Friday, September 6, 2019

Turkey-External State Military Threats Essay Example for Free

Turkey-External State Military Threats Essay Presently, Turkey is still under constant pressure by different threats posed by neighboring countries. This is according to military experts, saying that one of the few reasons that Turkey should be very wary of is the climate change. The possibility of engaging into violence is very like, especially to its neighbours Israel, Iraq and Syria. The reason for this is because of lessened water supply in these countries especially now that the world is experiencing major climate changes, which would be really hard to adapt in countries with no abundant water supplies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Lieutenant Colonel Ozmen, the Office if the Chief of Staff’s Middle East expert said in the latest edition of Armed Services magazine that climate change is an inevitable problem which will be faced all over the world, not only by Turkey. This is problem will be addressed by plotting out a national security strategy to amend the climate change (Ankara).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the options that Turkey may be facing is that they might wage war in order to keep the citizens and their living spaces safe. Another one is thoroughly amending the national security strategy, so that it will accommodate the possible risk and threats of climate change. The country should improve on its military capabilities on various aspects of domestic and international security, as well as possible relocation and transfers of the populace when the time of war arrives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These problems would arise because Turkey is the recipient of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, as it is strategically located in eastern and southeast of Turkey. In 20 years time, people who don’t have good access to clean water would be increased to five billion heads. Turkey, having the cleanest water resources in the area would surely catch the interest of its neighoring countries that are unfortunate to have a good source of water, where climate change would surely mean water shortages for them. Internal problems could arise within these countries, as well as possible instances of domestic attacks in Turkey. It is due to the fact that lack of water could further result to shortages in food supply, and could lead to a collapse in the economy as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another problem that Turkey is facing is regarding the threats being made on the secular republic. The Turkish armed forces said that there are efforts made to undermine the secular republic, as it was showered by comments regarding issues that the Parliament would elect an Islamic candidate for presidency (Reuters). With this report, people saw what could be a possible threat to secularism. The military however, stood firm that they wouldn’t just be spectators, especially now that secularism is being threatened. However, there were speculations that these comments were just caused by the air of elections coming soon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But the problem is that everyday, different ways of undoing the modern advances and destroy the democratic and secular structure of Turkey are coming out. This is according to the chief of the general staff, General Yasar Buyukanit, as he addressed the public during Victory Day last August 30. The secular republic of Turkey is being guarded by no other that its military, as anything they see unusual and threatening to the secular republic will be deposed, the latest of which is in 1997, when the government was viewed to be on the Islamist’s end (Tribune).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to General Buyukanit, the Turkish armed forces will never bend its beliefs and stance and will continue to uphold the interest of the democratic people, of the secular Turkey. The military and higher secular elites have directly opposed the presidential candidacy of Abdullah Gul, which is the Foreign Minister today. The reason for this is because of his Islamic roots, as well as the wearing of a Muslim head scarf by his wife, which is a clear representation of the religion they support.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Turkey is aspiring for membership in the European Union, and is composed of a majority of Muslims, but the constitution it upholds is a strict sense of Secular constitution (Thomas).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another military problem that Turkey is suffering from is the Turkish rebel troops’ threat to the country. The rebel group PKK composed of Turkish Kurds are the ones causing the ruckus, launching attacks on the country while in hiding in another county. They are hiding somewhere in the mountainous northern Iraq which is known to be as a Kurdish area. These PKK have ensued deadly attacks on military installations and some public areas of the country (The Boston Globe). The country has formed an incursion in order to punish these rebel troops. However, this incursion would be causing a lot commotion especially because it will pass through the northern Iraq area, something that could possibly go wrong and lead to violence. In order to avoid further harm to any of the two countries, Iraq should be the one to hunt down   these PKK rebels, especially now that they are into hiding in their territory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also, Turkey cannot barge into another land only with a massive amount of military troops unless they are declaring war. A of problems could go wrong, and the peaceful area of Northern Iraq could turn into a warzone in an instant. The army massing up by the border in northern Iraq is 150,000-strong just to curb the terroristic ways of these PKK rebels. 150,000 armed soldiers is enough to wage a small war with another country. Turkish Generals however, clarify that they wouldn’t go into hasty measures because they abide by the democratic rules. They said that their will be no cross-border campaign if the Parliament tells them to do so. With this words, the pressure is placed in the shoulders of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Previously, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party is being questioned by the nationalists and secularists for a case of incompetence in the part of the Prime Minister.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, there should be no border crossing to avoid any complications. No one should cross the border from both sides, especially with issues like these heating up. Iraqi Kurds will have to take down the PKK rebels by themselves, even though it may seem hard to do, without the help from Turkey. This is to maintain peace in that northern region of Iraq.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another problem that Turkey focuses on is about its entry to the European Union. Turkey is making an impression that they deserve to accepted in the EU by avoiding anything that could forfeit a possible European Union membership. However, there are a lot of people, individuals and groups of people who doesn’t agree with the possible membership of Turkey. They see Turkey’s entry in the international group as a problem, instead of being an asset, Turkey becomes a liability. According to these people, Turkey is very different from the other members of the European Union because of how the country is ruled. It is not actually run by democracy, instead, the authority that decides on how it should be ruled are the military forces. A lot of issues spurn out of nowhere regarding Turkey’s membership, like how it deals with minorities’ rights, eradicating the power of the military to run the state, and by improving further the democratic procedures it employs to the populace.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If ever Turkey will be able to address these issues, then the possibility of getting the favour of most of the EU members is high. However, the problem will be how they will be able to address these issues. Turkey’s rules and policies have been the same for a long time already, and they were able to establish a stable government. If they would abruptly change it in order to qualify for the European Union, nobody knows how it will affect the country. Surely, several complications would arise and the ones that are more likely to suffer are the masses, the Turkish people which these rules are being employed upon. The result would depend on how they will tolerate these changes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There problems regarding the European Union membership can be traced with the issue on PKK rebel terrorists. Turkey’s Kurdish region has experienced an increase in violence and has resulted to civilian action. Because of this, the government mobilized Turkish police to pacify the situation, attacking the demonstrating masses with tear gas, batons, tanks and other lethal weapons that can get hold of. The government issued a state of emergency, and a number of human rights and political activists were arrested (Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty). This internal problem that Turkey wasn’t able to address had caught the eye of the leaders of the European Union. They questioned the actions made by Turkish officials, and asked why everything has led to a stir up of the masses. It is a bad image for a member of the European Union to have unsettled government issues like this one, and no member of the EU has experienced problems such as these starting the day they joined the European Union. This has somewhat brought a negative point on Turkey in the aspect of joining the European Union. Efforts have been made to redeem what has happened that time. How can I reduce the threat to human security?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Turkey is facing serious political and military problems these days. This is due to the pressure they are receiving with regards to their aspiration to join the European Union. One of the negative setbacks of this situation is the threat to human security. War can break out anytime, especially now that Turkey and the neighboring countries are well-armed since the region has been plagued by a lot of wars these past few years now. The country’s army may be prepared for war, but the people are not. Surely their lives will be affected if the situation would turn into bombings and gun battles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The government is doing their best on how to solve these problems, even though there are times that they are neglecting the side of the people. They may have been overlooking the interest of the people in order for them to be accepted in the European Union. This is a major concern because it involves the welfare of the people, and the main purpose of a governing body of the country is to serve the people. There are other alternatives to these cases however. One of these alternatives is for the people to act. As a citizen, they can do something is they really want to. They can invoke change, depending on how the people do it. They are the ones who has control over these matter, not the rebellious groups, not the military forces, not even the government. Everything is on the people’s hands, and the outcome will surely depend on how they would address the situation. It is no merely a national or a regional problem; it is already a global issue.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a citizen, the least I can do is to disseminate information. Having a good line of communication for the whole nation is very crucial, since it opens up the connection for every concerned citizen. People have ideas which can be executed to promote safety and the welfare of other people. It mustn’t fall on deaf ears, especially at times like these, where every idea for a solution counts. As a citizen, I am also bound to this nation by law that’s why I should still abide in every law and regulation it employs on the people. I am also responsible for my actions, such that it wouldn’t lead into further complications for me and my country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I should cooperate to the fullest in order for the programs and projects of the government to be successful. It is also crucial to choose on what side am I on, regarding the issue of the Europen Union. If the leaders deem that being a member is what truly matters, then I must abide by their ideas. However, I am also responsible to voice out my opinions in a more peaceful way than staging demonstration and ensuing public mobility. It could really be a waste of time and resources, instead of focusing on what really needs to be focused on – the actual problems that the country has.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though I am just an individual, there are still other ways on how I can be of use to the country. I should try my best to become an asset instead of being a liability. Instead of complaining about how things work and how things go, I should just be cooperative with the programs that they employ to the people. There is always a right time to complain, which is also my responsibility as a citizen. I should report everything that I see as wrong, so that people concerned would still be able to amend or fix it. Works Cited: Ankara. Militarys Expert Says Israel, Iraq and Syria Can Become Threats.   2007.   Turkish Daily News. September 19 2007. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=83719. Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. Iraq: Kurdish Official Downplays Threat from Turkey.   2006.   Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. September 19 2007. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/07/c2c5fa27-919a-4eaa-a4e1-f05445e35fe6.html. Reuters. Secular Turkey Is under Threat, Military Says.   Europe, 2007.   International Herald Tribune. September 19 2007. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/27/europe/turks.php. The Boston Globe. Turkish Threats to Turkey.   2007. September 19 2007. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/06/15/turkish_threats_to_turkey/. Thomas, Mark. Mark Thomas Refuses to Ignore the Problem of Turkey.   2006. September 19 2007. http://www.newstatesman.com/200604240014. Tribune, The World. Turkeys Secular Government in Trouble, General Warns.   2006.   East West Services. September 19 2007. http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2454005.08125.html.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Becoming an Effective Leader

Becoming an Effective Leader After serving in the Navy for 20 years, I can honestly say that being a manager does not make you a leader. For me, there is a big difference. An effective leader is someone who can motivate people to do things that they would not normally do by themselves. Furthermore, what makes a leader great is their ability to bring out the best in people no matter what the situation may be. After watching the movie, 12 Angry Men, I will present to you in this essay how different leadership styles displayed by three prominent jurors were both ethical and unethical. Additionally, I will show how the consequences of these leadership styles affected the other people in the room regarding the guilt or innocence of a young man and conclude with what can be learned about leadership from these very men. To be an effective leader, it must start from within oneself. Hence, to be an ethical leader, one must be an ethical person first. By combining this class to what I already knew about being a leader, it strengthened my values and my conviction of effective leadership, and that is allowing your people to grow and be successful. Leadership is not about my way or the highway, that is a dictatorship. Leadership is about valuing you people and seeking their contributions. In the movie, this was not the case with jurors #3 #10, which demonstrated the most unethical leadership style for that situation, the authoritarian. Although there are times when authoritarian is needed and will work, in a jury deliberation is not one of them. These men had one goal, and that was to impose their beliefs and convictions upon others in the room, especially the jurors who were easily manipulated. These two men allowed their biased views to prevent them from doing their civic duty which leads to their attempt to indoctrinate the other jurors into thinking like them; they refused to listen to reason or consider any reasonable doubt presented by the other jurors. In chapter eight, Bowie wrote about this unethical leadership style and how Burns rejects what #3 and #10 were doing to the followers in the room. Bowie writes, [Burns] rejection of the indoctrination shows that he respects the autonomy of the followers, (Bowie pg.142) whereas #3 #10 do not. When it comes to pe ople in any situation, self-worth and self-respect are vital to ones autonomy and should be respected by other people. In the movie, juror #3 #10 routinely use unethical authoritarian leadership to prevent other jurors from having any capacity to decide for themselves. By doing so, it gives way to Fonda and his ethical leadership style. To be an effective leader, one must influence followers to work towards a common goal regardless if it is a company, a sports team, or a murder trial. In my experience, how this is achieved is through empowerment of your people. By doing so, you create an ethical environment that allows the people to grow both professionally and personally because they feel that they are part of the team. When it comes to human nature, everyone wants to belong and feel important in some way, that is why you praise in public and reprimand in private. When you value the opinions of people, it creates a high degree of respect within the group that brings out the best in people. That is why Henry Fonda was such a great ethical leader. He sat quietly and listened while observing how the others acted and what they said. By sitting quietly, Fonda noticed that only three people were doing most of the talking and how they were trying to persuade the other jurors. In Fondas case, he brought forth a different p erspective, one that was unbiased. In fact, he repeatedly stated that he has no idea if the boy was guilty or innocent, but it was his social responsibility to ask questions to determine that answer. He was not going to allow other individuals to persuade him or his ethical beliefs.ÂÂ   In fact, when he asked the other jurors, who felt pressured by the authoritarian group what they thought, he was demonstrating effective leadership. By valuing their opinion, he empowered them to open up and provide their perspective, and by doing so, he made them feel important which in turn made them more willing to contribute. For example, Juror #9, Joe Sweeney is the one that provided critical information, the eyeglasses, that no one had ever thought as being relevant or important, turned out to be the key to finding the boy innocent. If it were not for Fondas ethical leadership and belief in autonomy, Juror #9 might not have spoken up like he did. Fonda use of transformational leadership he lped the other men look at the case from a perspective of serving justice by appealing to their higher values. His goal was simple, bring everyone onboard so they could deliberate through participation. By doing so, he explains that the jury should have some form of human dignity and use rational moral decision making to collaborate to determine the boys fate. By doing so, he empowers the weaker jurors to voice their opinion. In regards to the consequences of the two leadership styles, Fondas ethical leadership style inspired others to stand up for what was right and not give in to the pressure of others. For me, the one juror that was most inspired by Fonda was George Voskovec, juror #11. When Voskovec finally had enough, he began to stand up against the authoritarian figures because some were not taking this deliberation serious, telling them that it is our civic duty and social responsibility to listen to all the facts and give a fair verdict, not one based on biased prejudice. Fondas inspiration ignited a flame within Voskovec, and that erupted into an inferno that eventually spread throughout the room and gave the men an ability to perceive ethical truths during a chaotic experience. However, this was not the case for jurors #3, and #10, their unethical authoritarian leadership style and outright bigoted views that were once unchallenged by most of the group were eventually smothered like a cigarette . The once calm and timid jurors that were easy prey for the authoritarian leadership at the beginning of the film could not be pushed around anymore and turned their backs on juror #10 and left him cowering in the corner like a scared little boy. When it comes to this movie and what we can learn about leadership and ethics, it is simply, understanding the leader and follower relationship that exists between these two entities. Henry Fondas character showed us that transformational leadership is an excellent example of combining leadership and ethics because it holds people they lead to a higher standard and expects more from them. By being an ethical leader, you inspire people to do great things even when they do not think they are capable, and in doing so, these subordinates become leaders themselves who learn to share information and ideas. Additionally, this movie shows us that leaders do not have all the answers, such as the case with the glasses. This evidence did not originate from Fonda; it took someone else to bring up the information. What this shows is the more ideas introduced into a situation through group discussion leads to a better decision-making process. For this to happen, it takes an ethical leader to allow other people to provide their perspective. By doing so, people feel empowered and valued. Finally, the movie shows us that to be an ethical leader your intentions must be ethical in nature when you allow your biased views to dictate your actions and beliefs you end up with leaders like juror # 3 and # 10. Work Cited Bowie, N and Werhane, P. (2005). Management Ethics. Oxnard: Blackwell Publishing

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

The Leadership Of Sonia Gandhi

The Leadership Of Sonia Gandhi Leadership is an influencing process between the leader and the followers which can be achieved by organization objectives through change. There is no universal definition for a Leadership, it is complex; it can be studied in different situation. For this assignment I have chosen a Sonia Gandhi as my leader, The world known as Sonia Gandhi born on 9th December1946 as an Edvige Antonia Albina Maino at Lusiana,Italy and grew up as older daughter of her parents. She live a normal life in a Lusiana in roman catholic family and attended a catholic school (BBC News, 2009[1]).Her story started when their parents send her for study English at the Bell educational trust language school in the city of Cambridge where she meet Rajiv Gandhi in a Greek restaurant in 1965 (Glen Owen and Nick Meo, 2004[8]), where she was working and they fall in love at first sight. Rajiv Gandhi was enrolled as an engineering student at Trinity College at university of Cambridge. According to Peter Popham, 1999[4], against her father objection she went to India and got married in 1968 and move to her mother-in-law house Indira Gandhi who was consider as The First Lady in India. As her husband does not have any hunger for the politics but the accidental killing of his brother sucked into the politics in the year 1980 an d the killing of his mother bring him in the highest office in 1984. Sonia Gandhi never wanted her husband in the politics but the vortex bring Rajiv in the politics, the reason for her oppose was that she fears that her husband will be killed same her mother had been. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 stays her away from the politics in spite of so many requests from the congress party member. According to Christopher Thomas, 1991[7], after her husband death in 1991 she made herself away from the Indian politics but in spite of request by the congress leader she refuse to stay away from the Indian politics. The request of the party member to join Sonia Gandhi to congress was as they believe that she can romp the power on the base of sympathy, and the party will plaster her image to get the sympathy vote from the people of India. According to Christopher Thomas, 1991[8] her husband was not also a natural politician, but a polite, shy personality but acts he was a reluctant t ouch barer for his party and after his death his wife Sonia Gandhi was offered that touch to enlightens who never have any interest in politics nor attempted to act as a welding any political powers. According to Daniel Lak, 1998[5] Sonia Gandhi joined congress party in 1998 because the unity was under threat and the resignation from many of the senior congress leaders from the past years. She started her political career in 1998 from the same place where her husband was killed Sriperumbudur a palace near Tamil Nadu (Now Chennai) in India. According to Peter Phoham, 2004[6] during her maiden speech in 1999 election she readout her speech partly in English and party in Hindi .The election was disastrous for the congress party not due to the lackluster new leader but due to the congress worn out its image due to the corruption scandals, sharing of power internally and too arrogant to share the power with the smaller parties in the past which results again lost for congress party in th e general election 1999 ,(Associated Press,1999[10]).Some of the senior member blaming her Italian origin for one of the cause of party defeat in the election of 1999,a uprising situation within her party. After the defeat of 1999 general election and the rebellion against her in her party boost her and she was listening of her inner voice. Her next planning was to restore the unity and harmony in the party, she started working strategically with the party member for the next election and the entry of her son in the politics boosts her strength. She never thinks to become a prime minister but to strength the inner structure of the party. (Luke Harding, 2000[9]) the entry of Sonia Gandhi and the defeat of congress party in 1999 election critics Sonia Gandhi leadership qualities, many of the party member do not have a trust on the new leader and they alliances with the rival party. They believe that she might imitate like Indira Gandhi which was consider as an authoritarian style of l eadership. According to Mark Ellis, 2004[24] During the 2004 Election her tireless campaigning and due to her believe in her party attract crowds toward herself campaigning on the basic issue of water, electricity and sanitary and also made herself popular help to win the general election of 2004, according to Stephen khan, 2004[12] she turn down from the post of first lady after a tremendous win on the general election of 2004 and in spite of the requested by the party member she leave side the thrown ,after congress party selected Dr. Manmohan Singh as a Prime Minister of India in 2004.According to Michael Sheridan,2005[25] Dr. Manmohan Singh is a brilliant economic reformer but the actual control was in the hand of Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Singh plan to open the Indian rigid economy but the control button in the hand of stalwarts Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Singh Proposed privatization but she vetoed them, there are some rivalries but both communicate with each other with complete understanding. Now her target was to win the general election of 2009, This time she introduce so many grandstand scheme for the poor people which includes the debt waiver for thirty million poor farmers, a massive job creation scheme for the rural unemployed peoples, According to Jeremy Page, 2008[26] the 225 million pound project of railway carriage which can generate a ten thousand job opportunities for the rural peoples. The congress was talking about the welfare for the poor people but UPA Government led by Sonia Gandhi and the Mr. Singh also was watching the inflation rose. In the Year 2008 the inflation has rose to 7.8 % it was the major alarm for the government. The Reserve Bank of India has a comfort level of 5 % (Financial Times, 2008[27]) the solution for this is not lies on the short term monetary policies but for the long term promote for agriculture productivities, energy efficiencies and the restructure for the transport systems, meantime Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandh i to stop their rival opposition BJP party not to gain momentum. After above all analyses the situation the question arises that what is her leadership capabilities to stay in so long in a power and managed to be the most powerful women of the world at Forbes 2009 list. (Heidi Brown, 2009[31]) Key Capabilities of Sonia Gandhi: In order to analyze the key capabilities of Sonia Gandhi, we need to analyze how effective she is? In order to answer this question we need to find the key capabilities which made her effective leader from 1999 onwards in Indian politics. According to Len Sperry, 2002 [28] Effective leaders are those which are more concern for the needs of their organization and their community beyond their own needs. They are more concern for balancing personal development for their follower and themselves. According to Kouzes and Posner, 2007[29] a exemplary leader are those which clarify the values, set examples, leads by example, envision the future, search for opportunities, experiment and take risk, create the climate of trust, strengths their followers, recognize contributions and celebrate the values and victories. They create the climate to turn opportunities into success. According to Fielder and Chemers,1974[30] analyze the performance of a leader in the situations in which they lead.They develop a frame work based on contingency theory in which leadership style are described as task motivated those concern with reaching a goal and Relationship Motivated those concern with developing close interpersonal relationship. According to Christopher Early and Elaine Mosakowski, 2004, analyze the cultural intelligence in which a person understand the other person culture and later adjust accordingly. There are three sources for it cognitive, physical, and emotional. The person those are motivated, alert toward the problems and poised to understand can able to attain the acceptable Cultural intelligent. Now I am going to analyze the strength and the weakness of Sonia Gandhi: Leadership Strength of Sonia Gandhi: Sonia Gandhi definitely a transactional leader style, when she joins the congress party there was lack of leadership. Ability to Learn from her mistake, the major defeat by their opposition in election of 1999 thats allow her to learn her mistakes and help her party members to win the general election in 2004 and 2009.The Mistake which she meet in the electoral of 1999 by standing herself as a prime minister candidates in an anti Hindu nationalist.(Ray Marceleno,2003[11]) Sonia Gandhi is a Christian and to succeed Hindu dominated country like India she response with circumspection and cunning by pilgrimage to Hindu sites.(The Independent, The (London, England)/Financial Times,1999[2]) Power and Position is not the aim for her. After the astonishing victory in 2004,she turn down as a prime minister.(Stephen Khan,2004[12]) Sonia Gandhi is more courageous Torchbearer in the Nehru dynasty. Build the Party Image, after astonishing Victory twice in Indian History; she is indirectly serving the country. (James Lamount, 2009[13]). Sonia Gandhi was the architecture for the congress party help to win the election in 2004.She motivates demoralized party into a compiling zeal and defeats the Hindu nationalist party in the general election.(James Lamont,2008[14]) She has a good Communication skills, a person mould herself from Italian origin to Indian land is one of the difficult task, as meeting with a people in village where Hindi is the only source of language and she work on her language skills and win the election twice. She has a good negotiating skills, After the general election of 2004,she negotiated with the secular parties in order to conciliate the secular front to successfully formed the government.(Irish Times,2004[15]) She has very hard working person, her tireless Champaign in the sweltering heat for her party, and the wining in the election proves that she is not a handicap in spite of others believe in her Italian Heritage.(David Orr,2004[19]) The selection of Dr.Manmohan Singh for the second time in 2009 as a prime minister candidate without any internal debates indicate her strength for power and control over the government.(Economist Intelligence Unit Views Wire News Analysis (England),2008[17]. Leadership Weakness of Sonia Gandhi: The is so many instance of Sonia Gandhi leadership weaknesses, one of the instance is that the entry of his son Rahul Gandhi in the Indian politics at one side he is a strength for her but on the other it create a feeling of nepotism which is a leadership weakness and all the party member is treating him as a future prime minister. Some time power and position control by others make so many wrong decision, She refuses the prime minister seat and put in place a her behest Dr.Manmohan Singh to the prime minister seat but indirectly controlling all the decision for the prime minister post. The nuclear deal between Indian and America is one of the good examples for this. (Economic Intelligence unit View Wire News Analysis (England), 2007[16]) The turn down from the prime minister post also indicate her weakness of fear to get assassinate, The mother in law and her husband those assassinated during their highest office in India. The fear to get assignation might be one of the reason to get down from the post of Prime minister.(Newsletter (Belfast, Northern Ireland),2004[18]) She pointed out so many problems and if government overcomes this entire problem can able to make better India, but till now government as not yet started to work on these projects. This shows that as a leader she identifies the problem with no solution. This is also one of her weakness.(Financial Times,2006[20]) Analysis of Leadership capabilities and style of Sonia Gandhi: To Analysis of different capabilities of Sonia Gandhi, first of all need to understand the characteristic of Her Leadership Style: She is more focus on a social cause. She is more dedicated to her Husband dream to build a modern India. She is dutiful toward the Congress party and especially depends on the party decision. When working alone she is more dedicated toward her husband cause and the Mother -in-law cause in her mind to her safety and agreement. Sonia Gandhi attributes transactional leadership style of Reward e.g. Many of the follower getting position in her ministry of government formation like Dr.Manmohan Singh as a Prime minister as two consecutive Period, P.Chitabaram as a Union Minister of Home Affair and many others get reward in term of position and money and punishments to them if they do not obey to them in terms of recent News of replacement of chief minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujpal and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi CEO of Common Wealth Game. According to D.Golleman, 2001[23] Extraordinary leader has different way of directing their group, some of them are analytical, others are charismatic and can go with their gut. Their leadership type depends upon the situation. The effective leader has high degree of emotional intelligence. It is a kind of sin quo non for a leadership. The emotional intelligence not only distinguishes from extraordinary leader but also link to outstanding performance. Research also proves that the right approach can develop their emotional intelligent. Thus in order to analyze the Sonia Gandhi emotional intelligent with the five components at works are as follows: Self Awareness: This is the capabilities of a person for realistic self assessment. Sonia Gandhi has a high self awareness as she know that her Italian nationality will affect if she go for the prime minister post, it was also her self-awareness that she will be targeted like husband and her mother in-law if she will stay in the highest office. Self Regulation: This is the ability of self control. As Sonia Gandhi has a high self control as one of the reason for her success. There are many instances where her Italian birth created a problem but with her trustworthiness and integrity she architect the party situation and make strong in the general election for 2004 and 2009,And with the self control she make a place in the heart of all Indian and proves that she is loyal to the country and her party. Motivation: It is a passion beyond money and status to achieve success. Sonia Gandhi is highly motivated with her party, during the general election for 2004 she attended three to four companying in a day. When the future of the party was in danger she joins the party and her passion to success and believe in the people, analyze the basic problem which help party to win the election. Empathy: This is the ability to understand the emotion of the others people. In term of Sonia Gandhi this empathy is lacking somewhere, in spite of the party member request to become the Prime minister she listens to her inner voice. Social Skills: This is the ability of a person to make friendliness and pursue to move in their direction. It is building and leading a team. The above three component which includes self awareness, self regulation and motivation is all about the self managerial skills and the other two components of empathy and social skill is more about the peoples ability to manage the team. But the control of Sonia on the party is more than the social skills; it is more sense to say that it is a respect as a torchbearer of Nehru Dynasty in the party member than the friendliness which peruses them to achieve their objective. Conclusion: The above evidence of Sonia Gandhi leadership style conclude that some time situation can develop a leadership quality in spite it is not your birth palace, sometime the vortex can throw into the politics and you have to control it effectively. The same situation is with Sonia Gandhi in which she started as a leader for Congress, a country in which Hindi is the First language , A country which is dominated by the Hindus and a person of Christian origin, A country having a one of the complex democracy in the world, obligation on her Italian origin, The tragedy of assassination of her mother in-law and her husband when they are at their highest office of the country which was not an easy task but with her charismatic style she made it, The entry of her in the politics and disastrous lost of her party in that election, revolt against her in the party, believe of few of the party member that she might be imitate as a Indira Gandhi which was consider as a authoritarian style of leadership qualities, A lady which is treated as sphinx after the marriage till the death of her husband. In spite of so many difficulties, lack of experience, she was motivated with her husband dream and decided to not to give up so easily, she is able to manage and learn from the past mistake, effectively response with the situation and with her transactional leadership style she architects the Congress party and shows a new direction to the country with her leadership qualities. She proves herself as a true Indian. But the entry of her son one side boost her political career but same time it is a feeling of nepotism factor toward her son, also the nuclear deal with USA is one of her weakness which will affect the development of the country in future. According to Len Sperry, 2002 effective leader are those which can balance the personal development their followers and themselves. Effective leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence of five components at works research by D.Golema n, 2001,Sonia Gandhi have high degree of self awareness, self regulation and motivation but she is lacking in empathy and social skills which is a very crucial for herself as a effective leadership. References: BBC News,(2009),Profile: Sonia Gandhi, BBC News,30 March[Online].Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3546851.stm (Accessed on 20th October2010) Independent, The(London, England)/Financial Times,(1999), The Saturday Profile: Sonia Gandhi, Indian Politician-The Widow who would be queen, Financial Times,24 April[online].Available at , http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=0F26DB662517BD73p_docnum=5p_queryname=3 Accessed on 20th October2010) Peter Phopam, (1999), The Saturday Profile: Sonia Gandhi, Indian Politician-The Widow who will be Queen, The Independent,24 April[online],Available at http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-saturday-profile-sonia-gandhi-indian-politicianthe-widow-who-would-be-queen-1089134.html (Accessed on 20th october2010) Daniel Lak,(1998),Sonia Gandhi Step into Indian Politics, BBC News,11 January[online],Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/46511.stm (Accessed on 24th October2010) Peter Phoham,(2004),Sonia Gandhi :The Outsider, The Independent,16 May[online].Available at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/sonia-gandhi-the-outsider-563557.html (Accessed on 24th October2010) Christopher Thomas,(1991), Widows reticence puts dynasty on sideline: Sonia Gandhi, The Times,24 May[online], Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=0F91ECA0199039BCp_docnum=3p_queryname=1 Glen Owen and Nick Meo,(2004),How a Waitress became a world leader ,The Times,17 May[online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=102A6346124F2119p_docnum=43p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 25th June2010) Luke Harding,(2000), Sonia stoops to win the masses: Gandhi acts to silence critics in Congress Party, The Guardian,4 December [Online],available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=0F2B33DF8EE84806p_docnum=6p_queryname=4 (Accessed on 25th June2010) Associated Press,(1999),Gandhi Attached over Italian roots surprise rebellion within party, The Times,4 May, available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=10AFFCF50C0EFF11p_docnum=6p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 25th October2010) Ray Marcelo,(2003),Gandhi Share blame for Indian election losses, Financial Times,9 December[Online], Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=1133E2B42C5CCBD8p_docnum=6p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 29th October2010) Stephen Khan,2004, Sonia turn down post of prime minister, The Independent,19 May[Online],available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=102B36637371E932p_docnum=9p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 29th October2010) James Lamount,2009,Sonias Daughter to step up to Gandhi legacy, Financial Times,29 April[Online], Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=127E4CF31C1869D0p_docnum=18p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 29th October2010) Lamont James,2008, Sonia Keen to capitalize on Crisis, Financial Times,30 April[online], Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=1249FB2022D6CED8p_docnum=22p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 1st November2010) Irish Times,2004,Gandhi in negotiations to form a new coalition, The Irish Times,15 May[Online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=102A2564AABA0F24p_docnum=50p_queryname=3 (accessed on 1st November2010) Economist Intelligence Unit Views Wire News Analysis (England),2007,Indian Politics: Dead Lock over Nuclear deal, Economist Intelligence Unit Views Wire News Analysis (England),24May[Online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=11C89B2B4B182A08p_docnum=20p_queryname=6 (Accessed on 7th November2010) Economist Intelligence Unit Views Wire News Analysis (England),2008,Indian Politics: Another Prime minister Gandhi?, Economist Intelligence Unit Views Wire News Analysis (England),22 May[Online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=12126D9507661E88p_docnum=12p_queryname=2 (accessed on 7th November2010) Newsletter (Belfast, Northern Ireland),2004,Threat to Gandhis, Newsletter (Belfast, Northern Ireland),25June[Online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=101D62169008C267p_docnum=14p_queryname=1(Accessed on 7th November2010) David Orr,2004, I will change India and make it richer, Vows Sonia Gandhi, Sunday Telegraph(United Kingdom),16May[Online],Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=102A23D54548BCB7p_docnum=29p_queryname=1 (Accessed on 7th November2010) Financial Times (2006), Leader: Back to Indian Basics Gandhi has identifies the problems, but no solution, Financial Times,17 May[Online], http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=1158A165F02F53C0p_docnum=57p_queryname=1 (accessed on 7th November2010) P T.Joseph, SJ (2007), EQ and Leadership, Tata McGraw Hills, New Delhi. D.Goleman, Michael MacCoby,Thomas Devenport,Jonh C. Berk,Clampa Dan, (2001), Harvard Business Review on What Makes a Leader, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, Google.(Online)Available at : http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=062ZmEc3dmACprintsec=frontcoverdq=inauthor:%22Daniel+Goleman%22hl=enei=S17XTPKhDMawhQew4ISvBQsa=Xoi=book_resultct=book-thumbnailresnum=5ved=0CEgQ6wEwBDgK#v=onepageqf=false (Accessed on 7th November2010) Mark Ellis(2004),Sonia: the New Mrs Gandhi,The Mirror,14 May,[online].Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docp_docid=10292711A017C00Ap_docnum=4p_queryname=3 (Accessed on 8th November2010) Micheal Seridan(2005),Indias ruling odd couple fall out, Sunday Times,15 May,[online].Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=10A2B0EF968AB0AEp_docnum=12p_queryname=19 (Accessed on 8th November2010) Jeremy Page,(2008),Political Queen battle it out over plan for 10,000 Jobs-India, The Times,14 October,[Online].Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=123D1A7A22CEE380p_docnum=18p_queryname=25 (Accessed on 8th November2010) Financial Times,(2008),India Battle with return of Inflation-Long Term solution are needed, but not implemented, Financial Times,5 May,[Online].Available at http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=UKNBp_theme=aggregated5p_action=docf_lastaction=docp_docid=1207B6E739D23348p_docnum=25p_queryname=25 (Accessed on 8th November2010) Len Sperry, 2002, Effective Leadership, London, Brunner-Rout ledge. J. M.Kouzes, B. Z. Posner, (2007),The Leadership Challenge, Forth Edition USA, Jossey Bass Peter G.Northhouse, 1997, Leadership Theory and Practice, USA, SAGE Publication, Inc. Heidi Brown,2009,The 100 Most powerful women in the world,Forbes.com,8 August[online],available at http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/11/power-women-09_Sonia-Gandhi_W5BY.html (Accessed on 12th November2010)

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Demons Within Essay -- Demons Possession Skinner Frazier Essays

The Demons Within There are many interesting, well developed, entertaining, colorful, exciting, and provocative characters in Mario Vargas LlosaÕs novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. Pedro Camacho is quite a character, as well as Aunt Julia herself. I was even greatly intrigued by such small characters as Cousin Nancy and, believe it or not, the cabdriver who helped find a mayor to marry Aunt Julia and Marito. however, nobody in the whole book interested me more than Marito Varguitas himself. He is just such a well developed character, and really seems like a person who would be fun to know. In fact, nothing about Marito interested me more than the demons that he possesses, or should I say seem to posses him and manifest themselves in his life as well as his stories. One of the many demons Marito possesses is his writing itself. he seems to constantly be in the middle of writing another short story to send to some newspaper or magazine. The thing is, none of these stories actually ever seem to be very good or successful. Throughout the novel, not one of them is ever actually publisher. Not even MaritoÕs friends really like his writing. In Chapter thirteen he reads the one about Aunt Eliana to Javier, Aunt Julia, and even to Pascual and Big Pablito. After they hear it, not one of them really has anything nice to say about it at all. So, although writing is one of MaritoÕs passions, it is also one of his demons. It is basically his job and how he makes a living at the radio station ÒRadio Panamericana,Ó but it controls the rest of his live away from work as well. Another demon possessed by or possessing Marito is that of age. Age obviously plays a huge role in this novel. Marito is barely eighteen years old, not even a legal adult in his own country, and yet he is in love with Aunt Julia, how is not only divorced, but also many years older than her lover at thirty something years old. His age seems to cause many conflicts for Marito throughout the book. The funny thing is that when it was preventing him from marrying Aunt Julia, all that was done was simply to change one number, a six to a three, to solve the problem. In the end, it really didnÕt seem as if age was really the issue that was the problem for Marito and Aunt JuliaÕs family. Another huge demon in the story is ... ...story as a current guide." He offers a lot of pertinent criticism of history and it's relevance, including the unreliability of its information, its skewed perspectives, etc. But, even with all of History's drawbacks, eliminating history as a study would cause an even greater distortion of our understanding. Why study history? Er ... it exists, doesn't it? We have a past. Would he let young people grow up in Walden Two thinking it had always existed, thinking, perhaps, that it had sprung up full-blown from the brow of Zeus? It strikes me as dangerous to accept such massive ignorance. To remain ignorant, is to believe a lie. Skinner's Frazier has boundless faith in his ideas. He no longer needs to know history. He is assured that his planners and managers will never become corrupted. (If they did, it would be difficult to know it without a knowledge of what Walden Two had been like before the corruption started.) His rigorous program turns out to be curiously lacking in substance. Skinner's ideas are provocative and thought provoking. But the problems are far too serious to allow the quick dismissal Frazier would give them. In short, I am not ready to sign on the dotted line. The Demons Within Essay -- Demons Possession Skinner Frazier Essays The Demons Within There are many interesting, well developed, entertaining, colorful, exciting, and provocative characters in Mario Vargas LlosaÕs novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. Pedro Camacho is quite a character, as well as Aunt Julia herself. I was even greatly intrigued by such small characters as Cousin Nancy and, believe it or not, the cabdriver who helped find a mayor to marry Aunt Julia and Marito. however, nobody in the whole book interested me more than Marito Varguitas himself. He is just such a well developed character, and really seems like a person who would be fun to know. In fact, nothing about Marito interested me more than the demons that he possesses, or should I say seem to posses him and manifest themselves in his life as well as his stories. One of the many demons Marito possesses is his writing itself. he seems to constantly be in the middle of writing another short story to send to some newspaper or magazine. The thing is, none of these stories actually ever seem to be very good or successful. Throughout the novel, not one of them is ever actually publisher. Not even MaritoÕs friends really like his writing. In Chapter thirteen he reads the one about Aunt Eliana to Javier, Aunt Julia, and even to Pascual and Big Pablito. After they hear it, not one of them really has anything nice to say about it at all. So, although writing is one of MaritoÕs passions, it is also one of his demons. It is basically his job and how he makes a living at the radio station ÒRadio Panamericana,Ó but it controls the rest of his live away from work as well. Another demon possessed by or possessing Marito is that of age. Age obviously plays a huge role in this novel. Marito is barely eighteen years old, not even a legal adult in his own country, and yet he is in love with Aunt Julia, how is not only divorced, but also many years older than her lover at thirty something years old. His age seems to cause many conflicts for Marito throughout the book. The funny thing is that when it was preventing him from marrying Aunt Julia, all that was done was simply to change one number, a six to a three, to solve the problem. In the end, it really didnÕt seem as if age was really the issue that was the problem for Marito and Aunt JuliaÕs family. Another huge demon in the story is ... ...story as a current guide." He offers a lot of pertinent criticism of history and it's relevance, including the unreliability of its information, its skewed perspectives, etc. But, even with all of History's drawbacks, eliminating history as a study would cause an even greater distortion of our understanding. Why study history? Er ... it exists, doesn't it? We have a past. Would he let young people grow up in Walden Two thinking it had always existed, thinking, perhaps, that it had sprung up full-blown from the brow of Zeus? It strikes me as dangerous to accept such massive ignorance. To remain ignorant, is to believe a lie. Skinner's Frazier has boundless faith in his ideas. He no longer needs to know history. He is assured that his planners and managers will never become corrupted. (If they did, it would be difficult to know it without a knowledge of what Walden Two had been like before the corruption started.) His rigorous program turns out to be curiously lacking in substance. Skinner's ideas are provocative and thought provoking. But the problems are far too serious to allow the quick dismissal Frazier would give them. In short, I am not ready to sign on the dotted line.

Hertzsprung-russell Diagram :: essays research papers

The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram or, the H-R Diagram for short, is a graph which plots stars according to their temperature and absolute magnitude. This graph reveals a pattern, which in fact is quite interesting. The H-R Diagram is named for the two astronomers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Russell, who discovered this pattern of stars. These two astronomers independently discovered that comparing magnitudes and spectral class (color) of stars yielded a lot of information about them. One key purpose of the H-R diagram is to show the relationship between temperature and absolute magnitude of stars. The type of temperature measurement used is Kelvin, where the zero point is equal to -273.16 C. On the H-R Diagram, the temperature of degrees Kelvin ranges from 3,000 to 30,000. The absolute magnitude of stars on the H-R Diagram ranges from +15 to -10. Absolute magnitude is how bright stars would appear if they were positioned at 32.6 light years away from earth. On this scale, the lower the number, the brighter the star. Thus, a start with an absolute magnitude of -10 would be much brighter than a star with an absolute magnitude of +15. The two astronomers found many patterns after developing their graph. They found that 90% of stars graphed fell within a band that ran through the middle of the graph. These stars range from cool, dim, red stars at the lower right of the H-R Diagram to hot, bright, blue stars at the upper left corner of the H-R Diagram. The stars that fall into to this band are known as main-sequence stars. Stars such as the sun, and almost every start visible in the night sky fall within this band of main sequence stars. There is another group of stars which are cool and bright that appear near the upper right corner of the H-R Diagram. These stars are very large and therefore have very big surface areas. These large surface areas give off large amounts of light and this makes the stars bright. Most of these stars are known as red giants. Some are so large however that they are referred to as supergiants. Red giants have a temperature of about 3,500 degrees Kelvin and an absolute magnitude of around 0. Supergiants have a temperature of around 3,000 degrees Kelvin and an absolute magnitude of about -7. Another group of stars, which are rather small, is found near the bottom left of the H-R Diagram.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Kenyon Commencement Speech Essay

David Foster Wallace brings a completely different approach to commencement speeches in his â€Å"Kenyon Commencement Speech.† He strays away from the typical commencement speech topics on â€Å"extraordinary wealth,† â€Å"comfort,† or â€Å"personal freedom† (208). Instead Wallace emphasizes the real value of a liberal arts education, which is learning â€Å"how to think† (199). When Wallace mentions â€Å"how to think† he is taking a different stance to the idea of education. He doesn’t feel education should revolve around the capacity to think, but rather â€Å"what to think about†(199). He is trying to influence his audience to think on a completely different level. He wants people not to see a glass half empty or half full but both. Wallace asks of his audience to think in more ways than one. These other levels of thinking go so much further than wealth, freedom, or comfort. Although these things are nice, they can simply be given to people. For instance, there are many wealthy, free, and comfortable citizens in countries like the United States where some people never think on the level they could. A true education is one that creates a level of thinking and understanding apart from oneself. Read more:  Good people David Wallace  essay Wallace emphasizes how people should choose to be conscientious of others, rather than oneself. He wants the audience, who is about to go out into the world and be the change, to stop and think, not of wealth or power, but rather of others. A number of people go though life and choose only to think selfishly of themselves. In the end, what good does this do? There is a default setting that exists within every human’s mind. Wallace chooses to address the unspoken parts of life including â€Å"boredom, routine, and petty frustration† in order to point out the default settings that occur within the mind (203). These less positive attitudes only exist within the mind, which can be altered. People have the power to control what they choose to think about. People can consciously choose to look at situations from other points of view that stray away from this default setting. In Wallace’s commencement speech, his goal is to influence people to not comfortably go through â€Å"life dead† or unconscious to the many marvelous people and things that surround them because those are the things that truly stretch a human being’s worth and meaning in life (203)

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Television, Newspaper, Magazine, and Other Media Pay Too Much Attention to the Personal Lives of Famous People

As the coming age of mass media, almost everyone will unavoidablely be influenced by television, newspapers, and even the World Wide Web–the Internet. Famous people are the only group the masses most concern. Convenient media approaches make every day's behaviors of famous people available to average people. Commercial management of media brings about the excessive attention to the personal lives of famous people. To begin with, after television and broadcast, Internet is becoming the most popular and convenient way for information. Because social celebrities are always the focus of news, many websites have to endeavor a lot to publish relevant news. Besides the convenient access to news, Internet is also a fascinating place where normal people can announce their opinions and communicate with each other without obstacles. So the personal lives of famous people could consistently be the hottest issue on the website. Concerning the significant influence of famous people, several well-known news websites established special areas on its websites to provide up-to-date information about famous people’s personal lives. Not just what I have mentioned above, maybe someone merely cannot satisfy about these, and even several public figures start personal websites and blogs to cater for the appetite of the mass. According to recent news, the visit rate of the blog of Xu Jinglei, who is a famous actress in mainland of China, has broken through 1 billion. The blog memorizes almost every details about her work and usual life. In comparison, the relevant websites about mass health care and charity service are not that attractive. Moreover, some cunning news companies always exaggerate the plots about celebrities’ personal affairs for commercial purpose. By reading many different newspapers in USA, you will see that President Bush's pictures published can not be so funny. Those entire pictures exhibit the behaviors of Bush were so awkward and indecent. Why do those newspaper's editors use such pictures? The answer can not be too clear. The editors want to allure as many people as possible by using the people's curiosity to famous people. Obviously, it is the audience who are the very motive for the excessive attention of the media. In conclusion, the convenient media approaches and the curiosity of ordinary people render the personal lives of famous people always open for discussing and debating, and media has pay too much attention about these.