Thursday, October 31, 2019

Compare and Contrast the Ethic of Care and the Ethic of Justice Term Paper

Compare and Contrast the Ethic of Care and the Ethic of Justice - Term Paper Example One simple thing associated with ethics of care is relationship. A person is considered to be a moral agent who has the capacity to love, show mercy, affection and more. In other words, the moral identity of a person is based on his ability to feel about his environment and be sensitive to the needs of others as part of the idea of what is morally right or wrong. In other words, an individual tries to adapt to its environment because of his capacity to feel and create relationship. Ethics of care is considered as virtue ethics. In other words, ethics of care values emotional involvement in dealing with the lives of others (Lauritzen, 2002). The point of ethics of care is to preserve or nurture relations in series of relationships and attend and respond to the needs of others (Gilligan, 1993). A very definite example of ethics of care is a deep compassion and willingness to support young women who were experiencing unwanted pregnancies and social condemnation (Allvin et al., 2007). Et hics of justice defined Individual autonomous choice and equality are what the ethics of justice primarily considers (French & Weis, 2000). As pointed out by French and Weis justice is a product of a certain culture. This means that human belief, experience and more are integral parts of the moral justice. The disapproval of adolescent pre-marital sexual relations and abortion is a clear indication of the existence of ethics of justice (Allvin et al., 2007). Ethics of justice is centered on the issue of morality and self. Under the ethics of justice, there is a strong consideration of rights, rational conclusion, differentiating morality from law, definition of self via autonomy and personal confidence, restraining certain actions because of others’ needs, transposing a hierarchy of power into a hierarchy of values, and placing of problem into an impersonal conflict of claims (Gilligan, 1993). In other words, ethics of justice is still product of the human experience, but the re is a remarkable impact or influence of the issue of morality and philosophy in it. Care builds up self-esteem There are different needs of the humanity. Some people are hopeless. Some suffered this way due to some personal circumstances or reasons outside of their control. For instance, children who were victims of violence, physical or mental abuse needs primary care and attention. These individuals are hopeless and at some point innocent about how the world is turning against them. In this case, they need more care rather than providing them the justice they deserved. The reason is that the impact of violence may be harmful than trying to find justice for them. It is through effective care they would feel they are loved and their notion about the harsh environment may be changed. Thus, giving care is a way to change an individual’s perspective about life. In other words, the ethics of care is an integral part of someone’s ability to stand in the midst of trials an d hardships in life. This is just one of the simple illustrations why care is necessary for everyone. However, placing this at the point of view of clinical practice, care is an essential part of the patients’ need for survival or recovery. According to a certain study, a patient-centered service is associated with the delivery of care (O’Connell & Landers, 2008). It is further emphasized in the said study that patients and their relatives are looking forward to

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

KEPAK STRATEGY Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

KEPAK STRATEGY - Literature review Example                     Ã‚         Introduction Kepak was founded in the mid-1960s by Noel Keating as a retail butcher’s business supplying wholesale beef to the food service sector and into other markets. Kepak had a turnover of Є750 million in 2010 and had 1700 employees. The company processes 300 000 cattle and 1.5 million lambs each year. It operates through nine manufacturing facilities in Ireland and UK. The company’s principal activity is animal slaughter and the sale of meat in cut and processed formats through Kepak Meat Division. The firm has substantial business interests in convenience foods operated through Kepak Convenience Foods and an agricultural commodities trading business, Agra Trading. This paper explores Kepak’s business strategy in response to industry challenges and opportunities (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Examination of Kepak’s business environment The most popular tool in strategic management for analysing the business environment of a company is PESTEL. In the case of Kepak, the economic environment was affecting business negatively as the industry lacked predictability in financial performance. This according to the company CEO from 2010, John Horgan, made it difficult for Irish beef processors to plan for growth. In addition, Kepak was not a listed company thus limiting its access to capital to borrowing or trading profits in a very capital intensive business (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Supply chain consists of producers who sell cattle to processors who market the product internationally. Most of the cattle are grass fed and takes up to 30 months to mature compared to cereal fed beef which can finish in 12-15 months. The presence of agents hampers innovation in the supply chain as their role is historical and; therefore, they added little value (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). Political and legislative factors are seen to influence the firms busi ness where the EU-wide introduction of decoupled Single Payment Schemes moved subsidy payments from actual production of commodities to other objectives contributing to a reduction in beef production. These factors negatively affected the firms business as there was an increase in live beef exports after 2008 as it was more profitable to export live-calf than to mature, slaughter and process them in Ireland. Change in the economic environment caused an increase investment by farmers in dairy products leading to a reduction in beef production as well as a concern among processors that this would lower the quality of beef products (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011, P.3). With respect to porter five forces, there were three major players in the beef processing industry and who accounted for 60-65% of the capacity and output. The perception was that these competitors would rather suffer lower margins than take compromises and retailers used this weakness to play processors against eac h other. Therefore, there was a negative effect of competitor rivalry in the beef business and, which affected the firm’s bottom line. According to literature by Porter, rivalry limits profitability in an industry as it transfers profitability directly to customers through price cuts and in this case customers try to achieve the same by playing firms against each other. Britain is Ireland’s major market for beef exports and shares similarities in both markets in beef tastes, systems of

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Causes And Effects Of The Current Economic Crisis Economics Essay

Causes And Effects Of The Current Economic Crisis Economics Essay Overall economy is bullish; it is not only the stock exchanges that tell  riches to rags  stories but even  small businesses. It all adds to the national exchequer. An economist is likely to give a detailed, comprehensive definition of  recession. But for the layman who has been affected knows it only one way-when he loses his job and has no money to pay his  credit and loans.  Recession  is when the consumer faces foreclosure and the banker comes knocking for his pound (or dollar) of flesh. Many companies and whole countries go bankrupt for want of liquid funds and cash flow for even daily requirements.   If you look at it from the point of view of a businessman,  recession  is a transitory phase. The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the  National Bureau of Economic Research  has another definition. It profiles the businesses that have peaked with their activity in one season and it falls naturally in the next season. It regains its original position with new products or sales and continues to expand. This revival makes the  recession  a mild phase that large companies tolerate. As the fiscal position rises, there is no reason to worry.  Recession  can last up to a year. When it happens year after year then it is serious.   Are we facing a  recession  or not? Yes, for the simple reason that not only our neighbors but our friends are unemployed. There is less of business talk and more billing worries. Transitory recessions are good for the economy, as it tends to stabilize the prices. It allows run away bullish companies to slow down and take stock. There is a saying, when its tough the tough get going. The weaker companies will not survive the brief  recession  also. Stronger companies will pull through its resources. So when is it time to worry? When you are facing a foreclosure, when the chips are down and out and creditors file cases for recovery.   Firms face closures when they go through  recession  and are not able to recover from losses. If, at this time, they are not able to sustain their prices and stocks then there is more trouble. Even when the  recession  period gets over, they will not be able to do well. If a business survives a  recession  period they should be able to survive a depression. But how many  recession  proof businesses are there? Who will eventually survive the  recession?   1. Those that have been able to save their funds.   2. Those who have not invested in fly-by-night companies.   3. Those who remain clam till the storm passes.   4. Those that take stock immediately and decide to reinvest in a  recession  proof business. GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS The world is seemingly inching towards recession .Companies are going bankrupt, stock market are nose diving and more employees are being laid off while companies struggle to cut cost. Looking theng back, it seems not so long ago when economies across the globe, especially india , were going through a boom . What went wrong ,then? Here,s a quick round up of the major events that bought the current economic downturn. 2001-2005: Housing prices shoot up in the US. Bank start lending aggressively, leading to the creation of sub primary Industry. Subprime lending refers to lending at slightly higher interest rates to borrowers,who under normal circumstances would not have been eligible for the loan .Such borrowers are consider to have a less -than-ideal credit as they may have defaulted in the past or are employed or without any regular income. Banks usually, refrained from lending to such people owing to the higher default risk. However, with the rise in property prices, banks started lending to such borrowers as these loans were mortgaged against property .In case of default, the banks could recover the money by selling off the mortgaged property. 2005: The prospering housing market comes to a standstill in many parts of the US. 2006: As the prices even out, homes sales drop. February 2007: Sub -prime bubble in the US burst-more than 25 sub prime lenders either go bankrupt, incur heavy losses or are up for the sale Banks files to take into account the possibly of a fall in property prices while undertaking sub prime lending . With the hike in interest rates by the Federal bank , the sub-prime borrowers began defaulting . This prompting banks to sell off the mortgaged properties. As more banks joined this trend of selling mortgaged properties , prices of property dropped down in the U.S. August 2007 : A no of leading mortgage lenders in the us go bankrupt : March 2008 : bear Sterns crumbles September 2008 : Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy while Merrill Lynch is sold off to Bank of America Financial markets in the us developed a new product between 2001 nd 2006 . This product was in form of a bond securitized against mortgages . Financial institutions like bear sterns, Lehman brothers and Merrill lynch lent money to mortgage banks against the mortgages, on condition that these mortgage banks would repay the money as soon as they recovered their mortgages . These lenders ,in turn sold the retail bonds to individual investors . However, as mortgages could not be honoured , banks were unable to pay the back this money to financial institutions, who in turn could not pay repay individual investors. In the entire process, Institutions like Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers Merrill lynch and AIG got a serve blow. LEHMAN BROTHERS Lehman Brothers was founded in 1850 by two cotton brokers in Montgomery, Ala. The firm moved to New York City after the Civil War and grew into one of Wall Streets investment giants. On Sept. 14, 2008, the investment bank announced that it would file for liquidation after huge losses in the mortgage market and a loss of investor confidence crippled it and it was unable to find a buyer. Lehmans slow collapse began as the mortgage market crisis unfolded in the summer of 2007, when its stock began a steady fall from a peak of $82 a share. The fears were based on the fact that the firm was a major player in the market for subprime and prime mortgages, and that as the smallest of the major Wall Street firms, it faced a larger risk that large losses could be fatal. As the crisis deepened in 2007 and early 2008, the storied investment bank defied expectations more than once, just it had many times before, as in 1998, when it seemed to teeter after a worldwide currency crisis, only to rebound strongly. Lehman managed to avoid the fate of Bear Stearns, the other of Wall Streets small fry, which was bought by JP Morgan Chase at a bargain basement price under the threat of bankruptcy in March 2008. But by summer of 2008 the rollercoaster ride started to have more downs than ups. A series of write-offs was accompanied by new offerings to seek capital to bolster its finances. Lehman also fought a running battle with short sellers. The company accused them of spreading rumors to drive down the stocks price; Lehmans critics responded by questioning whether the firm had come clean about the true size of its losses. As time passed and losses mounted, an increasing number of investors sided with the critics. On June 9, 2008, Lehman announced a second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, far higher than analysts had expected. The company said it would seek to raise $6 billion in fresh capital from investors. But those efforts faltered, and the situation grew more dire after the government on Sept. 8 announced a takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lehmans stock plunged as the markets wondered whether the move to save those mortgage giants made it less likely that Lehman might be bailed out. On Sept. 10, the investment bank said that it would spin off a majority of its remaining commercial real estate holdings into a new public company. And it confirmed plans to sell a majority of its investment management division in a move expected to generate $3 billion. It also announced an expected loss of $3.9 billion, or $5.92 a share, in the third quarter after $5.6 billion in write-downs. By the weekend of Sept. 13-14, it was clear that it was do or die for Lehman. The Treasury had made clear that no bailout would be forthcoming. Federal officials encouraged other institutions to buy Lehman, but by the end of the weekend the two main suitors, Barclays and Bank of America, had both said no. Lehman filed for bankruptcy Sept. 15. One day later, Barclays said it would buy Lehmans United States capital markets division for $1.75 billion, a bargain price. Nomura Holdings of Japan agreed to buy many of Lehmans assets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Lehman also said it would sell much of its money management business, including its prized Neuberger Berman asset management unit, to Bain Capital and Hellman Friedman for $2.15 billion. Lehmans demise set off tremors throughout the financial system. The uncertainty surrounding its transactions with banks and hedge funds exacerbated a crisis of confidence. That contributed to credit markets freezing, forcing governments around the globe to take steps to try to calm panicked markets. On Oct. 5, Richard S. Fuld Jr., Lehmans chief executive, testified before a Congressional panel that while he took full responsibility for the debacle, he believed all his decisions were both prudent and and appropriate given the information at the time. EFFECT ON THE INDIAN ECONOMY Impact of global recession on India America is the most effected country due to global recession, which comes as a bad news for India. India have most outsourcing deals from the US. Even our exports to US have increased over the years. Exports for January declined by 22 per cent. RECESSIONS ARE the result of reduction in the demand of products in the global market. Recession can also be associated with falling prices known as deflation due to lack of demand of products. Again, it could be the result of inflation or a combination of increasing prices and stagnant economic growth in the west. Recession in the West, specially the United States, is a very bad news for our country. Our companies in India have most outsourcing deals from the US. Even our exports to US have increased over the years. Exports for January have declined by 22 per cent. There is a decline in the employment market due to the recession in the West. There has been a significant drop in the new hiring which is a cause of great concern for us. Some companies have laid off their employees and there have been cut in promotions, compensation and perks of the employees. Companies in the private sector and government sector are hesitant to take up new projects. And they are working on existing projects only. Projections indicate that up to one crore persons could lose their jobs in the correct fiscal ending March. The one crore figure has been compiled by Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), which says that it has carried out an intensive survey. The textile, garment and handicraft industry are worse effected. Together, they are going to lose four million jobs by April 2009, according to the FIEO survey. There has also been a decline in the tourist inflow lately. The real estate has also a problem of tight liquidity situations, where the developers are finding it hard to raise finances. IT industries, financial sectors, real estate owners, car industry, investment banking and other industries as well are confronting heavy loss due to the fall down of global economy. Federation of Indian chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) found that faced with the global recession, inventories industries like garment, gems, textiles, chemicals and jewellery had cut production by 10 per cent to 50 per cent IMPACT ON DIFFERENT SECTORS 1. Impact on stock market The immediate impact of the US financial crisis has been felt when Indias stock market started falling. On 10 October, Rs. 250,000 crores was wiped out on a single day bourses of the Indias share market. The Sensex lost 1000 points on that day before regaining 200 points, an intraday loss of 200 points. This huge withdrawal from the Indias stock market was mainly by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), and participatory-notes. 2. Impact on Indias trade The trade deficit is reaching at alarming proportions. Because of workers remittances, NRI deposits, FII investment and so on, the current deficit is at around $10 billion. But if the remittances dry up and FII takes flight, then we may head for another 1991 crisis like situation, if our foreign exchange reserves depletes and trade deficit keeps increasing at the present rate. Further, the foreign exchange reserves of the country has depleted by around $57 billion to $253 billion for the week ended October 31.(Sivaraman, 2008) 3.Impact on Indias export With the US and several European countries slipping under the full blown recession, Indian exports have run into difficult times, since October. Manufacturing sectors like leather, textile, gems and jewellery have been hit hard because of the slump in the demand in the US and Europe. Further India enjoys trade surplus with USA and about 15 per cent of its total export in 2006-07 was directed toward USA. Indian exports fell by 9.9 per cent in November 2008, when the impact of declining consumer demand in the US and other major global market, with negative growth for the second month, running and widening monthly trade deficit over $10 billions. Official statistics released on the first day of the New Year, showed that exports had dropped to $1.5 billion in November this fiscal year, (Sivaraman, 2008) from $12.7 billion a year ago, while imports grew by $6.1billion to $21.5 billion. 4.Impact on Indias handloom sector, jewelry export and tourism Again reduction in demand in the OECD countries affected the Indian gems and jewellery industry, handloom and tourism sectors. Around 50,000 artisans employed in jewellery industry have lost their jobs as a result of the global economic meltdown. Further, the crisis had affected the Rs. 3000 crores handloom industry and volume of handloom exports dropped by 4.6 per cent in 2007-08, creating widespread unemployment in this sector (Chandran, 2008). With the global economy still experiencing the meltdown, Indian tourism sector is badly affected as the number of tourist flowing from Europe and USA has decreased sharply. 5.Exchange rate depreciation With the outflow of FIIs, Indias rupee depreciated approximately by 20 per cent against US dollar and stood at Rs. 49 per dollar at some point, creating panic among the importers. 6.IT-BPO sector The overall Indian IT-BPO revenue aggregate is expected to grow by over 33 per cent and reach $64 billion by the end of current fiscal year (FY200). Over the same period, direct employment to reach nearly 2 million, an increase of about 375000 professionals over the previous year. IT sectors derives about 75 per cent of their revenues from US and IT-ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) contributes about 5.5 per cent towards Indias total export. So the meltdown in the US will definitely impact IT sector. Further, if Fortune 500 hundred companies slash their IT budgets, Indian firms could adversely be affected. 7.FII and FDI The contagious financial meltdown eroded a large chunk of money from the Indian stock market, which will definitely impact the Indian corporate sector. However, the money eroded will hardly influence the performance real sector in India. Due to global recession, FIIs made withdrawal of $5.5 billion, whereas the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) doubled from $7.5biilion in 2007-08 to $19.3 billion in 2008 (April-September). Conclusion From the above argument it can be noted down that the Financial or Subprime Crisis was the shear consequences of greed and to make too much profit on the part of Wall Street Firms and Investment Banks. This crisis also shows the failure of capitalist market economy. Though the Indian economy would be able to withstand the crisis without any major difficulty, but the crisis is still causing mayhem all over the world.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Relationship Between Sexual Taxonomies and Ideas of the Self Essay

The relationship between sexual taxonomies and ideas of the self (e.g. Foucault, Jagose or Halperin) Sexual Taxonomies are not trans-historical; they are socially and historically situated and created. Sexual taxonomies are the different ideas about what sexuality is and they circulate around contexts, consequently forming identities. When we categorise sexuality it is categorised into heterosexual people and homosexual people but it is widely known that heterosexual is the ‘normal’ and accepted sexuality as â€Å"Homosexuality is a deviation from a privileged and naturalised heterosexuality,† (page 72, Annamarie Jagose, 1996). Terms gay, homo and queer do not mean the same things, â€Å"The blanket term "homosexual" has a number of different, related but distinct meanings: there are several groups of people who are covered by this term, and there are significant variations between them,† (Melinda Selmys, 2012) this has created sexual taxonomies regarding homosexual people. The simplest definition of a homosexual is person of the same sex being attracted t o the same sex. This can become very confusing when identify the self. Historically homosexuality has been masked, ridiculed and not accepted in society even if they share the same qualities as heterosexual people for example â€Å"The vast majority of same sex attracted people have some degree of opposite sex attraction as well [and are defined as] a person who [have] an LGBTQ identity,† (Melinda Selmys, 2012). By observing Michael Foucault in the â€Å"The History of Sexuality† (1976) as well as Annamarie Jagose & Judith Butler in â€Å"Queer in Queer Theory† (1996), we become aware of different ideas/identities of the self. It also shows the debate and hardships homosexuals experience with self-id... ...er Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Idendity. Foucault, M. (1976). â€Å"Scientia Sexualis†. In The History of Sexuality: Vol 1 (1990). (pp. 53-65). London: Penguin Books. Hayek, F. A. (1944). The road to serfdom. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Hennessy , R. (2000). Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism (2nd ed.). Great Britain: Routledge. Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://davidmcnally.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/henessey-profit_and_pleasure_sexual.pdf Websites: Selmys, M. (2012, March 12). Sexual Authenticity: Intimate Reflections on Homosexuality and Catholicism, Queer Theory. Retrieved March 20, 2014, from http://sexualauthenticity.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/queer-taxonomy.html Warner, M. (n.d.). Queer Theory. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-Dec-1996/jagose.html

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Pirandello and Reality TV: When Fine Lines Get Blurred Essay

Introduction Pirandello’s play Six Characters in Search of an Author broke ground by challenging our perceptions of what is real and not.  Ã‚   In the play, the â€Å"invisible barrier†Ã¢â‚¬â€setting apart the actors from their play—is torn down as characters otherwise trapped within the confines of text from a novel or short story emerge into real life, and burst through in the middle of a rehearsal of actors to give themselves life.  Ã‚   The roles are reversed and the actors become the prop by which the â€Å"characters† criticize stage-life, the dynamics of a story, and even the questions of humanity’s existence. His play is most noteworthy, however, by being ahead of its time; the act by which the â€Å"characters†, in need of being given life in any form, act out the very nature of their lives would be reminiscent of the trend of Reality Television today. In fact, the play’s criticisms about the formula of the theatre echo in the present time.   The play’s characters from the prop-actors to the characters-in-need-of-a-medium, represent the different aspects of Reality Television. How accurate was Pirandello’s play in predicting this trend?   What were his criticisms of it, and how much did it hit its mark?  Ã‚   What then was the play’s sentiment towards â€Å"Life forced to play Art†?  Ã‚   This essay will explore this through the evolution of the play itself, from the characterization, to the progression of the themes, and will conclude through the medium of a finished product. Finding a Cast The â€Å"Six Characters† in the playwright’s story that force themselves on a hapless Manager represent various individuals with their respective prejudices, ideas, and reactions towards their need for public expression. They also represent the different people, who are forced upon the klieg lights, particularly under the constant glare of the cameras of Reality Television. The two of the aggressive characters are of the Father and the Stepdaughter.  Ã‚   Pirandello depicts the Father as one who has volunteered to depict his role as truthfully as he can, in order to redeem himself before the eyes of his family, and hopefully smother the guilt, which had been buried in him for some time. The playwright focused much on this character, using him as instrument to question the truths of Man’s existence, his prejudices in life and as mouthpiece for the criticism of the artificialness of the theater.  Ã‚   He is out to superimpose a version of his life that would be acceptable and palatable to his audience, as well as his family. Unwittingly, though, the Father also represents characters in Reality programs such as Big Brother who volunteer to be part of the show to project a positive image of themselves, by acting out what they see themselves as who they are, and through helpful â€Å"confession booths† where they try to explain their thoughts and feelings to the camera.  Ã‚   Pirandello used the Father to explain that persons have their subjective interpretations of the world, which is just as much prejudiced as the person observing them.   This subjective depiction of oneself is magnified through the â€Å"confession booths† of reality television. The Stepdaughter is caught in the trauma of a moment and would like nothing else to perpetuate that moment of outrage as a form of punishment for her father.   She is the most vitriolic critic among the characters of the stage, and the playwright used her as an instrument to attack the formulae that the theatre and plays use to depict â€Å"truer reality†.  Ã‚   Her agenda, of course, is less than noble.  Ã‚   Her character represents those individuals who are forever caught within a traumatic moment that they painfully perpetuate to punish those close to them. This has also been absorbed by reality television in the form of show such as Temptation Island, where situations are force upon people in order to vindicate distrust or even contempt. The Mother, the Son, and the two children are the passive characters who, in one way or another, would rather not be part of the play.   They are, however, trapped to play their part for one reason or another.  Ã‚   The most active of these, the mother and son, represent those who are resistant to their parts, and virulently opposed to it, but tied to it for one reason or another.  Ã‚   In Reality Television, a program My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancee, forced an individual to fake a wedding and coerce her family to acceding to it. The most tragic of these characters, however, are the children who are silent throughout the general duration of the play only to act the final and central sequence of it through their parts.  Ã‚   These are the persons who are unwittingly trapped in a situation that they would rather have not entered, had they known.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmoe 2 have people who are not aware that they are in fact in a reality show centered on how they were being fooled. Finding a Theme The Stepdaughter bitterly criticized that the actors trying to portray them are too unnatural in acting out her family’s characters.   Indeed, she pointed out that there were distinct differences in a scene with her father, which she acted with him, and the same scene, which the actors tried to portray. The Father later explained that actors have already begun to act them not in their true form but in a prejudiced idea of what they have observed of the characters or the scene.  Ã‚   This is true enough of media today trying to interpret an event or people by projecting them in a way that explains how they saw the event, rather than how it really was. In the Reality show The Osbournes or Growing Up Gotti for example, the scenes were edited to focus more on the heated moments where the family are caught heaping curses, invectives, or insults at each other, when these are in fact merely isolated instances of it.   The Manager in the play explains that this is only to make the fact â€Å"truer†, and more believable.  Ã‚   Indeed, the most dramatic moments of a reality show are the ones that are given most airtime, and are edited to make it, as the Stepdaughter protested, a â€Å"romantic drama† rather than what it really was. The play’s Manager in one scene explained to the Stepdaughter that a character could not be overemphasized to overshadow another character.   Indeed, that was what both the Father and the Stepdaughter were trying to do.   The inexistence of an actual central character (only a consistent plot and theme) in the play mirrors how some reality shows do not focus on a central character but let the show work out according to how the characters interact amongst themselves.  Ã‚   Survivor and Big Brother are such programs. Conclusion: Unintended Consequences The Manager in the play was caught up in the possibilities of entertainment of using the dynamics of a family’s life, while his acting ensemble watched on.   Faithful through every scene, the tragedies of the characters are indeed perpetuated right to the end (at least, to how far the â€Å"writer† wrote), and it is at this end that the Manager realizes and bewails to what fate it has turned to.  Ã‚   For such is the danger of trying to stage a play based on dynamic characters and true life. It is only the dynamism of the characters—and their respective prejudices—that sets them apart from the static of a written play. Like the Manager in Six Characters, this dynamism can sometimes go out of control and individuals will clash, so a balance is made as to what is aired and what is not.   The â€Å"true form† then, becomes compromised, and prejudiced to what is perceived.  Ã‚   It is entertaining to the audience, as they have a sense of it being an illusion (an illusion of reality, as one character described it), but as the Father adamantly explains, it is real to them. The reality show Temptation Island once seemed to appeal to the audience as a sort-of drama that is often seen in the movies about the test of love.   Ã‚  Reality bursts in, however, when one of the contestants, who just saw her husband flirting with one of the girls from a separate island, was actually pregnant with their child.  Ã‚   With the real prospects of having to break up a family, these candidates are offered an apology and immediately whisked away, and off the program.  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was not an illusion to them; it was real life. Pirandello’s critique is clear: having to stage reality before the audience is only entertainment only as far as they feel detached from it.   Within the glare of the cameras, however, lives are destroyed and perpetuated in â€Å"edited moments† that twist the very nature of it. WORKS CITED Pirandello, L. (1921). Six Characters in Search of an Author. In A. Caputi (Ed.), Eight Modern Plays.   New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1991.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

An Essay on Criticism

Intrigued by his essay, I wondered if what he had to say might hold true today, and whether Pope's words could/should play a part in how we judge things today. Pope's An Essay on Man is divided up into three parts. Of those three parts, two are in our textbook. Of those two parts, one is dedicated to describing how critic's criticism can be unjustified and harmful to the creator. The second part describes the birth of poor Judgment, naming pride and, from what I can tell, ignorance as the culprit parents of a poor critic. In Pope's time, the most commonly Judged works were iterative.Poems, plays, novels, and other readable sources were the mainstream source of entertainment back then. Today, we have a different type of visual media; we watch as oppose to read. TV shows, movies, and Internet videos are our main source of visual entertainment in these times. Music is also another large source of entertainment and probably an even bigger platform for Judgment and criticism if you consid er all the different genres and people's large variety of taste in music. In Lines 17-18, Pope says, â€Å"Authors are partial to their wit, ‘its true, /But are not critics to heir Judgment too? I took this to mean that while authors may not always be putting out gold or writing the next groundbreaking piece, critics arena always the ones to say what the next groundbreaking piece is, or whether it is even good or not. Critics can have biased opinions by human nature and will not like some things no matter how good they are in their own respects. In Lines 21-22 Pope says, â€Å"Nature affords at least a glimmering light,† meaning the author has some internal sense of direction with what they're doing. â€Å"The lines, though but touched faintly, are drawn right. I felt eke this meant that through informal skill and some ignorance, the creator has still managed to put out something worthwhile. Even if it IS bad, it could show some serious signs of potential. To the crea tor, it may be the best work they've ever done, but if allowed to continue creating, they may look back and wonder what the Hell made them think that was okay to call finished. I can personally relate to this because I'm in a terrible little band and I can remember writing songs that we thought were amazing, awesome, and would rock socks right off the feet of my audiences, but years eater, we don't even play those songs anymore.They are completely scrapped. We never really had any bad criticism, but along the way, we criticized ourselves decided to change direction. I'm not sure if I find criticism to be relevant today. Even back in Pope's day, a bad critic usually Just found themselves satirized in one of Pope's works. I think criticism is especially ineffective today because I think it used to be a tool people used to find what they should bother paying attention to, but now we have an almost unlimited source of entertainment outlets we can turn to that we're bound to mind somethi ng we like.I think today criticism either hurts someone's feelings or they'll Just curse you out in there head. I think it is more harmful than effective. Shelley Viscous, a life skills specialist and mind coach, says, â€Å"Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it is that, information we realize after something has already happened. We can then use that information for next time but we cannot change or alter what has happened. So criticism Just rubs salt into the wounds,† (Viscous).I think this is true because my band never had anyone tell us what we were making as good or bad, we simply evolved after saw what we were doing wasn't enough to make people interested in us. And we're still evolving. Right now we're writing songs we think are amazing, d ©J v, and I'm sure we'll once again look back and be borderline ashamed of what we're writing. I think criticism, good or bad, can tend to negatively affect humans psychologically. I'd be willing to bet that if the rankings for the King of the Beasts were dependent on psychological strength and not our ability to create and dominate, Mankind would be near the bottom.Humans are a atheistically weak race when it comes to psychological strength. You don't ever see any lions or tigers with social anxiety disorders or monkeys that are introverted or cry when they get called a loser. The dark realm humans throw themselves in when faced with criticism is called cognitive distortions. â€Å"These negative thinking styles are within psychology known as cognitive distortions. These inaccurate thoughts may seem rational and accurate but in reality they only serve to reinforce negative thinking or emotions, keeping us from feeling good about ourselves,† (Isakson).I'm not ring to act like I'm better than anyone. I know it sounds like I kind of am, but in the article Isakson lists four of the most common distortions, and I am certainly guilty on one of them. Polarize thinking is where, â€Å"you live in a universe where everything is either black-or-white, with no colors or shades of gray. You either look at yourself or others as perfect or as failures,† (Isakson). I very much do this with myself. I'm either in a state of bliss where I'm walking on sunshine, or I'm the scum of the Earth, I'm not worth the dead carcass you pass on the highway, and everyone rightly hates me.It's idiotic and one day I hope to look back on myself and wonder why I ever thought like this. All in all, I think criticism should be kept inside of people's heads. Think what you want to think, but keep it to yourself. Who are you to throw your opinion into someone's vision? That mostly goes to people who aren't professional critics. I think professional critics should have to read and re-read Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism because I feel like it does have some good insight on how to be mindful of when you're doing wrong. It's sort of like The Prince for criticism. I feel like that book fits into most situat ions.As for people trying to create something out of a vision or dream they have, I think criticism should either be ignored or lightly acknowledged. Success shouldn't be based on the opinions of the few, it should be measured by all the people that want something to do with whatever it is you're making. There's a quote I heard online once and I couldn't find where it was originally said so I won't be able to cite a source, but director Robert Rodriguez once said, â€Å"l think that everyone has at least a dozen or so bad movies in them; the sooner you get them out the better. † I relate this back to songs. An Essay on Criticism An Essay on Criticism Alexander Pope engraved his name in history by proving that the pen is mightier than the sword. Due to him being a Roman Catholic, he was unable to attend University, vote, or hold office. To add on to that, Pope was plagued with poor health from birth, suffering from tuberculosis of the bone. Pope wouldn't let these barricades stop him from becoming the writer he knew he could be and was encouraged by his father to be. At the age of 23, Pope wrote his first striking poetic piece, An Essay on Criticism.Intrigued by his essay, I wondered if what he had to say might hold true today, and whether Pope's words could/should play a part in how we judge things today. Pope's An Essay on Man is divided up into three parts. Of those three parts, two are in our textbook. Of those two parts, one is dedicated to describing how critic's criticism can be unjustified and harmful to the creator. The second part describes the birth of poor Judgment, naming pride and, from what I c an tell, ignorance as the culprit parents of a poor critic. In Pope's time, the most commonly Judged works were iterate.Poems, plays, novels, and other readable sources were the mainstream source of entertainment back then. Today, we have a different type of visual media; we watch as oppose to read. TV shows, movies, and Internet videos are our main source of visual entertainment in these times. Music is also another large source of entertainment and probably an even bigger platform for Judgment and criticism if you consider all the different genres and people's large variety of taste in music. In Lines 17-18, Pope says, â€Å"Authors are partial to their wit, ‘its true, /But are not critics to heir Judgment too? I took this to mean that while authors may not always be putting out gold or writing the next groundbreaking piece, critics aren't always the ones to say what the next groundbreaking piece is, or whether it is even good or not. Critics can have biased opinions by hum an nature and will not like some things no matter how good they are in their own respects. In Lines 21-22 Pope says, â€Å"Nature affords at least a glimmering light,† meaning the author has some internal sense of direction with what they're doing. â€Å"The lines, though but touched faintly, are drawn right. I felt eke this meant that through informal skill and some ignorance, the creator has still managed to put out something worthwhile. Even if it IS bad, it could show some serious signs of potential. To the creator, it may be the best work they've ever done, but if allowed to continue creating, they may look back and wonder what the Hell made them think that was okay to call finished. I can personally relate to this because I'm in a terrible little band and I can remember writing songs that we thought were amazing, awesome, and would rock socks right off the feet of my audiences, but years eater, we don't even play those songs anymore.They are completely scrapped. We nev er really had any bad criticism, but along the way, we criticized ourselves decided to change direction. I'm not sure if I find criticism to be relevant today. Even back in Pope's day, a bad critic usually Just found themselves satirized in one of Pope's works. I think criticism is especially ineffective today because I think it used to be a tool people used to find what they should bother paying attention to, but now we have an almost unlimited source of entertainment outlets we can turn to that we're bound to mind something we like.I think today criticism either hurts someone's feelings or they'll Just curse you out in there head. I think it is more harmful than effective. Shelley Viscous, a life skills specialist and mind coach, says, â€Å"Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it is that, information we realize after something has already happened. We can then use that information for next time but we cannot change or alter what has happened. So criticism Just rubs salt into the w ounds,† (Viscous).I think this is true because my band never had anyone tell us what we were making as good or bad, we simply evolved after saw what we were doing wasn't enough to make people interested in us. And we're still evolving. Right now we're writing songs we think are amazing, dJГ vi, and I'm sure we'll once again look back and be borderline ashamed of what we're writing. I think criticism, good or bad, can tend to negatively affect humans psychologically. I'd be willing to bet that if the rankings for the King of the Beasts were dependent on psychological strength and not our ability to create and dominate, Mankind would be near the bottom.Humans are a atheistically weak race when it comes to psychological strength. You don't ever see any lions or tigers with social anxiety disorders or monkeys that are introverted or cry when they get called a loser. The dark realm humans throw themselves in when faced with criticism is called cognitive distortions. â€Å"Thes e negative thinking styles are within psychology known as cognitive distortions. These inaccurate thoughts may seem rational and accurate but in reality they only serve to reinforce negative thinking or emotions, keeping us from feeling good about ourselves,† (Isakson).I'm not ring to act like I'm better than anyone. I know it sounds like I kind of am, but in the article Isakson lists four of the most common distortions, and I am certainly guilty on one of them. Polarize thinking is where, â€Å"you live in a universe where everything is either black-or-white, with no colors or shades of gray. You either look at yourself or others as perfect or as failures,† (Isakson). I very much do this with myself. I'm either in a state of bliss where I'm walking on sunshine, or I'm the scum of the Earth, I'm not worth the dead carcass you pass on the highway, and everyone rightly hates me.It's idiotic and one day I hope to look back on myself and wonder why I ever thought like this. All in all, I think criticism should be kept inside of people's heads. Think what you want to think, but keep it to yourself. Who are you to throw your opinion into someone's vision? That mostly goes to people who aren't professional critics. I think professional critics should have to read and re-read Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism because I feel like it does have some good insight on how to be mindful of when you're doing wrong. It's sort of like The Prince for criticism. I feel like that book fits into most situations.As for people trying to create something out of a vision or dream they have, I think criticism should either be ignored or lightly acknowledged. Success shouldn't be based on the opinions of the few, it should be measured by all the people that want something to do with whatever it is you're making. There's a quote I heard online once and I couldn't find where it was originally said so I won't be able to cite a source, but director Robert Rodriguez once sai d, â€Å"l think that everyone has at least a dozen or so bad movies in them; the sooner you get them out the better. † I relate this back to songs.I know I have a lot of bad songs in me, so I'm trying to get them out so I can get to the good stuff. The best part about that is the songs are good to me right now, they don't become bad until I write something new. I'll know I'm where I want to be when I look back at my old songs and still want to practice them alongside my new ones, not when a critic tells me,

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Slavery Fair Trade Coffee Essay

Slavery Fair Trade Coffee Essay Slavery: Fair Trade Coffee Essay Casey Trejo Professor Kanu Contemporary Slavery 1 March 2014 Coffee The trading system that the whole world navigates proves to be one that is very complex with rules and regulations set upon the process. Workers, management, and people need to follow policies so that their businesses and corporations do not get put under scrutiny and investigated. Fair trade is a movement that is aimed to support producers to make better trading conditions and financial support in developing countries. The fair Trade is needed because around the world there are countries whose workers are being pushed to their own limits just so the companies can get as much work out of them to make a dollar. The massive coffee industry proves to have its up and downs while trying to abide by the Fair Trade policies. Many people do not know what exactly fair trade is and it is important that the world starts to get a grasp on it. Fair trade is a trading partnership that is based on dialogue, transparency and respect which seeks fairness in the international trade. It works to wards making better working conditions, better source of pay, and for securing the rights of people who are working under these companies. There are multiple campaigns that are being held to raise the awareness for changes in the rules and practice for conventional international trade. Looking past the whole trading sense of it, fair trade is really looking for the greater justice in the world and more of a practice in conventional trade. This movement can be recognized by the WFTO logo. To be certified as Fairtrade farmers bring upon a wide range of costs in achieving Fair Trade. A farmer can only recover costs on the small part of their production that they can sell as fair trade certified. For example, since there is not enough demand to take all certified coffee produced, some has to be sold as uncertified. Also coffee farmers have to meet standards on production. There are limits on the use of child labor, pesticides, herbicides and GMO crops. Farmers have to start hiring labor instead of just using their own families and not paying any money at all. Fair Trade coffee is still a small portion of the market, but is the most popular fair trade commodity in the world. The following is an excerpt from the Organic Consumers Organization that defines the criteria for certification: â€Å"Producers FLO maintains a Coffee Producers Registry that is open to associations of small farmers as detailed above. FLO maintains field monitors in countries and regions of origin, and makes annual visits to ensure producer compliance with the Fair Trade criteria. The majority of cooperatives fulfill or surpass the requirements of FLO's criteria wholeheartedly. If producer cooperatives are found not in compliance, they can be put on probation for a period to allow for improvement, and in rare cases, dismissed from the list for serious violations. Importers and Roasters In the U.S., coffee importers and roasters must sign a licensing agreement with TransFair USA in order to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee using TransFair's trademarked seal on their products. TransFair's Monitoring Department handles the US side of the coffee trail by monitoring licensee paperwork, including sales receipts and tracking numbers. Roasters must pay a licensing fee of 10 cents per pound to TransFair to ensure the sustainability of the system, and to ensure that costs for certification are born in the North rather than by the farmers.† The coffee industry proves to be one of the biggest global industries that is running throughout the world today. â€Å"Coffee exporting alone is a $20 billion dollar industry, mostly consumed by industrialized nations while being produced by the world's underclass†(Goldschein). With just coming second to oil, coffee is worth 100 billion dollars worldwide and is ahead of things like natural gas, gold, oil and corn. These coffee farms that are seen throughout Asia,