Analysis of an ethical dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of an ethical dilemma - Essay Example Instead, they pursued suspension pending the court’s ruling. While ethical and moral standards should be held important, a system of order reflected in the justice system should be adhered to before implementing a course of action. In establishing the importance of due process, it is not in anyway disregarding the rights of the animals which were cruelly disregarded in the case. This is primarily the ethical dilemma of weighing the importance between the rights of the animals and the right of the person accused of the crime. The position stated in this paper is not about choosing sides and is not about disregarding the nature of the crime. It is the upholding of the value of the equality of rights afforded to everyone who is considered innocent, unless proven guilty. In the end, the cause is better championed if the legal process was followed. Respect for life is a top agenda for human beings. The right to live with dignity has been afforded to an individual the moment he is born. A person should determine his purpose in life while growing up and not the other way around. No individual has the right to define or determine a purpose for another person before he is even born. It is the individual himself who has to right to decide on the direction he plans to take. The integrity of being human lies in the power of the person to direct himself and decide on his own. An individual is therefore accountable to himself for whatever harm or insult is inflicted upon him. This will only hold water if no outside force is involved in the infliction of harm. This outside force refers to other people with their own selfish, ulterior and deliberate motives. Having said all of these, are these concepts now applicable to animals? Are we not at the same level, being all products of creation? Animals like humans deserve the right to live and partake of the benefits of creation. Humans may be superior to animals in terms of intellect but

Essay Topic Needed Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Topic Needed - Essay Example Due to this The Protestant-Calvinist Church tried to separate their selves from the Catholicism. The adaptation of Blacks and Indians was very slow in process by the whole nation. Racism began to construct on the basis of religion and color of the people. Blacks and Indians were treated as slaves and soulless. The economy of slavery in South forced a system based on racialism which developed the biological, zoological and botanical theories, which explained the human difference &slavery justification. (DISMANTLING RACISM: A Resource Book). From my personal point of view, Racism and slavery in south has always been a major issue of human rights. Slaves and Blacks being treated as lesser beings is what led to society with a born mindset against slaves and Blacks. Historically, sociology in context with the race has failed to observe the construction of both sides of America black/white, in terms of radical inequality. The real situation of America’s society is defined by both ‘race’ and ‘whiteness’. It was observed by Blumer that the Americans race system emerged from the intersection into three events occurred in the history of America. That was the conquest of the Indians, the forced importation of Africans, and more or less solicited coming of Europeans, Asians, and Latinos. Race was created in America during the time of 16th and 17th century. As per norms and values the trend was that the Catholics preferred to marry Catholics, the wealthy people preferred to marry wealthy, white preferred white and black preferred black. So, the norms of endogamy became the major issue in the ‘races’ of America. In 1967, van den Berghe observed that â€Å"sociologist might regard racial distinction as a spe cial case of invidious status differentiation†. Blumer also pointed the distinction of statuses among the American people. The American ‘race’ relations represent the historical activities of humanity

Exploring career prospects for accounting graduates

Exploring career prospects for accounting graduates Accounting graduates have a healthy career prospect which makes them land lucrative jobs right after college. In fact it is said that, an accountant is a man who watches the battle from the safety of the hills and then comes down to bayonet the wounded. The jobs range from working in a small business, an individual client, to working for a large organization. Market standards for accounting students are high. Individuals with BA degrees and the required course work are more likely to find employment in smaller firms, but individual strengths and abilities will have an impact. This makes someone without accounting qualifications to have very slim chances of finding a job in accounting. Every business major in college must take accounting classes just so that they have some brief knowledge in the subject. This paper will discuss the career prospects of students graduating with an accounting degree. It will explain where accounting graduates end up working. In addition, the paper will e xplain whether any certification, licenses or experience are required. Accounting students develop an extensive range of vital skills for their prospect career. They study the use of popular accounting software, writing financial reports, and interpreting different kinds of financial information. They also learn on how to advise organizations and individuals on financial planning and understanding state and federal tax laws. In addition, they acquire skills in customer service and become recognizable with ethical trade practices. Most prospect jobs require a minimum of an accounting degree or any related field. Opportunities must be favorable. Accounting firms hire plenty of students out of college through internships. Those with professional recognition, for instance certification or licensure like CPA, enjoy best prospects. The main advancement for an accountant fresh out with a business degree is a CPA, this is a certified public accountant, however there is also a CMA, and this is a certified management accountant. A CMA is recognized worldwide, wh ere a CPA is generally recognized in North America. There is a wide range of duties in the four major accounting fields namely; management accounting, internal auditing, public accounting, and government accounting. Management accountants, also called managerial, corporate, private, cost, or industrial accountants, record and analyze companies financial information. Their other duties include budgeting, cost management, asset management, and performance evaluation. Management accountants, being among executive teams, involve themselves in strategic planning and new products development. Analyzing and interpreting monetary information desirable by corporate executives in making sound business decisions is among their duties. Other duties include preparing financial reports for groups like stockholders, regulatory agencies, tax authorities, and creditors. There will be more competition on work for smaller private businesses. We understand that. We welcome it and we think we are in a good position to be the market leaders. We have a long history of brand recognition. Within accounting departments, the management accountants may do financial analysis, cost accounting, planning and budgeting. Public accountants execute a wide range of accounting, tax, consulting and auditing activities for their customers. The clients may be individuals, government organizations, or corporations. For instance, some public accountants contemplate on tax matters, like advising companies on advantages and disadvantages of tax on certain business decisions. They also prepare individual profits tax returns. Others may offer advice on employee healthcare benefits or compensation, data processing systems and design of accounting, and selection of controls for safeguarding assets. Public accountants can also be called external auditors. A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he does not particularly feel like it. These accountants, of whom many have qualified as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), normally work for accounting firms or own businesses. Some public accountants focus in forensic accounting. They investigate and interpret crimes like securities fraud and misapp ropriation, contract disputes and bankruptcies, and other criminal financial transactions, for example money laundering. Technology is hastily changing the work nature of most accountants. Special software packages help accountants to summarize transactions in financial records using standard formats. Accounting packages reduce the tiresome work linked to record keeping and data management. Being an accountant is much harder than taking a few classes, but the payout in the end comes in handy when becoming wealthy. This is because the average income for an accountant straight out of college with a BS in accounting is around fifty thousand dollars. Computers enable accountants to be mobile and to make use of computer systems of their clients in extracting information from the internet and databases. Consequently, many accountants with broad computer skills may specialize in correcting software problems or developing software to ensure unique analytical and data management needs are met. Accountants also execute technical duties like developing technology plans, and auditing, implementing, and controlling computer systems. Most accountants work in a distinctive office setting although some may work partly from home. Working for a firm creates different opportunities for college graduates because it helps build a portfolio, and in return the portfolio will be used to attract new customers. Accountants employed by government agencies, public accounting organizations, and firms with various locations may take trips frequently to do audits at government facilities or places of business for their clients. A survey conducted in 2008 showed that half of the accountants worked a typical 40-hour week. Many who worked longer hours were either self-employed or had many clients. Accountants with tax specialization often worked longer during taxation period. It is said that there are endless career choices for an accounting degree, because people will always have their taxes done. Fresh accountants may work under close supervision of an experienced accountant before becoming independent. Enough working experience at a high enough level as determined by the CGA point system is required. Usually it is two to three years of full time work. The hours are counted so if you work part time it would take much longer to get this piece completed. There are about 20,000 CGAs in Ontario and 8,000 graduate students working towards the designation Toronto star. Any accountant who needs to file a report with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must be a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Senior accountants working in public companies registered with SEC may be included among Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Helpful for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) to have as it gives a person a better rounded accounting understanding. State Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs. Any accountant, having passed a national exam can become a CPA. Very few people opt to start with a CA and then move on to other designations as the CA is a field in itself. The Ca designation is in no way less than the CMA or CGA. The CA employees are likely to be recruited right out of university. Large firms like KPMG and others do so and have the ability to pick the BComm graduates with the top marks. In summing up, there are endless opportunities that lie ahead of an accountant. In addition, there is a lot of money to be made in the business, and the knowledge of how to stay wealthy should make people want to become an accountant. There is a wide range of duties in the four major accounting fields namely management accounting, internal auditing, public accounting, and government accounting. Management accountants, also called managerial, corporate, private, cost, or industrial accountants, record and analyze companies financial information. Internal auditors verify internal control effectiveness in their organizations. They check for waste, fraud, or mismanagement. Public accountants execute a wide range of accounting, tax, consulting and auditing activities for their customers. Government accountants work in public sectors. They maintain and examine government agencies records, audit private businesses including individuals whose activities must be regulated by the government. S tate Board of Accountancy licenses CPAs. Any accountant, having passed a national exam can become a CPA. This is in addition to having met all the other state requirements in their area of practice.

Luke?s Significance In The Scriptures Essay -- essays research papers

Luke’s Significance in the Scriptures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If I were lucky enough to lecture students on Luke’s Gospel, simply discussing the factual aspect of his writings would not do him, nor Jesus, any justice. Along with it being a great depiction of Jesus’ life from his conception until his resurrection, Luke’s Gospel teaches lessons Jesus used through His teachings to better educate His followers of what it takes to eventually be a part of God’s kingdom. Such information would be seemingly too broad to understand within the confines of a book, however Luke masterfully combines all of these facts into one story with numerous lessons, leaving it as a difficult task for an educator to select which aspects of it to cover.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The third Gospel, written by Luke, presents The Son of Man through a human form as Jesus. Jesus’ life on Earth could be broken down into three parts: Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ preaching, and Jesus’ death and resurrection. These three aspects of His life are the vocal points for what modern day Theologians seem to focus on in their own teaching, so it would be nonsensical for me to refrain from using them within my own. It must also be acknowledged that much of what Jesus endured through His lifetime teaches a point so after discussing the actual happenings of a particular event, it is necessary to discuss its intentions for us.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Concerning Jesus’ birth, I would teach students how His birth had both simil- rities and differences to our own. Mary went through pregnancy carrying a fetus for nine   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kearney 2 months, as women always have, though she was never actually impregnated. The Angel Gabriel visited Mary to bear some unexpected news, telling her that, â€Å"†¦you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son† (CSB 99). Mary was a virgin, although God gave her the power to conceive a child. This amazing occurrence was only the beginning of what would become a storied lifetime of miracles, teachings, and Je... ...nbsp;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kearney 4 Living by these two things, Jesus strives to spread God’s word so that people will see that hatred-filled and unforgiving people will not be invited to the Kingdom of God. I would tell my students that whenever an attempted act of mine is in question, I will revert back to this to determine whether or not God would approve. The third Gospel, written by Luke, is a detailed description of Jesus’ life on Earth. Covering so much area in terms of stories and lessons, it is difficult to narrow down the important points or to focus on certain aspects. If I were an educator and had to teach this to students, like I have just done, I would break down Jesus’ life into three parts: Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ preaching, and Jesus’ death and resurrection. I would hit upon the topics which I have already mentioned, and reflect on the significance of each. Discovering the lessons presented before a reader and beginning to think more like God is the greatest achievement one could receive from Luke’s Gospel.

Mass Communications Essay

Advertisers have only one mission to achieve and that is to attract attention of possible buyers so that this attention can translate into the actual buying of a product or service. With this objective in mind, advertisers depend very much on projecting their advertisements that adhere to motivations and stimulus of their target market. When advertisers know what things catches a woman’s attention, they are sure to be able to communicate their other messages afterwards. For example, for products and services that target the women market, advertisers approach advertising activities on things that will make women stop, look and listen. For young adults, it would be handsome men, beautiful clothes and anything that is consistent with prevailing fads. Motivations for older women would be handsome men, anything for their families’ well being, anything to preserve youth and beauty. Besides physical points that advertisers use to lure attention, there are other factors that help advertisers reach more audiences and that is to project interesting and convincing topics such as cause oriented, value driven campaigns. Some products such as Body Shop advertise their support for women entrepreneurs worldwide. Products stamped with ‘organically grown’, ‘baby-friendly’ or ‘smoke-free’ attract women who are health and family oriented. Some advertisements such as beauty products get prominent doctors to endorse their products and this adheres to the safety issues that their women market is privy of. Three ads that catch my appeal are Body Shop, Apple Macbook and Dove Soap. Least appealing to me are Guess Jeans, car ads with sexy girls sitting on the cars and the Marlboro ads. Looking into the list above, I realize that the advertisements I find appealing are the advertisements that insert social concern and value to women as part of the company’s corporate mission and vision. Body Shop products are similar to other beauty products but their advertisement of helping suppliers from third world countries strike a chord inside me. Dove Soap commercials promote women’s preservation of beauty that does not need surgery or alterations. For me, Dove Soap advertisements adhere to my own idea of ageless beauty. Stereotyping is often used in advertisements because it reaches more people who usually have the same notion of what men are, of what cars are and what women are. I believe that using women’s body or men’s body as a means to attract attention to a product or service is poor taste. It appeals to instincts and therefore borders the animalistic nature of the people that should not be turned on because it is almost like regressing to becoming an animal once again. A â€Å"bad ads† are advertisements that are tasteless. They do not respect any culture and would trample on the sensitivities of people’s lives and uniqueness just to get attention. These ads get attention no matter what. Advertisers of bad ads believe that bad or good publicity is still publicity. â€Å"Bad ads† do not have any effort to invest on social responsibility. It is unfortunate that ‘bad ads’ proliferate more than ‘good ads’ because they actually are the ones who catch more attention just by the mere fact that they are bad. Bad ads catch the attention of both informed and misinformed consumers therefore bad ads must be regulated and policed. The power of advertisers is tremendous in terms of communicating beliefs and ideas to the mass audience. As for my part, I have to remain vigilant against advertisements that might catch my attention but have hidden persuasions that will lead to losing the treasured values I have. Especially being a woman myself, my support to bad ads will only hurt my own disposition and respectability as a woman. If I would want to be treated right, I must support advertisements that respect the role of women rather than abuse it. References: Body Shop Commercial Atwan, Robert. 1979. Edsels, Luckies, and Frigidaires: advertising the American way. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Cohn, David L. 1940. The Good Old Days: a history of American morals and manners as seen through the Sears, Roebuck Catalogs 1905 to the present. New York: Simon and Schuster Evans, George Heberton, Jr. 1948. Business Incorporations in the United States, 1800-1943. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.,

Propose a Job Specification for a Management Trainer

The Management Trainer need to ensure the high level of customer services of the whole company and trainings have been delivered to relative staffs and performed in essential functions afterward. He / she is also responsible for the overall direction, coordination and evaluation of the training programmers. Accountable: He / she will be the management link of company, management and general staff. He / she needs to make sure the programmers effective and suitable for those participate in the courses. Also, he / she is the one who control the training budget of company.Knowledge and Experience: – Educated to degree level, preferable in Psychological, Human Resources, Training or Business Administration. * The reason why need to hire a degree holder is to make sure he / she is appropriately trained and got enough knowledge to fulfill this position. – Over 10 years' working experience in airline industry or customer services field, with more than 5 years relevant experienc e in development and management area is preferred. * To hire an experienced staff will provide a revelation of organization's operations and their training.He / she may easily find the organization's needs and provide the new solutions and trainings. – A consulting level in Human Resources and Training areas are welcome. * Desirable to hire a professional in training field. – Excellent presentation and communication skills with different levels of staff. * As he / she needs to do survey, interview, audit and analysis with different levels of staff, good presentation and ability to communicate with the others is very important for this position. Proficiency in written and spoken Chinese, Mandarin and English. As Cathy Pacific is a global airline, there are many different nationalities of staff. He / she will need to provide trainings in different languages – Chinese, Mandarin and English. So high level of written and spoken skills in these 3 languages is very imp ortant. – Excellent computer skills in MS Word, Excel and Powering. * Nowadays computers are used everywhere in business, especially this is the position of management trainer, he / she must need to use different kinds of software to prepare training materials.Explanation of the various requirements proposed in Job Specification. Job Description: – Analyze the needs of different focus group of management through survey, programs that meet the management team's learning needs across the customer services, administration services and marketing expenses. – Foresee the airline process risk and put the solutions into training programs. – Support the development of new technology then introduce and process the training. – Develop a close working relationship in between different departments to promote discussion and conversation on training.Assist the management to overview the operation team and make sure they have provide excellent customer services to our passengers. Management training is essential to Cathy Pacific as the most positive benefit is better employees. A development of management is part of the way to make improvement of the business. Also, good training is a good benefits package for management staff that can grow their loyalty of company and reduce the turnover rate. Through the training, employees can understand what are the company's goals and set a clear objective to the staff under they managed.

Catherine Hakims Preference Theory Essays

Catherine Hakims Preference Theory Essays Catherine Hakims Preference Theory Essay Catherine Hakims Preference Theory Essay issue 1, pp. 5-29 ,viewed 9 August 2011, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost. Chia Sue-Ann Lin K 2008, â€Å"Wooing women back to work†, The Straits Times, 15 March, viewed 3 August 2011, asiaone. com/Business/Office/Learn/Out%2BOf%2BOffice/Story/A1Story20080319-55231. html. Dimovski, V, skerlavaj, M, Mok, KM 2010, Is There a Glass Ceiling for Female Managers in Singapore Organizations? , Management (18544223),vol. 5 issue 4, pp. 307-329, viewed 12 August 2011, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. Hakim, C 2006, ‘Women, careers and work-life preferences’, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 279-94, ;http://cat. lib. rmit. edu. au. ezproxy. lib. rmit. edu. au/vwebv/holdingsInfo? bibId=651680;. Industrial Arbitration Court 2006, Equal Remuneration, viewed 07 August 11, ; iac. gov. sg/Home/Pages/equal. asp;. Lee, U-Wen 2009,’Remove barriers facing women in the workplace: HR firm Manpower’, The Business Times, 4 February, viewed 9 August 2011; asiaone. com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20090204-119446. tml;. Lyons, L 2000, The limits of feminist political intervention in Singapore, Journal of Contemporary Asia, vol. 30, no. 1, p. 67, viewed 13 August 2011, ;Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost;. McRae, S 2003, Constraints and choices in mothers employment careers: a consideration of Hakims Preference Theory, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 54 issue 3, p. 317, viewed 13 August 2011;Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost;. NT UC Womens Development Secretariat 2010, About Us, viewed 6 August 2011, ntucwds. org. sg/wps/portal/wds/! t/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjHy9vJ09LYwMDR0MjA08jz0D_EN8w I3cfA_2CbEdFAL_sU_k! /. Penny, L 2011 ‘The myth of the myth of gender equality’, New Statesman, 8 January, viewed 2 August 2011, newstatesman. com/blogs/laurie-penny/2011/01/women-equality-hakim-choice. Reisenwitz, T, Iyer, R 2009, Differences In Generation X And Generation Y: Implications For The Organization And Marketers,  Marketing Management Journal, vol. 19 issue 2, pp. 91-103, viewed 12 August 2011, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost. Singapore Department of Statistics 2011, Statistics, viewed 6 August 2011, singstat. gov. sg/stats/keyind. html#emp. Singapore Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports 2011, Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC), viewed 6 August 2011, http://app1. mcys. gov. sg/Assistance/CentrebasedFinancialAssistanceSchemeforChild. aspx. Singapore Ministry of Manpower 2011a, ‘Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics, 2011, MOM Manpower Research and Statistics Department, viewed 9 August 2011, mom. gov. g/Documents/statistics-publications/yearbook11/mrsd_2011YearBook. pdf. Singapore Ministry of Manpower 2011b, ‘Singapore Workforce, 2010’, MOM Manpower Research and Statistics Department, viewed 3 August 2011, mom. gov. sg/Publications/mrsd_singapore_workforce_2010. pdf. Singapore Ministry of Manpower 2011c, Tripartite Workgroup on Enhancing Employment Choices for Women, viewed 8 August 2011, mom. gov. sg/employment-practices/tripartism-in-sin gapore/Pages/default. aspx. Singapore Ministry of Manpower 2010, Women, viewed 6 August 2011, om. gov. sg/foreign-manpower/Pages/women. aspx. Singapore Ministry of Manpower 2000, ‘Occupational segregation: A gender perspective’, MOM Manpower Research and Statistics Department, viewed 3 August 2011, mom. gov. sg/Publications/mrsd_Occupation_Segregation_A_Gend er_Perspective. pdf. Singapore Ministry of Trade Industry Singapore 2009, ‘Report on the Household Expenditure Survey, 2007/08’, Department of Statistics, viewed 9 August 2011, singstat. gov. sg/pubn/hhld/hes2007. pdf. Snowdon, G 2011, ‘Women still face a glass ceiling’, The Guardian, 21 February, viewed 6 August 2011 guardian. co. uk/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs. Spicer, K 2011, ‘What women really want’, The Australian, 10 January, viewed 2 August 2011, theaustralian. com. au/news/features/what-women-really-want/story-e6frg6z6-1225984615048. Tan, KP 2001, ‘Civic society and the New Economy in Patriarchal Singapore: Emasculating the Political, Feminizing the Public, Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies,vol. 15, no. 2 , p. 95-122. Twenge, J 2010, A Review of the Empirical Evidence on Generational Differences in Work Attitudes, Journal of Business ; Psychology, vol. 25 issue 2, pp. 201-210, viewed 11 August 2011, ;Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost;. Wong, T ; Yeoh, BSA 2003, ‘Fertility and the Family: An Overview of Pronatalist Population Policies in Singapore’, Asian MetaCentre for Population and Sustainable Development Analysis Research Paper Series, no. 12, pp. 1-25. Yap, MT 2003, ‘Fertility and Population Policy: the Singapore Experience’, Journal of Population and Social Security (Population), Supplement to Volume 1, pp. 643 to 658,

Religion In Public Life Essays - Prayer, Spirituality, Free Essays

Religion In Public Life Essays - Prayer, Spirituality, Free Essays Religion In Public Life Prayer in school has been the topic of the century, Is it right to pray in school, stated a Texas teacher. The society as a whole believes it is wrong, but there is some people that thinks it would be a good addition to our school. Maybe it will lower school violence. Yeah, right, whatever! Come on people, be a little intelligent. Our country has had violence before we created prayer in school. Religion will probably make it worse. Sociologists has taken a look at this issue. They perceived it preposterous. Sociologist think if we had prayer in school, might as well force us to read a bible and say amen every time a teacher finishes a sentence. Prayer in school is ridiculous and absurd. Sociologists opposes school prayer for a number of reasons. To begin, it is unconstitutional and a clear violation of our First Amendment. Remember, that amendment contains the Establishment Clause which prohibits the government fromestablishing religion. Simply put, secular institutions like the publ ic schools should NOT be a forum for religious ritual or indoctrination. And do a majority of people support school prayer? Often, those results depend on exactly how the question happens to be asked. Surveys suggest that most people reject the notion of mandatory prayer. But even if the overwhelming majority thought that prayer was, somehow, a good idea, that does not make the practice ethically just or constitutional. Sociologists also points out, in opposing school prayer, that prayer is not efficacious. School prayer is obviously a form of religious indoctrination; it teaches children that there are invisible, supernatural entities which can be implored and appeased through mumbling prayers or reading from holy books. Many people believe that just because there is a bible, does it mean we have to take it seriously. If we wrote a book and put it in a time capsule and send it back 4000 years ago it will become a religion. What about school initiated prayer? Before getting excited about student initiated prayer, ask yourself: which students are doing the initiating? Student populations often reflect the diversity of the culture. Some students may wish to pray in class or at official school ceremonies like graduation exercises or sporting events, but are they being fair to other students who may not wish to pray? Lately, there have been court cases involving this very question. It is clear that even in areas such as Utah where a school may have a high percentage of students from the same religious background, not all students feel comfortable with this bogus student led religious ritual. If you see a huge group of people praying will you join them? The survey says 1 out of 4 students say yes. The reason is, they want to keep their friends. Sociologists believe teen peer pressure is why this is the way it is. What about a moment of silence? What for? Why do we need a moment of silence? School prayer boosters have sometimes proposed this as a way of establishing a legal precedent which, they hope, will eventually lead toward explicit and vocal school prayer. Over a decade ago, the Supreme Court struck down this type of proposal; legislation of this type often calls for the moment of silence to be used for meditation or prayer. Besides, consider the declining number of hours that students are in school each year. Every moment should be used for useful and educational instruction, not meditating! The whole idea of this is if we create some way to do this, without violating any rights, it wont effect any one. But yes it does, even a moment of silence is basically saying you must do this or else... Our government has always stood by the First Amendment, For one reason. The First Amendment creates an issue with how to stop certain things from happening. There is a lot of power in the First Amendment. But, our government exercises this right narrowly. We are always battling with the First Amendment. There is a lot of culture in this issue. One main reason we live in America is because we wanted the right to believe in a god, many gods, or no god(s)

1984 Essays (376 words) - Nineteen Eighty-Four, Free Essays

In the appendix of Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell warns against the enormous power a regime can hold once it has control of the language. Winston, on the other hand, believes he is free as long as he can hold on the mathematical axiom, 2+2=4. Unfortunately, Winston grossly underestimates the sheer power held be Oceania?s totalitarian regime. With the Inner Party at the helm, Oceanian society has been deliberately drawn down to a deep, inescapable socioeconomic morass, with Party exercising its conscious aim of nurturing a state of ?unfreedom and inequality?. Having learnt a great deal from totalitarian regimes that had failed in the past, the Inner Party became a small ruling group that was determined to create a societal structure that would ensure the Party maintained a permanent stronghold over Oceania and its people. Unlike their predecessors, the Inner Party was comprised of people who were ?less avaricious, less tempted by luxury, hungrier for pure power, and above all, mor e conscious of what they were doing and more intent on crushing opposition. From this steely resolve of the Inner Party to be the eternal guardians of power in Oceania stems the wide and varied sources of truth and power held be the totalitarian regime. Collectively, these sources present a frightening combination that, fundamentally, serves to destroy the essence of the human spirit and to ensure the ruling group an endless reign of power. As Orwell details in the appendix of the novel, control over language is one of the major sources of truth and power held by Oceania?s totalitarian regime. The introduction and steady implementation of Newspeak as the language of choice for Party members, meant that the Party effectively assumed control of the boundaries of human expression and thought. The elimination of words and phrases considered unfavourable to the Party and its ideals made it extremely difficult to express conflicting or derogatory views towards the Party. And, with this su ppression of free thought through language, the Party is also able to eliminate unwanted ideas, emotions, and ideals associated with those words. The embodiment of the slogan ?Ignorance is Strength? is another source of power for the totalitarian regime in Oceania. The Party exploits the basic idea that ignorant people are content people.

Journals Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Journals - Coursework Example I understood that where the generation that preceded it was about conformity, this generation was about breaking the rules and exploring new psychological and social spaces for the rest of us. I could not wait to get started on the materials and the discussions and to participate, reflect and learn. Mostly too at that point I was eager to dive into the books and films. I also understood at this point that the perspectives for viewing the time period and the generation included not just the artistic, but also other relevant perspectives that hopefully would broaden my understanding of the era and give me a rounded overall understanding. The historical, business, and cultural viewpoints are important too, and I understood that these takes on the era would be explored in depth in the coming weeks (â€Å"Hollywood Rebels†). The ground rules and expectations for class performance and participation were also clearly laid down during this first week. I learned what was expected of me, and this learning was valuable, because I knew that if I participated in class and applied myself to the tasks in earnest that I would do fine. Moreover, I also appreciated how my inputs were important not only in terms of being able to get good marks but also in terms of the being able to get truly learn and get genuine insights into the subject matter. Taking the high road, I understood that to be able to learn as much as I can from this era, I need to take the class discussions seriously and really try to assimilate the materials as much as I could (â€Å"Hollywood Rebels†). Etiquette and attendance were discussed. Etiquette was mostly about respecting the class and giving full attention during lectures. Attendance rules were clearly laid out, to make sure that students knew when they would be marked as late or absent, and what absences mean in terms of passing or failing the class. The syllabus and assignments and their

The Schengen Agreement and Migration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Schengen Agreement and Migration - Essay Example This initiated the first step of the dialogue. The next issue discussed was whether this should be applied to people who were outside this European Community. The movement gained momentum when some of the countries decided to push ahead with the proposal and eliminate these borders. (Hiroyuki Tanaka and Trinidad Macias, 2007) The Benelux countries which included Belgium, Luxemborg and Netherlands had already initiated the process of having a common passport much before the idea of Schengen originated. This was formed as early as the 1970’s. France and Germany furthered strengthened their cross border treaties by signing a bilateral agreement in 1984 which decided to do away with the cross border checks. (Gelatt Julia, 2005) This was borne by the protests initiated by truck drivers who were not happy with the long procedural delays these checks were taking. To further strengthen the agreement a number of countries like France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Belgium signed the first agreement on June 14, 1985 at Schengen. It was decided to do away with the passports and other red tape including procedural delays which hampered free movement. The process that began in Schengen was considered as a sort of beginning for greater co-ordination between further member states of the European Union so that the idea that was generated in Schengen could be expanded to the whole of the EU. (Kazmierkiewicz, 2005) Source: Hiroyuki Tanaka and Trinidad Macias, 2007, Schengen Member States The Schengen area further consolidated its intentions by eliminating the need for border checks on both travellers from the member countries and also relaxing these norms for visitors from outside the Schengen area. However there was a need for careful monitoring the people who was allowed free access in the Schengen area. The Schengen Convention was further ratified by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Germany in 1990. (Bertozzi Stefano, 2008) Several key decisions were taken in this convention. The terms and conditions for the issuance of short term visas for less than 90 days were outlined. It also laid out the policies for the travel of people across the Schengen region. Movement of people who intended to stay on for more than 90 days were provided with long term visas. Internal border checks were done away with but external borders were still subjected to the principles of national legislation.( Gelatt Julia, 2005) The Schengen roped in further countries. In 1990 Italy joined in while Portugal entered into the fray 1991. Spain joined next in 1992 supported by Austria in 1995. Finland, Sweden and Denmark completed the formalities of joining in 1996. (Hiroyuki Tanaka and Trinidad Macias, 2007) An interesting facet to this agreement was that although Norway and Iceland were not members of the EU, it supported and became a member to enhance the sanctity of the union. The membership of Denmark into the Union however came with a rider. They could fe el free to agree or disagree with decisions that were made from time to time in the Schengen Agreements. Schengen Information System The Schengen Conv

Identifying Ethical Differences in Culture Essay

Identifying Ethical Differences in Culture - Essay Example In regarding guanxi, it usually outstrips any rules and regulations that run contrary to it. In China guanxi obliges one to defer to a complex system of personal relationships and moral obligations, which may even date back generations, in all aspect of life. This certainly includes business as well. Guanxi places relationships above all other considerations and in business one may be forced to use their position to purchase products from an associate that may in fact be more expensive or of less quality than is available somewhere else. Actions like these, if detected by a company from one of its staff would usually be grounds for dismissal as well as legal action in many cases. This disparity between worlds is due to one of the major cultural differences between the U.S. and China. In the US business and even personal relationships are usually transactional, that is there is a give and take that is considered an equitable exchange between two parties. This usually holds for both bu siness entities as well as personal relationships. Chinese cultural is far more relationally oriented and is often guided by complex associations of family and friends over many generations. Based essentially upon honor and respect, it is far more important to maintain good relationships under the rules of guanxi than it is to do what is best for your company. This is of course considered treason in the U.S., while in China it is accepted and tolerated by most organizations. Although the law does limit it to some extent and the excessive.

Tourism Management Course Work Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tourism Management Course Work - Assignment Example If the front desk doesn’t respond pleasantly and efficiently to the needs of the traveler, this also will leave a bad impression. How a guest is treated is more important than the looks of an establishment, which does not diminish the need for a beautiful venue. It just means that beyond that beauty should be substance, which is represented by the quality of the staff. 3. As a resort hotel manager, do you believe your guests need to be educated about environmental protection? Do you need to educate your staff? Answer: Because of the new trends in green tourism, the staff definitely needs to be fully informed on all the ways that the hotel is implanting green policies in order to leave a smaller eco footprint. The staff should also be prepared to answer questions concerning ways in which the guests might take issue with one policy or procedure or another which does consume more than what might be desired. The guests should see literature in their rooms and at the front desk tha t shows what measures have been taken in order to lower the rate of consumption by the hotel. This type of information is both instructive and develops good relationships between the hotel and the guests. The information, however, should also be subtle because those who are at the resort are there to experience a sense of luxury. A good balance between maintaining the appearance of excess, while also showing responsibility, will provide for the best possible outcome regarding this issue. 5. For new developments, should the access roads be supplied by a government agency, the developer, or both? If both, who should supply what? Answer: Access roads to a new development are supplied by the government as the building of new commerce is considered to be a benefit to the city. Negotiations between the government and the developer will often allow for other considerations as well, but the access roads, as they are connected to the main roadways, are the responsibility of the government ag ency who is in control of road development within that specific area, whether it be city, county, state, or federal. 8. The sports director of a large resort hotel has been instructed to upgrade the hotel's physical fitness program. Provide some suggestions as to how this might be done. Answer: When approaching physical fitness within a resort hotel environment, conservative is the best approach because of the liability risk involved in active participation. Low impact, high result physical activity is the best method so that guests are attracted to the hotel, but are not in danger of physical injury. Although all physical fitness has some risk, making sure that staff is fully prepared to help guests and that any activity that is programmed has fully certified instructors is the best possible mitigation to risk. The second element of reconstructing a physical fitness program is in looking at the current trends and selecting those trends that reflect safe use, but also are exciting t o the guest. Dance routine type programs, such as Zumba, an exercise program which incorporates salsa dance, provide an environment of fitness while supporting something that is relatively safe. Being current while mitigating risk factors is the key to any new physical fitness program in a resort environment as it is likely some guests who participate will have not had much previous physical activity in their background. Therefore, the third element is making sure the program is

Analyse and evaluate the view that language affects cognition Essay

Analyse and evaluate the view that language affects cognition - Essay Example â€Å"Children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles, and they do so without explicit instructions or any other environmental clues to the nature of such principles† (Pinker, 1995: 135). Despite the complexity of language systems, every child successfully learns his/ her first language in a few years, without conscious effort or formal lessons. Hence, language acquisition is distinct from general intelligence; it is based on inherent cognitive programming, and is unique to humans. One of the important aspects of cognitive science is language acquisition. According to Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler (2004, p.172), â€Å"inhibitory processes serve a restraining function by preventing strong responses† from taking control of effectors responsible for thought and action. This constraining measure ensures that other less likely responses are also considered; hence incorrect interpretations of text and language are avoided. These functions work together to ensure that information in the memory buffer pertains only to goal-relevant information. Language learnability is related to the cognitive processing that gives meaning to language. There is a distinction between top-down and bottom-up processing. Top-down refers to starting with the complete picture and working down to the basic processes; bottom-up means starting with the minute details and working towards understanding the whole process. Thus, the former is a breaking down process, and the latter is a building up process (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2004). In top-down processing of stimulus, knowledge and memory function together to explain the details while information from the general context is used to help organize the stimulus. On the other hand, bottom-up processing of a stimulus is that in which information is from a physical stimulus, and not from a general context. The bottom level of processing is

Identifying Ethical Differences in Culture Essay

Identifying Ethical Differences in Culture - Essay Example In regarding guanxi, it usually outstrips any rules and regulations that run contrary to it. In China guanxi obliges one to defer to a complex system of personal relationships and moral obligations, which may even date back generations, in all aspect of life. This certainly includes business as well. Guanxi places relationships above all other considerations and in business one may be forced to use their position to purchase products from an associate that may in fact be more expensive or of less quality than is available somewhere else. Actions like these, if detected by a company from one of its staff would usually be grounds for dismissal as well as legal action in many cases. This disparity between worlds is due to one of the major cultural differences between the U.S. and China. In the US business and even personal relationships are usually transactional, that is there is a give and take that is considered an equitable exchange between two parties. This usually holds for both bu siness entities as well as personal relationships. Chinese cultural is far more relationally oriented and is often guided by complex associations of family and friends over many generations. Based essentially upon honor and respect, it is far more important to maintain good relationships under the rules of guanxi than it is to do what is best for your company. This is of course considered treason in the U.S., while in China it is accepted and tolerated by most organizations. Although the law does limit it to some extent and the excessive.

Analyse and evaluate the view that language affects cognition Essay

Analyse and evaluate the view that language affects cognition - Essay Example â€Å"Children learn languages that are governed by highly subtle and abstract principles, and they do so without explicit instructions or any other environmental clues to the nature of such principles† (Pinker, 1995: 135). Despite the complexity of language systems, every child successfully learns his/ her first language in a few years, without conscious effort or formal lessons. Hence, language acquisition is distinct from general intelligence; it is based on inherent cognitive programming, and is unique to humans. One of the important aspects of cognitive science is language acquisition. According to Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler (2004, p.172), â€Å"inhibitory processes serve a restraining function by preventing strong responses† from taking control of effectors responsible for thought and action. This constraining measure ensures that other less likely responses are also considered; hence incorrect interpretations of text and language are avoided. These functions work together to ensure that information in the memory buffer pertains only to goal-relevant information. Language learnability is related to the cognitive processing that gives meaning to language. There is a distinction between top-down and bottom-up processing. Top-down refers to starting with the complete picture and working down to the basic processes; bottom-up means starting with the minute details and working towards understanding the whole process. Thus, the former is a breaking down process, and the latter is a building up process (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2004). In top-down processing of stimulus, knowledge and memory function together to explain the details while information from the general context is used to help organize the stimulus. On the other hand, bottom-up processing of a stimulus is that in which information is from a physical stimulus, and not from a general context. The bottom level of processing is

Differences and Similarities turning into One person despite of being Two Essay Example for Free

Differences and Similarities turning into One person despite of being Two Essay Question: Phillotson says that Sue and Jude `seem to be one person split in two.What does he mean by this? Phillotson’s statement that Sue and Jude seems to be one person split in two was because of the cousins’ life. Their huge similarity with each other especially when it comes to their goals was more like of just one person’s goal. Their single identity and the same belief drove them into being with each other thus they are more associated with their characters and identity. From the first part of the story, we must understand and realize at the same time that Jude was a little kid and his cousin Sue was of the same age also or younger of a few years. His dream of going into college however was his ultimate goal in life which was suddenly trapped when Arabella, his girlfriend said that she was pregnant. Believing that he must do the right thing despite of Arabella being a not ideal wife, he married her. Afterwards, he asked her regarding the pregnancy and she said that she mistakenly figured out her situation which made Jude more miserable. Losing his chance of going into the university, he even thought of killing himself and upon waking up one morning, he found out a note from his wife who was out of his sight saying that she will go to Australia with her parents. Jude became happy and when to the place he wanted to go and there he tried to find a job and upon finding a job, he tried to find Sue. When he saw her, he decided and told to himself that he must not fall in love with her because they were cousins but as time goes by, he learned to thus when she decided to leave, he asked her why and arranged her to be a student teacher assisting Phillotson. Later on in the story, Sue and Phillotson got married and Jude was saddened by this fact but maybe they are somehow destined to be with each other. The husband of Sue allowed her to leave thus she moved in Jude’s house and the two lived together as their divorce were all good with their respective partners. Jude later on found out from Arabella that they have a son thus she gave it to him and along with Sue and Jude’s two children, they lived together but it was getting hard for them to sustain their life and without an apartment of their own, Jude decided to find lodging house. They soon found one but Jude must leave separately with his family. One night Sue together with Arabella and Jude’s son went out to find an apartment and was saddened by the fact that there was none and the boy was pissed off when he found out that Sue is pregnant again. The morning came and Sue went to Jude and on when they went back home, they found the children hanging in the closet. Although they tried to revive them, it was impossible. In the end, the two decided to go back to their respective partners and thinking that they were cursed, they separated ways. Jude died in the end. In the circumstances which happened in the account of the lives of both Sue and Jude, we have to understand that they were really the same except that Sue was a girl and Jude was a boy. Despite of their differences, what happened in their life brings them so much closer to each other despite of the fact that they once lived together. The tragedy they experienced only shows that they were indeed person of neither bad nor good fate thus we have to take it into account that probably the circumstances and the instances they both have in common were just coincidences but it is also in high regard that these circumstances happened when they were still together. As a child, these cousins were both fond of studying and as they grow up, both tried their best to enter in a university. Both of them were not happy with their marriage thus they somehow committed adultery but they did not stop simply from being the same in those terms. A month after the divorce of Arabella and Jude was granted, Phillotson and Sue’s divorce followed. At the end of the story, both were taken back by their divorced half thus they were reunited and got married again. Upon knowing the summary, one can determine that even in the start, the two have qualities which are highly similar with one another. Although their attitude was not compared nor contrasted, their goals and their life experiences seem to be the same. Their fate which brought them together perhaps was a big reason why Phillotson was able to say those words. It is undeniable that they were of the same fate that even in the end of the story, both of them suffered the same way thus they thought they were being punished because of their relationship. Their life experiences which brought them together was the same thing which make people understand that they were indeed a single person split into one by circumstances and experiences. Works Cited Hardy, Thomas. Jude the Obscure. 1895

Managing Intelligence in National Security

Managing Intelligence in National Security At which stage of the intelligence cycle is failure most likely to occur, and why? The most common, traditional paradigm for managing intelligence ‘flow’ is a cycle of four components: direction, collection, processing, and dissemination. Direction comes from policymakers: heads of government agencies, heads of state, senior government officials tasked with overseeing intelligence, and the like, who provide both specific and general roadmaps to intelligence agencies as to how they should apply their resources to defend national interests both at home and abroad. Collection is the process by which intelligence is gathered in a variety of fashions: via HUMINT – intelligence data collected by personal, human effort ‘on the ground’; electronically, e.g. SIGINT (interception of signals), IMINT (satellite, photographic imagining intelligence), etc. Processing is the analysis of the data obtained in the collection component, the means by which the nature, relevance and relative importance of the collected intelligence is ascertained by mea ns both scientific and intuitive. (Arguably, processing is the most important component of the cycle, but the least amount of money is often budgeted to this component of the cycle.) Dissemination refers to the process by which the relevant information is channeled to the appropriate decision-making party within a timetable commensurate with the importance of the information collected and the results of the processing/analysis. Each of the four components of the cycle is fraught with peril for failure and failure in any one component can be catastrophic. The two arenas where failure is most likely to occur, however, are collection and analysis. Failures in collection are often due to lack of applied resources, whether technological or human. The debate has raged for decades over whether HUMINT is superior to intelligence data gathered by increasingly advancing technological wizardry. Most likely, a healthy application of and symbiosis between the two is critical. There is no substitute for the personal presence of agents, operatives, and contacts on the ground, substantially integrated with useful components of whichever society in which they are placed. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was woefully lacking in human collection efforts in Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and in Iraq during the same time period (though to a lesser extent). Compounding matters was the dearth of CIA field operatives or domestically-based personnel who spoke the common languages of the Middle East – Arabic, Farsi, Pashtun, etc. However, rapid advances in computer technology have enabled the collection of vast quantities o f raw intelligence data – telephone calls, e-mails, radio transmissions, etc., and intelligence agencies who lack such technology will invariably be at a massive disadvantage. Failures in processing/analysis can occur when the collection apparatus has delivered all of the puzzle pieces, usually due to either a collective/institutional, or individual inability to connect the proverbial dots and turn raw data into actionable intelligence conclusions. The 9/11 attacks are a regrettably perfect example of failures in analysis. Discrete entities in the U.S. intelligence community – the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and CIA, as well as other government agencies (the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Federal Aviation Administration) – all possessed nuggets of raw data which if analyzed properly, would clearly have indicated (in fact, some say did definitively indicate) that an Al-Qaida attack on the U.S. using airplanes was imminent. However, these entities failed to share this data and collaborate cooperatively to analyze it. Turf warfare, egos, bureaucratic inertia, and competing political agendas can easily cause fatal paralysis in intelligence processing. The costs of covert action tend to outweigh its benefits. Discuss. The question of whether the costs of covert action outweigh its benefits depend greatly on the context of the covert action; is it an ongoing, multi-year low-intensity campaign involving numerous agendas, or is it an urgent, high-priority single mission designed to achieve a massive single strategic goal? Also, the notion of costs must be defined in relative terms – monetary costs, human costs, opportunity costs; indirect costs (unintended consequences); other abstract and intangible costs such as ethics, legal ramifications, etc. The CIA has long been involved in low-intensity covert actions in a variety of nations, with varying degrees of success. The Iran-Contra affair, in which Reagan administration officials diverted proceeds from the sale of arms to Iran to anti-Marxist Nicaraguan rebels in the mid-1980s, was costly in both monetary terms (hundreds of millions of pounds) and legal terms – a number of Reagan administration officials were subjected to criminal charg es for their roles in facilitating both the operation itself and the cover-up of the operation (the American Congress had passed a law forbidding U.S. government direct aid to the Contras). However, in the wake of 9/11, when the U.S. government concluded that decisive force was required to respond to Al-Qaida’s attack on U.S. soil, the CIA and DoD (Department of Defense) were authorized by President Bush to spend whatever was necessary to execute some of the most bold covert actions – particularly in HUMINT undertaken by American intelligence agencies in decades. HUMINT capacity at the CIA eroded as, ironically, the moral excesses of covert activities of the 1960s-1970s caused a backlash that choked off HUMINT funding priority; also, the end of the Cold War led many policymakers to conclude that the CIA’s resources were better spent on electronic means of collection, as covert action can be prohibitively expensive in both time and money. However, the CIA was authorized and ordered to act boldly and within a matter of weeks, had substantial HUMINT on the ground in Afghanistan both collecting data and coordinating with DoD military planners to levera ge intelligence into actionable military plans. The goal: to defeat the Taliban, who had hosted Al-Qaida in a darkly symbiotic relationship which held the country in a repressive stranglehold and provided safe haven for the training of thousands of would-be terrorists. Mindful of the failure of the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, CIA realized that only an asymmetrical application of covert power (mirroring Al-Qaida’s approach to the 9/11 attacks, ironically) would be effective, as a conventional ground war could be too costly in both manpower and lives on both sides. A shrewd application of HUMINT, technology, and good old-fashioned money engineered the relatively rapid American triumph in Afghanistan in 2001. CIA operatives on the ground descended into Afghanistan with little support, made contact with sympathetic Afghan warlords, dispensed hundreds of millions of dollars to other warlords and tribal leaders, in some cases simply to bribe them into switching sides and fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaida. These same operatives also used hand-held laser GPS equipment to target enemy strongholds and transmit this location data directly to U.S. aircraft, who in turn dropped laser-guided bombs with deadly efficiency. The cost was in the billions, but the victory was swift, decisive, and – given the ramifications of the triumph – extremely inexpensive, relatively speaking. As such, not all covert operations are too costly to make them worthwhile. Discuss the importance of open sources collection in comparison to clandestine collection. Is clandestine collection indeed more valuable? Open-source(s) collection refers to the collection of actionable or otherwise valuable/relevant intelligence data from publicly available sources. Prior to the advent of the Internet, this methodology was not without value, but in many cases prohibitively time-intensive, and less prone to yield results. Though the type of information available to the public at a local library might surprise a layperson, it is dwarfed by what is now available on the Internet to anyone with a personal computer. In some cases, an intelligence analyst sitting at a desk in London can gather valuable, reliable information about conditions on the ground in a city halfway across the globe – weather conditions, local news, political and business developments, cultural idiosyncracies. Other sources of OSINT, as it is termed, include diverse sources as consultations with experts in various fields within academia or the business world, professional associations, professional conventions, to simple thought ful Google searches and reading of blogs. The trend globally is towards an ever-increasing amount of openness of information exchange thanks to the Internet. Increasingly sophisticated ‘sweeper’ data-mining software technology, which is often used to collect and in some cases process large volumes of conventional communication traffic, are being utilized by the CIA to scan millions of websites, searching for key terms, phrases, contexts, which might indicate that human review would be advantageous or essential. Instructions to make improvised explosive devices can easily be posted on websites, and 21st century intelligence collection must conform to this new reality. In comparison, the best use of clandestine intelligence vis-à  -vis OSINT efforts is to obtain highly specialized or esoteric intelligence information that is either intentionally kept confidential (classified government secrets, for example). OISINT processing and analysis can help frame and answer a number of general questions and/or analyze larger patterns and trends, whereas clandestine intelligence can help answer targeted, specific questions that cannot be ascertained by either human or computer OSINT efforts. For example, in response to the intelligence reforms demanded in the wake of the failure to anticipate and prevent the 9/11 attacks, the CIA formed an â€Å"Open Source Center† (OSC) to focus specifically on OSINT. In 2004, OSC used OSINT technology to discover that a new, powerful Chinese submarine had been constructed in an underground location heretofore unknown to the American military and intelligence community. The tip-off? Chinese military bloggers, one of whom posted a photograph of the impressive new Chinese submarine (the Yuan-class attack submarine) on a publicly viewable website. CIA in turn employed HUMINT and electronic surveillance to ascertain where the submarine had been constructed and what its operational abilities might be. In a less dramatic example, OSC searched Iraqi websites for postings related to the use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), in some cases gathering actionable data which helped avert the use of these deadly terrorist tools. (The inad vertent destruction of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 by NATO bombs might have been averted by some of the most rudimentary OSINT – having a human operative walk down the street to make sure the military target’s address was correct.) Clandestine collection activities, particularly HUMINT efforts, will always have their place, but in a world where information is available anywhere, anytime, at the click of a mouse, intelligence agencies must dedicate significant resources to OSINT.

Stephanie Coontzs What We Really Miss about the 1950s :: I Love Lucy

Part 1: Summary Stephanie Coontz's essay `What we really miss about the 1950's' is an essay that talks about a poll taken in 1996 by the Knight-Ridder news agency that more Americans preferred 1950's as the best decade for children to grow up. Coontz doesn't believe that it is a decade for people to remember fondly about, except for financial reasons and better communication within families. Coontz doesn't believe in it as the best decade because of the votes, the 50's only won by nine percent, and especially not by African Americans. Examples from family and financial issues in the 50's that makes it better than other decades from 20's to 80's. She doesn't believe that the 50's should be taken `literally' because from 50's there were changes in values that caused racism, sexism discrimination against women. Even though the 50's were good, it didn't lead to a better 60, 70, and 80. Part 2: Question I love Lucy was a very popular sitcom in the 1950s. Through humor and plot it brings out more of positive aspects and less of negative aspects for the 1950's that Coontz described in `What we really missed about the 1950s.' After viewing an episode of I Love Lucy, positive aspects of family and financial issues can be clearly seen in the 1950s. The Ricardo's are middle class, Ricky works as a club band leader and Lucy stays home and `poured all her energies into their nuclear family.' (37) This is a positive side of the 1950s because compared to a few decades before, `women quit their jobs as soon as they became pregnant,' (36) and concentrated more on raising children. These families were much more stable and made almost `60 percent of kids were born into male breadwinner-female homemaker families,' (37) which is a important factor for children to have a good childhood. Ricky Ricardo is a Cuban, and with his job, it is probably clear to say that he doesn't have a high education but he can still earn a living to support his family. So in the 50's `there were jobs for people who dropped out of high school' (41) that was also supported by federal assistance programs which helped many families to get through. It seems that in the 50's, wages often increased and there were `corporate pension plans and health benefits' (43) these were maybe why people who were working during the 50's were so in favor of this decade.

The Legalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes :: Medical Marijuana Drugs Papers

The legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes has become an increasingly controversial topic, with many different issues on which people have many different opinions. There is opposition to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes because it has the potential to be used incorrectly, however it is also considered that there is the potential for marijuana to be used in relieving the suffering of many seriously ill patients. Marijuana has been used by people for thousands of years to provide relief from many different serious medical problems. There are many doctors who currently support the effectiveness of using marijuana as treatment for various medical conditions. The many people who are suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS have found that marijuana can be a very effective pain and symptom reliever. The legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is viewed by its opposers as one of the worst things that we could do. Their reasons are that they feel that marijuana should not be legalized for medical use because it is an illegal substance and until that is changed, prescribing it is against the law. "Attorney General Janet Reno announced that physicians in any state who prescribe the drug could lose the privilege of writing prescriptions, be excluded from medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, and even be prosecuted for a federal crime" (Kassier 1). Government officials such as Janet Reno are not the only ones to object to the legalization of marijuana. Many parents groups like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers object to the legalization of marijuana for medical uses. Their objections come from a reasonable concern that there has been an increase in the use of marijuana by youth. Their concern is expanded since the marijuana of today is much more potent than the marijuana of a few decades ago. The potential for these teens to obtain the drug would increase. Also, the Federal Health and Drug enforcement officials feel that by le galizing marijuana, they would be sending the wrong message to young people ("Your Health" 1). Strong evidence that shows that regular use of marijuana for long periods of time could cause severe lung damage ("Your Health" 3). If the use of marijuana could damage a patient's lungs, then the risk could outweigh the benefit. Marijuana smoke can be twice as toxic as tobacco smoke to a human lung. The strongest point that many make opposing the legalization of marijuana is that there just is no clear evidence that smoking marijuana can help an individual who is ill ("Marijuana for the Sick" 2).

A Look at Life Before the Internet, and After the Internet Essay

Times have changed, drastically, especially when it comes to the Internet. From banking to dating and from research to shopping, the Internet provides us with such conveniences we rarely need to leave our homes. History should not be defined as B.C. and A.D.; it should be defined as B.I. (before the Internet) and A.I. (after the Internet). I am at an age that has allowed me to experience life with, and without, the Internet. My kids, however, have grown up with the Internet their whole lives. Internet was not an offered course when I attended high school; it is a requirement for 4thgraders at my youngest son’s school. The impact of the Internet on our everyday lives has been miraculous. We no longer have to wait in line at the bank, for the arrival of the newspaper or the 5:00 news on TV, or the phone line to clear to communicate with friends or family. Shopping does not necessarily mean driving to the mall and going to school does not necessarily mean attending classes on cam pus. We will examine some of the ways the Internet has changed our lives. Let usstart with banking. Before the Internet, banking meant having to wait for your statement to balance your checkbook; going into the bank to transfer funds; and paying your bills by writing checks. Nowadays you can access your bank account(s) online, and most are in real-time, which makebalancing your checkbook very simple. Banks also offer an online bill-pay service, which means you do nothave to write a check. The money transfers from your account directly to the company to which you owe money. Transferring money between accounts can be done online as well. Applying for a loan is another service offered by most banks’ websites, making it possible to receive an answer within minutes. Next, we will discuss the B.I. and A.I.forms of communication.A Look at Life Before the Internet, and After the Internet Times have changed, drastically, especially when it comes to the Internet. From banking to dating and from research to shopping, the Internet provides us with such conveniences we rarely need to leave our homes. History should not be defined as B.C. and A.D.; it should be defined as B.I. (before the Internet) and A.I. (after the Internet). I am at an age that has allowed me to experience life with, and without, the Internet. My kids, however, have grown up with the Internet their whole lives. Internet was not an offered course when I attended high school; it is a requirement for 4thgraders at my youngest son’s school. The impact of the Internet on  our everyday lives has been miraculous. We no longer have to wait in line at the bank, for the arrival of the newspaper or the 5:00 news on TV, or the phone line to clear to communicate with friends or family. Shopping does not necessarily mean driving to the mall and going to school does not necessarily mean attending classes on campus. We will examine some of the ways the Internet has changed our lives. Let usstart with banking. Before the Internet, banking meant having to wait for your statement to balance your checkbook; going into the bank to transfer funds; and paying your bills by writing checks. Nowadays you can access your bank account(s) online, and most a re in real-time, which makebalancing your checkbook very simple. Banks also offer an online bill-pay service, which means you do nothave to write a check. The money transfers from your account directly to the company to which you owe money. Transferring money between accounts can be done online as well. Applying for a loan is another service offered by most banks’ websites, making it possible to receive an answer within minutes. Next, we will discuss the B.I. and A.I.forms of communication.A Look at Life Before the Internet, and After the Internet Times have changed, drastically, especially when it comes to the Internet. From banking to dating and from research to shopping, the Internet provides us with such conveniences we rarely need to leave our homes. History should not be defined as B.C. and A.D.; it should be defined as B.I. (before the Internet) and A.I. (after the Internet). I am at an age that has allowed me to experience life with, and without, the Internet. My kids, however, have grown up with the Internet their whole lives. Internet was not an offered course when I attended high school; it is a requirement for 4thgraders at my youngest son’s school. The impact of the Internet on our everyday lives has been miraculous. We no longer have to wait in line at the bank, for the arrival of the newspaper or the 5:00 news on TV, or the phone line to clear to communicate with friends or family. Shopping does not necessarily mean driving to the mall and going to school does not necessarily mean attending classes on campus. We will examine some of the ways the Internet has changed our lives. Let usstart with banking. Before the Internet, banking meant having to wait for your statement to balance your checkbook; going into the bank to transfer funds; and paying your bills by writing checks. Nowadays you can access your bank account(s) online, and most are in real-time, which makebalancing your  checkbook very simple. Banks also offer an online bill-pay service, which means you do nothave to write a check. The money transfers from your account directly to the company to which you owe money. Transferring money between accounts can be done on line as well. Applying for a loan is another service offered by most banks’ websites, making it possible to receive an answer within minutes. Next, we will discuss the B.I. and A.I.forms of communication.

Funny in Farsi Analysis

Funny in Farsi Analysis Firoozeh Dumas is an Iranian-American writer, known for creating the memoir ‘Funny in Farsi’. Born in Iran, Dumas tells of her childhood memories and how she and her family moved to America when she was just seven years old. Soon after the events that took place on September 11th, friends had encouraged her to publish the stories that she had written. By doing this, she would be able to tell Americans of how Middle Eastern cultures are not what the media portrays them to be.Throughout the memoir, Dumas aims to show Americans that Iranians are truly virtuous and have a sense of humor. With the use of lighthearted humor, emotional appeal, and family anecdotes, Dumas shows that Iranians are not, (in any way,) what we think they are. Dumas attempts to show us that Iranians have a sense of humor by establishing a lighthearted tone from the beginning of the piece. As opposed to keeping the piece serious, she ends the very first passage saying that even though her brother was far away from her it was merely a â€Å"small price to pay for owning a Barbie†.Though she could have been focusing on the distance from her brother, she was rather occupied with her Barbie, an act fairly typical for a seven-year-old girl. The phrase can help many readers feel nostalgic. Many people have some sort of object or toy tied to a relative, and being with that particular toy can make it seem as if we are with that loved one. At the same time, this also sparks emotional appeal and nostalgia to the reader; many of us, as children had found ourselves happy at the receipt of a new toy, even if we had been crying just seconds before.Dumas easily uses both strategies at the same time to show the innocence and humor of Middle Eastern cultures. After a rather embarrassing first day of school (with her mother,) Dumas decided that from that day on, her mother would â€Å"have to stay home†. Dumas uses a combination of a family anecdote as well as self-deprecation to showcase the innocence and humor of the Middle Eastern people. Dumas attends her very first day of school with her mother to. The day proves to be embarrassing to Dumas, as it â€Å"negated† the impression she had made just the other day.The students had begun to stare at them not because they could not speak English, but because they appeared rather dimwitted. The author belittles herself by the use of self-deprecation; because of this, the audience is able to identify with her. Dumas does this successfully by admitting that she and her mother appeared â€Å"stupid†, further reinforcing it by saying that her first impression had been â€Å"negated† by the day’s events. The word negated communicates the idea that Dumas’ hard work in impressing her teacher, Mrs. Sandberg had been done in vain.It makes her more likeable to her readers, and only strengthens her message that Iranians are merely virtuous and humble people. The Septe mber 11 attacks had left many Middle Eastern cultures with awful stereotypes. Dumas’ memoirs, however, successfully convey the image that Middle Eastern people are not what the media tells us. With the use of a lighthearted tone and Dumas’ humorous story of going to school and owning Barbie’s, Funny in Farsi shows the audience that the Iranian people (and perhaps other Middle Eastern cultures,) are indeed innocent, virtuous, and humble people.

A Critique of the Flint Michigan Water Crisis

A Critique of the Flint Michigan Water Crisis Several years ago, there began a crisis in Flint Michigan with their water supply. It had been heavily polluted and became very undrinkable. The residents in these areas had water of every color in the spectrum, such as brown, yellow, and black. Such issues occurred because mistreated water eating away at the lead pipes. This lead to toxic levels in the supply, which inevitably made it change color as well as be deemed unsafe for consumption. Many individuals in such areas are still facing these issues, and resolution is not only complex but seems nearly impossible at this point. Even those who are not directly suffering these issues should be sympathetic as well as helpful for those experiencing such issues. I personally have a friend who attends a university in this town. His name is Saud and he is still having many problems with his water supply. Although, he claimed that the color is becoming much better, he still does not trust it to drink. He says that there are many in the same boat as him and that it is taking way too long to resolve such issues. Purchasing filtered water for consumption as well as showering has become a huge expense to him. This problem is so bad that he is actually considering switching universities because he is tired of waiting and dealing with such issues. I not only feel bad for my friend, but for all the others undergoing similar situations. It is highly unfair that anyone is not granted clean water. We all need this to survive and without it we would surely parish. I remember watching something on television with the CEO of Nestle water. The interviewer asked this man if everyone is deserving of clean and clear water and he said only if they are paying for it. This really struck me, and I still think of that from time to time. Here is a guy who has millions if not trillions of bottles of water, and he would not even give some to these poor individuals for free. What a perfect example of corporate greed, while many people suffer, those who can vastly make a difference turn their cheeks to the issues. Although such situations are very sad, they have given me a newfound appreciation for what I do have. Clean water may not seem like a great thing until you do not have it. Clean water is not only an issue in Flint but throughout the world as well. Many third world countries are left without clean water, while many travel miles for dirty brown water. While we simply get free clean and clear water anywhere, even free at restaurants. Often times we take for granted simple luxuries such as water. No one appreciates such things until they are taken from them. I, however, will always be grateful for the clean water supply I have had my entire life. I will pray for these individuals in Flint, and the others throughout the world who do not have good water supplies.

Literature course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literature course - Essay Example Why are we joking about this? It is taking away from everything we are striving for. Why is it that the media, especially television, still picture women as cooks, cleaners, housekeepers and filling gender-specific roles. This disturbs me no end. I thought all along that we were trying to be a more open-minded society where women are known to be strong, able to occupy powerful positions and at times be even superior to men. (example of irony) We must never underestimate women. Remember Joan of Arc and how she led the French army in the war against the English and winning? Wasn’t it a woman- Cleopatra and not a pharaoh who ruled Egypt successfully for a time until the snake was her undoing? And today, we have women invading areas of human endeavor where men heretofore held sway. Most modern families have mothers who are both housekeepers and breadwinners at the same time. We now have women astronauts, company CEO’s, doctors, professors, etc. In American politics, Nancy Pelosi heads the House of Representatives, Condoleeza Rice is the U.S, roving ambassador and doing a wonderful job of mediating with the leaders of countries all over the world. And Hillary Clinton is running for the Presidency. Is America breeding a race of super-women? In the field of entertainment, both screen and stage, American actresses take the lead. In Religion, there are more nuns than priests; however, we still have to see the fairer sex wearing the Fisherman’s ring. (This is a metaphor wherein there is reference to St. Peter, the first Pope, the first one to wear the Fisherman’s ring.) There are still things which women can do better than the men and other things which only women can do and no man can. God meant for women to conceive, carry babies in their wombs and give birth. Then they create a loving and nurturing environment for the children and teach them proper

Essential Elements of a Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Essential Elements of a Crime - Essay Example Under our scenario, it is evident that conduct of Stephen of punching Vincent in the stomach is, the actus reus of battery. Battery in itself is unlawful taking into consideration that it is often meant at hurting the other party intentionally. In other words, Stephens’s unlawful offensive physical contact against Vincent is tantamount to a criminal offence. Commission acts is a significant proof for the actus reus of a crime. The case at hand can also be examined from causation point of view whereby action of the defendant resulted on a particular consequence. For instance, it can be established that Stephen’s act of punching Vincent was the major cause of Vincent’s illness. This clearly proves that in case a definition of the actus reus calls for a proof of an occurrence of a particular consequences then the prosecutor carries the responsibility of proving that the defendant’s conduct directly caused the consequences. For instance, if the prosecutor beli eves that Stephen conduct of battery was the reasonable cause of Vincent death then he/she has to prove this assertion. A conduct in criminal law does not need to be a commission only but also omission. V asserts that Clarkson (2005: 102) Omission refers to failure to take a positive action and consequently results in injury. Under general common law not only in the United Kingdom but also in other countries practicing common law, no individual can be held criminally liable for an act of omission. However, there are exceptions to omission rule such as in cases where there is: statutory duty, contractual obligation, voluntary assumption of responsibility, duty due to defendants previous conduct, and public duty. Failure to act and or respond positively to the above exceptions can result to committing actus reus by omission. In our scenario Stephen was guilty of committing the actus reus of omission. This claim can be justified by the fact that he failed respond to his prior act of ca using bodily harm to Vincent and consequently led to victim’s death. Under the common law defendant is often expected to correct a dangerous situation, which he/she is directly responsible for its occurrence (Emanuel, 2007: 95). Instead of helping Vincent who was, gasping for air on the floor Stephen just chose to run away even after punching him. Meanwhile Jim cannot be held criminally liable for committing actus reus of omission taking into consideration that he was under any statutory or contractual duty to help Vincent and there his inaction cannot attract any penalty under common law. Task 2: principles of novus actus interveniens and the ‘egg shell rule’ Principle of novus actus interveniens is widely used in the context of causation and it is used to explain interference with the chain of causation or to mean 'a new intervening act' (Hodgson, & Lewthwaite, 2007: 61). The chain of causation in criminal law refers to the series of events triggered by the def endant that leads to a particular event and consequent injury. For instance, it can be established through a post-mortem that a serious stab wounds is the major cause of a victim’s death. The relationship between a guilty action and its consequences is an important premise for establishing guilt and final liability not only in

FRANCE -RELIGION,FAMILY STUCTURE, AND TRADITIONS OF RELIGION AND Essay

FRANCE -RELIGION,FAMILY STUCTURE, AND TRADITIONS OF RELIGION AND FAMILY - Essay Example It is a nation which has influenced the cultures, movements, religious traditions, and social factors of other nations, especially the countries of Europe. In this presentation, a reflective analysis of the religion, family structure, and traditions of religion and family etc of France is undertaken which helps one in comprehending the culture and communication styles of this specific country in detail. In a profound understanding of the religion in France, it becomes lucid that there are few other nations which have as rich and varied a religious and intellectual life and history as France. It is a country with religious freedom and thought in virtue of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the year 1789. Though Roman Catholicism is the religion of a majority of French people, it has lost its status as a state religion since the glorious French Revolution in 1789. In fact, France has numerous religions and this country allows its people to follow whatever religion they choose. That is to say, France is a secular country which encourages freedom of thought and religion, including agnosticism and atheism. It is also essential to comprehend that France is a nation with great religious tradition and history and it has been at the forefront in several of the religious movements of the world in general and of the Europe in particular. â€Å"Few nations have as rich and varied a religious and intellectual life and history as France. During the medieval period France was the most populous Christian kingdom, and during the Reformation France continued to be at the forefront of religious ferment. From the seventeenth century to the present this once-Christian nation has been at the forefront of modern science and the development of nonreligious society†¦ What has made the French world of ideas more important recently has been the confrontation between

Dry Docks Business Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dry Docks Business - Article Example Amazingly, manual labor was very much involved during that time where able-bodied men helped in bringing in the ship. An engine known as organois was used in draining the water, allowing the vessel to be supported by cross-beams.(cite) Because of this, dry docks are considered part of inventions belonging to the classical period. Nevertheless, dry docks also were used in China during the Song Dynasty. Obviously, dragon ships during that time which carried imperial couches were made of solid wood. Because of this material, there was a need to repair the wooden hulls since it decayed quickly. It was only in a later period that some wise official suggested the concept of a dry dock. In another part of the world, Henry VIII commissioned the first dry dock was built in Portsmouth in 1495. In modern times, the drydock at Belfast , Ireland was once the biggest drydock in the world. While in the United States, Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuildings Dry Dock 12 is considered the largest, situated closely to the slipway where the unlucky Titanic was constructed. Due to the competitive maritime industry, more dry docks have been constructed on many parts of the world. According to the April issue of Maritime, the largest dry dock in the world is now located at Ulsan, South Korea. It was described by the article as : â€Å"†¦.490 meters (1,600 feet) long, 115 meters across and 13.5 meters deep, Hyundai has announced that it now has the world’s largest drydock. Imagine an area roughly the size of 7 soccer fields and that is what you would see at the new H-Dock in Ulsan, South Korea.   The dock is custom designed to build floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and includes two 1,600ton goliath cranes.   Traditionally FPSO’s hull sides and topside are built separately. The hull is built in a ship

Emergency Preparedness Disaster Plan for state of California Essay

Emergency Preparedness Disaster Plan for state of California - Essay Example However, with a specific focus on the California State, several incidences of earthquakes as well as other disasters have rocked the region. Following this, a number of organizations have put forward several disaster preparedness initiatives to curb these natural calamities. American Red Cross is one of the non-profit organizations that have ensured meeting a wide range of emergency needs following disasters. This is always done in the most appropriate manner and on timely basis (Irwin, 2013). The organization runs two key initiatives in California State. These initiatives include the Disaster Preparedness Initiative as well as the Local Disaster Response Initiatives. The Disaster Preparedness Initiative provides support as well as assistance to the citizens of California following a myriad of disasters faced. For instance, the initiative offers support and assistance to the public when faced with earthquakes, home fires as well as floods (Irwin, 2013). A good example is the Napa Earthquake that occurred in September the year 2014. The earthquake injured approximately 200 people and destroyed several properties in South Napa. Following this calamity, the Disaster Preparedness Initiative provided health services to the affected individuals. In addition, the initiative provided clothing, relief food, comfort items as well as emotional support to the populations affected. In addition, the initiative plays the significant role of educating the public on several ways of disaster and emergency preparedness (Irwin, 2013). This helps to raise the level of public awareness and participation when faced with such calamities. It is important to be a member of a Disaster Preparedness Team for several reasons. From the nursing perspective, such memberships are important in shaping up one’s career. This follows that one would be able to gain more knowledge as well as experience in dealing with such

Virtue Ethics Essay Example for Free

Virtue Ethics Essay In the field of bioethics, Aristotles ethics does not have the same practical force as action-based theories, especially when the dilemma in question involves deciding whether or not to do some particular action (pulling the plug on a patient). In any case, there are two ways we can apply the character based approach to bioethics. First, the specific healthcare provider (nurse, doctor, etc.) could continually ask themselves What kind of character do I want to have as a healthcare provider, and what actions are consistent with this character?. A healthcare provider can ask themselves whether a certain action reflects the kind of character they want to be associated with. On a more general scale, the healthcare industry itself could ask itself What kind of character do we want associated with the healthcare industry and how would this particular action contribute or take away from that character? Secondly, for Aristotle a virtuous action is a mean between two extremes. For example, bravery is the middle-point between cowardice and foolhardiness. However, it is not always clear whether every action is a mean of this way. How would pulling the plug on a patient fit in Aristotles golden mean analysis? I think the safest way to apply Aristotles theory would be to emphasize character, rather than get lost in the thickets of golden mean analysis. Using Aristotelian ethics to resolve particular cases is always difficult, because the question of what ought I to do? is always secondary to the question what ought I to become?. After all, Aristotle himself admits that we should not expect precision in ethical matters.

Theatre Essay: Site Specific Performance

Theatre Essay: Site Specific Performance Site Specific Performance: How has the nature of site-specific performance as a hybrid art-form influenced approaches tosite-specific work in Britain over the last decade? SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION Site-specific performance emerged out of the radicalartistic milieu of the late 1960s and early 1970s that also gave birth tosite-specific work generally. It represents perhaps the most ambitious andrevolutionary re-interpretation of theatre and performance devised in thetwenty-first century. Site-specific performance has influenced site-specificwork in Britain in the past ten years in many ways. This dissertation examinesthree especially strong influences: (1) site-specific performance and its useof audience (2) site-specific performance and its internal debate as to whethersite-specific art is site-exclusive or site generic, and (3) site-specific practitionerstheory of the selection of sites. Before these three principal investigations arediscussed the dissertation briefly reviews the history and origins ofsite-specific performance and its key practitioners. The first major section of this dissertation investigatesand analyses the relationship between site-specific performance and itsaudience. The questions and debates that have arisen from the novel andintimate participation between site-specific performers and their audienceshave had considerable influence upon site-specific work as a whole. Site-specificperformance understands the audience as a vital element of the total productionand not merely as paying members of the public who are isolated from thecreative process. Many performances depend intimately upon the energy andmutual fascination of the subject that exists between performers and audience.Often the audience are part of the performance itself. This intimacy points toa basic philosophical and professional principle of site-specific performancethat reacts against the perceived coldness, frigidity and eliteness oftraditional theatre buildings and instead maintains that theatre andperformance ought to be a socially-levelling ent erprise. The dissertation thereforeasks the prominent questions: Can audience self-identity be altered by aperformance? And: Can original and multiple spectator identities be created bysite-specific performances? The answers to these questions have beeninfluential throughout the whole of the site-specific world. The second-subsection of this section explores therelationship between site-specific performance and the community from which itsaudience is drawn. The success of site-specific performance theorists andpractitioners in showing the great extent to which the community in which aperformance is situated affects the ambiance and attitude of the audienceechoes throughout the site-specific world and informs it of vital lessons. Thisinvestigation of community and audience also highlights how site-specific performancecan work to bring theatre to the masses in an inclusive format that protestsagainst the elitist forms of the past. The final sub-section of this sectionreviews some of the problems variability and limitations of audience forinstance experienced by site-specific performers with respect to audienceand then suggests how these may teach valuable lessons to the rest of thesite-specific world. The second major section of the dissertation examines thekey debate in the literature of site-specific performance as to whether suchperformances should be site-specific or site-generic. That is, whether suchperformances should be free to tour and travel or not? The answers anddiscoveries furnished for this question by site-specific performers arerelevant and influential upon this same debate which penetrates the whole ofthe site-specific community. This debate reaches to the philosophical centre ofsite-specific performance and threatens to bring about a fundamental changewithin the genre. At the heart of the issue is the question of whether aparticular performance, conditioned as it is by the particular environment inwhich it is created, can be moved either physically or spiritually to anothersite. Vehement arguments have been made on both sides of the debate, with manypro-tour performers refuting Richard Serras famous dictum that to removethe work is to destroy it.The dissertation considers as one solution the theoretical postulate of apure model of site-specific performance from which various performancesdeviate in healthily diverse ways. The dissertation then considers in depth theproposal of Wrights Sites whether that the solution to this dilemma mightdepend upon a change in terminology and vocabulary of site-specificperformance. Such a shift of terminology provides site-specific performancewith a greater subtlety of definition and self-identity and therefore overcomesthe apparent impasse suggested by the site-specific site-generic dispute. The final major sub-section of the dissertation considersthe use of space by recent site-specific performers and the influences ofthis use upon site-specific work as a whole. The space within which atheatrical performance may take place was given its most radical revision andprogressive drive in the twentieth- century by the practitioners ofsite-specific performance. Space, in terms of performance, had before theadvent of site-specific theatre been confined near exclusively to traditionaltheatre buildings and to their conventional shapes. The outstanding achievementof site-specific performance has been to vastly extend the range and types of spaceand venue in which a theatrical performance can take place. The dissertationconsiders the implications for performance of such a radical break with thepast, as well as looking at the notions of uninhabitable space and culturalspace. The discoveries made about space by site-specific performers arerelevant for the whole of site-specific work i n Britain. The dissertation concludes with an evaluation and summing-upof all the previous discussion and with an analysis of the future influence ofsite-specific performance upon site-specific work as a whole. SECTION 2: SITE-SPECIFICPERFORMANCE HISTORY It is important to know something of the history ofsite-specific performance when seeking to determine its influence uponsite-specific work in the past decade in Britain. Such a glance at the historyilluminates the evolution of ideas within the genre and shows how they came totake their present form in the twenty-first century. Site-specific performance originated as an outgrowth ofsite-specific artwork movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Site-specific artwork was a form of art that was created to exist in a certainspace and was conditioned in form by the environment and space of that place.At the centre of the site-specific artwork movement was an attempt to take artout of what was perceived to be the affected and pretentious atmospheres of thegalleries and theatre buildings and to transpose them upon a wider variety ofoutdoor and indoor venues. One useful definition of site-specific performanceis that of the Dictionary of Video Art which states Locations andenvironments may have some kind of drama or meaning for ordinary people butthis has no significance for the bourgeoisie until interpreted by theheightened sensibilities of the director.In other words, the purpose of site-specific performance and its reason forexistence is to make the public aware of the artistic merits of ordinarybuil dings and spaces that have always been of interest to ordinary men butpassed over by the elitist and institutionalised artists of the past. Site-specificperformance often involves a (more or less) political decision to workagainst the dominant discourse of London, its theatre buildings, and itstheatre tradition.Site-specific performance is about a fundamental reorientation of space awayfrom its traditional understanding in British theatre. Site-specific performance has emerged out of this generalartistic milieu in the works of artists and directors such as Peter Brook,Ariane Mnouchkine, Deborah Warner, Gof Brith, Janet Cardiff and in festivals orproduction companies such as Grid Iron, Wrights Sites and the EdinburghFestival. Other recent practitioners include Mac Wellman, Meredith Monk andAnne Hamburger. From the first list two names in particular have been pivotalto the development of site-specific theatre: Peter Brook and Deborah Warner. PeterBrook was one of Britains greatest theatre directors and much of thisgreatness came from his radical style and use of stage both of which are seenas pre-cursors of modern site-specific performance. Brook was deeply influencedby the Theatre of Cruelty by Antonin Artaud and this lead to dramaticproductions such as Jean Genets The Screens in 1964 and Peter Weisss Marat/Sadein 1964 a huge success after its sharp and revolutionary break withtheatre style to that time. Brook brough t a new philosophy to the theatre thatimbued it with a new sense of potential and manipulation of space andenvironment shown well in his productions of Senecas Oedipus and TheEmpty Space. More recently, Deborah Warner has made further developed theseearly origins of site-specific performance with radically different productionssuch as Titus Andronicus (1987), Richard II (1995) and JuliusCaesar (2005). SECTION 3: SITE-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE: AUDIENCE (A) Audience: General Perhaps the singlegreatest contribution of site-specific performance as a hybrid art-form tosite-specific work as a whole has been the radical transformation andre-constitution of the concept of audience and of how audiences experience liveperformance. When site-specific art first emerged in the late 1960s it appealedto audiences primarily because of the novelty of the form and the novelty ofthe viewing experience. Nonetheless, site-specific art, whilst novel in itself,did not go make any profoundly novel contributions to the nature, identity andconstitution of its audiences. Site-specific work had no yet developed asite-specific critique or paradigm, and this was left in large measure to thepioneers of site-specific performance. The great advantage and breakthroughachieved by modern site-specific performance is that it draws the audience ofinto an intimate participation with that performance; the audience become anessential part of the performance itself. Notable historical examples haveincluded Sirens Crossings Trace and Flight (2000), Wrights SitesThe Quay Thing (1998), Anne Marie Culhanes Night Sky (1997) and TheWhalley Range All Stars Day of the Dummy (1999). Consequently, withsite-specific performance, both performers and spectators reach a profounderdepth of empathy and understanding with the performance that they havewitnessed, than with traditional theatre and even from site-specific work as awhole. In this sense, site-specific performance represents an evolution of thegeneral site-specific art-form towards a level of greater spectator-involvementand identity.The philosophy and theory that underpins this evolution has much to do with areaction against the perceived coldness and unnaturalness of the traditionaltheatre (where the audience are always separated from the performers) and itstendency to promote the values and aims of elite members of society above theaspirations of the ordinary citizen. Site-specific performance however can besaid to be an equalizing art-form: it holds as a basic philosophicalprinciple the belief that the members of the audience are of equal importanceand significance for the meaning and successful execution of a particularperformance as the performers themselves. As such, site-specific theatre andperformance have taught and continue to teach practitioners of site-specificwork generally be it site-specific conceptual art, community art,installation art, public art etc., that the greater the participation andsense of involvement of the audience, the greater will be the efficacy of thatperformance upon both performer and viewer. Site-specific work therefore hasmuch to learn from the techniques, literary interpretations, scene-designs andso on of site-specific performers. This use of audienceby site-specific performers has achieved for the first time, according to FionaWilkie, the sense of a collective audience identity, a knowing audiencethat constructs itself appropriately as an interpretative body via a cumulativeframework of contemporary framework experiences.Thus, site-specific performance asks of the audience members themselves certainbasic existential and artistic questions. For instance: how is an audiencessense of self forged? How and in what ways is an audiences purpose decided?The extent to which site-specific performance achieves this intensive audienceself-interrogation is perhaps unrivalled in all twentieth-century performance art-formsand promises to be one of the few genuinely unique artistic discoveries ofrecent years. Traditional theatremaintains a clear space between audience and performer no matter how elatedor ecstatic a spectator may feel during a traditional performance he is alwaysnonetheless still a mere spectator with no direct influence upon the directionor outcome of the performance. Site-specific performance radically reverses theaudience situation and role and instead makes them central actors in theperformance itself. Site-specific performance also raises the questions of: Canaudience self-identity be altered by a performance? And: Can original andmultiple spectator identities be created by site-specific performances?On the first question it is noted by authors such as Williams and Kwon that theunique process of audience participation in site-specific performance oftenleaves the audience with changed perceptions of identity once the performanceis completed. On the second question, it is also clear from the growingliterature that now surrounds site-specific performance that the form ha s thepotential to create new audience identities as well as to leave differentgroups of the audience with different identity perceptions at the end.From these various observations of audience participation in site-specificperformance it is evident that site-specific work has benefited and learnt anenormous amount about the role of audience and its possible stages oftransformation. Moreover, the far more diverse nature of members ofsite-specific performances alters the mood and atmosphere and perceptions ofthat audience. Rather than being an elite experience attended by only one classof people with, broadly speaking, a single artistic attitude and expectation,the audience is instead a diverse melting-pot of different classes andprofessions of people. (B) Audience Community Site-specificperformance has also raised for general site-specific art the notion of theimportance of the community in which a particular performance or art exhibittakes place. One particular site-specific performance company, The Olimpias,base their work upon questions of site ownership and in line with the theme ofdisability. According to Petra Kuppers, company director, site-specificperformance ought to be attentive to the local community and its ways of inhabitingits environment the company (The Olimpias) work with the community to takenew forms of site, re-interpret the site, keep its history and presence alive.Community then is a crucial extension of the audience and the site factorsinvolved in a site-specific performance. It is the community about a specificwork that is most intimately affected by a performance since that performancethrows new light on and reinterprets that communitys existence in a particularway. Site-specific performance can help to re-invigorate and breathe life intoa community by making it more aware and perceptive of the sites that itoccupies. So too the site-specific performances of Wrights Sitesis interested in the place and in the people who meet us in this place. Thecompany Welfare State International have also expressed a commitment todrawing in local energies and leaving behind a residue of skills and confidenceafter the companys withdrawal .For many companies then site-specific theatre is a performance that takes placein the living space of a particular community and is enacted alongside andwithin the working life of the community. Thus there is an experientialauthenticity that is unique to site-specific theatre. (C) Issues WithAudience Nonetheless, somewriters such as Jan Cohen-Cruzhave argued that taking theatre from established buildings in specific placesto a specific-site does not necessarily create a more intimate audienceenvironment or sense of identity or multiple identities. On this Cohen-Cruzstates: Space is always controlled by someone and exists somewhere, so itis inevitably marked by a particular class or race and not equally accessibleto everyone. one must question whether access to a broader audience really isa difference between performance site-specific and in theatre buildings.Cohen-Cruzs quotation is useful because it sounds a note of caution tosite-specific performers who automatically assume that by merely creatingsite-specific performance of any sort they will immediately achieve a deeper ormore profound sense of audience participation and diversity than would be foundin a traditional theatre. Site-specific performance is a relatively newart-form that is treading into new territory especially with respect to theunderstanding of audience participation and identity. It is therefore to beexpected that a certain exuberance and robust enthusiasm amongst its performersmay sometimes lead to idealizations of the potential of the art-form; that is,a tendency to assume that site-specific performance is a panacea for all limitationsexperienced by traditional-theatre audiences in past centuries. It is prudenttherefore to agree with writers such as Fiona Wilkie that the potentialaudience range and diversity of a site-specific performance is decided not byonly by the nature of the genre itself but by the particular features of thesite itself. Access to such site-specific performances depends nearly entirelyupon the location and type of site chosen for a particular performance.If, for instance, the site chosen for a particular performance is an abandonedwarehouse or factory floor close to several housing estates or residentialareas then it is likely that that performance will be accessible to many peoplewho would be traditionally excluded from a theatre experience. If, however, asite-specific performance is held in a country-estate or at the top of acommercial tower-block then it is far less likely that the audience thatattends will be as diverse and kaleidoscopic as at the performance of in theabandoned factory or warehouse. For instance, the site-specific performancecompany K neehigh Theatrehave reflected how their performance of Hells Mouth in the ClayDistrict of Cornwall a poor and dilapidated area encouraged a far broadersection of the community to attend than would have done the traditionaltheatre. In Kneehighs words: In Hells Mouth last summer, bikers from thearea performed the English/Cornish skirmishes in the Mad Max style Cornwall ofthe future. This theme and reasonable ticket prices, encouraged a stronglocal percentage of audience, who would not normally see the companys work ortheatre of any sort.So too the breadth of the audience of any site-specific work will be determinedalso by the theme and nature of the performance. A site-specific performancethat deals with an esoteric or abstruse subject will not guarantee for itself abroad audience simply by virtue of the fact that it is a site-specific performance. Several site-specificperformance companies have sought to maintain the diversity of their audiencesin the following ways. The Lions Part company, for instance, seek to escapethe bureaucracy of the theatre buildingby providing free access to all performances and free financially also. InFiona Wilkies eloquent phrase: The notion of the performance moves away from thehigh-brow associations of the theatre and closer to reaching a publicwell-versed in the popular culture of gigs, festivals and celebrations. Itemphasizes the significance of the spatial encounter and is conceived as awhole experience for the spectator Wilkie here identifiesa key strength of site-specific performance: its ability and capacity tosynthesize myriad different forms of contemporary art, culture and society andto fuse them into a relevant and meaningful whole. Moreover, site-specificperformance has the unique advantage of being able to manipulate space inwhatever way it likes. A traditional theatre is severely limited in the sensethat its performance can only take place within the predetermined and setdimensions of the theatre building; these dimensions remain the same for everynew production no matter how different such productions might be from eachother. The space and dimensions of a site-specific performance are howeverdetermined and limited only by the space and dimensions of the site itself andthey therefore have a far greater range and flexibility than traditionaltheatre. For instance: a windmill, an abandoned factory, a coffee shop, adoctors surgery, a former nuclear silo all offer different and uniqueexperiences of space for the audience. So too, a site-specific performance mayeven have two separate audiences: one that pays admission and is conscious ofthe performance and another that attends the event for free and is an integralpart of the performance itself. To take an example: when Grid Iron held thesite-specific performance Decky Does a Broncoin numerous childrens playgrounds some audience members bought tickets whilstthe children (attending free) that played in the playground were urged tocontinue their activities and so became part of the setting and the performanceitself. Ben Harrison, director of Decky Does a Bronco, recalls howchildren came to and fro different parts of the performance depending upon thelevel of excitement raised for them by a particular moment or scene from thatperformance; when bored the children would retire to the quieter parts of thepark. In Harrisons useful phrase, this double audience adds to thecomplexity of the event. SECTION 4: SITE-SPECIFICPERFORMANCE: SITE-SPECIFIC ORSITE-GENERIC? Site-specificperformance has contributed significantly to the site-specific as a whole onthe pressing question of whether site specific art should be site-specific or sitegeneric. That is, whether site-specific work should remain rooted in at theexact site of its creation or whether the idea created in a particular site maybe transferred to other similar sites. This question is perhaps the mostvociferously argued debate in site-specific work at present. At stake is thephilosophical and intellectual basis of the movement itself. Site-specific workemerged in the late 1960s as an art-form that made a unique use of site andsite features to influence the shape and form of the design: these sites wereusually highly different or unique from all others and so each sculpture,art-work or performance had its own unique characteristics. Traditionalsite-specific artists of this old-school therefore refute the idea that theidiosyncratic features of a particular site can simply be uprooted andtrans ferred to another site no matter how similar to the original. In RichardSerras famous phrase to remove the work is to destroy the work.In other words: once a site-specific art-piece has been torn from its originalcontext it loses the one thing that made it powerful and unique. Nonetheless,in recent decades such notions of the immovability from and inseparability of asite-specific work from its original setting have been assailed by artistsdriven by market forces and institutional changes in attitude. In one criticswords: Site specificity has become a complex cipher of unstablerelationships between locations an identities in the era of late capitalism.Miwon Kwons work One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and LocationIdentityis of enormous importance in elucidating the contours and features of thisshift in the direction of site-specific art. The internal movementsof site-specific performance have done much to inform and influence the widersite-specific art of the last decade. In site-specific performance the keyquestion of recent years has been: Can site-specific performance travel? Or:Does Site-specificity mean site-exclusivity? Within the site-specificperformance community this debate as to exclusivity of site has been arguedwith near equal tenacity by both opponents and supporters. Thus, in many ways,the debate appeared recently to have come to a standstill. One way found by site-specificperformers to step beyond this impasse has been to define levels ofsite-specificity. For instance the company Red Earthhas stated: Someprojects are completely site-specific, i.e., they could not take place anywhereelse without losing a strong thread of meaning and connection; while other moreflexible projects may work around a certain sense of place, i.e., the spirit orconcept at the heart of the project would work in several but not all -locations. This quotation then suggests that the term site-specifichas a degree of inherent relativity and flexibility. At one end of thespectrum, the term stands for certain performances that are absolutely rootedin the exact and unique site and community features in which they are set; forsuch performances there is no possibility of moving their ideas to differentsites. At the other end of the spectrum, certain performances can be moved fromsite to site if they preserve or enhance the spirit or primary idea thatbegan the original performance. Between these two poles are various types ofsite-specific performance whose transferability rests upon ambiguous or dubiousprinciples. Justin McKeown of the Whalley Range All Stars suggests that thisrelativity should be defined in terms of site-specific performances that are directlyderived from a chosen siteand therefore have to remain at that site indefinitely, and on the other handbetween performances that can be transferred since they acknowledge and expandupon the inherent meanings within a site. Paul Pinson, of Boilerhouse,has argued further that the relativity of site-specific performance isconditioned by the way that the company engages with the space that it occupiesat a particular site. Pinson suggests further that a performance can bepartially site-specific and partially of another genre and that this hybridity thereforejustifies a company to tour its performances. Pinson states: You canrecreate a work in response to a number of different sites, which is totallyvalid in itself and is an element of site-specificity but is different frommaking a piece of work in response to one specific site. The site-specific or site-generic debate and is plethora ofinterpretations have raised questions about the present purity ofsite-specific performance. Above all: is it possible for theoreticians andpractitioners of site-specific performance to find or derive a pure model ofsite-specific performance, against which hybrid forms of this model might becompared? That is: can one set up construct an ideal paradigm of site-specificperformance and then show how variations of this paradigm are beneficial intheir individual ways? Miwon Kwon has suggested that one definition of thispure model might be To make a truly site-specific piece means it sitswholly in that site in both its content and form, otherwise if moveable, itbecomes more about the site as a vehicle.Variations from this pure model are healthy natural growths from themother-model; the work of site-specific theoreticians is to define thesevariations and to ascribe to each of them independent areas of operation. An alternative to this model of deriving variations ofsite-specific art from a pure or perfect model is to invent a new terminologyfor the art-form. Wrights Siteshave suggested that the terms In theatre building, Outside theatre,Site-Sympathetic, Site-Generic and Site-Specific beused to describe the various degrees of theatre performance. The first two ofthese are clearly beyond the pale of any generally accepted definition ofsite-specific performance. Interestingly however Wrights Sites propose athree-fold division of the genre of site-specific performance. The advantage ofsuch a hierarchy is that it allows greater freedom and subtlety of descriptionwhen deciding to which exact genre a performance of site-specific work belongs.The term site-specific is accordingly reserved for performances that have aprofound and absolute relationship with the specific site in which theperformance is prepared and enacted. Such performances work only at one site,never tour or travel, and do not use pre-existing props or scripts.Nonetheless, one major problem of such a terminology is the difficulty ofassigning the large number of performances that seem to fall between thecategories of site-generic and site-specific. These disputes about definitions and terminology that havearisen in the particular field of site-specific performance are or considerablerelevance and have been of considerable influence upon similar disputes insite-specific work generally. The central question of the debate cansite-specific performance tour is equally relevant to all others types ofsite-specific work, be it sculpture, community art, painting and so on. Byadopting a similar terminology to that of site-specific performancesite-specific work generally might clear up many of its own internal disputes. SECTION 5: SITE-SPECIFIC:TYPES OF SITE Internal debates within the literature of site-specificperformance as to what kind of site to select for its performances hashad considerable influence over similar decisions within site-specific workgenerally. What then can site-specific work generally learn fromsite-specific performance? Above all, perhaps, is the extensive andcomprehensive analysis and exploration of the medium of space undertaken byleading site-specific performers. Richard Schechnerhas stated that theatre places are maps of the cultures where they existand Hetheringtonthat Certain spaces act as sites for the performance of identity. Artisticmanipulation of space is vital to successful site-specific performance, and theunique development in this quest has been the exploration of alternatives typesof space and site in which to perform site-specific theatre. Theatre had forcenturies been largely confined to theatre buildings of one sort or another;the advent of site-specific theatre saw the use of a plethora of differentvenues for performance from coal mines, to hospital wards, to libraries, tocoffee shops and so on ad infinitum. These ventures into alternativesites for performance raised amongst scholars of site-specific performance thekey questions: What are the consequences of such diverse selection of sites?What association will each site bring to the site-specific genre? What are thecommon themes that bind such eclectic choices of venue? On the last question,some attempts have been made by figures such as Hetheringtonto classify these venues in groups: for instance, parks and childrens playareas can be classed with beaches as public spaces. Cohen-Cruzhas argued that such spaces allow site-specific performers to use space that isnormally thought of as publicly inhabitable to entice passers-by to attendthe performance therefore symbolising for the performers the theme of makingperformance accessible. The spaces found in venues such as museums, churchesand galleries are used somewhat differently however. In contrast to p