Arbitrariness
right to freedom of expression. Th is right shall
include freedom to hold opinions and to receive
and impart information and ideas without
interference by public authority and regardless
of frontiers. (2) Th e exercise of these freedoms,
since it carries with it duties and responsibilities,
may be subject to such formalities, conditions,
restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law
and are necessary in a democratic society, in the
interests of national security, territorial integrity
or public safety ... for preventing the disclosure
of information received in confidence, or for
maintaining the authority and impartiality of the
judiciary.’
Th e upholding of the Convention is the task of
the European Court of Human Rights, based in
Strasbourg. Th e article gave birth to a pressure
group, Article 19, centred in London, using elec-
tronic media to monitor state censorship around
the world. See censorship and topic guide
under media: freedom, censorship.
Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards See
commercial radio (uk).
Assertiveness To be assertive is to be able to
communicate one’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs,
attitudes, positions and so on in a clear, confi -
dent, honest and direct manner; it is in short
to be able to stand up for oneself whilst also
taking into consideration the needs and rights of
other people. Anne Dickson in Women at Work
(Kogan Page, 2000) argues that, ‘Being assertive
... springs from a fulcrum of equality. It springs
from a balance between self and others ...’
Being assertive diff ers from being aggressive in
that aggressiveness involves standing up for one’s
own rights and needs at the expense of others.
In recent years there has been much interest
in assertiveness training – that is, in enabling
people to develop techniques and strategies,
verbal and non-verbal, for interpersonal
communication which will encourage them to
assert themselves in social situations. Th e ability
to be assertive is linked to self-esteem and self-
confi dence and thus to a positive self-concept.
Such training provides the opportunity for
considerable exploration of the relationship
between the self-concept and interpersonal
behaviour.
Whilst assertiveness in communication may
be encouraged in some individualistic cultures,
such as those of the US or UK, collectivistic
cultures, like those of Japan or China, tend to
stress the importance of respect for others, tact,
politeness and the maintenance of interpersonal
harmony. Thus in such cultures assertiveness
may be perceived as rudeness. Larry A. Samovar,Number One Intermediate People’s Court ruled
in favour of the Guangdong Apples Industry
Company, manufacturers of leather goods,
keeping its (winged) apple trademark. However,
in 2008 the Shenyang Municipal Intermediate
People’s Court found against the New Apple
Digital Technology Company, judging that a
trademark infringement had taken place and
was a case of unfair competition, although the
claimed damages were reduced.
Though Apple’s triumph with the multi-
functional iPad boosted the company’s profi ts
and reputation for innovation, the death of Jobs
in October 2011 cast a shadow of uncertainty
over Apple’s future.
Arbitrariness One of the characteristic features
of human language is that between an object
described and the word that describes it there
is a connection which is purely arbitrary – that
is, the speech sound does not refl ect features
of the object denoted. For example, the word
‘chair’ describes the object, chair, because the
English have arbitrarily decided to name it thus
as a matter of convention. In contrast, onomato-
poeic expressions are representative rather than
arbitrary in that they refl ect properties of the
nonlinguistic world (for example, clatter, buzz,
fl ap – and snap, crackle and pop).
‘Areopagitica’ Title of a tract or pamphlet by
the English poet John Milton (1608–74) in
defence of the freedom of the press, published
in 1644. Milton spoke out, with eloquence and
courage, following the revival of censorship by
parliamentary ordinance in 1643 (traditional
press censorship had broken down with the
Long Parliament’s abolition of the Star Chamber
in 1641). The title was taken from the Greek,
Areopagus – the hill of Ares or Mars in Athens,
where the highest judicial court held its sittings;
a ‘behind closed doors’ court.
Milton celebrated the power and influence
of the printed word: books ‘do preserve, as in a
vial, the purest effi cacy and extraction of that
living intellect that bred them. I know they are
as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those
fabulous dragon’s teeth; and being sown up and
down, may chance to spring up armed men. And
yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used,
as good almost kill a man as kill a good book:
who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s
image; but he who destroys a good book, kills
reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in
the eye’. See milton’s paradox.
Article 19 Th is clause in the European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Funda-
mental Freedom states: ‘(1) Everyone has the