseries by way of creating social tensions. When a young man or woman gets catapulted to a high status with its attendant financial benefits all of a sudden he/she develops some kind of arrogance. Such misguided individuals do not treat even their own parents with respect.
Computer people are made to work inside air-conditioned enclosures for long hours and in the process their interaction with the outside world is very much restricted. Such persons become alienated from the society very easily and become dehumanized individuals. This is amply illustrated by the fact that divorce and suicide are more common among computer people than others. Besides, computer professionals are having the risk of developing physical ailments involving their eyesight, muscles and tendons. The long-term effect of computer on the body and mind has not been adequately studied yet.
While talking of the negative impact of computer, internet needs some special mention. Internet has revolutionized the process of communication and education. But at the same time it also has created chances for black mailing and sabotage of people and even the governments. Cyber crimes are committed with impunity. Illegal commerce and pornography are on the rise.
Cell phone is the other communication device that is being misused a lot in the society. The notorious event involving a Delhi school student taking pornographic video pictures of his female classmate in his cell phone and flashing it across to others for money is a pointer to the bigger problems ahead. Youth with cell phones are found to create a narrow world of their own and in the process; they get alienated from the larger world. They are able to bye pass the elders and the larger society in all their deeds. As this machine culture increases, dependence on fellow human beings will get drastically reduced and this will cause large-scale alienation. This is a dangerous trend and in the long run people will behave like robots, totally dehumanized.
Cell phones come handy for the criminals, as surveillance of these operations is difficult for the law enforcing agencies. The rise of cell phones also can be taken as a sign of rising insecurity in the society. Of course it is not unexpected in a completely materialistic society. Besides, cell phones are also known to affect the physical health of the user. Brain cells, it is known, are affected by the radiation from the device. In spite of many of these negative aspects, promotion of cell phones even by the government is incomprehensible for the concerned. It is pertinent to question here whether all these modern gadgets have improved the net result of all our programmes and plans and whether they have brought about perceptible change in the life of people with lowered crime rates and peaceful existence. Mushrooming of these implements probably indicate that the quality of life of people has improved but the quality of people has gone down. It also means that the modern man is trying to run the show with machines rather than with fellow men. It is important to note here that cold war, open conflicts and social insecurity have not come down appreciably at local, national and international levels but actually have increased in spite of the entire boom in the world of media. Can we call this development?
Media diverts people’s attention from local and real issues to a virtual kind of life. Hard earned money, we find, is getting siphoned off to wasteful expenditure.
Therefore, we find that the modern media has become a bane rather than a boon as its main agenda is now making easy money. Media cannot afford to go the business way as it has the propensity to cause serious impact on the society. Media’s only goal should be enlightening people on various issues concerning the society. It is expected to provide healthy entertainment. Truth should be brought out without fear or favour so that people are not deceived by the other pillars of democracy such as the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. If media also is plagued by all the ills seen in other branches of democracy, then who will correct the evil? As media reaches all and sundry in no time, it can cause havoc on the lives of people quite easily and quickly. Wrong portrayal of events by media can terrorise the society as a whole and silence people. People’s sprit of honesty and truth goes down and therefore they are unable to fight against atrocities and injustice. So, we find that truth becomes the biggest casualty, in such a situation.
Remedial Measures
The following measures may be useful in stemming the tide of media‘s evil influence.
As commercialization is the main cause for the ills observed in media world, it should be declared a ‘welfare service’ thereby precluding it from profit making.
Parents and the public can form watchdog bodies and play an active role in counseling the government and the media as to what should be shown in cinema and TV.
Censor boards should be revamped by including sociologists, social activists, women groups (not from cine field), psychologists and jurists. Cinema people with bias towards cinema cannot render justice in this important task.
Teaching community can be effectively used to give guidance to students by reviving the moral teaching classes in the curriculum with all seriousness.
Providing interesting curriculum in studies and promoting recreational avenues like sports and games may help in weaning children away from cinema. The opinion that cinema is a cheap recreation should be dispelled by explaining how it affects people’s mind and how it actually costs the society dearly by way of moral degradation.
Women groups should be sensitized to fight against the misuse of media that exploits women and denigrates womanhood.
Special lectures by intellectuals and social activists periodically in schools and colleges may be useful in removing ignorance and infusing values to the youth. Through such lectures youth must be made to understand that knowledge without wisdom is actually ignorance and in the absence of honesty and integrity knowledge will only be misused. This probably is much more important now than producing hundreds of PhDs in universities.
Now TV consumes a lot of people’s precious time. 24-hour telecasting should be banned and programmes should be limited only to a few hours in a day so that it will not unnecessarily detract people from their routine.
Even banning of commercial cinema can be thought of to stop this rot.
Cell phone should be used only for communication like an ordinary land line phone and other facilities like internet; videography etc., in the cell phone should be banned to prevent its misuse. Its use also can be restricted only to limited categories of people who may need it for essential and emergency services.
All the above will only be complementary to poverty alleviation which is a prerequisite to free people from their mental slavery and make all the educational messages to be effective.

References:
1) Larry A.Hjelle, Personality Theories, NewYork: Mc Graw-Hill
Daniel J. Ziegler, Publishing company p.262.
1981
2) Park.K – Preventive and Social Medicine, Jabalpur:
2000 M/s.Banarsidas Bhanot p.254.
Park.K – Preventive and Social Medicine, Jabalpur:
2000 M/s.Banarsidas Bhanot p.397.
3) Larry A.Hjelle, Personality Theories, NewYork: Mc Graw-Hill
Daniel J. Ziegler, Publishing company p.262.
1981
4) Larry A.Hjelle, Personality Theories, NewYork: Mc Graw-Hill
Daniel J. Ziegler, Publishing company p.262.
1981
5) Larry A.Hjelle, Personality Theories, NewYork: Mc Graw-Hill
Daniel J. Ziegler, Publishing company p.262.
1981
6) Du Rant RH, The relationship among TV watching, physical
BaranowskiT, activity and body composition of young children
John M etal Pediatrics.; 94 445-449
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7) Le Monde Diplomatique
Sep 9,1999
8) Centerwall,BS : Exposure to TV as a cause of 1989 violence
Academic press Inc, 2:1-58

9) Physician Guide to Media Violence : American Medical Association
1996
10) National TV Violence Study : Mediscope
,Feb 1996
11) Paul Klite,
Rocky Mountain Media Watch : viewing violent video teaches violent 24-5-1999 resolution conflict, encourages aggressive behaviour and diminishing empathy to victims
12) George Gerbner : University of Pennsylvania

13) Eros and Huesmann : University of Michigan
Psychologists
14) Tannis Macbeth Williams : University of British Columbia