“Fighting Ruben Wolfe” by Markus Zusak Essay

Life is like one big race that we are set out to win, with many hurdles in our way that try to stop us and test our determination, but with every failure and defeat our determination grows stronger as we ourselves grow as a person. You will learn that life is full of ups and downs, but no matter how hard life gets you down you got to get back on your feet, smile stubbornly and fight back and then maybe we will understand like the Wolfe family what it means to conquer your fears against all lifes odds to make something of yourself, to prove your worth, to make it known that you yourself are a winner. Despite self doubts, Cameron, like all the Wolfe family, is a winner. Cameron and Ruben have always been close they did everything together. They had been the two juveniles of the family with no purpose, until they found boxing. Cameron Wolfe wasnt exactly what you would call the type of guy girls would fling themselves at to be noticed, and he lacked the boxing skills, strength and courage his brother Ruben possessed, but Cameron had heart and determination. No matter how beaten he was he would push himself back onto his feet, he would push until he could push no more. He wanted to prove to himself and to the people that, he Cameron Wolfe could be a fighter and maybe even a winner no matter what lies at stake, he was determined to be somebody, with Ruben at his side motivating him.; when Cameron was fighting Ruben would be in the corner cheering him on and vice versa. It was the encouragement and love from Ruben that made Cameron a winner and also Cameron self belief, he believed he could be a winner and he believed he was a winner. Ruben Wolfe looked like a winner on the outside, he was even a winner in the boxing ring, but yet inside his head his mind was racing with the world. Racing to be the first, racing to be respected, racing because he’s hungry for more, racing to become a fighter and not just winner. Ruben was a winner, he had the skills, he had the moves, he was tough and his combination of invincibility and good looks had the women streaming after him. But with every victory, he loses a part of himself, a part of his heart. The more he fights the more his hunger grows and devours him. He is  hungry for a purpose in life, hungry for fame and fortune; he is hungry because hes looking for something to fill his hunger in life, to fill in that emptiness because he was afraid of being a loser in life and not achieving anything. I say, Dont lost your heart, Rube. He says Im not tryin to lose it, Cam. Im tryin to find it. (pg 103)The head of the pack Mr. Wolfe was a confident man who took pride in everything he did. He was the man of the house the one that helped keep it all together, but after his fatal accident that left him in unemployment bin, his hope, confidence and pride slowly started to disintegrate drowning in a sea of darkness and despair; as being the dominant male of the family he felt like a failure as he couldnt even support his family financially and pay the bills. But he refused to give up and go on the dole even though there was only a spec of hope left. He went door knocking looking for work, as embarrassing as it was to him it was nothing compared to going on the dole, he couldnt give up this fight, because a Wolfe always fights back and has to Smile stubborn, smile with instinct, then lick your wounds in the darkest of corners (pg 17). The toughest and fearless of all the Wolfes is Mrs Wolfe. Mrs Wolfe is the sticky tape that fixes everything, that holds everything together despite how hard things get. Even in spite of the sudden plunge into poverty; the fights about the bills, the motherly worries about her children, she will fight for her familys pride, fight to give the name Wolfe a meaning and fight against the poverty and sorrows that try to bring you down in life. What does it mean to be a Wolfe, what does it mean to be a fighter, what does it mean to fight and become a winner. In life there is always some misfortune that is going to try and bring you down, but you learn that those experiences are the things that make you stronger. The Wolfe Pack, as Cameron describes his family, were determined to fight back, to hold their pride and in time they were able to overcome the demons, the stricken poverty and they were able to find their hearts.

Business Ethics (Nestle Company) Essay

Introduction Nestle is the world’s dominating health and nutrition company which is still now committing their promises to the people every day, everywhere by promising ‘Good Food, Good Life’ to their consumers to enhance lives with good foods and beverages. The development of Nestle was formed in the 1905 through the mergers and acquisitions of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, by the brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactee Henri Nestle, by Henri Nestle. The company was then named after Henri Nestle in the year of 1866. The constant growing and developing of Nestle have successfully made them a famous brand and most people do recognize the existence of them in today’s world. Nestle’s portfolio has literally cover most of the foods and beverages category for instance, baby foods, bottled water, cereals, chocolate and confectionery, coffee, culinary, chilled and frozen foods, dairy, drinks, food service, healthcare nutrition, ice cream, petcare, sport nutrition and weight management. Identification Stakeholders Nestle’s engagement of stakeholders is based on their Creating Shared Value (CSV), which is allowing them to identify and determine emerging issues, to share the responses among the stakeholders and to continue to drive performance improvements. Nestle’s stakeholders can be categorized into three major groups. First group is the group of political which consists of Global Business Leaders, Non-profit Organizations (NGOs), Academics, International Organization, and Government Official. This particular group serves the common interests with Nestle which is in sharing the fresh thoughts and ideas on behalf of how the NGOs, governments and businesses can work closely together in order to eliminate the barrier between developments goals and commercial needs. Second group is the group of experts in social and environmental area that is relevant to Nestle’s field. This group is to communicate Nestle’s approaches towards the people and environment and collect and examine feedbacks based on CSV efforts and plans. Last group is the group of farmers, traders and key processors that contribute help in agriculture resources of Nestle. This interest in this group is to give the supports to farmers and  encourage sustainable development in agriculture worldwide. In addition to this, the stakeholders of Nestle are also relatively supportive to the CSV and were also highly corresponding about the issues, interests and specific areas of concern for example, the growing importance of climate change, the uprising challenges of both under-nutrition and obesity, the reduction of biodiversity from deprived land management, the competition between agriculture land and water resources from biofuels, child labour and also insufficient opportunity and attention given to support the vital role of women in agriculture. Ethical Issues Despite of being a well-known company, however, the Nestle Company has been boycotted and been listed one of the companies that is doing unethical acts which cause harm towards the consumers or their workers. Based on studies and researches, several cases and incidents have been investigated in regards of Nestle doing unethically. Marketing Strategy According to press releases and also Baby Milk Action (2012), one of the Nestle’s present marketing strategies are to discourage the ‘breastfeeding’ of mother to child. In additional to this, Nestle is also adding several logos and labels in the support of advertising reflect to consuming their products, in this case which is baby foods, is more ‘healthy’ and ‘effective’ than consuming mother’s breast milk and this leads to a moral issues for the mothers. On top of that, Nestle is also by this advertisement generalizing that babies who are being breastfed, therefore, are more likely to become sick due to the poor condition of the mother. These advertisements can be misled to exaggeration which is by marking facts with unsupported evidences. Besides that, the unethical act in exaggerating of the advertising continues where the Nestle Company is targeting on health workers with the claims of their newly formulated formula ‘The Gold’ in their foods and beverages which could possibly reduce diarrhea, cure brain and eye development and also strengthen the immune system. Several investigations was required by the World Health Assembly in order to examine the ‘effectiveness’ of ‘The Gold’ formula, however, been rejected by Nestle Company due to the reason of their research and  development is strictly private and confidential. Last but not least, the Baby Milk Action is also questioning about the false reporting that Nestle has been reported towards their baby food products. The United Reformed Church has spotted Nestle have violated several International Codes of Marketing Breast-Milk Substitutes, unfortunately, it was being false reported in their policy statements and reports saying the acts of Nestle doing has no harm towards their consumers, however, it does actually harms health. The investigation is still on going, but it has been dismissed constantly. ‘Nestle has gone to great lengths to enhance its corporate image but its disdain for the International Code’, says Yeong Joo Kean, legal advisor of International Code Documentation Centre. This supports that Nestle, in the desperation of enhancing brand images, however, violates several to exchange the success of its company by putting harm towards their consumers. Major Factors That Impact the Issue There are many factors that impact the ethical issue of Nestle, from social, economic and legal side. In another word, the unethical issues and actions of a company is always caused by the impacts from outside. Firstly, social factors affected the ethical issue of Nestle’s exaggeration advertising on its products. There are 3 reasons why Nestle exaggerate their advertisements and they are the market dominate, effectiveness of advertising and lack of consumers knowledge. Advertisements are effective because the range of advertising is very wide in the areas such as television, radio and online. An advertisement is easier to reach people in many different ways and easier to catch up people’s attention by using emotion and over exaggeration (Simmons, 2012). Besides that, according to Euromonitor International Plc (2010), Nestle is dominating in foods and beverages market. The effective of Nestle’s brand name and the consumer loyalty is high; therefore, consumers are easier to believe the products from Nestle without any rational judgments. At the same time, there are lack of knowledge on the ingredient and the effects of the products from Nestle because those ingredients used are not be able for people to see and only based on the verification. However, those verifications can only be forged by Nestle. Based on the factors above, Nestle exaggerate their advertisement by saying that their baby milk is better than breastfeeding in order to encourage people consume  more on their products. Another major factor is economy and it is explained by the ethical issues of Nestle is due to the demand of their product and also the desires of increase market share and revenues. Nestle aimed to maximize their profits and ignore the social responsibility of provide the truth of their products to their stakeholders (Shaw & Berry, 2010). The needs from economy growth on Nestle drove them into ethical issue which exaggerate their products and attract people to consume and increase the interest of the shareholders. Legal factor also impacted on the ethical issues of Nestle. As mentioned before, several investigations was required by the World Health Assembly in order to examine the ‘effectiveness’ of ‘The Gold’ formula† but has been rejected by Nestle because they said the formula is private and confidential. Nestle protected their formula by legal system and this resulted in unjudged of the effectiveness of their products. The real effects of â€Å"The Gold Formula† are covered by Nestle and encouraged the ethical issue of exaggeration advertising. Relevant Ethical Theories and Concepts As from the case regarding the boycott towards Nestle that were raised by the baby milk action organization, Nestle were said to be an unethical company as they used deceptive advertising to target the 3rd world countries while they are having language and literally barriers. (Kinnaird, 2011) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has the twin effects of improving both short term and long-term corporate performance, furthermore, helps improve financial performance, enhance brand image and an increases the ability to attract and retain the best workforce. For a business to be successful in the long term it has to create value, not only for its shareholders but also for society. As mentioned by Nestle, the organizations’ approach is based on a long-term view, creating significant value to the society and also to maximizes the shareholder’s value as well as profit (Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Corporate Business Principles, 2012) but as a matter of fact, in 1974, Nestle started to sell infant formula at developing countries and has a result of malnutrition and caused death of babies. Nestle did not fulfilled the  responsibility to have an obligation to benefit the society at large. (Kinnaird, 2011) Kenneth Arrow mentioned that â€Å"there are two types of situation in which the simple rule of maximizing profit is socially inefficient: the case in which the costs are not paid for, as in pollution, and the case in which the seller has considerably more knowledge about his product than the buyer.† From the view of business, Ne stle were said supported by this statement as they are providing a wider range of choices to their customers. However, in the case where Nestle used deceptive advertising towards the market had led their consumer to a harmful situation. Hence they were then boycotted by the baby milk action organization. An organization with ethical responsibility is more likely to build a good reputation, which is more likely to bring financial rewards over the long term, and since Nestle’s view is aiming for long term, they should stop the trend of decreasing breastfeeding and advertising exaggerated formula to their customer. In the 3rd world countries, most of the citizens are not educated and aware of the knowledge of bottle-feeding as compared to breast-feeding. Thus advertisement promoted by Nestle might seem very deceiving to them and tend to believe that the formula product is beneficial to their children. From the theory of Post MacPherson (Shaw, 2011) that clarify the liability of manufacturers as well as the retailers, â€Å"due-care† concept which is â€Å"idea that consumers and sellers equal and that the consumer’s interests are particularly vulnerable to being harmed by the manufacturer, who has knowledge and expertise the consumer does not have.† At the same time, manufacturers bear the heaviest responsibility to prevent the customer from being injured by defective products. Analysis of the available Options In the world of business, it is always the decision between narrow and broad view. Milton Friedman argued that business has no social responsibilities other than to maximize profit. (Shaw, 2011) Nestle by then were boycott by the baby milk organization is due to their turning point in their business as they aimed to create significant value to the society but apparently they are only focusing on maximizing the organization and the shareholder’s profit and marched towards the narrow view aspect and abandoned the obligation of bringing positive value to the society. As a matter of fact,  Nestle had come out with a framework that look into the CSR in terms of creating shared value with developments by Mark Kramer together with Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. In short, creating social and environmental benefit is the key of making an organization’s competitive over other organization in the long-term, says Kramer (2006) Recommendation and Conclusions As mentioned above, Nestle has arisen social problems whereas the babies who fed on the baby milk powder are tend to become sick, in serious case of poverty, babies are dying compared to those breastfed babies. In order to defuse these social problems, Nestle should give more attention to these problems. With the issues mentioned as the deceptive advertising, society’s benefits are being reduced. They are not understanding about how the product is really providing the benefits that offered to the product users. In some case, they are lack of knowledgeable about what the advertisement is proposing due to different conditions which experienced by some countries such as the language and culture barriers. Therefore, Nestle should work against the deceptive advertising and provide more accurate information for the customers. They need to share a common goal and to get through the various aspects of the product development, manufacturing influences, customer’s benefits and the knowledge in order to link between the Nestle’s approach of Creating Shared Values. Apart from that, Nestle need has a need to build up back its company’s confidence and the trust among the company’s products with the customers. Due to the deceive advertising and defective products that brings harm to the infant, customer are becoming less trust on the company’s products and even the brands. In order to rebuild the customer’s perceptions towards the company, Nestle can come out with some new marketing strategies to promote their products. As an example, they can improve their product strategy where the ambiguous details shown on the packaging. They can improve the labels and packaging to provide more information about the baby milk powder, even in more different language based on the market country accordingly. Besides that, they can practices on their promotion strategy to promote the products itself as telling more information to the customers, publics and enable the company to answer the customers’ questions about the ambiguous details that they receive. Therefore, customer can know more about the product, in turn, confidence and trust towards the company is being enhanced. To cut a long story short, boycotts are often lead a company to face problems in earning their profits and position themselves in the market as well as maintain a good relationship with the customers who are purchasing the certain products. At the same time, they do face ethical dilemma which are bringing negative impacts to the society and in turn, it brings harm to the company. In the eyes of others, they are making priority in profit maximization; however, they have ignored the corporate social responsibility which is playing an important role in the business. In order to retain the company’s reputation, several strategies as to reduce the ethical dilemma situations, needed to be done for longer-term effects, no matter to the company or the society. Companies must not only focus on the boycott, but also work into the path of changing the rules in the product development. Bibliography Action, B. M. (2012, April 24). Protecting Breastfeeding. Retrieved October 16, 2012, from Why target Nestlà © with the boycott?: http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlebriefing Kean, Y. J. (2005). NESTLÉ AND THE INTERNATIONAL CODE:. An analysis by the International Code Documentation Centre. Klein. J. G., Smith. N. C. & John. A. (2002). Why We Boycott: Consumer Motivations for Boycott Participation and Marketer Responses. Centre for Marketing Working Paper. No (2). 701 Nestlà ©. (2012). Nestlà © Good Foods, Good Life . Retrieved October 16, 2012, from http://www.nestle.com/Pages/Nestle.aspx Kinnaird, E. (2011 Ð ¹Ã ¸Ã » 22-March ). Nestle Infant Formula Case. From Prezi: Make Your Presentation Zoom: http://prezi.com/r2gtyqwc1gmn/copy-of-nestle-infant-formula-case/ Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Corporate Business Principles. (2012). Retrieved from Nestlà ©: http://www.nestle.com/AboutUs/BusinessPrinciples/Pages/BusinessPrinciplesHome.aspx Shaw, W. H. (2011). Business Ethics. Boston, Uni ted States of America: Wadsworth, Cencage Learning. Simmons, L. (2012). Why Advertising Is So Effective. Retrieved October 16, 2012, from Netplaces.com: http://www.netplaces.com/addiction-recovery/cultural-lures-and-addiction/why-advertising-is-so-effective.htm YUNIKA Corp. (2010). Reasons Why Advertising

Oil and Gas Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Oil and Gas Paper - Essay Example This mode has both advantages and disadvantages, so apt clauses have to be incorporated into the agreement, to avoid any risks. After that, Atlantic Oil has to adopt feasible and effective funding options, and also have to carry out their operations without any negative impact on the environment. Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) – Advantages, disadvantages and Clauses A change to the dominant form of contract has occurred in the oil industry, with the previously followed concession agreement giving way to the production sharing agreement.2 Production sharing agreements (PSA) are a type of contract which is signed between the government, in this case Polenskya’s government, and the oil exploration company or Atlantic Oil, regarding the extraction process and the how the extracted oil and its profits can be shared. That is, as oil and gas deposits are usually owned by the country concerned, it is common for the country to enter into a production sharing agreement with an oil company, so the specific company can do the financial investment for the extraction process, extract the oil or gas, sell it and through it recover their initial investment, and then share the production as well as the profits with the government.3 With this agreement divided into two stages, recovery period and sharing period, the produced oil is also categorized into two categories, Cost Oil and Profit Oil. The Cost oil includes the produced oil or gas, which will be sold by the company themselves to recover their investments, while with the profit oil only the government and the contractor will share the profits.4 This PSA has both advantages and at the same time inherent disadvantages. Advantages One of the main advantages that will be garnered by Atlantic oil if they enter into a production agreement with Polenskya is the high degree of fiscal stability. That is, the tax structure which is in action during the signing of the PSA, as well as the certain tax concessions gi ven to the Atlantic Oil by the government will be ‘future proof’. Thus, any overall tax changes brought on by the government in future will have no impact on the terms of the PSA, and thereby will not negatively impact the finances of Atlantic Oil. Although, certain corporate taxes are exempt from this cover, the bottom line is PSA guarantees Atlantic Oil sizable financial stability, whatever be the changes in the external environment. â€Å"The attraction of the production sharing system is that it provides the investor with a relatively stable regime in a complex and rapidly changing legal and political environment.†5 The other advantage of PSA is, it will be politically and socially more acceptable to Polenskya and in turn to Atlantic Oil as well. In countries like Polenskya, where there will be skepticism and also resistance to foreign companies, due to the mindset among the people that foreign companies will exploit the resources for their own benefits, with out giving anything back to the local population.6 However, with PSA making the government the ‘co-owner’ of the operations, it will assure the people maximally and they will welcome and support Atlantic Oil completely without any apprehension of economic exploitation. Disadvantages At the same time, there are some disadvantages of this type of contract and the key one among them is the possibility of project or extraction

ART AND RENAISSSANCE HUMANISM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ART AND RENAISSSANCE HUMANISM - Essay Example II. The female in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Girlhood of the Mary Virgin Without doubt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s first public oil painting The Girlhood of Mary has religious theme and symbolisms. In the visual rendering of the painting, it already impressed some sort of religiosity although it may not be that obvious until one interprets the symbolisms in the artwork and associate the description of the sonnets inscribed at the bottom of the frame. In addition, the production of another painting of the Virgin Mary in the succeeding year which is the Ecce Ancilla Domini which depicted the Annunciation of Angel Gabriel to Mary that she is about to have an immaculate conception confirms the religious anthem of the painting (Cullari 3). Donnelly aptly described that Dante Gabriel’s Rossetti’s idea of â€Å"female’s excellence† such as the depiction of a woman and her femininity in his first major public painting The Girlhood of Mary Virgin is pure, innocent and clean (476). In The Girlhood of Mary Virgin, Rossetti’s elevation of the female as a subject transcended beyond her aesthetic beauty of which Rossetti was known to be enamoured and included her sanctity as a woman to the point that she belonged to the deity. This may have been attributed to the various influences of Rossetti’s social milieu during the Renaissance era where the female is idealized as pure and innocent where Rossetti lavished it with religious theme in his first two works (The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla Domini) to stress further how much he esteemed the female. The manner of which the subjects (Mary and St. Anne) were conveyed was startling if not unconventional. Rossetti’s portrayal of his female subjects transcended beyond the visual but also included verbal description through sonnets that were equally beautiful and lofty. The representation of the female in Rossetti’s first two works, particularly the first ( The Girlhood of Mary) to his audience was as if to educate medieval parishioners about femininity by the authority of a priest using words and pictures for those who cannot read (Marsh 28). The combination of this two medium goes beyond â€Å"the word-image opposition in that it consistently threatens the temporal-spatial divide through which images and texts are normally separated† (Donnely 476). The meanings derived from the associated of the painting and the sonnet goes beyond the regular perception of narratives that disturbs the traditional perception in art with regard to its progression and form. In a way, The Girlhood of Mary is a prelude and preparation of the Virgin Mary before she will bear the child Jesus as announced by the angel Gabriel in the Annunciation or Ecce Ancilla Domini. The accompanying â€Å"sonnet captured the intense segment of Rossetti’s thought and feeling† that made the painting dense not only in the style and manner it was rendered but also in symbolism (Armstrong 462). III. Christian iconography in The Girlhood of Mary Virgin Rossetti’s painting The Girlhood of Mary is dense with symbolism. Almost every person and object in the painting suggests some form of symbolism and was not just placed in the painting just to serve a singular aesthetic purpose. The most noticeable symbolism in the painting is the mentoring of Mary’s mother, St. Anne. Typically, tutorship involves homeschooling that required a student to read. In the

Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Questions - Assignment Example Christianity triumphed in the Roman Empire following the unity that Christians exhibited. The religion remained open to new converts, thereby giving it the potential to grow and expand in numbers. At the same time, the influence of Christianity was significantly being felt across the empire and beyond. As a result, Christianity became integrated in the Roman Empire. Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions influenced early Christianity in one way or another (Marshall 132). They gave Christianity an aspect of organization, growth, and development, given the fact that they preceded the start of Christianity. The values they stood for also shaped Christianity. Morals that had been previously ignored by sects and prior religions were accounted for by Christianity. Christianity moved swiftly to embrace virtues across all its teachings, and so did Greco-Roman humanism. In some instances, flaws were overlooked in both contexts, although the extent to which the flaws were overlooked differed. On the same note, new ideas were influenced by just a few individuals who stood out over the rest. However, the practices of both Christianity and Greco-Roman humanism were based on different beliefs (Marshall

Immigration in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Immigration in the US - Essay Example People have generally developed a negative perception about assimilation over the years. Assimilation has been largely viewed as a process of wearing a fake identity. Nevertheless, assimilation has played a fundamental role in the integration of ethnic minorities in the advanced societies. In this way, social assimilation enables the ethnic minorities to achieve cultural solidarity without having to compromise upon their indigenous cultural values and norms. Pluralism, by definition is the inverse of assimilation. Ethnic pluralism is the term used for such circumstances that enable the ethnic minorities to keep their original values and sustain ethnic heterogeneity. Ethnic pluralism is misunderstood as a social process which isolates one ethnic group from the rest. A more rational way to define ethnic pluralism is definition of a particular group in a larger society. This is the reason why ethnic pluralism gives rise to a multiethnic society instead of distorting one large society into several small societies. Different ethnic groups are interlinked by the economic and political systems in the society. Although American society is by large an assimilationist society, yet pluralistic elements are quite evident at several levels in the structure of the society. Whether an individual is inclined towards assimilation or ethnic pluralism fundamentally depends upon his/her choice. People that prefer to hold ethnicity as the most prominent fac tor of identification are more of ethnic pluralists than assimilationists. Assimilation and ethnic pluralism resemble each other in that both entail numerous forms and dimensions. Several dimensions including the cultural and structural dimensions can be defined for both assimilation and ethnic pluralism. Differences among individual ethnic groups sustain in both social systems. Both assimilation and ethnic pluralism are variables for societies and groups and both occur at different

Critically discuss the proposal that effective HRM policies can Essay

Critically discuss the proposal that effective HRM policies can support the delivery of business strategies and affect their performance. The arguments for and against this proposal-show the evidence - Essay Example Morfeld (2003) however, notes that despite the popularity of the aforementioned initiative, the activities of human resource managers, specifically workplace staffing, can be described as tactical at its best. The author notes that these strategies are in fact, reactive as managers usually scramble to fill in a vacant position upon the resignation of an employee, as an example. Although the abovementioned is at times, unavoidable, Human Resource generalists believe that there are effective ways to use human resource policies to enable a company to deliver strategy and high performance. This strategy usually entails the full support of the corporate leaders. In the same manner, effective HR policies also imply changes within the processes and procedures of the company in order to become successful. Finally, it is also of vital importance to demand commitment and cooperation in all levels of management in order to ensure that a company drafts and implements effectual HR policies. HR seems to have taken a more strategic role in the enterprise – an apparent paradigm shift. The focus on the synthesis of HRM practices and policies with strategy has been depicted as a paradigm shift from an administrative to a strategic thrust or goal (Thomason 1991). Unlike traditional personnel management that is characterized as reactive, parochial, and concentrates on rank and file employees, HRM is proactive in finding and setting up practices and policies which are consistent across all organizational policy areas (Miller 1989; Schuler 1991). The HRM orientation makes it imperative for personnel practices and policies to respond to enterprise needs (Schuler 1991). In addition, HRM considers employees as valued strategic resources instead of merely being overhead cost. A core goal of HRM is the effectual management of people within the enterprise – when done, this is expected to garner competitive advantage (Kamoche 1991; Miller 1989). In comparison with

Paper about a speech Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

About a speech - Research Paper Example King claims that America has defaulted on this promise—an example of logos within his speech. Furthermore, he uses pathos and logos to effectively appeal to the audiences. King’s repetition of the phrase â€Å"I have a dream† is intended to emphasize his dream of equality for African Americans. To that end, within his speech King incorporates metaphors and vivid imagery in the hopes that even a place like Mississippi, â€Å"a state sweltering with the heat of injustice †¦ [and] oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice† (2712). Martin Luther King, Jr. attended segregated schools in Georgia. In 1948, he received his Bachelor’s of Arts from Morehouse College. After study theology at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he enrolled at Boston University, where he received his doctorate. In Boston he met his wife, Coretta Scott. In 1954 King became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alaba ma. At this time he was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). King was always an advocate of civil rights, and in December 1955 he became the leader of the first nonviolent Negro demonstration, the bus boycott in Montgomery that lasted 382 days.

The military relationship between Qatar and the United States Essay

The military relationship between Qatar and the United States - Essay Example Similarly, the states in the Middle East have been seeking to relate with the United States in a manner that promotes their political, security, and economic interests. Historical records indicate that the first contacts between these two can be traced to the late eighteenth century when there were efforts to sustain relations between them. This was particularly reflected through American missionaries who were spreading Christianity in Middle East and Africa. Apart from spreading Christianity, they were also establishing educational institutions, primarily in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon (Shunnaq 2012). In Post-World War II period, the United States has been seeking to maintain relations with the Middle East based on prevailing interests, mainly supply of oil and promoting security and democracy in the region. It should be noted that the relationship of the United States and the Middle East has also been largely shaped by how it relates with the Israeli state and conversely how Isra el is relating with the other states in the Middle East (Hahn 2005). Political analysts and historians argue that the Israel-Palestinian conflict has significantly shaped the United States policy in the Middle East. In addition, the recent happenings in Syria have been critical in defining how the United States relates with the Middle East, and vice-versa. ... States like Iran, Lebanon, and Syria are yet to warm to cordial relationship with the United States (Blanchard 2011). This paper will discuss the United States policy with specific reference to the military relationship between the United States and Qatar. Qatar is a small peninsular state that borders Saudi Arabia in the Gulf of Persia. It is a constitutional monarchy being headed by the Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. It gained full independence on 3rd September, 1971 from Britain. The Emir is the head of government and has the mandate of appointing members of the governing Council of ministers, headed by Prime Minister Abdallah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who is the monarch’s brother (Fromherz 2011). It has a constitution that was approved in April 2003 and it stipulates that the state rule is hereditary within the family of Al-Thani. It further stipulates that the future successors will follow the Emir’s male offspring line. In addition, the constitution states that the re shall be a legislative authority residing in the hands of Advisory Council of 45 members, two-thirds of whom are elected directly, while one-third are appointees of the Emir. Natural gas and oil production is the backbone of Qatar’s robust economy, which has been experiencing an average annual economic growth of 9 percent over the last half a decade. It has signed a number of agreements with the United States energy companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. As regards its foreign policy, Qatar is a United Nations’ member, as well as being a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Organization of Islamic Conference, the Arab League, and the Organization of

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management Duerr's Jam Essay

Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management Duerr's Jam - Essay Example The best time to evaluate environmental conditions is prior to making a location commitment. Many states offer company location incentives. One strategy is to establish enterprise zones in order to bring jobs to economically deprived areas. Sponsored by local city/country governments, these zones lure businesses by offering regulatory and tax relief. In exchange for locating or expanding in these areas, eligible business firms receive total exemption from the property taxes normally assessed on a new plant and equipment for three to five years. Locating in an enterprise zone will not solve problems created by poor management or make up for an ill-conceived idea. However, enterprise zones can be used as catalyst to help, jump-start a small firm. Personal Preference of the Entrepreneur: As a practical matter, many entrepreneurs tend to discount customer accessibility, business environment conditions, and resource availability and consider only their personal preference in locating a business. Often, their personal preference is their home community; the possibility of locating elsewhere never enters their mind. Background: Fred and Mary Duerr founded their jam- and marmalade- making business in Heywood, Lancashire, in 1881. Mary prepared the preserves in her kitchen and using her own family recipes, while Fred delivered the filled jars by handcart to the local Co-operative Society and other shops. In 1884 production was moved into a factory building at Guide Bridge, North Manchester; but the business expanded so rapidly that in 1890 Fred commissioned a new model jam and marmalade factory at Old Trafford. ... expanded so rapidly that in 1890 Fred commissioned a new model jam and marmalade factory at Old Trafford. The site there is still occupied by Duerr's, now under the direction of Fred and Mary's great-grandsons and his two sons. Business Description:F Duerr & Sons was established in 1881. It deals in food conservatives which include products like jams including reduced sugar jams; conserves; fruit spreads; marmalades and reduced sugar marmalades; peanut butter and fruit curds as well as condiments such as apple sauce. The brand is most prominent within the marmalade sector, with almost 6% market share, and 3.2 million in sales. However, its share has declined from almost 9% in the year 2000 to 5.5% in 2004, representing a decline in sales of 42% over the four year period. This is at a much faster rate than the category as a whole of 6.5%. In April 2003, Duerr's introduced Half Sugar marmalade which contains half the sugar but 50% more fruit, which is suitable for diabetics and can be used as part of a calorie controlled diet. In December 2004, Duerr's launched a range of premium marmalades under the name Mary Berry, a well-known cookery writer. The range comprises three flavors: orange & apricot, ruby red grapefruit, and thick cut marmalade with muscovado sugar. The company is attempting to attract new users with new product launches within the marmalade category. Within the jam sector, Duerr's accounts for just 1% of jam sales, less than 1 million in sales. The company is also represented within the peanut butter sector with the Kernel King brand which accounts for just 1% of sales. It is the only other branded lemon curd within

Classroom Management Essay Example for Free

Classroom Management Essay Classroom management and discipline are two very important building blocks in a successful classroom. Setting rules and expectations for students has many positive benefits. Not only will students feel more comfortable in a stable well managed classroom, they will also learn more because there will be less distractions. Students in a classroom that are well managed will also retain the information for longer periods of time rather than just for the moment to make a good grade. Teachers want more than anything for their students to learn life skills that they can carry on with them into the future. Teachers want their classrooms to be a place that students look forward to attending to learn and feel safe and relaxed. In any classroom teachers want there to be mutual respect among teacher and students. In a classroom everything is to be organized and in its place, this will make it easy to move on from one subject or activity to the next without distractions. Colorful classrooms will make a fun and inviting environment for all kinds of students. Teachers should not want to have bland classrooms that bring the mood down with nothing fun or happy to look at. A classroom where students run wild and do whatever they want will not work for teachers or students. Many time school is not taken as seriously as it should be especially in younger grade levels, these are the years that form the minds of children, and their experiences in the classroom will have an effect of how they form into young adults. Most believe that all students have the want to learn. Fourth grade is about the time that students start paying more attention to their peers and surroundings. All students want to feel that they belong and be in an environment that they feel comfortable in. Therefore as a teachers it is their job to make sure that attention is paid to what the students are telling teachers even if they are not saying it out loud, and also to make sure that they are helped to learn not only what is written in the books, but also help them to learn about themselves. Section 2: Positive Climate A classroom is a place where teachers want students to love to be. First and most importantly all classrooms will have a set of rules and expectations that will be followed by teachers as well as students. If teachers do not set a good example in their classrooms, rules set for students will not be successful. The desks should be lined up in perfect rows making it easy to navigate around them, and give the students plenty of personal space. All the colors of the rainbow in a classroom make it a happy bright place. There will be posters on the walls with fun facts for students to read, along with classroom rules and expectations. A section full of pillows for students to relax and read, along with a section for games and group activities are positive spaces to have in a classroom. A great classroom will allow students to explore and learn on their own as well. As students are welcomed into the classroom, they will be met at the door with a happy smiling face and an excited positive attitude. The students will be allowed to find their desks, which will have their names on them, which will in that instance give them a sense of belonging. There will be games played on the first day to lighten the mood and help everyone get to know one another. Section 3: Rules, Consequences, and Procedures. The rules that will be established in a classroom should not be large in number. They will be rules that will keep the classroom running smoothly and keep students happy and respecting the teacher as well as their peers. With a solid easy to understand set of rules a teacher should expect that there will be a positive outcome. Starting with the first day of class rules and consequences will be established with all students. This information will be posted on the wall so that students can always see the rules to be reminded of what is expected of them. These rules and consequences are not to be used to make students afraid or uncomfortable, it’s so they will be shown and explained in a positive way, maybe even by playing a game to lighten the fact that there are rules that must be followed at all times. Rules: 1. Show respect to yourself as well as others 2. Keep hands and feet to yourself 3. Pay attention and follow directions 4. Raise your hand before speaking in class and use your indoor voice 5. Be prepared to learn Consequences There is a consequence to students’ actions whether it be a positive or negative one. Every week there will be a new chart made by the students with their names and five spaces for each day of the week, by allowing the students to make the charts themselves it gives them a way to express themselves and individuals. During the week their behaviors will be monitored and they will receive red dots for good and blue dots for bad behavior, at the end of the week the person with the most red dots will get a special treat. All the other students who have red dots will have a down time to read or play games. Students with blue dots will have to sit at their desks and go over the lesson or read silently, and not chat with their peers. If behavior is bad throughout the week and is becoming a habit the student will be taken aside and talked to. Not in a negative way but in a way to try and figure out what the teacher and student can do as a team to make the situation better. Make sure to ask the student if they may have a solution for the problem at hand. Procedures: 1. Restroom – ask, take bathroom pass, wash hands before returning to class. 2. Asking questions – raise hand and wait to be called upon 3. Turning in work – when work is complete quietly walk to the front of the room and put assignment in correct bin. 4. Needing help – place the red dice on the top of your desk and teacher will come to help with questions. 5. Changing activities – replace all materials being used, move back to desk and get materials ready for next assignment. Section 4: Specific Discipline Procedures or Measures Preventing bad behavior in the classroom may seem impossible, but in all honesty it may be attainable. If teachers keep a well managed classroom and their behaviors shadow the expectations that are given to the students, good behavior will be the outcome. By having all rules and expectations in an area where all students can see them, they will be reminded of them and be more likely to follow them. By having consequences for good and bad behavior this will help students to practice good behavior because they will already know the outcome of their actions. All desks will be facing the teachers desk so that they can see the teacher at all times. Keeping them in straight rows will also help students in keeping their hands and feet to themselves because they will all have adequate room. The white board where assignments are written, and the board with their behavior charts will be at the front of the class as well so they may see them at all times also. To help students who misbehave the teacher should take the time out to speak to the student in a one on one setting, giving the student the chance to explain themselves, and maybe express why they are behaving the way they are, and what steps they think they may need to take to fix the problem at hand. Teachers should not act as if they know what the problem is and how it should be fixed without giving the student a chance to speak as well. Good behaviors should be acknowledged as well, do not only focus on the bad. After speaking with the student take steps to help with behavior by asking the student how they are doing and if there is anything more you can do to help. If behavior continues to be bad, maybe taking a step for after school one on one time should be used to further access the problem. If a student violates school board policy, state regulations, or criminal laws steps outside of classroom discipline will have to be put into motion. If a student ever breaks any of these rules, school officials as well as the students parents will be called and actions will then be taken to fix the situations. Section 5: Approach to Discipline Personally I prefer Ginotts’ approach to discipline. I like the fact that he thinks the student should have the chance to express their opinion in the situation. By the teacher showing respect for the student and their thoughts I think this would be a very good approach because you gain the respect and trust from the student by showing them the same. There are times that I know that I am correct in a given situation, but I do not like to act as if I know everything; I like to give the other person a chance to make their case and explain why they feel the way they do. As I person I do not like to make people feel foolish so I respect every opinion and give mine in a nice respectful way. That is why I think that Ginott’s style fits my personality.

Arts and pornography Essay Example for Free

Arts and pornography Essay ?No-one ever asks When does art become realistic? , or When does art become abstract? , or When does art become literary? , although questions like these make as much sense because art can be all or any of these things. This is because we can usually distinguish an abstract work from a realistic or literary one, whereas what pornography is, is unclear in the minds of most people. Pornography derives from two Greek words: porne, which means harlot, and graphos, which refers to writing; however, we use the term today to describe much more than stories about prostitutes. And when we use it, it is as more than the definition of a class of writing and visual art: it has an ethical (usually pejorative) connotation also. And, like most ethical and aesthetic terms, its use is intensely personal. Just as beautiful really means no more than I like it (although I cannot clearly explain why), pornographic means I find this offensive (although I cannot really explain why). There is no generally agreed meaning for either of these terms which bedevils our discussion of both. Art exists in many different forms. Sculpture, paintings, graphics, drawings and such are part of the visual art. Dance, film, music and theater, as well as literature, are also forms of art. Throughout the years, art has, in all of its forms, interpreted, presented, or made allusion to nudity. Many famous masterpieces or important art represent nude people, and sometimes even persons making love; yet, it is recognized as beautiful art by many people. What difference is there, if any, in the interpretation and importance that we humans give to nude art and pornography? So it leads to my first knowledge issue: When does art become pornography? Here is a real life example. As we all know, our school invites some nude models for art class, they expose their nude bodies to the art students. I am not sure if it is the reason why many guys take art. Do you think it is art, nasty art, performance art or pornography? Art, nudity and pornography are different, and every individual’s sense perception of what these are will also be different. The area of knowledge of art is one of the most subjective of all the areas of knowledge, which explains why persons interpret it differently. Nudity may or may not be included in the AoK of Art, but it is a part of many art pieces. Nudity is present in many forms, for example, the famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo Buonarroti. This 5. 17 meter tall statue represents the biblical King David, nude, and it is recognized by many as a masterpiece, and some even consider it a symbol of the defense of civil rights. Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo Da Vinci, is the drawing of a nude man, legs and arms stretched. Michelangelo did not limit himself to sculpting nude man, but also painted many important figures nude on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, such as Adam, Eve, Jesus, and others. All these art pieces, famous and important, widely recognized masterpieces include nudity. Of course, the importance and recognition of these art pieces is debatable and can be argued, but many people and important art communities consider them to be masterpieces. These art pieces illustrate both, men and women, sometimes together, other times separated, but share many things in common. All of these art pieces include nudity, and are recognized by many as important art. But then, when does art become pornography? Is it just like crossing a line, on one side its art and the closer you get to that line, it becomes less art until you cross that line and it becomes pornography? If that is the case, what if you stand on the line, would it be neither art nor pornography, or both? Every single person can interpret it as they want, but as I see it, many factors affect the decision of whether it is art or pornography. I see it as a line, on one side it is art, and on the other it is pornography, because I don’t think that an art piece can be both art and pornography at the same time for a single person. I emphasize on the fact that it is for a single person, as this is very subjective. Although this is very subjective, as mentioned before, it is also very cultural. In most of Western Europe, nudity is seen in a very different way than in the Middle East, due to cultural and historical differences. In the Middle East, for example, Muslim women must wear the burkha, while in Western Europe there are many semi-nudist or nudist beaches that anyone, regardless of age and gender, can enjoy. This, however, does not justify or imply anything else than the fact that there are higher chances for western Europeans to have higher limits and Middle Eastern people to have lower. It only means higher chances, because as mentioned before, although culture is a factor that affects where the individual puts the limit, it still is subjective, based on beliefs, ideals, past experiences, and many other factors. The Ways of Knowing apply to this judgment or decision of whether it is art or pornography in different ways for each individual. Sense perception, which includes the five senses, is the main element that allows the interpreter to perceive the art piece, whether it is through hearing, seeing, or touching. The other two senses, smelling and tasting, are not as relevant for the interpretation of the forms of art mentioned earlier. With the three senses mentioned (sight, hear and touch), a person can interpret a work of art and decide what it is, give an interpretation, a symbol, a meaning to it. Then, through emotions, the person can associate feelings and ideas to the work of art. If the person feels shocked or offended (emotions) from seeing (sense perception) a nude sculpture, he or she might decide it is pornography. Finally language is very important as it is one of the most important filters affecting the decision between art and pornography. The simple definitions of what is art and what is pornography are evidences of the implications of language. Art can be defined as â€Å"the quality, production, expression or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance† in other words, something exceptional according to a set of principles (decided by a majority of people). According to this definition, the masterpieces mentioned before are still art. Pornography is more difficult to define. The first definition (from dictionary. com) describes pornography as â€Å"obscene writings, drawings, photographs especially those having little or no artistic merit†. The definition states â€Å"obscene† materials, but obscenity is very subjective and varies from person to person, just like the limit at which art becomes pornography. The second part of the definition is very interesting, and I would agree with it: materials with â€Å"little or no artistic merit† so that would mean that is not exceptional according to the set of principles previously mentioned, which again supports the idea that it’s subjective. Another definition of pornography (from The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) states it is â€Å"sexually explicit [material] whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal†. This definition is more ambiguous then the first mentioned. According to this definition, two factors are needed in order for something to be pornography: it needs to be sexually explicit, and it needs to primarily cause sexual arousal. The problem with this definition is that anything containing nudity is sexually explicit, so all the masterpieces mentioned above have at least the first factor needed to be considered pornography (according to this definition). The second part of the definition is very subjective, because we cannot know what the purpose of the nude sculpture, drawing or painting was unless the author tells us. To conclude, in my personal point of view, art cannot â€Å"become† pornography, it is either born as art, or born as pornography, and this depends on each individual’s interpretation of the material in question. Not only the visual arts, but other forms of arts, especially Medias, have many influences on young people. Anyone who watches television, goes to the movies, or picks up a magazine today knows sex is prominent across all media. Discussions regarding the early sexualization of children and young people are an increasingly hot topic with celebrities and politicians alike having something to say. An analysis of use of the term sexualisation published on the Global Media Insight blogspot showed that in early 2010 use of the term ‘sexualisation’ in both mainstream and social media more than doubled (fig. 1). This is not to say that the concerns behind the idea of sexualised childhood are new ones; it does however suggest that this is a concept which is increasingly in the collective public consciousness. Although the effects of sexual content have received little attention from researchers in the 1980s, there are strong theoretical reasons to believe that media may play an especially important role in the socialization of sexual knowledge, attitudes and behavior. These were well summarized by Elizabeth Roberts (1982): â€Å"(1) the adult nature of most programming children watch; (2) children’s limited access to or experience with countervailing information or ideas; (3) the ‘realism’ with which roles, relationships, and lifestyles are portrayed; and (4) the overwhelming consistency of the messages about sexuality that are communicated† (Roberts, 1982, p. 209). Each of these points is even more pertinent in 1998 than in 1982. Children watch a great deal of adult programming, and there has been a steady increase in the frequency and explicitness of sexual content on broadcast television. Young people have access to a much wider range of video content as well as to other entertainment media than they did in the early 1980s. Movies Adolescents see movies in theaters, and the same movies are soon available on pay TV channels and video tape. Many of these movies are â€Å"R-rated. † They contain more frequent and more explicit portrayals of sexual behavior than broadcast TV – an average of 17. 5 per film in one analysis (Greenberg, Siemicki, Dorfman, Heeter, Stanley, Soderman, Linsangan, 1993). Like TV, the most frequent sexual activity shown is unmarried sexual intercourse. Sex is often in the context of profanity, alcohol and drug use, and nudity. Not only have the movies, music world confronted similar problem as well. Let’s see a real example. Modern music is becoming increasingly pornographic. It is not about being old-fashioned. It’s about keeping values that are important in the modern world. We can’t watch modern stars like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga with a two-year-old. 99 percent of the charts in RB and 99 percent of that is soft pornography. Children and young people are being forced to grow up too young. A researcher named Larson (1995) used an experience sampling technique to analyze the relationship between emotional states and the use of television and other media. He argues that adolescents experience increased emotionality and that such emotionality may be related to increased use of music because â€Å"it both speaks to adolescents’ personal issues and helps them create a separate experiential space at home music is also important to adolescents because it helps define their public self outside the family†. Private, solitary use of both music and television use by adolescents is important in providing them an opportunity to deal with the stress and emotionality of this stage of development. Young people select media which entertain them, contribute to their identity formation, help them cope with their problems and emotional mood states, and form the basis of their selection into youth subcultures. Today’s generation of youth has easier access to sexual content. From television, movies, magazines, and advertisements (billboards, print, and electronic), to music (on radio and in music videos) and the Internet, youth who are interested in nudity, sexual role models, romance and depictions of sex and intercourse, have a range of media options readily available. Media provide perhaps the least embarrassing way to get information about sex and romance.

Kevin Mitnick Ethical Issues And Computer Hacking History Philosophy Essay

Kevin Mitnick Ethical Issues And Computer Hacking History Philosophy Essay This report deals in identifying the ethical issues of Kevin Mitnick and his computer hacking history and weather the accusations and they way FBI prosecuted his case were correct or not .Each of the issue raised would further be discussed by using the three ethical theories of Consequence-Based, Duty-Based and Character-Based. Apart from that the general role of a computer professional will also be described later on in this report in terms of using their knowledge and expertise in terms of hacking. Hence this report will be divided into two parts the first part focusing on highlighting the ethical issues and his prosecution and second would deal with the computer professional part. A detail description of his history of hacking is mentioned in the case scenario which will be described later on in the report. Firstly a brief introduction of ethics and its three theories would be discussed which will make it easy to understand and to implement it on the Kevin Mitnick case. Ethics has been described in many ways by different people over the history including same great Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and so on. Greeks mostly defined ethics as the study of what was good for the infidel and the society. The easiest way to describe ethics would be differing and reflecting a human being character in terms of what is good or bad, right or wrong, fair and unfair, responsible or irresponsible. It will lead a human being moral character to be in good conduct. Ethics can also be referred as to what humans are suppose to do if they follow the prescribe standards of right and wrong, which normally would lead him in terms of rights, his benefit to society, his obligations etc. Also ethics and can be referred as studying of moral character of human being and developing it to an ethical standard.[1] Ethics begins when elements within a moral system conflict.[1]  ¿Ã‚ ½Ethics exists in many forms in branches, literatures, eras, traditions. All of them following the root hub of ethics but the form of ethics which is highlighted and followed in our case study for this report are what is called Cyberethics. Cyberethics To understand the meaning of cyberethics a person should be aware of the term Cybertechnology. All the devices used in modern era in the field of cyber space such as hand held devices, personal computers, mainframes, networks and mainly the Internet can be termed as a part of Cybertechnology.  ¿Ã‚ ½Cybertechnology in terms refers to a broad spectrum of technologies that ranges from stand alone computers to the clustered of networked computing, information and communication technologies ¿Ã‚ ½ [2] Different definitions of cyberethics exists mostly dealing with ethical issues with certain type of online activities for e.g. pornography, gambling etc. It can be referred as certain types of laws which are not monitored by the judicial or law governing bodies but from and individual himself which go beyond his moral values which would be something different from cyber law which has to governed and monitored by a governing body.  ¿Ã‚ ½Cyberethics can be defined as the field of applied ethics that examines moral, legal and social issues in the development and use of Cybertechnology ¿Ã‚ ½ [2] Ethical Theories Since this report has to follow certain type of ethical theories in order to identify the ethical issues a brief description of each one of them has been mentioned below. Consequence-Based As the name suggest consequence based theories produces the most desirable outcomes for it member morally. The providing of ultimate standards for consequence of actions against which the moral decisions were evaluated is highlighted in this theory. The goodness or right identified by consequence would be something regarded as Consequence-Based ethical theory which gives some outcome for someone. But whose outcome would be the question here that who should benefit from this outcome? This argument has mostly been provided by some big Utilitarian thinkers such as Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Henry Sedgwick etc. The argument provided by them normally follows the theory that an act of some individual or a whole social policy would be acceptable if it ¿Ã‚ ½s providing great benefits for a majority of individuals which would be affected with the given policy or from the provided act by the certain individual. ¿Ã‚ ½Jeremy Bentham states that  ¿Ã‚ ½ People are driven by their interests and their fears, but their interests take precedence over their fears, and their interests are carried out in accordance with how people view the consequences that might be involved with their interests. Happiness on this account is defined as the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain ¿Ã‚ ½. [3] This form of ethics mainly explains that whatever happen sand outcome or result is achieved should be in a favor of large number of population rather than that of a certain minority. They should provide happiness to everyone rather than just one person who would be satisfied when a certain kind of act is performed. Duty-Based Duty based Ethical theory is something which gives the concept of Deontology derived from the Greek word Deon which means Duty. The concept of Deontology is the approach in which goodness and right would be achieved by studying the act of an individual or social policy rather than the consequence which its leads too. Immanuel Kant was one of the Deontological thinkers who always criticized Utilitarian thinkers saying that morality must be defined as the duty of an individual to one another rather than consequence which are produced when a certain individual performs a certain type of action. He said happiness is not the concern in terms of morality. He said that it was the motives and goals of a human being which made him to choose right or wrong rather than the consequences. W.D Ross another deontological thinker argument is  ¿Ã‚ ½Utilitarianism seems to simplify unduly our relations to our fellows. It says, in effect, that the only morally significant relation in whom my neighbors stand to me is that of being possible beneficiaries of my action. They do stand in this relation to me, and this relation is morally significant. But they may also stand to me in the relation of promise to promisor, of creditor to debtor, of wife to husband, of fellow countryman to fellow countryman, and the like; and each of these relations is the foundation of aduty ¿Ã‚ ½[4] So in short a Duty-based approach leads us to a conclusion that morality of a human being would be carried out by the acts he perform which would justify if he ¿Ã‚ ½s right or wrong. His Duty toward honesty, Justice, violence etc is what will be regarded his moral duty rather than himself being happy if he tells a lie. Character-Based Character Based theory reject the first two theories which focus on consequence or an act, instead this theory focuses on an individual character and is also mostly known as Virtue Ethics. Its main concerns are with individual ¿Ã‚ ½s moral character and don ¿Ã‚ ½t rely on duties and consequences. It has a very old history which rages back to great Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato who argued that each person has to obtain a right virtue since each of us will have a certain virtue in him which will be his strength or excellences which will lead towards a good or bad moral character. Virtue ethics is somewhat which can be called as agent oriented rather the first two which are action oriented or rule oriented. The main question of what a virtue ethics would be follow in a certain type of situation in which he or she has to perform an action and weather the individual has to do it or not instead it would go the other way around seeking the information of what kind of person I should be?.  ¿Ã‚ ½It is only by means of this idea [of virtue] that any judgment as to moral worth or its opposite is possibleEverything good that is not based on a morally good disposition ¿Ã‚ ½is nothing but pretence and glittering misery ¿Ã‚ ½ [5] Background Our case study focuses on a person named Kevin Mitnick who was the first hacker in computer to reach the FBI most wanted listed. He was arrested on Feb 15 1995 by FBI in which he was accused of number of acts which included breaking into computer systems and networks all over the world and altering information which lead the company to invest into new security measures and also for the charge of violations of his terms and conditions on the period of probation for his previous computer crimes. He was caught by the help of a Japanese computer security expert Tsutomo Shimomura whose system is said was hacked by Kevin Mitnick in San Diego Supercomputer Center which made him furious in tracking and helping the FBI. His hacking started in his school days where he got fascinated with computers in a computer class. His passion of technology made him learn quickly and he soon managed to Hack LA public school districts computer. At age of 17 he Hacked into Pacific Bell and altered phone bills. Same year he gain access to information valued at $200,000 for a San Francisco Company. Caught and prosecuted earned him a probation of 6 months. During that period he again hacked into the judge and probation officers and judge phone disconnected and bills accredited. Interestingly the police caught the system has been accessed from outside but nothing showed up in their database. He also hacked into NORAD a missile monitoring company in states. Obviously this one could have had catastrophic effects .In 1988 he was accused of two crimes one of them was of accessing a MCI network for long distance call and second stealing a computer system which caused damaged of up to $4 million for a company. For this reason the judge decided to put him on jail without bail. During his bail attempts prosecutors presented evidence of him breaking into National Security Agency computers and also that a false story being printed that a bank lost $400 million in first quarter of that year. This happened just after 4 days when Mitnick was denied a job in that bank. Finally Mitnick pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail for 18 months and 3 years of probation. In 1992 FBI suspected him of hacking into Pacific Bell of which evidence was found later on which made Mitnick flee from FBI. Evidence of altering driving license record to set up a false identity was retrieved. In this period the police came up to very close encounters of arresting him but Kevin always managed to move on. Finally being found and arrested in 1995 was charged with various new crimes and violation of his parole. He was Denied bail and it was ensured that there was no equipment of computers handed to him in jail so he could commit more crime. Phone calls were closely monitored and in 1997 Mitnick pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail for 22 months for charges of accessing phone system in order to get free long distance calls and then a 3 years probation period in which he would stay away from anything  ¿Ã‚ ½Hi-tech ¿Ã‚ ½ Most of his crimes still remain unsolved and he was released in January 2000 and expiration of probation in 2003. [6][7][8] Ethical Issues The ethical issues for the given case study and their discussion from the above discussed theory are highlighted and discussed below. * Hacking into a number of companies and accessing their computer networks and gaining access to unauthorized files or data. Was it ethical to gain access of such files or data or merely breaking into a computer network? Applying the consequence based approached breaking into a computer network or gaining access to secure files only benefited Mitnick and no one else. According to utilitarianism the majority must gain happiness on the base of a consequence but in this case it Kevin himself who gained happiness and not the majority hence this act would be regarded as wrong for Kevin that it was not ethical for him to gain or break into a computer network The duty based approach and deontology theory would easily say it ¿Ã‚ ½s wrong. By his acts it can concluded that is not right to gain access to another computer networks. That is stated in the ten commandments of ethics as well which was defined in 1992.All Company would have secure files and data and would not be wanted to breached by an outsider. Hence it was completely wrong by Mitnick to do so. Character Based approach in Kevin ¿Ã‚ ½s case would want him to break into computer networks for his passion of technology and the sake of fun. His thirst for knowledge still exists and breaking into these computers made him gain more knowledge which was more fun for him. But morally this was wrong. By virtue ethics he should have chosen the right path rather then this wrong path. Hence it was still unethical for him to break into computers. * In his hacking history Kevin never gained any financial outcome but instead he did it for the sake of challenge or sometimes to extract revenge on people .So was it ethical to do so and to take such challenges or seek revenge from people? Consequence based theory would again say  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ in this case merely of the fact that extracting revenge from some people or winning a challenge to prove your ability would just be beneficial for Kevin himself which in this case would be a minor individual and will be happy himself only. The majority of people would not be happy from this outcome. Duty based approach would say seeking revenge or damaging or doing unauthorized things of which you ¿Ã‚ ½re not authorized to do would again lead to  ¿Ã‚ ½NO ¿Ã‚ ½. Mitnick was not supposed to do it since it not an act which an individual is suppose to do. Character-based or virtue ethics justifies to pick good habits of your moral character and leave the odd one behind to be a good human being and in this case doing good for yourself by causing harm to others isn ¿Ã‚ ½t something good for and individual characters and in this case Kevin Mitnick. * Hacking into his school district computer system and Pacific Bell for altering Phone Bills. Was it ethically right for him at age 17 to break into a computer of his school and in pacific bell to alter phone bills? Consequence approach would again say NO since he did it for himself again in this case .The Benefit of this hack was for his own good and not for anyone else. Especially the alteration of phone bills is going to create losses for the phone company which might turn up into large numbers as well. So it was completely wrong in doing so. Duty Based approach applied on this issue would again lead to the conclusion of  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ since there is no act or policy which would suggest Kevin to break into school system or into phone company to alter his phone bills. Based on the outcome of his acts he was totally wrong in do so again. Character Based approach would again lead to the fact that morally as an individual he knew it was wrong in doing so but again he preferred to adopt his bad habit in this case which was again wrong and lead to such an outcome hence it ¿Ã‚ ½s a  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ again. * Being on probation for his conviction Mitnick got his parole officers phone disconnected and altered the computer record of the judge of his case in a credit service computer .Was it ethical for Kevin to do such an act ? Applying Consequence based approach it ¿Ã‚ ½s again going to lead to the fact of  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ because the result of this act was something bad for his parole officer and the judge. It was an act done by Kevin for his own satisfaction that was the minority in this issue and being in probation he should have avoided such consequences which he didn ¿Ã‚ ½t. Duty Based again would not support Kevin in this issue. His act was defiantly wrong in this case because the judge could have had bad impacts and the parole officer must have been unhappy to and misguided due to Kevin acts. And being on probation one shouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t go against the law but Kevin did for his personal vendetta. Character based theory wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t allow someone ¿Ã‚ ½s moral character to take revenge and hurt someone else which in this case again leads to  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½. Hurting someone for the sake of revenge is what would be considered a bad habit or an act leading to something which would not be regarded as morally good and if u knows that the law is restricting you from something a good moral character wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t want someone to go against the law to seek his own happiness. * Convicted Stealing software from a company in Santa Cruz, California and no conviction record was on FBI database. Was it Ethical to steal and alter records? Consequence based theory wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t allow stealing or altering to be me permissible. Stealing is something which would not be allowed in any circumstances and even if we assume it does it wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t be something beneficial for majority in this case the California Company and the alteration of record of FBI. This time as well it ¿Ã‚ ½s  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½. Duty based will not support an act of stealing or altering which won ¿Ã‚ ½t be regarded something as good so this time even in comparisons of acts it ¿Ã‚ ½s a NO from this point. Character Based would say that stealing to be considered as one of the bad habit of a human being and alteration of record can be considered of something as manipulation of record and in this case of a bad deed which Kevin was convicted so it ¿Ã‚ ½s a  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ this time as well. * Breaking into North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) missile defense system. Was it ethical for him to break into a defense system of a country? The first approach of Consequence Based would hugely argue because gaining access to such delicate system could have catastrophic affects on millions of people. Harming or altering of those files would have been really dangerous. So it ¿Ã‚ ½s a  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ again. Second approach of duty based wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t allow any such policy or rule for an individual to again access to such delicate system cause of the dangerous outcomes it can lead it into hence its  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ again. Third approach of Character based would not consider it to be a good habit of one moral character in doing so because it would harm so many people so it ¿Ã‚ ½s a  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ from this point of view as well. * Charge of two new crimes: Accessing MCI network for long distance calls and causing $ 4 million damage to Digital Equipment Corporation. Was it ethical to illegally access MCI and cause damage of worth $ 4 million to a company? Consequence would say  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ cause again the minority gets benefit from this case that is Kevin and not the majority Both of them MCI and Digital Cop lost lots of money because of this act performed by Kevin who were the majority in this issue . Duty Based wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t support Kevin as well cause because of this both those companies had to face huge losses from the act that Kevin had performed. No such policy or act would be permissible for any individual in the world to do so. Hence  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ is the answer Character based would again regard this as  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ cause as stated above again and again alteration of records and damaging files and causing harm to others would be regarded as a good deed or good habit so it ¿Ã‚ ½s a  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ again. * Judge denied him bail and ordered him to be held in jail? Was he ethical in doing so? This period lasted for eight months in solitary consignment for Kevin. Consequence based might support this act of judge because Kevin was causing harm to large majority of people but putting him on solitary consignment for 8 months without bail and from the fact that it was not proven at that time that Kevin had committed those acts was a bit harsh on Kevin. So it ¿Ã‚ ½s a split decision I guess. Duty based would support the judge too cause he was causing harm to major companies and people but still the decision was too harsh for Kevin cause he deserved a trial at least .Everyone does. Character based would not support the judge since it was a fact the Kevin was notorious but he deserved a trial and even if the judge thought he didn ¿Ã‚ ½t, putting him in solitary consignment prison was totally wrong. A normal jail would have been alright to stop Kevin from his notorious activities but solitary consignment was something very wrong and very harsh. * Kevin fleeing from the authorities on a number of occasions for two years and using fake identities to hide himself from the authorities during his probation. Was it ethical for him to do so? Kevin did for his own good and during this period he caused damaged to majority with his notorious activities so consequence Based would support him on this issue. Duty based would also not support him since it ¿Ã‚ ½s not right to take misguide law by using fake identities and stay on a run for two years. Character based wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t support him to since it ¿Ã‚ ½s not right for someone to take law in his own hands and using fake identities by damaging other people identities to keep yourself. It ¿Ã‚ ½s a definite  ¿Ã‚ ½No ¿Ã‚ ½ since it ¿Ã‚ ½s not a good deed * Was it ethically right for Shimomura to help FBI in catching Kevin? All the three theories of character duty and consequence based would support Shimomura in this issue its ethically right for anyone to help the law to catch someone who has been causing harm to the community. And it was morally right for every individual to help to catch Kevin. * After being caught Kevin was held in Federal prison from 1995 to 1997 without bail and without trial by the FBI. Was it ethically right to do so.? Consequence would again support the FBI since Kevin was harm to many firms companies and people but only if Kevin was charged after trial to stay in prison. Duty Base shouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t support this act of FBI since they were laws by now to convict Kevin but FBI didn ¿Ã‚ ½t even allow a fair trial to run which is not supported so YES| they were ethically wrong in doing so. Character Based wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t support the FBI too since it ¿Ã‚ ½s not right for anyone to stay in prison for a period of 2 years without bail or trial. At least a trial should have been offered to Kevin and then if found guilty he should have faced what he deserved. Role of a professional A professional is someone who holds a degree in a particular field in terms of education and then uses his expertise in his relative field and makes sure that his professionalism follows the code of ethics which will include terms such as Behavior, sociality, confidentiality etc. When a professional is hired somewhere a contract and a bond is created between the two to follow certain acts and rules or policy within the organization and one of them is the security concern of misusing the data of an organization Organizations related to Information Technology or having the IT dept within them also maintain a policy between their engineers and themselves. In our particular case the role of a software engineer, hardware engineer or an application engineer they should follow those rules and policies but also IEEE CODE OF ETHICS which is the main source of ethics code for any IT professional which should be followed by any professional related to the field of information and technology and in our case being software, application and hardware engineers [9] Usage of knowledge for Hacking by a professional In regards to using their knowledge for hacking can be something quite disastrous. If we take each of them individually and start with the hardware engineer obviously he can use it the right way or the wrong way since hardware devices manually build are quite useful in hacking mainly portable devices something like which Kevin Mitnick used for hacking into McDonalds drive through system. But is it right for them to do so and the answer is obviously no cause it ¿Ã‚ ½s against the code of ethics which exists in many forms related to cyber technology Same goes to a software engineer and application engineer cause software and application level technical support is quite useful to build or modify codes of a program and make it useful for something negative which is obviously something which would not be appreciated in our society because it ¿Ã‚ ½s going to be harmful to many . . But can all this knowledge be used in a positive way? Can hacking be positive? The answer to this question is yes and is something what is called ethical hacker. Ethical Hacker vs. Hacker: Hacker being the one using his knowledge on the darker side tries to break into systems. While a Ethical hacker is someone who does what is called penetration testing and hacks into systems just to identify security flaws and then inform companies to secure those flaws and sometimes providing them with solutions to those flaws as well but he has normally doing it for a security firm who is licensed to do so and has the right or permission of doing so .An individual if doing it all alone by himself would be considered to have committed a crime..To stop or catch a hacker is what can be called ethical hacker as well. In our case study Tsutomu Shimomura is an ethical hacker who used his knowledge to catch a hacker Kevin Mitnick. Kevin Mitnick also nowadays is an ethical hacker who runs his security company and does penetration testing for various organizations but this time having his rights to do it in a legal way and gets paid off well for doing so. Conclusion Information technology has had good and bad impacts as any other technology in the world. In the world of Cybertechnology hacking is the negative side. Kevin Mitnick curiosity for technology lead him in Hacking but what started out as the sake of fun did turn up to be quite disrupting when converted into major form. However being a bit realistic the Decision of FBI holding him solitary confinement for 8 months without bail and trial would be something regarded as unfair for a guy of Kevin caliber since it ¿Ã‚ ½s quite clear that he was a genius. And if a genius is treated this way his bound to go on the run when FBI suspects him later to be committing that crime again even though if he ¿Ã‚ ½s not committed the crime he would be afraid of facing the same thing without bail and would want to run away from it. Psychologist has stated in the documentary movie  ¿Ã‚ ½Freedom Downtime  ¿Ã‚ ½Life of Kevin Mitnick ¿Ã‚ ½ that it was an event which will want each individual to run awa y and that ¿Ã‚ ½s what made him run. And then obviously his bad part took over him of which he evaded FBI for two years. Then again being caught Kevin did not get bail or a trial for 2 years since 1995 and 1997 was again wrong. If Kevin did something wrong he should have been punished after a fair trial which he wasn ¿Ã‚ ½t granted. Besides Lawyer stated in that movie that even murder ¿Ã‚ ½s get bail and trial why not Kevin? Kevin did deserve to be punished for his acts since they were totally unethical at the time but if FBI had use the law in a sincere way maybe Kevin wouldn ¿Ã‚ ½t end up that way and Kevin would have only been sentenced for the time period he deserved. An interesting part of American judiciary is that Kevin is the longest held person in history without trial or bail which can be figured out as to be totally unfair for him. After his sentence and probation of 3 years ending in 2003 Kevin has started a security consulting company and is now offering a role of ethical hacker and using penetration testing to check his clients security flaws and using the code of ethics quite well. His professional approach towards his clients and himself leads us to the fact that he has been using his knowledge now in a positive way to secure his reputation and prove to the entire world that he ¿Ã‚ ½s genius.

coffee, tea, or opium :: essays research papers

â€Å"Coffee, Tea, or Opium?†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"Coffee, Tea, or Opium,† the authors main point is that even at this point in history some rulers felt that drug importation throughout other countries was immoral for their economic and social status. China’s commissioner for foreign trade, Lin Zexu wanted to stop the illegal importation of opium into his country. Lin saw that the opium trade was damaging the publics health and was bleeding China of its wealth. The emperor of Manchu had given Lin extensive power and ordered him to control the demand of China’s people for opium and force the barbarian merchants to cut off the supply.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout this article Wilson shows that as the years past the opium use in China grew substantially: â€Å"During the trading season of 1816-17, about forty-six hundred 150-pound chests of opium entered China. This number rose to 22, 000 by 1831-32 and 35,000 by 1837-38.. That was more than 5.25 million pounds of opium, the carefully collected and dried sap extruded from 4.8 trillion opium poppies† (Wilson pg 38). Not only was the did it spread rapidly into China, but other countries found that highly addictive substances made great profits in exportation. The traders were not the only men making a quick dollar, but the middlemen, and the farmers as well. The people that fell short we the addicts themselves and the importing countries, due to the fact that the opium ran up uncontrollable trade deficits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  England and other countries profited by exporting opium into China because these countries were receiving goods like tea and silk while China was getting opium. This meant that the other countries were getting items they could sell and receive items that were reusable or they could use for resell in their country for higher prices than what they had spent in China. Not only that but they could sell small amounts of opium for a large sum of money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lin wrote a letter to Queen Victoria to explain his troubles about the effects opium was having on his country, but to no avail. All he wanted was someone who understood his desire to stop the selling of opium in China. Hoping that the Queen would respond and agree with him never happened. Unfortunately the British were determined to keep the sales going even if it meant by force. They wanted to keep the profits in by taking some of China’s main ports.

Evolution of the Internet: A Rhizomatic Application of Darwin :: Internet Web Cyberspace Essays

Evolution of the Internet Evolution is the process Charles Darwin described – the story he told – to explain the diversity of the planet. Evolution exists in nature as the interplay between linear natural selection and random events. This randomness necessitates a nonlinear model for exploring evolution as a whole, and as randomness is increasingly recognized as the dominant evolutionary force, "evolutionary schemas may be forced to abandon the old model of the tree and descent" (Deleuze 33). If we take a rhizome as an evolutionary model instead of a tree, this "connects any point to any other point" (Deleuze 35) and allows for nonlinear progression. Once the model for evolution is freed from its directed linear path, it can be applied to disciplines outside of biology. The internet has evolved in much the same way as life on earth. Just as "all life on Earth... started with a single origin of life" (Mayr 21) and has grown increasingly complex, "the Internet grew from a single experimental network... to a globe-spanning system linking millions of computers" (Abbate 1). Both processes began with a single entity that turned into populations by increasing its complexity and diversity. While the "spreading out" of organisms on the planet is governed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the parallel "spreading out" of information on the Internet is the result of a different kind of entropy. As populations and diversity increase, entropy escalates: in the internet's infancy, there were so few users that there was limited cyber-interaction among them (Abbate 84), but as more users signed on and more documents became available, there was further interaction and thus accelerated evolution. The same kind of order / disorder, expansion / contraction binaries that drive the evolution of life on earth can be applied to the evolution of the internet. In life, these opposing pairs catalyze speciation. On the internet, they create the kind of categories used in directories to organize information and by browsers to recognize different types of documents (HTML, PHP, PDF, JPEG, etc.). Whether the evolution of life and of the internet is occurring as a process moving toward "perfection" is irrelevant: both systems are in transition, suspended in "continuous flux" (Mayr 7) in a race toward ever-increasing complexity and diversity. Both of these parallel processes must be considered rhizomatically. Neither the internet nor life has progressed along a clear line. Alongside and around the "main" trajectory of evolution, there exists "aparallel evolution" (Deleuze 33). Evolution of the Internet: A Rhizomatic Application of Darwin :: Internet Web Cyberspace Essays Evolution of the Internet Evolution is the process Charles Darwin described – the story he told – to explain the diversity of the planet. Evolution exists in nature as the interplay between linear natural selection and random events. This randomness necessitates a nonlinear model for exploring evolution as a whole, and as randomness is increasingly recognized as the dominant evolutionary force, "evolutionary schemas may be forced to abandon the old model of the tree and descent" (Deleuze 33). If we take a rhizome as an evolutionary model instead of a tree, this "connects any point to any other point" (Deleuze 35) and allows for nonlinear progression. Once the model for evolution is freed from its directed linear path, it can be applied to disciplines outside of biology. The internet has evolved in much the same way as life on earth. Just as "all life on Earth... started with a single origin of life" (Mayr 21) and has grown increasingly complex, "the Internet grew from a single experimental network... to a globe-spanning system linking millions of computers" (Abbate 1). Both processes began with a single entity that turned into populations by increasing its complexity and diversity. While the "spreading out" of organisms on the planet is governed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the parallel "spreading out" of information on the Internet is the result of a different kind of entropy. As populations and diversity increase, entropy escalates: in the internet's infancy, there were so few users that there was limited cyber-interaction among them (Abbate 84), but as more users signed on and more documents became available, there was further interaction and thus accelerated evolution. The same kind of order / disorder, expansion / contraction binaries that drive the evolution of life on earth can be applied to the evolution of the internet. In life, these opposing pairs catalyze speciation. On the internet, they create the kind of categories used in directories to organize information and by browsers to recognize different types of documents (HTML, PHP, PDF, JPEG, etc.). Whether the evolution of life and of the internet is occurring as a process moving toward "perfection" is irrelevant: both systems are in transition, suspended in "continuous flux" (Mayr 7) in a race toward ever-increasing complexity and diversity. Both of these parallel processes must be considered rhizomatically. Neither the internet nor life has progressed along a clear line. Alongside and around the "main" trajectory of evolution, there exists "aparallel evolution" (Deleuze 33).

Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov A Diabolical Hero Essay -- essays papers

Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov A Diabolical Hero Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky is considered by many to be the pinnacle in a great line of Russian authors who wrote in the 19th century. Gogol, Tolstoy, Lermontov, Pushkin, Chekhov: these writers, like many greats the world round, concerned themselves not only with their art, but with its affect on their society; Gogol, for example, is said to have gone insane while working on his masterpiece, Dead Souls, obsessing himself with the idea that he could bring about the resurrection of his country through his tale. Eventually becoming disillusioned with the task he had set himself, Gogol burnt much of the manuscript and renounced all his worldly possessions, going on to lead an ascetic life until his death from starvation. While Dostoyevsky did not go to such extremes, he also intended to provide a salvation for his country, which he saw was headed down a dangerous path. This salvation was to take the form of The Brothers Karamazov and 'the Church as a positive social ideal was to constitute the central idea of the new novel...' (xiii)1. Some critics, however, have claimed that while he may have set out to write in support of the Church, Dostoyevsky ended up writing a novel which in many ways shows 'evil' in an attractive, or at least ambiguous, light. For them, Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov is one of the most compelling characters in all literature the world round and that it is with him and not Alyosha (the 'Saviour' in the novel), that we as readers identify most strongly. Thus, they claim, by having us identify with the rational, amoral atheism of Ivan, the novel becomes something of a 'diabolodicy' rather than the great defense of God and Church it was intended to be.... ...n of accepting God, or, at the very least, His necessity. Of course, it could be argued that this 'acceptance' only stands in the context of the novel-that is, the events in the novel are structured so as to make all non-believers come to bad ends and thus make it seem as though any path other than that of Zosima and Alyosha is the wrong path; however, I must stress that the existence of such a profound conscience in Ivan and our deep sympathy for him leads us, almost inevitably, to reject the idea that'all things are lawful' because our sympathy proves that we ourselves have consciences as well. Thus, whether we believe in God or not, we are forced to admit that we must at least act as though there is. To do otherwise is to risk the fate of Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov. Bibliography: Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Trans. David McDuff (Penguin)