Cultural Observation Essay

Cultural Observation Culture is the sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs in which a people of a particular society live. Culture is dynamic and always changing but retains patterns that form its basic infrastructure. Many aspects of a people’s society make up one’s culture including religion, economy, language, politics, etc. Cultures are not finite and in many instances have there own number of sub cultures within them. This variation among cultures brings about man consequences between populations, which can be positive or negative. I have been given the task to use participant observation in order to form a complete report on the daily social interactions of humans in the Saint Louis area. The location I chose is in the middle of a higher learning environment known as a college campus. The area lies in the middle of the campus and has a large structure with a device that measures and tracks time. It is a frequently used path by the students of the campus, which allows for many social observations to be made. As stated earlier the space is a walking highway for students with the most traffic-taking place in the morning at the end of each hour for a period of about ten minutes. The pathway is a large round a bout that circles around the clock tower structure with 4 perpendicular paths continuing off from the circle. I sat on a large concrete staircase that overlooks the circle, for my observations. I sat for one and a half hours observing the following. For the duration of my observation, which began at 11:00am I had many people sitting on the stair case fixture in front of me. At one point there were a total of 23 people sitting on the concrete stairs. These 23 people were paired off in groups of no more than 6. When the time came closer to the end of the hour, there was a dramatic increase in traffic flow around the clock structure. Many of the people walked at a steady pace and seemed to have been walking solo. Some people walked in groups but if it was a group of more than one the majority walked in pairs. As the new hour began the traffic flow dramatically dropped. The make up of the study population varied in many categories. The ages of the people were predominantly that of 18-21 year olds, with occasional middle-aged people and young professionals. During the rush of traffic it seemed to have a larger population of females than males walking through the area. This was also found for the people who chose to sit on the concrete stairs. Of the people who sat down, 15 of them were female and the rest male. During the rush I noticed many different ethnicities that ranged from Caucasian white, to Asian, to Middle Eastern, and African American. Disregarding race, a pattern among the people arose during observation. The females leaned towards wearing more high cost garments than the males did. This related to the observation that many women seemed to be of high economic status in comparison to males. In regards to discernable space I found that females were much more prone to putting minimal space between themselves when interacting. Males seemed to keep a good distance from each other while interacting. For the majority, during the rush of walking traffic, people followed the rule of walking to there right while entering the circle even though this rule was not stated on any sign that I could see. Some people were more aggressive in there walking patterns and people on bicycle contraptions were permitted the right of way in most occasions. Physical interactions were most abundant among females and males who interacted. Males who were walking with a female had less space between them than males who were walking with another male. People sitting on the stairs would occasional engage in physical contact with the highest percentage of outcomes being a laugh following the physical touch. Overall I noticed a pattern that people of the same â€Å"race† for the majority stuck together, giving the impression of subcultures with in the population. Given the location, I concluded that the reason for all the people in the walking rush had the shared commitment of attending classes for learning purposes. For the people who sat down on the stairs it was much harder to find a reason for there public social interaction. The weather was optimal that day which would most likely attract such a leisurely activity response. The population was visually extremely diverse but some common trends were found that differentiated people. The most apparent difference was that of the nature of the people of Asian descent. They more than anyone kept to there own group and clearly spoke a different language than the rest of the population. This could be a barrier between them and the rest of the people who seem to speech the dominant language of the area. From my observations I have been able to determine many things about the population of Saint Louis. More research must be done especially with people of different ages in order to get a more accurate picture of how people in Saint Louis behave but from my observations many patterns stuck out among people from ages 18-21. One of the most puzzling aspects was the wearing of a garment on the top of a person’s head. I could not find a distinct pattern as to what type of people or what situations these head garments were supposed to be for. The only practical usage I came up with was the use of it to keep the sun of their eyes, but many did not use it for this purpose. If it pertains to simply a fashion accessory it would appear to be more common among younger male populations. Another observation was the commonality of wearing t-shirts or other garments that either said Saint Louis University or Saint Louis in some form. From this I have determined that people are proud of the organizations and areas they have some sort of investment in. This also led me to believe that people use their garments to communicate subtly to other people certain information about themselves. A majority of garments worn had some form of there language written on them. Overall more research must be done on the human race to cross-reference these ideas. It is obvious that culture is dynamic and works on several different levels in this complex society of people. Simply observing can tells us many things about there culture but will only get us so far. We must make plans to immerse ourselves in there actual culture to truly get an accurate picture of what it means to be part of Saint Louis, and ultimately, what it means to be human.

Comparing Othello by William Shakespeare and the Film Othello Essay

An update of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ with a young cast, set in a high school and centered around basketball player Odin. Director: Tim Blake Nelson Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Brad Kaaya (screenplay) Stars: Mekhi Phifer, Josh Hartnett, Andrew Keegan The film starts during a basketball game. At the last minute Odin scores the basket that wins the game for his team. Later at an awards ceremony Duke presents the MVP award to Odin for his efforts, an award he shares with Michael. At a party celebrating the victory, Hugo plans with Roger to tell Desi’s father that Odin raped her in order to split them up so that Roger can woo her. Roger, however, is only a pawn in Hugo’s ultimate plan to destroy Odin. Later in another game Odin’s team wins once again. At the celebration party, Hugo engineers a fight between Roger and a very drunk Michael, who is temporarily suspended from the team. Hugo tells Michael to ingratiate himself with Desi so that she will talk to Odin on his behalf. Soon afterward, Hugo tells Odin that Desi and Michael have been spending a lot of time together, and that she may be cheating on him. Odin doesn’t believe this at first, but gradually comes to suspect them. Odin questions Desi, but she calms him down and he believes her. In the meantime, Hugo manipulates Emily into stealing a scarf for him that Odin had given to Desi. Hugo, in turn, gives it to Michael in hopes that Odin will believe that Desi gave Michael the scarf, and so is cheating on him. Meanwhile, Desi and Odin are having passionate sex at a motel. During their lovemaking, Odin sees an image of Michael on top of Desi in the mirror; angered, he becomes very rough with Desi, to the point that she cries out for him to stop, a plea he ignores. Afterward, they lie together staring in opposite directions. After a dunk contest in which Odin himself performs a dunk that pulls the rim and breaks the glass backboard and assaults a ball boy, Hugo tells Odin about the scarf, convincing him that Desi is cheating on him. Enraged, Odin vows to kill her; Hugo then promises to kill Michael. Hugo, with Odin and Roger, plans to kill Michael and Desi. Hugo and Roger attempt to kill Michael in a carjacking, but it does not go as planned: Roger and Michael struggle, Hugo hits Michael with a crowbar, knocking him unconscious. Roger shoots Michael in the leg, and then Hugo turns the gun on Roger and makes him shoot himself after telling him that Desi is dead. Odin and Desi are in Desi’s room talking and Odin is pretending to make up with her. They are making out on the bed when suddenly Odin attacks her; she fights back, but he finally strangles her. Emily rushes into the room and sees Desi’s body; she soon finds out what Hugo has done. She begins telling Odin that Hugo told her to steal the scarf and exposes his plot. Hugo tells her to shut up, but she refuses, so he shoots and kills her. Odin finally realizes that Hugo has been manipulating him the entire time, and demands to know why; Hugo refuses to answer. When the police arrive, Odin tells them what happened, and commits suicide, shooting himself in the heart. The story ends with Hugo being taken into police custody, saying (in voice over) that he will have his day in the spotlight. Mekhi Phifer as Odin James The star basketball player, who gets more attention from Hugo’s dad than Hugo. He is also dating Desi. Josh Hartnett as Hugo Goulding The son of coach Duke Goulding, and jealous of Odin’s attention from his father. Julia Stiles as Desi Brable Odin’s girlfriend Andrew Keegan as Michael Cassio The overshadowed star on the basketball team because of Odin. Rain Phoenix as Emily Friend of Desi. Elden Henson as Roger Calhoun A kid bullied at school who is picked on by Michael. Martin Sheen as Coach Duke Goulding, the coach of the Hawks. Father of Hugo. John Heard as Dean Bob Brable Father of Desi. Rachel Shumate as Brandy Michael’s love interest. Box office

Importance of Iron to the Evolution of Civilization in Africa Essay

Importance of Iron to the Evolution of Civilization in Africa - Essay Example While paying attention to the Iron Age in Africa, this expose elucidates the important role of iron to the evolution of civilization in the continent of Africa. African used stones as tools to conduct their daily activities during the first Millennium (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). In this regard, the activities that they engaged in included hunting and gathering, which was the main source of livelihood for a majority of Africans. Therefore, there were no signs of metalwork in Africa in this millennium. However, the continent traces early signs of metalwork in Egypt during the fifth millennium (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). In this regard, the first metalwork witnessed in the continent was technology in copper work. Indeed, this innovation coincided with farming and agriculture in the Nile Valley, which is the earliest civilization in Africa (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). While copper was the first metal for Africans to work with, there are several standpoints regarding the origin of iron in Africa. Nevertheless, there is a common agreement that the first evidence for work related to iron was in the second millennium (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). According to archeological standpoints, iron traces its origin on two different perspectives. In the first perspective, archeologists identify the invention of iron by the indigenous Africans as the group that invented iron (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). Archeologists who support this position indicate that Africans invented iron smelting by borrowing from the techniques they used in copper smelting (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). On the other hand, a second group of archeologists traces the origin of iron in Africa from the surrounding continents and specifically the continent of Asia (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). In this regard, the archeologists who support this viewpoint indicate that smelting of iron diffused into the continent through Egypt. It is crucial to point out that Egypt is close to the countries in the Arabic area of the continent of Asia. In this case, Egypt received the technology and spread it to the rest of Africa. The interaction of the kingdom of Meroe with the Egyptians is a contributing factor in the spread of iron technology and its crucial role in the evolution of civilization. In this regard, the principal craft for the people of Meroe was using the iron technology to make iron tools (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). The tools previously used by the people of Meroe were not of superior quality, since the only technology before the use of iron was use of stones or copper. In this regard, iron provided the people of Meroe who engaged in farming and hunting with more superior tools (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). In effe ct, the new tools ensured that there was more production of food and hunting became more productive. In addition, these superior tools paved way for a stronger army amongst the Meroe since they now had superior tools. In addition, they could capture strong animals like the elephants, which they used during wars (â€Å"Early Iron Age in Sub Saharan Africa,† n.d.). Thus, iron was important to the evolution of civilization in Africa since there were inventions of superior tools used in farming and

Marry Wollstonecraft Womens Right Research Paper

Marry Wollstonecraft Womens Right - Research Paper Example It will help to develop an effective and significant social order. This report will describe a brief summary of the life of Marry Wollstonecraft. In addition to this, the report will discuss about the above mentioned master piece. Discussion â€Å"A Vindication of the rights of Women† was published in the year 1792. This book of philosophy is based on the rights of women in society. In Western Europe, married women lost their individual legal identity and single women had minimal protection under the law during the eighteenth century. In addition to this, women could not avail the rights to sign a legal contract, retain a lawyer for individual legal needs and inherit property. Most importantly the women during that period of time did not have the right over their children. The wife and husband were considered as one person during that era. The women generally lost their legal existence right after marriage. Mary Wollstonecraft created a huge sensation in the year 1792 by writi ng the book based on women’s right in society named â€Å"A Vindication of the rights of Women†. She declared that men and women should be treated with equal rights to liberty, pursuit of happiness and life. She appealed for women to become knowledgeable and educated. She persisted women should be allowed and free to pursue professional careers, enter into business and vote if they ever wished as these are their morale rights. According to Mary Wollstonecraft, â€Å"I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex† (Powell 1). In addition to this, Mary Wollstonecraft declared that â€Å"Let woman share the rights, and she will emulate the virtues of man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated† (Powell 1). Mary Wollstonecraft was able to inspire the community and people within it as she used to speak from the heart. Her writings were easily understandable but she used to provide examples and facts from her own turbulent experience. Acc ording to Mary Wollstonecraft, â€Å"There is certainly an original defect in my mind† (Powell 1). She confessed that â€Å"for the cruelest experience will not eradicate the foolish tendency I have to cherish, and expect to meet with, romantic tenderness† (Powell 1). Mary Wollstonecraft passionately tried to give proper rights to the women in the society. She was a full-time professional writer. She used to write on serious and complex subjects without having an aristocratic sponsor. She had that much courage to share her views through her writing with the aim or objective to improve the scenario of the society (Brody 99). She had to struggle hard as the women were conventionally cherished for several domestic services. Mary Wollstonecraft developed her sheer skills on scanty earnings. Several contemporaries noted the provocative presence of Mary Wollstonecraft. In â€Å"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman†, Mary Wollstonecraft responds to the political and ed ucational theorists of the late 18th century. Several political and educational theorists did not believe that women should avail the right and needs of education. She continuously argued that women have the right to education as the women are the first teachers of their children. In addition to this, she stated that education will help a woman to give company to her husband in difficult situations.

Short answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Short answer - Essay Example However, the state in availing welfare to the public acts within certain outlined guidelines meant to evaluate certain involved loses or costs, hence implement measures whose purpose is to limit excesses of some individual groups. Implementation of SOPA seeks to ensure public interest via shunning either intrusion or pirating of people’s intellectual property and counterfeit goods (â€Å"Economics Week†). Mainly, the provision of this enforcement involves requesting court to prevent advertising bodies and online payment facilities from conducting transactions with infringing websites or search engines (â€Å"Economics Week†). Hence, expand the already existing laws with the intention of safeguarding the public’s interest by barring streaming of unauthorized copyrighted content and imposing harsh sentences to the culprits not more than five years. as a result of this first â€Å" mass† medium of communication linguistic unity would be one of the broadcasting’s main effects establishing physical and cultural unification not only English, but proper, uninflected English would become the national standard/norm. defined as â€Å" pussy- willow† English Somehow, this will yield to the eroding of some cultural practices but with time. Since, the upcoming generation due to this implementation will tend to move away from their cultural norms and adopt the incoming practices or ways of life. This is to ensure they interact with others while contributing to varied issues being broadcasted, for instance, those pertaining to politics. They usually erode diverse and numerous archaic practices commonly held by people as taboo, hence prompting all genders assuming roles that were earlier prohibited. For instance, in acting whereby each gender and people from varied races can mimic whom they want in plays for the purpose of relaying the intended information. This has extended to the present but

Assessing a Student Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assessing a Student - Personal Statement Example Based on the assessment table above, the average score for the student is 2.67. The scores from the able reflect that there are areas that the student needs support. These include problem solving skills, self-engagement, initiative taking, and decision making. In this case, the strategies that a teacher should adopt include understanding the individual needs of the students, making sure that the students know what is going on in class, and encouraging students to participate in class activities. In the case of this student, differentiation is important since he seems to be a below average student. In order for the teacher to improve the performance of the student, he should set different tasks for the student based on the performance of the student. Moreover, the teacher should set different open-ended tasks in order to assess the abilities of the student at different levels. The different forms of formative assessments that the teacher should use to gauge the performance of the student include questioning, discussions, peer/self-organizers, think pair share, and constructive quizzes. May, K. (2005). Teaching Strategies for Asperger Students. Retrieved from

Influence Technique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Influence Technique - Essay Example I had my chance to apply the persuasion technique once when I worked part-time as a life planner. A life planner ( commonly known as an insurance salesman) is not an easy job. The rewards are great but a person must be equipped with good persuasive skills to become successful in this field. During the training, we were equipped with all the information we needed to educate potential clients; however, the real experience presents a lot of surprises for a rookie. Before graduating from the training, we must pass a role-playing with a very critical customer. This means I must be able to handle all the rejections carefully and convert them into neutral statements. The main point of the test is to sell the concept of life insurance and sell our services to the person. The person I was trying to influence is a married man who comes from a middle-class family. He is knows the value of life insurance but does not know much about our company. The strategy employed. The strategy I used was rec iprocity for a number of reasons. First, it is our first time to meet so there is no interpersonal relationship yet. Rather, both parties were using mutual trust on the assumption that we’re both professionals. Also, I have something to offer that can provide long term benefits for the person.

Logistic-food supply chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Logistic-food supply chain - Essay Example Summary The purpose of the author is to analyze the interaction between consumer social responsibility and corporate social responsibility strategies and contribute to the theory building approach by establishing an interaction model. The author included a detailed literature review in this research. In addition to this, he developed a CSR/CNSR interaction model for logistic-food chain. CSR is specifically an organo-centric response to a specific series of key supply chain drivers. It generally promotes effective use of resources and product or corporate differentiation in a competitive market place. In case of change in consumer engagement or lack of consumer engagement, the corporate social responsibility can be considered as of limited value to the organization. The author have summarized that several recent economic drivers have influenced the consumer social responsibility behaviour with the consumerism constituent rather than caring constituent of consumer social responsibility playing major role. According to the author, the organizations should determine that their CSR activities should remain similar with the CNSR activities as it will help the organization to maintain and improve customer loyalty and market share. ... Review & Evaluate The author expertly portrayed the concept of corporate social responsibility and consumer social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is the concept that defines how an organization integrate environmental and social concerns in its business operations and how the interact with its stakeholders depending on this integration on a voluntary basis. The author expertly asserted that significance interest in corporate social responsibility benchmarking for environmental and social performance led to the increase in codes and guidelines of practice in food supply chain management. Organizations used to implement CSR activities in order to bring sustainability in business through several sustainable business practices, such as employee engagement in decision making, customer loyalty, green business operation strategy, proper financial disclosure and maintain relation with the stakeholders according to the business or corporate culture. It is important for a food manufacturing and distributing organization to ensure the quality of food products. It will help the organization to maintain good relationship with the external stakeholders as effective interaction of profitability strategy, and sustainable manufacturing and distribution strategy can help an organization to maintain good reputation among the customers and other external stakeholders. He used various CSR models in this article to prove that effective corporate social responsibility activities can help an organization to improve its business performance and mitigate several internal or external challenges. The authors used appropriate methods to gather effective evidenced in order to prove his thesis statement. First of all the use of corporate

New product in Qatari market ( Recorder pen ) Essay

New product in Qatari market ( Recorder pen ) - Essay Example The fourth section comprises of SWOT analysis of the business and product being offered. Fifth section provides a detailed discussion about segmentation, targeting and promotion strategy of the company. Sixth section provides a detailed marketing mix for the product, and the last section discusses the ethical dilemma of the product. The company, Qatar Deja Vu, is a newly established Qatari based company which is focusing on providing state of the art electronic products with smart and amazing use of technology. However, during this short history of 15 years, the company aims at learning and adjusting itself in line with the social and cultural values of the country, while ensuring that technological advancements run smoothly. Qatar Deja Vu will operate in the consumer electronic industry in Qatar and deal in the manufacturing of smart devices which are specifically made for young generation. The upcoming product of the company is named as â€Å"Smart Pen†, which is also being developed for people falling in the young age group. This mission statement is a depiction of the comprehensive vision and long term strategy being followed by the company. As the company aims at targeting young generation, therefore the element of youth is everywhere in its vision, strategies and products. The plan to introduce a Smart Pen in Qatari market is also a part of its long-term strategy to remain committed to serve the Qatari youth with innovative products. The marketing research carried out and presented in this report has been based on information collected through secondary sources of information. In fact, there has been no primary information source or research instrument has been used in the research. The major sources of secondary information, used in this report, have come from online sources, such as websites, market reports, analysts’ opinions and forecasts, news, journals, books, magazines, etc. All information obtained from these

Tragedy in Comedy Essay Example for Free

Tragedy in Comedy Essay Tragedy in Comedy is only a bad dream. This statement ironically captures the fable created by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While in the play, the night spent by the three couples and the performers in the woods outside Athens is felt by them to be a wild dream, for the audience viewing this comedy, the tragic elements at the beginning of the play seem less like the reality in Shakespeare’s make-believe world. This world has gods and lovers, half-man half-donkey, and goblins spreading love potions. The play captures many elements from the English mythological tradition, and uses them with poise and reserve. As one of the most popular adaptations for film and theatre in modern times, the play survives its intricate plot, typical characterization and reserved prose. The play begins in the house of Egeus with Hermia fighting against the wish of her father to marry the man chosen by him. In response, he invokes the ancient Athenian law that states that a daughter must marry according to the wishes of her father, or else face death. But Egeus gives Hermia another choice, to observe a lifelong chastity in the worship of the goddess Diana as a nun. Hermia decides to elope with her lover, Lysander and they both flight to marry in the house of Hermia’s aunt. They then escape to the forest outside Athens. Hermia has told of this to no one but her friend Helena, who, out of jealousy at being rejected by Demetrious, decides to tell him this in order to gain his favor. The humor here lies in the bitchy love affairs that make Helena betray her friend’s secret. In paintings and other art depicting the scene of confiding, the two are shown in close consultation, secretive and bonding. Thus, the scene is essential in the way that it builds up to the confusion, with Helena trailing Demetrius in his quest to trace Hermia and her lover. It also breaks away from the image, where sacrifice is easily rejected for personal happiness. Such a hedonistic impulse can only mean that the scene is set for the fight or pleasure, in which each person will vie for the lover’s hand. This fight takes a ridiculous proportion, when Oberon, king of the fairies brings forth the hobgoblin, Puck, to lace the sleeping Titania with love potion. Helena is shown from the start to be in pursuit of personal gain. This takes comic proportions when the spellbound Dymetrius and Lysander, a result of an incompetent Puck’s mistaking of Lysander for Demetrius, fall madly in love with her. She feels that this sudden reversal must mean that the two are mocking her. So she can no longer indulge in self centered pursuit, for the objects that she sought now seek her in maddening courtship. Herein lays Helena’s comedy. But it is finally Puck who saves the day, by removing the spell from Lysander, who consequently goes back to his affectionate relationship with Hermia. The band of six â€Å"rude mechanicals†, or stage actors who are to perform at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, find their way into the forest where the â€Å"love in idleness† has caused chaos. It is Puck’s mischief again, in transforming Nick Bottom, an actor, into a man with the head of a donkey. His singing then awakens Titania, who has also been cast with the love potion. This is done on Oberon’s command, for he wishes to procure her changeling as a henchman. This is perhaps the part, when Titania falling madly in love with Bottom, showers Bottom with all that is deserving of a nobleman, a part that is most loved by the audiences of this play. It reaches a tragicomic poise that is eloquent and base all at once (Khoury, 2006). Oberon later orders Puck to remove the curse from Titania, who in turn frees Bottom from the donkey’s head. Oberon commands that Lysander should be freed of the magical hold, but it should remain on Demetrius. The serialization is complete. Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on their morning hunt and find the lovers asleep. Upon waking them, a grand ceremony is held by Oberon. Egeus agrees to Hermia’s union with Lysander, and a group wedding takes place. The lovers believe that the night’s event must have been a dream, and watching a performance by the six workmen, though not particularly pleasing; the lovers find a sense of pleasure and contentment. Oberon and the fairies enter after some time to bless them with good fortune. References Shakespeares Sources for A Midsummer Nights Dream. Shakespeare-online. com. Retrieved on 2009-11-01. The Tempest available at http://shakespeare. mit. edu/tempest/full. html Retrieved on 2009-11-01. The Tempest http://www. enotes. com/a-tempest/ Retrieved on 2009-11-01. The tempest revisited in Martinique: Aime Cesaires Shakespeare. (Critical essay) Khoury, J. (2006) The tempest revisited in Martinique: Aime Cesaires Shakespeare. (Critical essay) Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies | September 22, 2006 | http://www. accessmylibrary. com/article-1G1-154756422/tempest-revisited-martinique-aime. html Retrieved on 2009-11-01. http://cscanada. net/index. php/css/article/viewFile/559/pdf_398 Retrieved on 2009-11-01.

Case Study: Hospital Fall of an Elderly Patient

Case Study: Hospital Fall of an Elderly Patient A case study of a critical incident based on a hospital fall of an elderly patient with memory problems who has had several falls at home and has been admitted to a community hospital for assessment. It is suggested that the consequences of patient falls are a serious issue for patients and society. A fall is defined as an unexpected, involuntary loss of balance by which a person comes to rest at a lower or ground level (Commodore 1995). The older population is growing in number, and falling is common in this group. Up to one-third of people over the age of 65 fall each year, with half reporting multiple falling episodes (Bludau and Lipsitz 1997). Fall-related injury is the sixth highest cause of death in older people Savage and Matheis-Kraft 2001). Half of those aged over 75 years who fracture their hip as a result of a fall die within one year (Rawskey 1998), and those who survive rarely regain complete mobility (Marotolli 1992). Falls are also a leading cause of head injury, the most serious being subdural haematoma (Tideiksaar 1998). Falls are associated with major morbidity, functional decline and increased healthcare expenditure (Tinetti 1994). In a hospital setting, 10 per cent of older patients who have fallen die before discharge, and a clustering of falls in one patient results in increased mortality (Tideiksaar 1998). In the United Kingdom about 310,000 fractures occur each year in older people (Woolf and Akesson 2003). Fourteen thousand people a year die each year as a result of an osteoporotic hip fracture, with up to 33 per cent of hip fracture patients dying within one year of fracture (Department of Health (DoH) 2001). It is posited that the effects of falls extend beyond obvious physical and direct cost. Even if falls do not cause physical injury, the psychological effect can be long-lasting. â€Å"Post-fall syndrome† results in hesitancy and a loss of confidence leading to loss of mobility and independence (Cannard 1996). Arguably, this can cause shame and unwillingness to admit to falls. Consequently, falls are underreported. They may not even be remembered by fallers, especially those with cognitive imp airment (Lord et al 2001). It is debated that the term â€Å"fall† is now considered contentious because those who fall are perceived quite negatively as old, frail and dependent (DoH 2001). Family members are also affected by falls: they may be concerned for the safety of an older family member, his or her ability to remain independent and the possibility of long-term care. There have been few studies investigating nurses’ views of falls in patients, although Fitzgibbon and Roberts (1988) found that nurses experience fear of blame, anxiety, guilt and distress following a fall by a patient in their care. As a consequence of the effects of a fall on the patient, health professional and healthcare organisation, various risk assessment tools and prevention strategies have been developed. This paper will examine the critical incident of a fall by an elderly lady who has had repeated falls at home. She was admitted to hospital for assessment because of the falls at home. However, when she was an inpatient she fell on the ward to which she was admitted. For the purpose of this assignment and for confidentiality reasons as expounded in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC 2004) code of professional conduct, the patient will be know as patient A. Patient A is a 77 year old female who is in frail health. She has experienced numerous falls at home and is showing symptoms of dementia. Patient A was admitted to a general hospital because her diabetes was extremely unstable. Unstable diabetes is a known risk factor for falls in older people with dementia (Lord et al 2001). During her stay in hospital, patient A became disorientated and fell â€Å"en route† to the bathroom. She sustained a neck of femur fracture that required surgery and consequently a long hospital stay. On discharge she was referred to her community hospital rehabilitation unit for assessment. The process of ageing creates irreversible changes in all body systems that can lead to reduced efficiency or performance over time. As physical ability and reactions change, so does cognitive ability. For most people this will have little or no consequence for daily living or independence. However, for older people with cognitive impairment or dementia, changes in mood, memory and thought processes in addition to changed physical health can result in increased risk and vulnerability that includes an increase in the potential for falling, as in the case of patient A (Oliver et al 2007). These risks are greatly compounded by admission to hospital or institutional care (Oliver et al 2007). As already mentioned falls are the most common patient safety incident reported from inpatient services and are responsible for at least 40 per cent of all accidents in hospital (National Patient Safety Agency 2007). By nature of the nurse-patient relationship, nurses are well placed to identify the multiple risks that older people can encounter in hospital from illness and from the care environment, and can work with the patient and care team to identify ways of reducing them. Falls in older people can occur for a wide variety of reasons. In addition to physical disorders, they can also be a feature of a number of neurodegenerative disorders, including dementia. Hospital environments can also present significant challenges and threats to older people with mental health problems, particularly because their functional and/or organic decline can increase vulnerability and their risk of having a fall (Lord et al 2001). It is also suggested that those with dementia are less likely or able to take the initiative in managing their own health in general and that this increases the likelihood of falls (DoH 2001). With regard to patient A, she was exhibiting memory loss and behaviours symptomatic of dementia. She had not engaged with the medical services for some time and her physical health had degenerated leaving her frail and unable to cope with activities of daily living. As a consequence her diabetes had become dangerously unstable resulting in her collapsing at home and then being admitted to hospital where the fall that fractured her hip took place. As mentioned, the consequences of falls are varied but, can be life-limiting and at worst, life-threatening (DoH 2001). As well as the consequences of physical change, the effects on mental state can further delay the recovery process, for example, by inducing depression (Lenze et al 2004). Risk assessment processes therefore should identify those most likely to fall, offer guidance on interventions to reduce those risks and be subject to frequent multidisciplinary review. It is posited that the role of nursing in helping the person with memory loss/dementia to cope with and adapt to changes created by illness relies on a continuous process of assessment of the whole person (Kitwood 1997). The environment, in which this process takes place and the patient’s response to it, should be given equal consideration. Patient A was admitted to a specialist rehabilitation unit that particularly cares for the elderly and their needs. Part of the unit’s remit is to assess an individuals’ risk of falling and put strategies into place for the prevention of further falls, and to that end the unit’s environment is managed in such a way that helps to prevent falls. It is posited that the need to assess risk from the outset of care is paramount for the care to be meaningful, relevant and appropriate (NMC 2004). The support of the nurse in offering interventions that promote recovery and maximisation of potential towards independence or less dependence should decrease the risks of falls and fractures. Assessing the risk of falls can highlight areas of greatest vulnerability and, therefore, direct the formulation of the plan of care towards deficits or areas of unmet need. Debatably, the patient who has been admitted to hospital because of deterioration in mental state or cognitive function will be most at risk because of that change. The person may decline to stay, become distressed at separation from a partner or family, and feel persecuted or vulnerable. Although, patient A was admitted for clinical reasons it is debated that as she had underlying cognitive and memory problems her mental state quickly deteriorated. Biological features may add to the clinical presentation and behavioural changes may create practical difficulties with managing safety (Oliver et al 2004). This was the case with regard to patient A. There are numerous rating scales in existence that measure behaviour, mood and functional abilities of older people (Burns et al 2004). Assessment of physiological aspects of recovery, for example: pain monitoring, tissue viability, nutrition and mobility is often more evident in clinical practice. However, it is suggested that for those with cognitive impairment or dementia, risk-rating scales should be able to combine evaluation of physical and psychological areas of need, as well as the behavioural and functional components of presentation. If a patient is unable to address risks, nursing staff need to consider their role in addressing need and act on the patient’s behalf if necessary. Although comprehensive assessment of the patient’s presentation, needs and abilities is a continuous and evolving process (Oliver et al 2004), it became clear that patient A had immediate threats to her safety and therefore needed to be quickly evaluated and prioritised so that appropriate interventions could be initiated with immediate effect.. It is proposed that the use of a risk factor-based approach to assess older people who fall can prevent more than 50 per cent of falls (Close 2001). Therefore, an assessment tool for falls that took into account both the physical and the psychological risk factors was used to assess patient A on admission to the unit and at specified times thereafter. This enabled issues to be addressed that would otherwise not have been elicited via the Single Assessment Process concept of risk assessment (Burns et al 2004). The assessment tool was used in combination with patient A’s care plan. It is suggested that the combination of an assessment tool with a care plan, as in the Fall Risk Assessment Scale for the Elderly (FRASE) tool (Barry 2001), is an example of best practice. However, the FRASE tool does not allow for assessment of mental impairment so this was added to the tool used for patient A. The tool used enabled the nurses and other multi-disciplinary team members to assess patient A’s risk of falling and it included components such as previous fall history, sensory deficit, medication, presence of secondary diagnosis. Balance/gait, age, mobility status and length of time since admission was added in following assessments. This is important as long stays in hospital can enhance functional decline and consequently â€Å"fall risk† (Oliver et al, 2004). In conclusion, for an older person with cognitive impairment or dementia for whom admission to hospital was necessary, the increased exposure to risk requires swift, comprehensive assessment and intervention to reduce the likelihood of falling. An appropriate risk assessment tool should illicit areas of greatest need or deficit, be proactive in suggesting appropriate interventions and form part of a multiprofessional and multifaceted approach to preventing falls in hospital. References Barry E (2001) Preventing accidental falls among older people in long stay units, Irish Medical Journal, 94, 6, 172-176 Bludau J, Lipsitz L (1997) Falls in the elderly: In Wei J, Sheehan M (Eds) Geriatric Medicine: A Case-based Manual, Oxford, UK, Oxford, Medical Publications Burns A, Lawlor B, Craig S (2004) Assessment Scales in Old Age Psychiatry, (2e), Martin Dunitz, London Cannard G (1996) Falling trend, Nursing Times, 92, 1, 36-7 Close J (2001) Interdisciplinary practice in the prevention of falls: a review of working models of care, Age and Ageing, 30, Suppl 4, 8-12 Commodore D (1995) Falls in the elderly population: a look at incidence, risks, healthcare costs, and preventative strategies, Rehabilitation Nursing, 20, 2, 84-89 Department of Health (2001) National Service Framework for Older People: Standard Six: Falls, The Stationery Office, London Fitzgibbon M, Roberts F (1988) Prevention of accidents to hospital patients, Recent Advances in Nursing, 22, 33-48 Kitwood T (1997) Dementia Reconsidered: The Person Comes First, Open University Press, Buckingham Lenze EJ, Munin MC, Dew MA (2004) Adverse effects of depression and cognitive impairment on rehabilitation participation and recovery from hip fracture, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19, 5, 472-478 Lord SR, Sherrington C, Menz HB (2001) Falls in Older People: Risk Factors and Strategies for Prevention, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Marotolli R (1992) Decline in physical function following hip fracture, Journal of the American, Geriatrics Society, 40, 9, 861-866 National Patient Safety Agency (2007) Slips, Trips and Falls in Hospital: Third report from the Patient Safety Observatory, London, NPSA Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) The NMC code of professional conduct: standards for conduct, performance and ethics London: NMC Oliver D, Connelly JB, Victor CR (2007) Strategies to prevent falls and fractures in hospitals and care homes and effect of cognitive impairment: systematic review and meta-analyses, British Medical Journal, 334, 7584, 82-89 Rawskey E (1998) Review of the literature on falls among the elderly, Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 30, 1, 47-52 Savage T, Matheis-Kraft C (2001) Fall occurrence in a geriatric psychiatry setting before and after a fall prevention program, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 27, 10, 49-53 Tideiksaar R (1998) Falls in Older Persons: Prevention and Management, (2e), Baltimore MD, Health Professions Press Tinetti M (1994) A multifactorial intervention to reduce the risk of falling among elderly people living in the community, New England Journal of Medicine, 331, 13, 821-827 Woolf A, Akesson K (2003) Preventing fractures in elderly people, British Medical Journal, 327, 7406, 89-96 Hewlett Packard (HP): Leadership Crisis Hewlett Packard (HP): Leadership Crisis Case prepared by Rajgopal Iyengar. In the recent years Hewlett Packard (HP) board of directors have been in the limelight for wrong reasons. Four CEOs were hired and replaced in the last decade and three CEOs changes were within a span of 1.5 years. The board has not been able to find the right leader to fit into the HPs Cultures of doing things. The uncertainties in leadership has led to a huge loss for HP in terms of decreased market value, dissatisfied shareholders and blurred strategic vision. In this paper we study the HP CEOs since 1999, their leadership style, their vision and things that went wrong leading to their ouster. Hewlett Packard History (Till 1990s) The company was founded in a  one-car garage  in Palo Alto by  William (Bill) Redington Hewlett  and  Dave Packard. HP is the  worlds leading PC manufacturer. The company focussed on manufacturing of networking and data storage components in addition to designing, development and delivery of software. The key products manufactured were personal computers, enterprise servers, network and storage products, printers and imaging products. HP marketed its products directly and via online to its customers that included individual consumers, SME (Small Medium Enterprise) and large enterprises. HP also had a solid presence in the service and consulting business for the products it manufactured. HPs culture and management practises know HP Way was based on teamwork, transparency, open door management policies and flexibility in work place. HP treated the employees as assets and strived to provide a better work life balance to the employees. The business goals were profit oriented rather than increasing revenues. In late 1980s, HP started building low margin PCs contrary to the companies principle. By 1990, HP was the one of the top technological companies in the world, a market leader in both printers and UNIX based servers, with a growing presence in PC business. HP had a strong leadership under the founders Bill Hewlett (till 1987) and Dave Packard (till 1994). Hewlett Packard History (In 1990s) In the early 1990s, HP focussed on three major businesses: The test and measurement instrument business, the UNIX server business the HP Printers Computer business. The test and measurement business UNIX Server business provided high margins that were in line with the HP Way of working. However the printer business sold low cost printers at high volume and derived high profitability from the ink cartridges. HPs sales grew by 20% between 1992 1996 with an increasing dependency on the low margin PC Printer business. By 1997, HP was among the top 3 manufacturers of PC. HP faced severe competition from Dell and the Asia crisis in 1998 made HP loose margin on PC business. Lewiss Platt the then CEO of HP hired consultant to determine the problem HP was facing. The consultant suggested hiring an outside CEO with a marketing and sales background who can exude Charisma and increase the companys profile. In May 1999, the board decided on Carly Fiorina. Carly Fiorina (1999-2005) Carly Fiorina was born  in  Austin, Texas, on the 6th of September, 1954. Her father  Joseph Tyree Sneed III  was a very talented and multifaceted person. He was a law school professor, dean, and federal judge. In addition he was also an abstract and portrait artist. Fiorina attended Channing School in London, and later attended  Charles E. Jordan High School  in  Durham, North Carolina, for her senior year. She received a  Bachelor of Arts  in  philosophy  and  medieval history  from  Stanford University  in 1976. Fiorina received an  MBA  in  marketing  from  University of Maryland, College Park  in 1980 and later received a  Master of Science  in  management  from the  MIT Sloan School of Management  under the  Sloan Fellows  program in 1989. ATT and Lucent In 1980 Fiorina joined ATT as a management trainee and rose to the level of senior vice president for the companys hardware and systems division. Fiorina led the spin-off of ATT and Lucent; she also played a key role in planning and implementing of the 1996  initial public offering  of stock and company launch strategy.  In late 1996 she became the president of Lucents consumer products business. In 1997, she was appointed as chairman of Lucents consumer communications joint venture with Philips consumer communications.   Changes under Carly Fiorina Leadership Carly Fiorina moved in quickly and tried to revitalize the HP environment. She pruned the reporting units from 82 to 12 and amalgamated back-office functions. She modified the HPs profit sharing program to a performance based incentive program to motivate individuals. She completely rejigged the sales and marketing function. She topped the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list from Fortune magazine for 5 consecutive years. However her leadership style was controversial and many HP employees disliked her. She was regarded as self-centred, demanding leader who completely destroyed the HP culture. Carly spearheaded the merger of HP Compaq that was opposed by the analysts and board members. These differences lead to a public spat between the board members and the CEO. Eventually the deal was approved with a slight majority of 2.1% where 49% opposed the decision and 51% agreed. The Compaq acquisition did not go well as envisaged by Fiorina. Operating margins dropped from 9% in 2000 to 4% in 2005 (Refer Exhibit1 ). Share prices also continued to drop from $34 in 2000 to $21 in 2005(Refer Exhibit2). Following a string of disappointing financial results the board eventually asked Fiorina to resign on Feb 2005. Mark Hurd (2005-2010) Mark Vincent Hurd  was born in Flushing, New York USA on January 1, 1957. He graduated form Baylor University in the year 1979 with a BBA degree. Hurd was the CEO President of NCR Corporation when he decided to move out and join HP. Mark Hurd increased the revenue of NCR by 7% and net income by five times from the previous year by taking a gamut of operational efficiency initiatives. At NCR Mark Hurd held a variety of positions in general management, operations, and sales and marketing. He also served as head of the companys  Teradata  data-warehousing division for three years. Hurd was a member of the  Technology CEO Council, a consortium of chairmen and chief executive officers of IT companies that develops and advocates public policy positions on technology and trade. Changes Under Mark Hurd This time the HP board decided to hire a person with a strong operational experience and hands on execution capabilities. Mark Hurd was well known in Silicon Valley for operational and cost cutting capabilities. Although Mark had never managed a very large company the size of HP, he had a very good success rate. Mark believed in Management by involvement. He tried to get a deeper understanding of the business by dirtying his hands. Mark believed in the concept of management by walking around.. He would stroll through multiple levels of the company and try to get an understanding of the environment. He strongly believed a company can become great if the CEOs ,boards, and management all think alike. Mark Hurd said: I believe in the principle that Company comes first, Employee second and Self is last Mark Hurd was very aggressive in his approach. Within few months of joining he announced broad restructuring initiatives and laid off 14,500 employee. He reorganized the corporate sale group by reducing the group size and assigning the sales team to specific products. He believed a strong knowledge of the product was essential to sell the product. He gave executives lot of flexibility in managing their budgets and held them accountable for their performance. During the 2008-2009 recessions he deducted 5% from the employee salary and 20% from the executive salary to meet the targets. These cost cutting initiatives helped in boosting HPs share value and profitability. The operating margin increased from 4% in 2005 to 9% in 2010(Refer Exhibit3). Share value of HP rose by 129% under his tenure(Refer Exhibit4). The profit generated was used by Mark Hurd to acquire companies in the software and service space like EDS, Mercury Interactive, Peregrine Systems Palm. Things were not completely fine under the leadership of Mark Hurd. Although the company performed well, the employee morale was down. The cost cutting and tightened management completely killed the HP Way work culture. The RD spending plummeted from 4.5% in 2004 to 2.3% in 2010(Refer Exhibit5). The number of patent applications also plummeted during Mark Hurds tenure resulting in loss of strategic advantages for HP. In 2010, HP was mired in controversy and scandal that led to the resignation of Mark Hurd. A company contractor by the name Jodie Fisher filed a sexual harassment case against Mark Hurd. Investigations revealed Mark Hurd had filed inappropriate expenses to skirt the relationship with the women that violated the HP Code Of Conduct. Mark Hurd was asked to resign by the board of directors. HP was again without a leader. Leo Apotheker (2010-2011) Leo Apotheker was born in Aachen, Germany on Sep18 1953. Apotheker studies economics at the  Hebrew University  in  Jerusalem. Apotheker worked in finance and operation function of several European companies before joining SAP in 1988. At SAP, his growth was phenomenal. In 1995, He became CEO and founder of SAP Belgium and SAP France. In 1997, he was made the president of SAPs South West Europe region and by 1999, the president of SAP EMEA sales region. In 2002 Apotheker joined the SAP AG executive board and became the president of global customer solutions and operations from. He was appointed deputy CEO of SAP in 2007; and promoted to co-CEO of the company in April 2008. On February 7, 2010, the SAP supervisory board decided to terminate Apothekers executive board membership. This decision led Apotheker to resign from SAP. HP Under Leo Apotheker The search for the next CEO was riddled with pessimism from the outset. The dispute over Mark Hurds resignation made the task of search committee very difficult. The board was divided over the selection of internal versus external candidate. The resignation of Mark Hurd complemented with the sacking history of past CEOs had created negative publicity about the company in the job market. Highly talented external candidates were not interested in the job. Leo Apotheker was appointed as the CEO of the company in Oct 2010. The appointment of Leo Apotheker received a gloomy response from the market because of multiple reasons. Firstly the credibility and track record of Leo was not great. An article in Wall Street Journal highlighted: Its very discomforting that Mr. Apoteker has never run the show alone. He abruptly resigned from SAP in less than a year Secondly Leo had no understanding of the HP hardware business. Hence he was a misfit for the HP job. The other disturbing fact was Leo was not interviewed by all the members of the board or even met them. Clearly the indifference of the board towards the selection was evident. Tenure of Leo Apotheker was short-lived and disappointing. Initially Leo worked on the strategy designed by Mark Hurd, but in a short time he started making drastic changes to the strategy. He terminated the initiative of HPs venture into the Tablet market and suggested spin off of the PC division. He also suggested purchasing a business analytics company called Autonomy at 10 times the original price. These incoherent action and adhoc strategy was punished by the market. Stock prices plunged and HP lost 45% of its value(Refer Exhibit). Taking cue of the market dissatisfaction, the board of directors fired Leo Apotheker. Meg Whitman (2011 Till Date) Whitman was born on 4 August 1956 in  Long Island, New York. She was the daughter of Margaret Cushing and Hendricks Hallett Whitman Jr. Whitman graduated from  Cold Spring Harbor High School  in 1974. Margaret took maths and science in Princeton university because she wanted to be a doctor. However, after a summer vacation stint in selling magazine advertisements she got inclined to marketing. She studies economics,   and earned a B.A. with honors in 1977. In 1979, Whitman did her  M.B.A.  from  Harvard Business School. Whitman started her career at Procter and Gamble as a brand manager. She later worked as a consultant for Bain and Company and rose to the rank of Senior Vice President in the organization. She joined Walt Disney in 1989 and became the VP of strategic planning. She quit Walt Disney after 2 years and joined Stride Rite Corporation. In 1995 she was named the CEO of Florists Transworld Delivery. Whitman joined  eBay  as CEO on March 1998. At the time the company had only 30 employees  and revenues of $4  million. She grew the company to approximately 15,000 employees and $8  billion in annual revenue by 2008.Whitman resigned as CEO of eBay in November 2007, but remained on the board and served as an advisor to new CEO  John Donahoe  until late 2008 Whitman has received numerous awards and accolades for her work at eBay. On more than one occasion, she was named among the top five most powerful women by  Fortune  magazine. HP Under Meg Whitman The appointment of Meg Whitman was not taken well by the market. Analysts felt Meg Whitman was inexperienced in managing a complex hardware software based business of HP that was already suffering from scandals, low morale, murky vision and unstable leadership. Meg Whitmans strategy was to focus on strengthening the internal business of HP. She wanted to continue with some of the strategies initiated by Leo Apotheker except the spinoff business. Whitman decided to restructure the business by dropping 30000 jobs and using the money to fuel new product development and improvement of sales force6. She merged the PC Printer business to improve the operational efficiency. Clearly Whitman has a strategy in place to get back HP on its feet. She is strengthening internal HP departments, spending money of new product development that are inline with HP Way of working. She has also managed to set a low expectation in the market for the setting low Future The leaders appointed by HP board were not able to align with the HP Culture and make the difference. It needs to be seen whether Meg Whitman will be able to recuperate HP and restore the past glory.

Comparing Ritual in Beckett, Hemingway, and ONeill :: comparison compare contrast essays

Ritual in Beckett, Hemingway, and O'Neill "Perhaps the public psyche has simply been overloaded and, like an electrical circuit, has blown its fuse and gone cold under the weight of too many impulses" (Miller, lvi). The modern world is often looked upon as a cold and unfeeling one. And the modern existence is such that it has been called a "Wasteland" by T. S. Eliot. It has also led Camus to parallel it with the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was condemned to repeatedly push a boulder up a mountain, after which it would roll down the other side, and he would have to start all over again. It is this ritualistic behavior which has become a significant factor in modern life. Although ritualism is a common theme in modern literature, its function had been interpreted differently by modern writers. Many, like Beckett and Hemingway, see ritualistic behavior almost as a form of therapy, a healing action used to cope with internal turmoil. Others, chiefly expressionists like O'Neill, look upon ritual with scorn. They see it as the deadening of society, the mechanization of humanity. "Expressionist drama protested strongly against the system of industrialized production that transformed man into an automaton" (Glicksberg 51). O'Neill's scorn of ritualism, which is typical of the expressionists, is evident in his plays. The expressionists believed that humanity is out of kilter with nature, and man's obsession with materialism and machines is a factor in the deadening of the soul. O'Neill was a man described by Joseph Golden as being a godless, despondent, pessimistic, antisocial creature who was also prone to such exuberance that he could write to a friend "I'm tickled to death with life! I wouldn't 'go out' and miss the rest of the play for anything!"(31). O'Neill's lack of belief in religion was a constant struggle for him. He was disturbed not only by the absence of Christianity, but by humanity's inability to find a replacement for it. He described this feeling in a letter to George Jean Nathan when he wrote, The playwright today must dig at the roots of the sickness of today as he feels it--the death of the Old God and the failure of science and materialism to give any satisfying new one for the surviving primitive religious instinct to find a meaning of and to life in, comfort his fears of death with (qtd in Golden 39).

1984 Essay --

Are you sitting comfortably? I find myself constantly drawn back to the subject of George Orwell’s 1984 it follows a dystopian community, which is set in a world that has been in continuous war, and has no privacy by means of surveillance and has complete mind control and is known by the name of Oceania. It keeps an eye on a man named Winston whose features are described as him having â€Å"a smallish, frail figure†¦his hair very fair, his face natural sanguine, [and] his skin roughened† (Orwell 2). This book illustrates to readers what the world would be like if we were under complete control of the Government, as a result, this book poses a couple motifs’ for instance Part One tackles â€Å"Collectivism† which means the government controls you, while Part Two fights with â€Å"Romance† because Winston and Julia’s love, and Part Three struggles with â€Å"Fear† and how it controls you physically and mentally. Likewise, George Orwell’s 1984 Part One Motif is â€Å"Collectivism† which means an economic or political system in which the government controls everything like land, business, and in Oceania’s case even to extent of mind control. This theme proves itself as you first turn the page in part one when it states â€Å"Big Brother is Watching You† (Orwell 2). Those five words that could be read under that poster seem to act as all he needs in this community to prove his control and authority. The motif played a main part here because it was all about someone not having their own control; it was about them having everything accepted by Big Brother whether what they inscribe in their journal, what their thoughts were, or even what they were doing because Big Brother is watching at all times. Part two of George Orwell’s 1984 motif is â€Å"Romance† because Winsto... ...f it no matter what even if it means betraying the people we care. In order to understand ourselves, we must first understand George Orwell’s 1984. This book expresses multiple motifs like Part one on Collectivism by the people of Oceania putting their community in the hands of Big Brother, or Part Two was about Romance between Julia and Winston and about how the party wanted to alter love for complete devotion to Big Brother, and later in Part Three it was about fear and how it can control you. We must ultimately comprehend how this book could prove more of a timeline of events taking place now if we don’t put steps inline to stop the Government from complete control, really we are the proles Orwell was mentioning we are the hope and we must utilize it. â€Æ' Works Cited Orwell, George. 1984: a novel. New York, N.Y.: Published by Signet Classic:, 1977. Print.

AIDS and Religion in Africa :: Free AIDS Essays

Introduction: Presently, somewhere between 34 and 46 million people live with AIDS worldwide. In total, Africa holds the highest number with just under 30 million people suffering from AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa, by itself, accounts for between 25 and 28.2 million people. These numbers leave Northern Africa with just over one million people living with HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Any news you hear regarding the AIDS Epidemic, a main topic involves Sub-Saharan Africa. Besides a somewhat different climate, what else is special about Northern Africa that seems to keep the population’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rates low compared to the southern portion of the continent. Look at the two figures in the Appendix. One figure represents the religious spread including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Indigenous Religions. The other figure illustrates the spread of AIDS in Africa. Notice the similarities in spread. High correlation exists between low rates and the Islam territory and with high rates and Christianity. Religion seems to have immense influence over the spread of AIDS. The history of African religion dates back centuries through original tribal religions, Islam, Christianity with some Judaism. Within this paper, I will briefly describe the spread of each of these religions including tensions between each other and the already present traditional religions. Following this description, I will describe the main ideas behind each religion in a theological viewpoint as well as any social implications. These tenets are long developed with distinct traditions and beliefs backing them through the centuries. Over the last 20 years, a new factor has developed in Africa exerting extreme pressure on many of these long-lived traditions. I want to explore the relationship between the rise of the AIDS epidemic and the subsequent public health campaigns challenges focusing on the traditions behind the main religions. I look to explore how some of the already present traditions aid and also hurt the fight against AIDS, some of the religions’ reactions to the epidemic and future predictions on how the epidemic will reshape religion in Africa and possibly globally. Islam in Africa: The actual definition of the word, â€Å"Islam†, â€Å"refers to the peace that come from surrender to God† (World Religions: Islam). The book of Islam is the Quran, an unedited version of The Holy Prophet Muhammad’s messages of Allah’s teachings. The Islamic religion’s main tenets involve the â€Å"affirmation of one God, with total repudiation of polytheism and all forms of idolatry, including the use of images† with importance stressed with overall justice, humility and submission (McCasland, Cairns and Yu, 328).

Formal and Informal Groups Essay

A formal group is the deliberate and systematic grouping of people in an organization so that organizational goals are better achieved. Now any organization would have a certain formula. They are very essential for the efficient functioning of the organization. What does an organization do? The total no. of people working in an organization is divided into smaller groups (teams or sections or departments) and each group is responsible for fulfilling a task which would ultimately contribute to fulfilling the organization’s goal. This increases the efficiency of the organization. Ex: If we take NITK as an example, we all know that we have a larger goal of training students for the engineering profession. But within this larger goal, we want students to be trained for computer engg, electrical, mech, etc. So this larger goal is divided into departments (example computer department), which is a formal group in this larger organization. So, all the departments together achieve the goal of efficiently training the students for engineering purpose. Informal Group: Informal groups are the natural and spontaneous grouping of people whenever they work together over a period of time. Whenever people interact and work together over a certain period of time, it’s very natural for them and it comes very spontaneously for them, that they form informal groups. For example, we are officially assigned to the computer engineering department. But in the hostel, we live with friends from other branches. So when all of us live together for a 4 year period, it’s very natural for us to interact and build up groups informally with our friends from other branches. So like this, any organization would have informal groups. Let’s compare both Formal and Informal Groups:   FORMAL GROUPS |INFORMAL GROUPS | |Deliberately created. |Spontaneously created. | |Formal groups are knowingly and systematically created. |Informal groups are not really created, they are naturally formed. | |Systematic structure. |Loose structure | |As we discussed earlier, in the computer department, we have HOD, |In informal groups, there is no structure at all. So there is a system in place. |together for some time. There is no junior and senior†¦everybody is | | |equal. | |Importance to position. |Importance to the person. | |In a formal group, importance is always given to the position. Ex: |The beauty of being in an informal group is that the position does | |the group leader, the head of department, etc. The position gets |not exist at all because there is no structure. So importance is | |importance in a formal way because there is a system in place. always given to the person. | |Relationship is official. |Relationship is personal. | |The relationship is very formal and official in a formal group. So |In an informal group, the interaction and the attachment becomes very| |the relationship and behavior is almost prescribed in a formal group. |personal and not official. | |Communication is restricted and slow. |Communication is free and fast. | |By restricted we mean that the â€Å"boss may decide that certain |Everybody wants to tell everyone all the information. With the gossip| |information should not be discussed below a certain level. † |network in an informal group, information is passed very quickly. | |Communication is very slow because a certain procedure has to be | | |followed if we want to pass down the information. | | Importance of formal groups: As human being, we tend to tilt towards informal groups. But   we have to remember that formal groups have certain characteristics that are very essential for the efficiency of the organization. For example: If we remain informal all the time, the organizational goals cannot be met. Importance of informal groups: Informal groups are just as important because they serve some very important human means. Informal groups help in developing good human relations in the organization. When we interact with people in an informal scale, we develop good relationships with them . So this develops better working relationships and therefore creates better efficiency in the organization. So, good organizations today are promoting informal activities and formation of informal groups. Ex: Parties in companies, which promotes informal interaction. Informal groups promote human dignity. Human dignity is something which is very important for every human being. As human beings, we want to be respected and treated in a particular way. So, self respect is very important for a human being. In a formal group setup, very often, our dignity is destroyed. For example: If we have a very bossy boss, everyday he will be de-motivating you by saying things like â€Å"You are useless fellow!! Who made you an engineer†!! So our dignity is destroyed. But what supports us It’s the informal group that supports us and keeps up our dignity. For example: The support from our friends helps us to keep our dignity. Informal groups help in spreading information fast through the GRAPEVINE-the informal network of communication (â€Å"The gossip network†). The grapevine is the plant on which the grape fruit grows. The characteristic of a grapevine is that it grows in all directions. So in an organization, the grapevine is the informal communication network that has grown into every group and corner of the organization. If we want information to be passed on very fast to everybody in the organization, then the grapevine is the best way. Example 1: â€Å"We can put information on a notice board† Example 2: When director makes an announcement for a holiday, information is passed very quickly. So the grapevine is active. And if a formal notice is made, then it takes time for the information to reach everybody because the formal network is very slow.

Iraq War Essay

The Iraq war is also known as the Occupation of Iraq and it started on 20th March 2003, the war was spearheaded by the United States of America which was also backed by the U. K. There were other countries that had small forces in the invasion but they did not have many troops as compared to the US and the Britain, these countries included Australia, Poland, Denmark and Spain. This invasion marked the beginning of the current Iraq war. The major reason for the invasion was to end the Saddam regime which was believed to be supporting terrorist activities, it was also aimed at disarming Iraq which was said to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction and the last reason for the invasion was to free the people of Iraq from the dictatorship of Saddam (Allen, Mike and Juliet, 2002). The trigger of the war is said to have been the failure of Iraq to disarm itself of the biological, chemical and nuclear weapons that the US and its allies said were a threat to the world peace. Some of the traditional allies of the United States opposed the war and argued that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; some of these countries were Germany, France and Canada. The invasion started with an air strike at the Presidential palace which was later followed by attacks on the southern side of Iraq. The coalition forces operated from a point near the Kuwait-Iraq border. The Iraq war is said to have caused very many protests all over the world with the largest protest in Rome where more than three million people protested against the war. The United States-Turkish relationship was greatly affected by what preceded the aftermath of the war on Iraq. For the last Fifty years there has been a very good Turkish-American partnership which can be seen in the efforts that the two countries have made in Korea, Kosovo and Bosnia. In the year 1999 when President Clinton visited Turkey after an earthquake he described their relationship as a very strategic partnership and there was a lot of support fir the partnership between the two nations. The strong partnership began to deteriorate in March 2003 when the US was almost attacking Iraq. The effect of this was felt when the Turkish parliament rejected the request by the US to allow the US troops to go through Turkey just before the war started. Most people in Turkey were against the war with 95% of the whole population being against the war and this forced the government to reject the US request although it was seen as a loss to the Turkish government as it lost a lot of grants and loans that would have come with the agreement. Although the Turkey government wants to renew the relationship with the United States there is a feeling that the instability that was caused by the war on the Turkish border with the Northern Iraq has caused a lot of damage to the Turkish tourism industry. The Iraq war caused the relationship that existed between the US and the Turkish government to be highly affected. The US sees Turkey as a very important country because it is a country with a makority of Muslims but it has exercised a successful democracy, Turkey is also a link between the Central Asia and the Europe in matters relating to energy and Turkey has also played a major part as a broker in the Middle East. The effort of the US government to encourage the Turkish government to form good relations with the Iraqis was greatly affected after the war due to the instability that exists in the Northern Iraq region. The Iraq war also led to an alarming increase in the anti-American slogans among the Turks because of the instability in Turkey that was as a result of the Iraq war. The Iraq war resulted in a lot of strain between the Turkish government and the US but this can be put on hold by the US allowing Turkey to perform a Major role in the reconstruction of Iraq. The other area that was greatly affected by the war is the education sector in Turkey, students from Turkey no longer wants to socialize with the Americans and the Europeans after the war (Council on foreign relations, 2003). The other major effect of the war in Iraq is that it created fear in the Arab countries and most of these countries no longer trust the US or the UK. Most of the Arab countries felt that Iraq was only the first country in what they referred to as the domino effect of democracy and they believe that with the successful introduction of democracy in Iraq there will be more attacks in the Middle East with the aim of installing democracy. This has caused the Arab countries to live in fear of attacks from the US and the UK and therefore they end up arming themselves and at the same time carrying out jihads. The war has also created very high sensitivity in Iran about the regional involvement of the U. S in the country and they believe that those people in the Islamic republic are surrounded by a number of countries which are allies to the U. S and this has caused a lot of fear to the people in the Arab countries. The other major effect that the war has had is that it has led to the collapse of the strong relationship that existed between the United States and the U. K and Syria. This has been attributed to the fact that it is feared that Iraq transferred its weapons of mass destruction to Syria when it was about to be attacked by the coalition forces, this has resulted to a lot of tension in Syria for the fear that the country may be attacked by the coalition forces in search of the weapons of mass destruction. The other major effect of the war on Iraq has been in Saudi Arabia, there have been fears of a military attack against Saudi Arabia and also the increased pressure from the United States of America on Saudi Arabia to collaborate in the war against terrorism. The Saudi-U. S relations have been less than ideal in the current days and this made the Saudis think that the Bush administration was using its military force in Iraq so as to influence something from the Saudis. There has been a great deal of uncertainty in the Arab countries with the people thinking that because of the success of the military action on Iraq the United States and its allies may use the same on most of the Arab countries. The other major effect of the war was that there were increased cases of terrorism activities in the U.  S and the U. K when the war against Iraq was declared, this was because the Arab countries were opposed to the war and because they could not convince the U. S and the U. K not to attack Iraq they opted for terrorist activities. The attack against Iraq was also aimed at bringing out the link between the 9/11 bombing in U. S and the Saddam regime but this was not evident and therefore most of the Iraqis felt that the attack was simply to impose a government that was created by the United States and its allies. Baghdad and Damascus are towns in Iraq that are filled with terrorists of the old days but there was no evidence to link these people to the 9/11 bombing in U. S. and this clearly indicated that those who lost their lives in Iraq during the war were not the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks (Leslie, 2004). Muslims all over the world had at first opposed the attack by Al Qaeda on U. S, but this was then reversed when the U. S attacked Iraq and triggered more chaos from the Arab communities. As a result of the war on Iraq moderate Muslims began to support anyone who is out to defend the Muslim land and the values of the Islam religion against any group of people aimed at crashing the Muslims. Due to this the relationship that was there especially in Iraq and Palestine between the U. S and the U. K and the Muslims was greatly affected as the Muslims thought that the U. S and the U. K were out to bring to an end their religion. The war in Iraq has resulted in more bitterness and instability in Iraq as more young Muslims are coming up with a form of jihad that is more volatile than it used to be in the past. The American policy makers have very little appreciation on how their military actions in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan is causing a lot of radicals in the Muslims opinions and also creating very many radical groups that are aimed at fighting for the sake of their faith. This has caused a very poor perception of the citizens of the Arab countries in that they are seen as terrorists just because of being an Arab. The relationship between students from Arab countries and those from the United States or the U. K has also been affected by this perception (Fawaz, 2006). The civil unrest that was experienced in Iraq had very major effects on the relation of the U. S and U. K and the neighbouring countries of Iraq. The problems that the neighbours of Iraq are facing will continue even with a steady improvement of the situation in Iraq and the situation would be worse if the situation in Iraq deteriorates. The most dangerous effect of the Iraq war would be due to sectarian and ethnic conflicts in Iraq. The sectarian hatred that may arise in Iraq will lead to civil unrest in Iraq and this would also affect the countries that are neighbouring Iraq. These countries would then in turn blame the U. S and its allies because they caused the war in Iraq. The Iraq people and its allies felt that they would not be welcomed in the United States in case they face any disasters in their countries and this also broke the relationship that was there between the Arab countries and the United States. This can be seen during the war because those Iraqis that were affected by the war were put in refugee camps and treated in a very inhuman way. The other major effect of the war on the relation of the Arab and the U. S and U. K was that there were reduced tourism activities between these nations for the fear of terrorism (Andrew, 2008). The war against Iraq also had an effect on the global terrorism and contrary to what George Bush and Tony Blair argued it is evident that the war brought about increased global terrorism. This is evident in that the number of people killed in jihad attacks has increased steadily from the time when the Iraq war started. The Iraq war is also seen to have caused an increase in the spread of the Al Qaeda activities in the Arab countries with the reason that they are out to fight for the Muslims all over the world. The increase in the Al Qaeda activities has caused a lot of insecurity in most of the Arab countries and this is attributed to the war against Iraq and therefore the Arabs find the U. S and the U. K as countries that are out to cause more problems in their countries (Kim and Patrick, 2007). When asked for the reasons for the U.  S attack against Iraq most of the citizens of the Arab nations like Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Jordan give three most common answers. Of these most of the Arabs think that the United States was out to acquire oil reserves in Iraq and protect Israel, but the most astonishing answer given by citizens in the Arab nations is that they were out to weaken the Muslim community. This has led to break down of the relationship that existed between the Arab nations and the U. S and U. K. as the Arabs see the U. S and the U.  K as people who are out to weaken them. The broad perception of the U. S military attack against the Muslim world is that there has been a collapse in the confidence that the Arab nations had on the United States and the U. K. Before the failure of the U. S backed peace talks between Israel and Palestine in 2000 that were mediated by President Clinton, around 60% of the people interviewed in Saudi said that they had confidence in the United States but this ceased with the attack by United States against Iraq in 2003. Lack of trust in the U. S and the U.  K meant that there would be no negotiations that were headed by the two countries in the Arab countries because without trust negotiation does not make any sense at all. The other factor that led to the failure of the relation between the Arab nations and the United States is because of the insistence of the Bush administration on democracy in the Arab nations. They argued that instilling democracy in the Arab nations would greatly increase security in the world, but this was not the case because after the formation of a democratic government in Iraq there have been increased attacks in Iraq by jihads (Kevin, 2005). The war against Iraq also brought about some economic and emotional effects in the Arab nations. The Arab nations felt that they had the responsibility of supporting their fellow Muslims who were suffering in Iraq and therefore they dedicated a lot of resources to the Iraqis, was it not for the war that had been sparked by the United States and the U. K the Arab nations argue that they would have used these resources for their own developments. The Arabs also feel that they were weakened by the war on Iraq in that America took control of the oil wells in Iraq indicating that the Americans were not aimed at imposing a democratic system of government in Iraq but they were out to capture the oil wells in Iraq (Bruno, 2007). In the past five years four and a half million people have left Iraq as refugees, this has therefore put a lot of pressure on the neighbouring countries in that they have to care for the refugees. The neighbouring countries to Iraq have therefore broken the strong relationship that they had with the United States and the U.  K because they term them as the major cause of the problem they are currently facing. Security in the countries around Iraq has also deteriorated due to the fact that terrorists are heading to the neighbouring countries from where they launch their attacks claiming to be fighting for the Muslim religion. The Arab nations feel that the war against Iraq has led to congestion in the Iraq hospitals due to the many casualties that have to be treated in the hospitals and at the same time the hospitals lack qualified personnel and equipments to treat all the casualties. This has made the United States and the U.  K be seen as very inhuman hence collapse of the relation between them and the Arab nations (Robert, 2005). The other major decline in the relations between Arabs and U. S and U. K can be seen in the area of trade. After the war on Iraq was declared the Arab nations reduced their trade with the two major countries that spearheaded the war. This caused a rise in the price of oil which is the major product of the Arab nations. The Arabs also felt that the war on Iraq caused an increase in the Cross border terrorism due to the large number of refugees who flew the war torn Iraq. These acts of terrorism that the neighbouring countries suffered from made them lose the trust they had on the Americans and the people of U. K. There was also the issue of trans-national crime that came with the refugees from Iraq. Tourism activities were also greatly affected in the Arab countries because people from the U. S and the U. K feared travelling to Arab countries because of the increased acts of terrorism that had hit the whole world. The Arabs also developed a very bad perception for the Americans and the people of U.  K; they viewed these people as oppressors of the Muslim community. This had a great effect in those U. S and U. K citizens that were living in Arab countries with some of them having to be forced to go back to their home countries due to fear of being attacked by jihads. The U. S and U. K relation with the Arab countries declined due to the war and this forced some of the U. S or U. K organizations that were based in the Arab countries to return back to their home countries. This shows that business ties between the Arabs and the U. S and U. K were declining.

Dumb Martian Essay Essay

This essay will discuss how the use of irony expresses the theme of revenge in the story â€Å"Dumb Martian† written by John Wyndham. This short story is categorized as science fiction, however John Wyndham classifies his series of short stories as logical fantasy. â€Å"Dumb Martian† was written after the Second World War, where John Wyndham served as a censor in the Ministry of Information. Mr. Wyndham was inspired by his brother’s success in the writing industry and resurrected his writing career in 1951, producing dozens of science fiction short stories as well as novels. â€Å"Dumb Martian† is the story of Duncan Weaver, a middle-aged Earthman, as he takes up the job of a â€Å"way-load station supervisor† on Jupiter IV/II, a sub-moon of Callisto (itself a moon of Jupiter), his home for the next 5 years. It is little more than a small asteroid, with featureless and formidable rocks and two domes. The larger dome was for living space, while the smaller dome was for storage. As a precaution against the possible insanity caused by the sheer isolation and loneliness of his 5-year stint, Duncan decides to take a Martian woman along with him. As well as â€Å"company- of a sort†, he wants someone to cook and deal with domestic chores. Duncan constantly moans about her inability to express emotions and her intellect, and soon turns violent towards her. Alan Whint, a scientist stationed on the same asteroid to conduct a geological survey over the period of 12 months, soon discovers Duncan’s behavior and quarrels for Lellie’s, the Martian and her rights. Duncan sabotages one of Alan’s excursions, leading to his death. But Ellie did not react to Alan’s death or suspect Duncan until the final days of the 5-year stint and avenges Alan’s death. Lellie’s revenge is a major plot twist in the story, accentuated by irony. Duncan had a feeble impression of Lellie, first shown when he offers a pathetic sum of 700 pounds for her services when â€Å"Marts† were priced lowest at 1500 pounds. Duncan also refers to her as â€Å"Dumb† and â€Å"the very look of her irritated him intensely†. Duncan clearly regards her as inferior; nothing but a possession, which he intends on selling for a high price at the end of his spell on Jupiter IV/II. The author captured Lellie’s revenge by making it remarkable, remarkable enough to cost a man’s life. Lellie endured much of Duncan’s abuse, both physically and verbally. â€Å"His hand slapped her face harder than he had intended† and â€Å"sent her sailing across the room in a spin of arms and legs† highlights the horrible treatment of Lellie by Duncan. This abusive behaviour of Duncan, together with the death of Alan Whint which the author had faintly mentioned how Duncan murdered him, sparked a change in Lellie. Lellie wanted to express her anger and prove that she was not dumb in the cruelest way. Lellie fooled Duncan into believing she forgot about Alan and that she did not know what caused his death, and left Duncan outside the dome to slowly die in the emptiness of space. She let him know about her suspicions after she locked him out of the dome by holding Alan’s book in her hands while Duncan stared at her from behind the impermeable membrane of the dome. The use of irony comes up when the reader finds that Lellie had a sharp contrast from Duncan’s views of her. Lellie seemed innocent, weak and dumb from Duncan and other’s point of views. She could not pronounce proper English and her eyes gave her a permanent â€Å"expression of innocence†. It would be easy to believe that Duncan’s perspective of her was true, making the plot twist astonish the reader as much as it had. The author manipulates us into believing Lellie was dumb by the frequent use of the word. Plus, most of the story is told from Duncan’s point of view so Lellie’s deep thoughts were not expressed at all in the story. All the descriptions of Lellie’s naà ¯ve personality lead up to the moment of revenge to create dramatic irony. The irony has a dramatic flair as it shows that at that moment when Duncan realized he was about o die, Lellie was portrayed not as his slave but the master of his faith. The use of dramatic irony emphasizes the extent of Lellie’s revenge on Duncan to create the theme of revenge.

Advertisement Is Legalised Form of Lying Essay

100% yes. Most advertisements and advertisers make totally false and tall claims, which is far from reality. And they call it creativity. It is nothing but lying and society has tacitly grown to accept it. If the strict definition of â€Å"cheating† is taken, as is commonly defined in most countries across the world, then most advertisers and the companies would have to be put behind bars for the offence. It is not entirely clear what is meant by legalised form of lying. There are lies that advertisers cannot legally utter, and then there are exaggerations, poetic over-statements, or misleadingly incomplete information which advertisers can get away with. A great many of the statements that advertisers make are not literally true, but then, they are not expected to be taken literally. Our chocolate is out of this world, it is so delightful that you will forget all your problems and feel like you have gone to heaven. Ok, maybe you won’t, but then, you didn’t really take those claims seriously, did you? Statistics verifies that crores of mullahs are spent on advertising. This ‘legalized form of lying’ helps one sell an idea more than a product. If we want to look glamorous, we buy a bar of ‘Lux’ soap or when we are thirsty, we drink Sprite. Although these products do not necessarily serve its proclaimed purpose, advertising creates a phenomena called ‘free recall. Thanda is synonymous to Coca Cola and Xerox to a photocopying machine. Advertising promises you that you will surely look like Amitabh Bachan with a Reid ; Taylor suit when you you look nothing like him. Only if you sport a Raymond suiting, you become a ‘complete man. ‘ otherwise, you may have some doubts. Such is the power of advertising to create doubts about your own identity.

Administrative Justice - Proposal for the Parliamentary Commissioner Essay

Administrative Justice - Proposal for the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 2010 - Essay Example The Parliamentary Commissioner Act was authorized to deal with matters of mal-administration. But the Act failed even to provide a definition for the term mal-administration. It has also been said under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act of 1967 that the complaints have to be made through a Member of the Parliament. In most of the cases, the Member of Parliament himself tries to solve the dispute and does not send it to the Parliamentary Commissioner. This restriction is illogical and it cannot be seen to it that that the grievances of the citizens would be served without bias in such circumstances. The trust and confidence of the people cannot be gained when there is such a limitation in any legislation. â€Å"It is sometimes further argued that if the PCA appears too demanding and, a fortiori, if he were afforded coercive powers, he might exacerbate the very problems he is expected to solve. Administrators may be reluctant to take bold decisions for fear of the consequences; †˜defensive administration’ might be undertaken: time-wasting procedures designed not to further administrative efficiency but to deflect criticism.† (Fenwick & Philipson 2003, p. 240). According to this Act, the Ombudsman looks into complaints in which that information illegally suspended by the government authorities, but no lawful solution has been offered to them in the cases of breach of the Code by the authorities. This Act has not given much wider powers to the Ombudsman when compared to other nations but it has been argued that the act implied gives various powers. â€Å"Under s 5(1) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act of 1967, the Ombudsman can take up a complaint only if the citizen has suffered injustice as a result of maladministration; both maladministration and injustice must be shown and there must be a casual link between them.† (Fenwick 2002,

Reaction Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reaction Paper - Essay Example Throughout the film, there are several events where the characters are shown to suffer or endure discrimination. The author uses multiple strategies to show and influence the viewers that prejudice should have no place in the society. These strategies, on a personal note, are effective in conveying the message about prejudice and racism. The story is a product of three different periods in the history of African Americans. In the short film, Mildred Taylor talks about her family’s own experiences during the era of slavery, and gives background information regarding the basis of her characters in the story. Taylor’s own family members were slaves in Mississippi. Interestingly, the main protagonist in her story, Cassie Logan, is also born from a family of former slaves. It can be said that the stories Taylor present in the film have a solid and first-hand basis because of her personal experiences during the era of slavery. Going through the experiences Taylor relays throu gh the characters’ stories, one can say that she is an admirably strong woman, and it makes me wonder how many more like Mildred Taylors suffered the same racism and discrimination without having the chance of being heard or recognized. Despite the sad outcome of the story, one can see a glimmer of hope in the ending. T.J.’s sentencing actually is not so harsh because of the many betrayals he earlier did. It is still wrong, however, because we know that he is sentenced not due to what he did, but due to his skin color. Personally, though, the outcome of this story also leaves people with a sense of cautious optimism that it is possible for whites and blacks to work together, as shown in their act to put out the fire in the cotton farm. The story can serve as a tool in teaching children of any race and ethnicity a significant part of history: that the generation of â€Å"Cassie Logan† served as a great influence in furthering the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s. Booker T. Washington: The Life and the Legacy Booker T. Washington is a very famous personality particularly of the African American history. He is known to have risen from the bondage of slavery and gone through emancipation and became the most powerful African American during his time. His life and legacy are clearly shown in this film with its dramatic and realistic reenactments coupled by original photos taken during Mr. Washington’s time. Aside from learning the intricate details of this phenomenal man’s life, it is also interesting to learn more about the controversy surrounding his methods and strategies in dealing with the problems and issues due to racism. In the film, Mr. Washington encounters people who are not so much into his way of emancipating the African Americans. One good example of this is W.E.B. Dubios. Mr. Dubois opposes Mr. Washington’s idea of progress for the blacks. For Dubois, he believes that confrontational means are necessa ry, and ultimately more effective. Washington believes otherwise. I believe that this is primarily due to his Southern upbringing, which is circled around the dominant religion of Baptism. His ideas are gentler perhaps, and his thoughts could even be more forgiving of the whites. This is most probably why his methods and strategies are towards giving blacks education and career. Washington’s other opponent, William Monroe Trotter, has ideas similar to that of Dubois. The way the controversies surrounding