Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. Essay

1. Stakeholders 1.1. The five-year girl and the injured: – as because of this incident a five year girl lost her life and nothing is more precious that life. 1.2. Customers: – because people were resting their futures in the hands of this number fever promotion campaign. 1.3. Victoria Angelo, her family and families like hers: – these people who didn’t have enough money to eat were buying Pepsi in the hope of changing their whole life. The rich company Pepsi was making money by making these people believe that they might win a lot of money. Instead of using their scarce resources for something more real, these people spent it on Pepsi building up dreams of getting rich and leading a good life. 1.4. Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc.:- as the campaign was launched by Pepsi-cola, it is responsible for the outcomes like deaths, lawsuits, injured etc. 1.5. Pepsi-Cola International: – as Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. is a part of the multinational firm with branches all over the world, this incident might negatively effect the sales in other countries. 1.6. PepsiCo Inc.:- as it owns 19% of the company. 1.7. Insurance companies: – The insurance companies are affected by this incident as a lot of the Pepsi-cola cars, trucks and wagons were destroyed by the angry public and these companies might have to pay for it. 1.8. Competitors especially Coca-Cola:- as a result of this incident coca-cola might be able to snatch away a huge chunk of the market from Pepsi. 1.9. Government: – It has to make sure that companies follow the laws and  they have to protect the innocent consumers. The government has to make sure illegal and unethical activities do not happen. It has to make sure that the laws are implemented without any exceptions. 1.10. Judicial system in Philippines: – as it is responsible for making sure that no violations of laws and regulations happen and people who do it are dealt with in the proper manner. 1.11. Company Employees: – they might lose their jobs as a result of the riots and losses that Pepsi had to face. 1.12. People who ran the computer or made the computer program:- as they have a significant role to play in the misprinting of the numbers. 1.13. Banks and financial institutions: – although not very clear from the case Pepsi-cola might haven taken loans form other banks. 1.14. Share and Stockholders: – although not very clear from the case, the value of the shares and stock of Pepsi-cola Company might have fallen. 2. Ethical Issues 2.1. Trust: – A climate of trust provides improved communication, greater predictability, dependability and confidence among the customer’s, employees and the company. The people trusted Pepsi to pay them the money if they would win. But Pepsi dining do that hence breaking customer trust, something once broken is very difficult to regain. 2.2. Egoism: – the company was just thinking about its own interests when it launched the campaign. It didn’t consider the poor people who might be lured by this number fever and spend the little money they had on Pepsi-cola instead of saving it and using for food, medicines, education etc, hence harming the innocent customers. 2.3. Deception: – With the winning numbers pre-selected by computer and only  ten 1-million-peso prizes available, the chance of anyone becoming a peso millionaire was one in 28.8 million. But Pepsi drinkers didn’t know that. The few winners got saturation media coverage, and entire families spent inordinate time and effort collecting bottle caps. 2.4. Theft: – these people who didn’t have enough money to eat were buying Pepsi in the hope of changing their whole life. The rich company Pepsi was making money by making these people believe that they might win a lot of money. Instead of using their scarce resources for something more real, these people spent it on Pepsi building up dreams of getting rich and leading a good life. When Pepsi refused to pay the rightful winners their rightful money, the company robbed these people of their dreams, hopes and financial resources. 3. The shaping of Public happiness a. There was maybe a little collaboration of private welfare and public good. The company was giving out prises valuing up to 1 million to people. Although the company intended to gain more market share through this action, it also helped people get more money and live a better life. On the other hand it was also private welfare as only a handful people really profited from this action. Only these few were able to lead a better life and the majority was left out b. Yes I think it is an appropriate good as one cannot always do stuff for the public good. It is not always possible to do good for all on a large scale. You need a lot of resources, power to carry out actions on such a large scale. Instead it would be better to help groups, families and individual. This is relatively easier to do and consequently a lot of people will benefit from such actions. c. What should have been differently i. Truth: – the company should have told the truth in the advertisements, that the chance to win the game is extremely small. This would help  especially the poor people in making the more sensible and invert their money in things what they really need. ii. Trust: – the company should have tried to regain trust of the people by explaining to them that the mistake was not on purpose and that they never intended to hurt people’s feelings. iii. Consequences: – The Company should have also tried to explain to the people that if Pepsi would pay the $18 billion to the people, then the company would go broke and would have to close. This would result in thousands of people loosing their jobs. iv. Government: – it should make sure that people understand such campaigns and don’t get seduced by such empty promises through better control over what the companies exactly advertise and what they do. d. Yes Pepsi was justified in not paying the full 1 million pesos: Doing that would mean that Pepsi would have to pay a total of more than $18 billion, a sum that would definitely lead to the company getting bankrupt. As a result of this thousands of people would lose their jobs not only in Philippines but also in other parts of the world where Pepsi operates as the Whole Pepsi organisation would be affected by this huge loss. The share and stock holder might lose a lot of money as a result of this loss at Pepsi. Thus it is a very complicated and damaging chain reaction that would be set of into action if Pepsi paid the money. Pepsi made a mistake in printing the numbers, something it did not intend to do. It kept its promise of giving out the 1 million to people who had the numbers but now you can’t expect the company to pay $18 billion because of an honest mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. e. Europe: – The response would have been different as the people in Europe are not that poor and live a good life. They are not that desperate. They are also well educated and understand such campaigns. South America and Africa: – the response might have been similar to that in  Philippines as the people are poor and are desperate to have money. Most of the people are not well educated and hence don’t really understand such campaigns. Asia: – the response here might be not that aggressive as in Philippine as the people are well educated and although also being poor they live in highly developing countries for example India ,China etc, that are constantly attractive huge investments from around the world. Multinational companies are building huge factories here and are outsourcing their functions in these countries. As such the people are not that desperate. f. The firms offer was OK, it could have offered some more money, but whatever it might have offered it would have never been enough for the people. The company had to think about all its shareholders and paying the full amount would have damaged lot of them for example Insurance companies, Company Employees, Banks and financial institutions, Share and Stockholders etc. It was in the best interest of everyone for the company to pay 500 pesos and not the full 1 million. 4. What would I do? Likely the ethical principles violated have to do with trust that they would keep their word, (pay for winners) even if it weren’t profitable. I don’t think the ads said anything about conditions of payment are only if they ‘choose the correct, low probability number to ensure low payoff’. It seems also that they need their customers, particularly since Coke customers will not be affected by Pepsi-Philippines decision not to pay off. I would make sure that the advertisements would mention the risks and possibilities of winning. The people would be aware of the fact that it is very difficult to win. This would help a person not to invest all his hopes and resources in something that is itself a dream. I would also try to explain to the people that if Pepsi would pay the $18 billion to the people, then the company would go broke and would have to close. This would result in thousands of people loosing their jobs. I would try to maintain the good will of the customers. The projected $ loss from loss in reputation may be worse than paying the prizes. Simply from a business and ethical perspective, I would have done something very quickly to maintain the good will of the customers once I knew of the mistake. I would have tried to regain trust of the people by explaining to them that the mistake was not on purpose and that the company never intended to hurt people’s feelings. Maybe in Hong Kong the results would have been less radical or violent. However that wouldn’t mean that the company wasn’t just as wrong for their short-sightedness and carelessness. Their carelessness led to violence and death. Something should have been done differently. Yes. 5. Application of to case 5.1. Personal Traits:- Business decisions are made by individuals or by committees, thus the ethics of business in reality is the ethics of the individuals making up the business. A series of factors influence a persons ethics: personal values, stage of moral development and moral approbation. The extent to which a decision maker’s behaviour reflects personal values depends to some extent on the decision maker’s ego strength, field dependence and locus of control. There the Pepsi-cola company is a big player with a lot of power which can lead to high ego strength and locus of control. This might cause the company to go its own way and set wrong standards and use questionable methods. Stages of development depict the type of rationale used to select options. Moral approbation characterizes the internal need for approval something that is scarcely present in big companies. Each of these traits either supports ethical or unethical behaviour. 5.2. Stakeholders :- A stakeholder is someone who has a stake in an organization or a program. Stakeholders either affect the organization/program or are affected by it. Stakeholders include people who staff a program (e.g., management, staff); people who are affected by a program (e.g., clients, their families, and the  community); people who contribute to a program in other ways (e.g., contributors, funding agencies and foundations, volunteers, partner organizations, board members, etc.); and people with a vested interest in the program (e.g., politicians, neighbors, etc.), competitors, suppliers etc. The company did not take into consideration the effects of this campaign on particularly its consumers. The Stakeholders influence decisions in both ethical and unethical directions. 5.3. Organizational Culture and Traits It might be referred to as the common set of assumptions, beliefs and values that has developed within the organisation to cope with the external and internal environment and that is passed on to new members to guide their actions within these environments. It provides a sense of identity among members and promotes a commitment of the members to something larger than self. It also provides for stability of the organisational social system and rationale and direction for behaviour. While organisational culture serves as the overall glue of the organisation specific aspects of its culture are influenced by the organisational traits for e.g. organisational climate and organisational goals etc. 3.4. Dimensions of Decision Making The Decision Processes help to explain the types of ethical decision making behaviour that occur in business. Managers indicate there are specific actions that they will not countenance – thus, the minimum performance rule. Once a set of decision alternatives has been established, each one is evaluated on the bases of the Decision dimensions like economic, political, technological, social and ethical issues. These issues are responsible at the end about the ethical nature of the decision. 3.5. Moral Intensity The degree of moral intensity influences the decision maker’s decisions. A person with a high moral intensity is tend to consider moral and ethical  issues more deeply than a person who’s moral intensity lies very low. 3.6. Minimum Performance Level/ Total Benefit Test The decision maker applies a minimum performance rule to each of the decisions that specifies the minimum acceptable performance level for each of the decision dimensions. Any alternative that creates a conflict of interest will be dropped from consideration. The minimum performance level might be less than the desired level and when considered by itself would lead to rejection of the alternative. Decisions Alternatives that survive the Minimum Performance Level rule test may then be subjected to the second phase, total benefit yielding the overall value of each alternative. After the benefit for each decision variable has being considered has been derived, one would expect that the decision maker would select the alternative with the highest benefit. 6. Lessons Critical for organizations that are striving to gain or maintain a competitive advantage and that are in the process of re-structuring for the new century. Decision-making is an important factor for growing organizational memory with newly created knowledge and a broader base of perspectives to use in subsequent decision-making situations. Given a particular decision context and a decision maker with a set of personal values, it may be very difficult to see all sides of the issue. Individual, managerial and organisational success all depend on making the right decisions at the right times.1 However, decision-making is just one component of the problem-solving process. Unless a problem has been defined and its root causes identified, managers are unlikely to be able to make an appropriate decision about how to solve it. Effective managers know how to gather and evaluate information that clarifies a problem. They know the value of generating more than one action alternative and weighing all the implications of a plan before deciding to implement it. A major responsibility for all managers is to maintain a constant lookout for actual or potential problems. Managers do this by keeping channels of communication open and monitoring. When a problem involves others, they need to feel understood and accepted; they must have confidence that the problem can be resolved; they must trust management to see the problem as a learning experience and not as an excuse to punish someone. Whether blameworthy or not, the use of the cloak of social responsibility, and the nonsense spoken in its name by influential and prestigious businessmen, does clearly harm the foundations of a free society. I have been impressed time and again by the schizophrenic character of many businessmen. They are capable of being extremely far-sighted and clear-headed in matters that are internal to their businesses. They are incredibly short-sighted and muddle-headed in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general. But the doctrine of â€Å"social responsibility† taken seriously would extend the scope of the political mechanism to every human activity. It does not differ in philosophy from the most explicitly collective doctrine. It differs only by professing to believe that collectivist ends can be attained without collectivist means. The social responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.

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Likewise, by the end of 2001, Boeing lost out on the largest military contract ever when the Pentagon picked rival Lockheed Martin to build the Joint Strike Fighter for shared use by the Air Force, Navy and Marines. This next generation manned fighter is expected to flow more than $200 billion in revenues over the next 20 years (Laing, 2002). But most traumatic for Boeing were the terrorist attacks on September 11th. They transformed what had been shaping up as a mild downturn in commercial jet orders into a veritable collapse in demand (Laing, 2002). After the attacks, the need to fly drastically declined due to fear and security issues that made flying a nuisance. This left the US Airline Industry in a serious crisis. Companies such as Continental, US Airways, American, and Delta cut up to 20% of their capacity (Smith, 2001). Source: www.bloomber.com The terrorist attacks resulted in Boeings stock to plummet. Prior to September 11th, Boeings stock was falling because of the downturn in the economy. From the graph above, we can see that the attacks made the stock price to fall from $50 a share to $30. This was a sign that investors knew the impact the terrorist attacks had on Boeings industry. After September 11th, Boeing planned to respond to these problems by cutting production rates by 50 percent (Nyhan, November 2001). On September 18th, one week after the attacks, Boeing announced at a press conference that it would layoff up to 30,000 employees by the middle of 2002 (Smith, 2001). On that day, Boeing reduced the level of employees by 12,000: 3,000 through retirement and attrition, and 9,000 through layoffs (Farley, 2001). Boeing also stated that their jetliner orders would decrease drastically. In the next three years 80% of their 2001 orders would be delivered (Smith, 2002). They also planned to cut their monthly production of aircraft by half, from 48 to 24. The director of people at Boeings commercial airplane unit said, In order to match our reduced production rate, we will need to accomplish the majority of the 20,000 to 30,000 reductions in 2002 employment by midyear. Members of the Associated Press and Kiro 7 Eyewitness News stated, Last week Boeing officials announced plans to layoff as many as 30,000 employees, mostly in the Puget Sound area, by the end of next year because of plummeting demand for new planes and postponed deliveries since the terrorist attacks. Boeings commercial airplane division is not the only division that the layoffs will effect. Surprisingly 5,000 of the 30,000 layoffs are predicted to come from the military division. The military division cutbacks are also due to the September 11th attacks, but they are mainly due to global economic slowdown (Klein, 2001). This comes as a surprise because the military division is expected to grow in a time of war or terrorist attacks. Stockholders may assume that the government will request an increased level of production of fighter jets and military bombers so that the United States can dominate in the war against terrorism. In addition, the layoffs will not only affect the Boeing employees, but also people outside the company. As many as 20,000 of the Boeing layoffs may occur in the Seattle area alone, resulting in an additional 34,000 jobs lost by Boeing suppliers, subcontractors, and others (Klein, 2001). Alternatives Before Boeing implements any solutions they must maintain a good level of communication with their employees. The employees must know the reasons for a particular action taken by Boeing in order to avoid any mistrust and confusion (Hoffman, 2001). For example, an employee will wonder why layoffs are taking place when Phil Condit, Boeings CEO, is making an annual bonus of $1.13 million (Webber, 2002). Boeing must carefully explain their plans and what they are hoping to accomplish through their actions. Boeing can reduce the amount of layoffs by implementing any of the following solutions: Distribute Hours Among Employees The first solution for Boeing is to spread the hours among the employees for each department. Every department is given so many hours it can use for each week at the beginning of the quarter, depending on the amount of business Boeing has. If those hours taken and spread among the employees for each department, not as many layoffs will occur. The hours will be spread out by reducing the workweek from five days to four. By cutting one day out of an employees schedule Boeing is able to give those hours to another employee, which under the circumstances would be laid off. Once four employees each receive a deduction in their workweek one employee will be able to maintain their job and not be laid off. The advantage to this solution is that fewer employees will have to be laid-off. Employees will have their hours cut according to seniority. Some employees that have been with the company for a number of years will not be affected by the action. By holding onto the employees and not laying them off Boeing will be prepared to handle new contracts as they arise. Boeing is predicting that the recent decline in contracts is only short-term and business will soon return to their previous levels. The disadvantage to the solution is that some employees will not be able to afford a reduction in hours. In this scenario employees will not be satisfied and hold each other responsible for less hours. If employees are not satisfied then their production will decrease due to their dissatisfaction. Re-Allocate Employees The second solution for Boeing is to train employees in other departments within the company. This will allow Boeing to reallocate employees in different departments rather than laying them off. With the commercial airline department being hit the hardest by the recent terrorist events, employees in that department could transfer to other departments if they possessed the knowledge. The advantage in training employees outside their departments is the value it will add to the employee. If an employee has the knowledge and know how to be productive and efficient in other departments, not just his own, they become an instant asset to the company. Due to their flexibility Boeing can move the employee around in accordance with demand. A disadvantage to this solution is that Boeing will incur high costs for training employees to do other jobs. A slowdown in production will also result due to the time spent on training. The transition for an employee to move from one department to another is difficult because the employee will not be as efficient. Severance Pay Early retirement packages will be available to qualified employees. The retirement packages to be offered will vary depending on the number of years an employee has with the company. For each full year of service an employees has with the company, up to twenty-six years, they will receive one week of pay (Hoffman, 2001). The employee can take the severance pay in either a lump sum or as an income continuation. The single lump sum plan pays the severance pay to the person in one check within one month of leaving the company. The income continuation plan will pay the severance pay on the regular paydays every two weeks (Boeing, 2000). The advantage to this solution is each individual makes their own decision and they have total control of what they want to do. Also high salaries will be eliminated as management personnel take the package. Once management leaves, the ones that find early retirement appealing, Boeing will be able to promote employees into those positions without having to pay the large salaries. The disadvantage to this solution is that not many jobs will be saved because not many employees will go for the early retirement package. Boeing will also lose experienced managers if they decide to take the early retirement package. If this solution is implemented Boeing will continue to layoff employees because not enough jobs will be cut. Continue Layoffs The last solution is to continue to layoff employees as necessary. This will allow Boeing to keep revenues high because the layoffs will occur according to the market. If Boeing does not get as many contracts as they expected for a particular quarter, the layoffs will help the companys finances. The disadvantage to this alternative is the potential of business picking backup. The market for commercial jetliners is expected to boom in two years and Boeing needs to be able to handle the new contracts. If Boeing has to constantly train new employees as business increases, in an effort compensate for the ones that were laid-off, they will not be operating at full efficiency. Solution Boeing realizes that layoffs cant be completely eliminated, however they want to reduce layoffs to the lowest possible amount. Boeing will accomplish that by distributing the hours in each department among the employees. This solution will allow Boeing to save jobs by reducing the employees workweek from forty hours to thirty-two hours. The management of each department will determine the hours to be cut and the number of employees that are affected. This will be implemented on June 1, 2002 throughout all departments. Most employees will be affected by the reduction in hours, and management must be prepared to cope with the initial negative reaction. In order to measure the results of the solution, Boeing must evaluate the impact on its bottom line along with the toll its taking on their employees. An evaluation will occur every six months and will be lead by top executives and the department managers. Once evaluated, a decision will be made by the board of directors on whether or not to continue with the reduction of hours or to incorporate a different action. The thirty-two hour workweek is expected to be temporary as analysts are predicting a turn around in demand for planes (Holmes, 2001). As production returns to capacity, hours will be returned back to employees according to seniority. Reference List Airlines slash workforces. (n.d.) retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.proquest.com . Airwise News. (2001, September 22). Majority of Boeing layoffs in aircraft sector. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com Associated Press Newswires. (2002, March). More Boeing layoff notices. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. A71327300 Associated Press Newswires. (2001, September). First Boeing layoffs set to take effect Dec. 14. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.seattleinsider.com/news/boeing.html Boeing Company. (2002). A Brief History. Retrieved April 8, 2002, from www.boeing.com/companyoffices/history/boeing/html. Boeing Company. (2002). Layoffs Benefits Plan. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.boeing.com/companyoffices/benefits/boeing/html. Carlton, D.R. (2002, January) Boeing bleak outlook. The Economist, 362 (8257), 58. Corliss, B. (2002, April). Boeing deliveries drop 10%. Retrieved May 7, 2002, from www.msnbc.com Farley, G. (2001, December). Union leaders file grievances. The Associated Press. Retrieved April 15, 2002, from www.king5.com/cgi-bin/gold.cgi Genna, C.A. (2002, April 19). More layoff notices to be issued at Boeing. Retrieved May 8, 2002, from www.latimes.com Gillie, J.F. (2001, November). Lost jobs in Puget Sound area. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com Gillie, J.F. (2001, December). 1,700 new layoff notices today. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. TCMA0135500 Global general aviation industry delivery breakdowns for jets. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2002, from http://rdswebl.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite.html. Hoffman, R. (2001, June 29). The Dynamics of Downsizing. Retrieved May 18, 2002, form www.hradvice.com Holmes, S.C. (2001, November 26). Aerospace industry downsizing. Business Week, (3759), 108-109 Klein, A. (2001, October 13). Boeing faces massive layoffs. The Washington Post. Retrieved April 15, 2002, from http://detnews.com/2001/business.html. Laing, J.R. (2002, April). Gaining Altitude: Corporate profiles. Barrons, 82 (17), 21-25. Lloyd, M.K. (2001, December). Losing Altitude; Aviation. The Economist, 361 (8253), 81-83. More Boeing layoff notices going out. (n.d.) Retrieved April 26, 2002, from www.seattleinsider.com Nyhan, P.J. (2001, September). Boeing expects to layoff up to 10 percent in commercial division. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002 from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SEPI012700. Nyhan, P.J. (2002, February). Boeing lays off 1,000 local workers. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Nyhan, P.J. (2001, November). Majority of Boeing layoffs to hit by June. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com Schneider, R. (2001, December). Losing Altitude: aftershocks from September 11th. The Economist. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.infotrac.com. Article No. A81118376. Smith, B.A. (2002, January 21). Boeing continues its production cost focus. Aviation Week Space Technology, 156 (3), 43-44. Smith, B.A. (2001, September 24). Boeing cuts delivery estimates, prepares for major layoffs. Aviation Week Space Technology, 155 (13), 29-32. Song, K.M. (2001, December). Boeing layoff face challenge. The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SETL0135600. Song, K.M. (2002, April). Effects from Boeing cutbacks felt. The Seattle Times. Retrieved May 18, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. SETL0211100. Standaert, J. (2002, January). Boeing trims 2,300 more jobs. The News Tribune, Tacoma. Retrieved April 10, 2002, from www.dowjonesinteractive.com. Article No. TCMA0201900. Thomas, G.D. (2002, April). Tough times ahead. Air Transport World, 39, (4), 31-33. Webber, J.P. (2002, April 19). Boeing hurt by slowdown. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 8, 2002, from www.latimes.com

The Role of Government in Policy Making Essay Example for Free

The Role of Government in Policy Making Essay In order for an agency or organization to function properly it must have policies and laws put in place. With out these policies the agency or organization would not be able to function at a proper level. Legislative tasks are one of the most important parts of making a policy. There are several different tasks involved. Task one: the group must provide a clear informative issue; they need to clearly describe the problem, and give the reasons why and what they need from legislation. This is a critical step because the general public and individual legislators need to know exactly what the interest group wants if they are to give legislative and public support. (Social Policy and Social Programs) Task two: is to prepare the pros and cons and summarize what the problem is. This will help legislation understand the problem; what is causing it and what may help the situation. Task three: in the legislative process is to create solutions for the social problemof concern, that is, a public policy, program design, or provision (benefit) that will plausiblycorrect the problem. That is not a simple task to do well; actual legislative proposalsvary from excellent to simplistic and all the way to unbelievably simpleminded. (Social Policy and Social Programs) Task four: is to organize public support for their issue. In order to motivatelegislators to identify themselves with an issue and recruit other legislators as well, large scalepublic support is essential. Everything else pales into insignificance without it. (Social Policy and Social Programs) Task five: in the legislative process is to convince a legislator to sign on to the bill in the sense of turning the social problem analysis, prospective social program designfeatures, and position papers into a legislative proposal and officially introducing(sponsoring) it as a legislative bill. Although legislative staff personnel can be very helpfulin crafting the proposed bill, only a legislator can introduce a bill. After the bill is introduced,it will then be referred to a committee of the legislature for study andrecommendation. Committee assignment is critical. Supporters do well to have thosewith influence (usually other legislators) convince leadership making committee assignmentsto send it to  an appropriate committee for study and recommendation. If leadershipis not supportive of the bill, it likely will be assigned to a committee known to be agraveyard for bills. Part of the study for a bill moving successfully through this task areais a legislative hearing on the bill. (Social Policy and Social Programs) Task six: in the legislative process is to organize appearances at the aforementioned committee hearings with regard to the bill. The purpose of the committee hearings is for committee members to ask questions, receive answers, and debate the merits of the bil l. (Social Policy and Social Programs) Seventh task: in the legislative process is to lobby legislators, other than the onewho introduced the bill, for their support when it is finally voted on by the whole (federal,state, or city) legislative body. Supporters need to turn out in strength. Lobbying ismost effective when it is coordinated, timed, and clear in what it wants legislators to votefor. Once again, the agenda is to show legislators why it is in their political interest to vote in a particular way on legislation. (Social Policy and Social Programs) If the bill is passed in to law there is one more task to perform last task: in the legislative process is lobbyingfor money (appropriations) to run the program that is contained in the legislation. (Social Policy and Social Programs)The judicial branch of government has the most important role in deciding what programs can be used to help serve clients. It can also stop programs at any given time. Family and Children Services of Niagara INC., is influenced by the people of the community who may need help in many ways. The court systems play a major role in this organization by recommendations by judges for people to seek counseling, parenting services, seek employment and many other various services that this organization provides. The courts may order a person to seek a certain service that is provided by Family and Children INC, the councilors of the organization will have to report to the courts of the persons progress, and weather or not the program is helping them. If the person does not follow the recommendations, that person can be required to serve jail time. References Family and Children Services of Niagara INC. http://niagarafamily.org/Social Policy and Social Programs (2005) A Method for the Practical Public Policy Analyst

Sports and International Relations

Sports and International Relations In the past, international relations (IR) mainly focused on the high political issues such as military and economic issues. However, the nature of international politics has changed dramatically recently. Interaction between states is not limited to the high political area but also low political area such as social cultural areas. It is hard to determine which one is more prevalent in this time, but one thing very obvious is the role of low politics is getting broader. In the post Cold War era, there are many cases that low politics have healed in inter-states conflicts which had developed into high politics. Among these, because of its popularity across the globe, sports plays a significant role in international relations. Modern sports, which was limited to the local, regional or national level in the past, now spread to international level and have access to social and political area. Considering that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has 202 members states, even more than the number the number of UN member states which totals 192, it is obvious that international sport is now an arena of international politics and diplomacy. Worldwide sports events also have great impact to international relations and politics. With the development of media, related technology and services, people all over the world can sit in front of television, and watch major international sports events at the same time. Thus international sports games are a good opportunity to display a states ethnic features or a states believed national superiority to their counterparts. In history, many national leaders abused sports games because of such purpose, and sports events were often used as a tool of political and ideological propaganda in international relations. However, at the same time, sports also possesses the aspect of promoting peace and raising mutual understanding in international relations. Many countries took advantage of this aspect of sports to build a positive image of them. In terms of sports diplomacy, the United States has employed sports as a diplomatic channel throughout the history. However, the way sports has been used was different from time to time due to different international political circumstances which influenced the United States foreign policy. (This paper attempts to analyze how international conflicts were reflected in the Unites States foreign policy and what the strategy of the United States sports diplomacy was. During the Cold War era, the Soviet Union and the United States were the two pillars of the international system. The ideological rivalry between Soviet Union and the United States could represent the international relations in this period. Therefore, the United States practiced sports diplomacy to deteriorate the influence of the Soviet Union to show the superiority of the United States ideology. However, after the collapse of Soviet Union, the United States became the only superpower, resulting in the rapid growth of the i nfluence of the United States in the world. The political aspects of sports Sports themselves do not have political value, but when it is practiced as a medium between different countries, it has political contents. First, sports can be a tool for diplomacy between states, being the first step of engagement between states in a hostile relationship. Exchanging sports between states can imply that both states recognize each other as a nation-state. The United States president Richard Nixons use of table tennis to initiate diplomatic relations with China in Cold War era, known as Ping pong diplomacy, cited as a prototypical example. The other way around, boycotts of sports game or denial of visa to athletes are seen as ways to break off the relations between states. Second, sports may serve as an advertisement for spreading ideology. States often use sporting games to show their superiority of ideology. Especially, during the Cold War era, this tendency is often observed in the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. In this period, many of the United Sates legislators worried about the Soviet athletes continuous success in international sports games. They saw it in the context of national prestige in the face of communist challenges. They acknowledged that people in the United States would see the sporting defeat by the Soviet Union not as a matter of sports or the athlete, but the matter of national pride. Soviets victory in sports games could be interpreted as a victory for the Soviet culture, system and decay of capitalistic way to a certain extent. Third, sport raises mutual understanding and promotes peace in international relations. Sport exchanges have been served as a way to identify other states and their people, and furthermore, to overcome prejudice against each other. As a result, sports exchange between states often have used as a tool of public diplomacy, considering that the aim of public diplomacy is also to see to foster mutual understanding. Fourth, it is a safe way of expressing displeasure with other country and its policies because it is a peripheral issue to the international political system. To show discontentment or raise objections about a political issue, using sports is a circumambulate way of expression. The most common means of expressing discontent through sports events is to boycott the sports game. It is regarded as a strategic and low cost alternative to any other political action which states can take. It possibly gives huge influence or pushes on other states without using traditional sense of state power. Fifth, sports often spark the conflicts that might become the warfare later on. It often initiates or aggravates political conflict in international relations. Since an athlete or a team represents his or their nation, hatred of the counterpart could become an antipathy of the nation. This ill feeling could draw actual war, like the one between Honduras and El Salvador, most famously known as the Football War, during the World Cup tournament game in 1969. There had been preexisting conflicts between Honduras and Salvadorans, including immigration from El Salvador to Honduras, but the tensions between the two states exploded by the football competition. This match actually triggered the war between Honduras and El Salvador. Sports as an efficient tool for diplomacy The United States recently implemented sports diplomacy as a part of its public diplomacy. The United States dispatched famous sports figures as sports diplomacy envoys to increase understanding of the American people and its culture. It is because sports has been highlighted recent times as a newly rising tactic to implement international relations for some reasons. First, the influence of sports is growing bigger. Sports is now global because of the revolution in the transportation and telecommunication/media industries. Every broadcasting corporation has sports channels and even in the headline coverage they deliver the sports news. Originally, this is initiated due to peoples interest of sports but it reversely started to draw the attention of people who had not been interested in sports. Also, this revolution has created a global sport labor market and global migration, and thus peoples interests in sports extend to international sports. People are cheering for athletes who are their fellow countryman who are playing a game outside of their own country. People often watch sports games not because they are interested in those sports but to see specific national athletes. The sport team owners know this well, and thus they trade foreign athletes to increase its attention and popularity internationally. The international political environment has also changed. Different from the past when most serious concern for states was national survival through military strength, now there is a covert consensus of non-use of military force in international relations, and thus likelihood of was is decreasing. The level of interdependence among states is heightened and became more complex. According to Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, the world has moved into an era of complex interdependence, characterized by multiple channels between societies, including both state and non-state channels, such that military security does not consistently dominate the agenda. Yet, this does not mean that the rate of inter-state conflict is declining. Rather, because of enlarging scope of engagement among nations, there is more possibility of emerging conflicts. The factors of national threat or concern have become more diverse and complex. Therefore, in this changing world, the definition of power in international relations is not same as the Hobbesian explanation. Military force cannot be the best way to solve the conflict or influence other states. These old tools of diplomacy are no longer appropriate in the contemporary world and something more moderate, indirect but efficient and influential way of diplomacy needs to be practiced. In this context, sports is a good medium, by playing mediating and pivotal role in inter-state relations. Attaching sports to the scope of international relations would be a helpful to boost the size of diplomacy.

Graduation Speech: Celebrate Your Unique Qualities :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Welcome to all of you who have come to share this special evening with us. My name is John and I am a member of the graduating class of 2012. Standing here tonight is a surprise to me and to many who knew me. At one point, after making some mistakes and losing my sense of self, I dropped out of school. With my parents’ urging me, I enrolled at Alternative High School. I came to this school with the hope that I’d graduate on time. I knew that I would have to change, so I set goals to achieve perfection and I achieved it. As many of you may know, I am now perfect in every way, shape, and form... Yeah, right. What is true is that I had dropped out of school, was way behind my peers and enrolled at Alternative. I also worked to change my behavior. I’m still working at it. During the time that I have been at this school, I have had the pleasure of meeting many seniors, as well as other students, that were talented and often possessed wisdom beyond their years. Many have survived hardships in their lives that have developed their individuality and inner strength. Some are teen parents. Some have lost parents. Some live with lifelong illnesses. Some had families that moved constantly. Some felt different from their peers. They were artists, rebels and truth-seekers. All of them were ones who chose to walk to the beat of a different drum and found a way to follow their dreams at Bunny Alternatives. Alternative High School is a school that lifts us up and celebrates our unique qualities. We have had a channel for our voices — voices that may have been drowned out in the other crowded schools from which we came. For helping us find our strengths and our voice, we have a great number of people to thank. First, we need to appreciate the value placed on public education by the people of our country and most especially by the people of this district. Second, we need to thank the entire staff of Bunny Alternatives for encouraging us, standing by us and strengthening our skills to get us to this point in our lives. Above all, we, the Class of 2012, would like to thank our parents, mentors and friends for putting up with us during all the awkwardness of our growing up. Graduation Speech: Celebrate Your Unique Qualities :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address Welcome to all of you who have come to share this special evening with us. My name is John and I am a member of the graduating class of 2012. Standing here tonight is a surprise to me and to many who knew me. At one point, after making some mistakes and losing my sense of self, I dropped out of school. With my parents’ urging me, I enrolled at Alternative High School. I came to this school with the hope that I’d graduate on time. I knew that I would have to change, so I set goals to achieve perfection and I achieved it. As many of you may know, I am now perfect in every way, shape, and form... Yeah, right. What is true is that I had dropped out of school, was way behind my peers and enrolled at Alternative. I also worked to change my behavior. I’m still working at it. During the time that I have been at this school, I have had the pleasure of meeting many seniors, as well as other students, that were talented and often possessed wisdom beyond their years. Many have survived hardships in their lives that have developed their individuality and inner strength. Some are teen parents. Some have lost parents. Some live with lifelong illnesses. Some had families that moved constantly. Some felt different from their peers. They were artists, rebels and truth-seekers. All of them were ones who chose to walk to the beat of a different drum and found a way to follow their dreams at Bunny Alternatives. Alternative High School is a school that lifts us up and celebrates our unique qualities. We have had a channel for our voices — voices that may have been drowned out in the other crowded schools from which we came. For helping us find our strengths and our voice, we have a great number of people to thank. First, we need to appreciate the value placed on public education by the people of our country and most especially by the people of this district. Second, we need to thank the entire staff of Bunny Alternatives for encouraging us, standing by us and strengthening our skills to get us to this point in our lives. Above all, we, the Class of 2012, would like to thank our parents, mentors and friends for putting up with us during all the awkwardness of our growing up.

Arrhythmia :: essays research papers

Arrhythmia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I am doing my report on Arrhythmia. It affects the cardiac muscle, the heart. Arrhythmia causes three types of problems. It causes the heart to pump too slowly (bradycardia), it causes the heart to pump too fast (tachycardis), and it causes the heart to skip beats (palipations).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bradycardia can be very serious. Some of the symptoms are loss of consciousness, heart failure, or death. Slow heart rates are caused by heart block. The hearts natural pace-maker fails to be conducted to the ventricles, the hearts main pumping chambers. Some treatments can be used. An electronic pace-maker can be inserted and it will send electronic impulse to the heart stimulating it to beat at a normal rhythm. Pace-makers are only inserted when the heart beats too slow.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tachycardis can also be very serious. It can lead to disabling symptoms and even death. When you have Tachycardis your heart rate is above 100 beats per minute. Tachycardis is caused by heart injuries from past times. Tachycardis usually occurs months or years after a heart attack. A treatment for Tachycardis can be inserting a device called a defibrillator. A defibrillator will detect and treat abnormally fast heart rhythms. The defibrillator monitors the heart and automatically gives electric shocks before Arrhythmia causes permanent damage. If the person does not have a defibrillator a strong electric shock will be given. The cause of Tachycardis is by something not functioning properly in the atria. They are sometimes stimulated by anxiety. Too much caffeine or alcohol and certain drugs can also be the cause. Attacks might last a few minutes or several days. They can be serious and sometimes not serious.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Palpitations happen when your heart skips beats. Palpitations have many different symptoms. Some of these symptoms are dizziness, fatigue or fainting as a result of the brain not getting enough oxygen rich blood, chest pain, shortness of breath, and death (which occurs rarely). Palpitations are caused by high blood pressure, mistral valve prolapse, Hyperthyroidism, Anemia, coronary artery disease, or stress, Anxiety, panic attacks, stimulants such as caffine, nicotine, and alcohol, heavy excursus, high consumption of nutmeg. There some treatments which you can do. You could try to hold your breath briefly, take a slow drink of cold water, wash your face in cold water, cough several times, and hold your nose and blow (it will pop

The Characters in Troilus and Criseyde

Characters Achilles, warrior who kills Troilus and Hector in battle Antenor, a soldier held captive by the Greeks, led to the fall of Troy, traded for Criseyde's safety Calchas, a Trojan prophet who joins the Greeks Criseyde, Calchas' daughter Helen, wife to Menelaus, lover of Paris Pandarus, Criseyde's uncle, advises Troilus in the wooing of Criseyde Priam, King of Troy Cassandra, Daughter of Priam, a prophetess at the temple of Apollo Hector, Prince of Troy, fierce warrior and leader of the Trojan armies Troilus, Youngest son of Priam, and wooer of Criseyde Paris, Prince of Troy, lover of HelenDeiphobus, Prince of Troy, aids Troilus in the wooing of Criseyde Synopsis Criseyde, the daughter of the seer Calchas, lives alone in Troy after her father abandons the Trojans to help the Greeks. Eventually she catches the eye of Troilus, a man who had previously scoffed at love, and becomes the object of his overwhelming desire. With the help of Criseyde’s uncle Pandarus he wins her love but soon loses it when the Greeks and the Trojans conduct an exchange of prisoners. Calchas, who knows of Troy’s imminent destruction, persuades the Greeks to exchange Antenor for his daughter and thus saves her from the doomed city.Criseyde promises Troilus that she’ll return to him after ten days but once she’s back in the care of her father she realizes the impossibility of her promise. Resigned to her fate, Criseyde yields to the flirtations of Diomedes, and her love for Troilus fades. When Deiphobus wins the armor of Diomedes, Troilus discovers a brooch he gave Criseyde upon her departure pinned to it. Heartbroken, he tries to find Diomedes and take his revenge during battle but after slaying many is in his turn killed by Achilles. As his spirit goes to heaven he reflects on the absurdity of all life itself. work cited Wikipedia online encyclopaedia

Carrie Chapter Seventeen

That this was happening in Chamberlain, in Chamberlain, for God's sake, where he drank iced tea on his mother's sun porch and refereed PAL basketball and made one last cruise out Route 6 past The Cavalier before turning in at 2:30 every morning. His town was burning UP. Tom Quillan came out of the police station and ran down the sidewalk to Doyle's cruiser. His hair was standing up every which way, he was dressed in dirty green work fatigues and an undershirt and he had his loafers on the wrong feet, but Doyle thought he had never been so glad to see anyone in his life. Tom Quillan was as much Chamberlain as anything, and he was thereintact. ‘Holy God,' he panted. ‘Did you see that?' ‘What's been happening?' Doyle asked curtly. ‘I been monitorin' the radio,' Quillan said, ‘Motton and Westover wanted to know if they should send ambulances and I said bell yes, send everything. Hearses too. Did I do right?' ‘Yes.' Doyle ran his hands through his hair. ‘Have you seen Harry Block?' Block was the town's Commissioner of Public Utilities, and that included water. ‘Nope. But Chief Deighan says they got water in the old Rennet Block across town. They're laying hose now. I collared some kids, and they're settin' up a hospital in the police station. They're good boys, but they're gonna get blood on your floor, Otis.' Otis Doyle felt unreality surge over him. Surely this conversation couldn't be happening in Chamberlain. Couldn't. ‘That's all right, Tommy. You did right. You go back there and start calling every doctor in the phone book. I'm going over to Summer Street.' ‘Okay, Otis. If you see that crazy broad, be careful.' ‘Who?' Doyle was not a barking man, but now he did. Tom Quillan flinched back. ‘Carrie, Carrie White.' ‘Who? How do you know?' Quillan blinked slowly. ‘I dunno. It just sort of †¦ came to me.' From the national AP ticker, 11:46 Pm: CHAMBERLAIN, MAINE (AP) A DISASTER OF MAJOR PROPORTIONS HAS STRUCK THE TOWN OF CHAMBERLAIN, MAINE TONIGHT. A FIRE, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEGUN AT EWEN (U-WIN) HIGH SCHOOL DURING A SCHOOL DANCE, HAS SPREAD TO THE DOWNTOWN AREA, RESULTING IN MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS THAT HAVE LEVELLED MUCH OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA. A RESIDENTIAL AREA TO THE WEST OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA IS ALSO REPORTED TO BE BURNING. HOWEVER, MOST CONCERN AT THIS TIME IS OVER THE HIGH SCHOOL WHERE A JUNIOR-SENIOR PROM WAS BEING HELD. IT IS BELIEVED THAT MANY OF THE PROM-GOERS WERE TRAPPED INSIDE. AN ANDOVER FIRE OFFICIAL SUMMONED TO THE SCENE SAID THE KNOWN TOTAL OF DEAD STOOD AT SIXTY-SEVEN. MOST OF THEM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. ASKED HOW HIGH THE TOTAL MIGHT GO HE SAID: ‘WE DON'T KNOW. WE'RE AFRAID TO GUESS. THIS IS GOING TO BE WORSE THAN THE COCONUT GROVE.' AT LAST REPORT THREE FIRES WERE RAGING OUT OF CONTROL IN THE TOWN. REPORTS OF POSSIBLE ARSON ARE UNCONFIRMED. ENDS. 11:56 PM MAY 27 8943F AP There were no more AP reports from Chamberlain. At 12:06 AM., a Jackson Avenue gas main was opened. At 12:17, an ambulance attendant from Motton tossed out a cigarette butt as the rescue vehicle sped toward Summer Street. The explosion destroyed nearly half a block at a stroke, including the offices of The Chamberlain Clarion. By 12:18 A.M.. Chamberlain was cut off from the country that slept in reason beyond. At 12:10, still seven minutes before the gas-main explosion, the telephone exchange experienced a softer explosion: a complete jam of every town phone line still in operation. The three harried girls on duty stayed at their posts but were utterly unable to cope. They worked with expressions of wooden horror on their faces, trying to place unplaceable calls. And so Chamberlain drifted into the streets. They came like an invasion from the graveyard that lay in the elbow creek formed by the intersection of The Bellsqueeze Road and Route 6; they came in white nightgowns and in robes, as if in winding shrouds. They came in pyjamas and curlers (Mrs Dawson, she of the now-deceased son who had been a very funny fellow, came in a mudpack as if dressed for a minstrel show); they came to see what happened to their town, to see if it was indeed lying burnt and bleeding. Many of them also came to die. Carlin Street was thronged with them, a riptide of them, moving downtown through the hectic light in the sky, when Carrie came out of the Carlin Street Congregational Church, where she had been praying. She had gone in only five minutes before, after opening the gas main (it had been easy; as soon as she pictured it lying there under the street it had been easy), but it seemed like hours. She had prayed long and deeply, sometimes aloud, sometimes silently. Her heart thudded and laboured. The veins on her face and neck bulged. Her mind was filled with the huge knowledge of POWERS, and of an ABYSS. She prayed in front of the altar, kneeling in her wet and torn and bloody gown, her feet bare and dirty and bleeding from a broken bottle she had stepped on. Her breath sobbed in and out of her throat, and the church was filled with groanings and swayings and sunderings as psychic energy sprang from her. Pews fell, hymnals flew, and a silver Communion set cruised silently across the vaulted darkness of the nave to crash into the far wall. She prayed and there was no answering. No one was there – or if there was, He/It was cowering from her. God had turned His face away, and why not? This horror was as much His doing as hers. And so she left the church, left it to go home and find her momma and make destruction complete. She paused on the lower step, looking at the flocks of people streaming toward the centre of town. Animals. Let them burn, then. Let the streets be filled with the smell of their sacrifice. Let this place be called racca, ichabod, wormwood. Flex And power transformers atop lightpoles bloomed into nacreous purple light, spitting catherine-wheel sparks. High-tension wires fell into the streets in pick-up-sticks tangles and some of them ran, and that was bad for them because now the whole street was littered with wires and the stink began, the burning began. People began to scream and back away and touched the cables and went into jerky electrical dances. Some had already slumped into the street, their robes and pyjamas smouldering. Carrie turned back and looked fixedly at the church she had just left. The heavy door suddenly swung shut, as if in a hurricane wind. Carrie turned towards home. From the sworn testimony of Mrs Cora Simard, taken before The State Investigatory Board (from The White Commission Report). pp. 217-218: Q. Mrs Simard, the Board, understands that you lost your daughter on Prom Night, and we sympathise with you deeply. We will make this as brief as possible. A. Thank you. I want to help if I can, of course. Q. Were you on Carlin Street at approximately 12.12 when Carietta White came out of the First Congregational Church on that street? A. Yes. Q. Why were you there? A. My husband had to be in Boston over the weekend on business and Rhonda was at the Spring Ball. I was home alone watching TV and waiting up for her. I was watching the Friday Night Movie when the town hall whistle went off, but I didn't connect that with the dance. But then the explosion †¦ I didn't know what to do. I tried to call the police but got a busy signal after the first three numbers. I †¦ I†¦Then †¦ Q. Take your time, Mrs Simard. All the time you need. A. I was getting frantic. There was a second explosion – Teddy's Amoco station, I know now – And I decided to go downtown and see what was happening. There was a glow in the sky, an awful glow. That was when Mrs Shyres pounded on the door. Q. Mrs Georgette Shyres? A. Yes, they live around the corner. 217 Willow. That's just of Carlin Street. She. was pounding and calling: ‘Cora, are you in there? Are you in there?' I went to the door. She was in her bath-robe and slippers. Her feet looked cold. She said they had called Auburn to see if they knew anything and they told her the school was on fire. I said: ‘Oh dear God, Rhonda's at the dance.' Q. Is this when you decided to go downtown with Mrs Shyres? A. We didn't decide anything. We just went. I put on a pair of slippers – Rhonda's, I think. They had little white puffballs on them. I should have worn my shoes, but I wasn't thinking. I guess I'm not thinking now. What do you want to hear about my shoes for? Q. You tell it in your own way, Mrs Simard. A. T-Thank you. I gave Mrs Shyres some old jacket that was around, and we went. Q. Were there many people walking down Carlin street? A. I don't know. I was too upset. Maybe thirty. Maybe more. Q. What happened? A. Georgette and I were walking toward Main Street, holding hands just like two little girls walking across a meadow after dark. Georgette's teeth were clicking. I remember that. I wanted to ask her to stop clicking her teeth, but I thought it would be impolite. A block and a half from the Congo Church, I saw the door open and I thought: Someone has gone in to ask God's help. But a second later I knew that wasn't true. Q. How did you know? It would be logical to assume just what you first assumed, wouldn't it? A. I just knew. Q. Did you know the person who came out of the church? A. Yes. It was Carrie White. Q. Had you ever seen Carrie White before? A. No. She was not one of my daughter's friends. Q. Had you ever seen a picture of Carrie White? A. No. Q. And in any case, it was dark and you were a block and a half from the church. A. Yes, sir. Q. Mrs Simard, how did you know it was Carrie White? A. I just knew. Q. This knowing, Mrs Simard: was it like a light going on in your head? A. No, sir. Q. What way it A. I can't tell you. It faded away the way a dream does. An hour after you get up you can only remember you had a dream. But I knew. Q. Was there an emotional feeling that went with this knowledge? A. Yes. Horror. Q. What did you do then? A. I turned to Georgette and said: There she is. Georgette said: ‘Yes, that's her.' She started to say something else, and then the whole street was lit up by a bright glow and there were crackling noises and then the power lines started to fall into the street, some of them spitting live sparks. One of them hit a man in front of us and he b-burst into flames. Another man started to run and he stepped on one of them and his body just arched backward, as if his back had turned into elastic. And then he fell down. Other people were screaming and running, just running blindly, and more and more cables fell. They were strung all over the place like snakes. And she was glad about it. Glad! I could feel her being glad. I knew I had to keep my head. The people who were running were getting electrocuted. Georgette said: ‘Quick, Cora. Oh God, I don't want to get burned alive.' I said, ‘Stop that. We have to use our heads, Georgette, or we'll never use them again.' Something foolish like that. But she wouldn't listen. She let go of my hand and started to ran for the sidewalk. I screamed at her to stop – there was one of those heavy main cables broken off right in front of us – but she didn't listen. And she †¦ she†¦ oh, I could smell her when she started to burn. Smoke just seemed to burst out of her clothes and I thought: that's what it must be like when someone gets electrocuted. The smell was sweet like pork. Have any of you ever smelled that? Sometimes I smell it in my dreams. I stood still, watching Georgette Shyres turn black. There was a big explosion over in the West End-the gas main, I suppose – but I never even noticed it. I looked around and I was all alone. Everyone else had either run away or was burning. I saw maybe six bodies. They were like piles of old rags. One of the cables had fallen on to the porch of a house to the left, and it was catching on fire. I could hear the old-fashioned shake shingles poppin g like Corn. it seemed like I stood there a long time, telling myself to keep my head. It seemed like hours. I began to be afraid that I would faint and fall on one of the cables, or that I would panic and start to run. Like †¦ like Georgette. So then I started to walk. One step at a time. ‘Me street got even brighter, because of the burning house. I stepped over two live wires and went around a body that wasn't much more than a puddle. I-I-I had to look to see where I was going. There was a wedding ring on the body's hand, but it was all black. All black. Jesus, I was Oh dear Lord. I stepped over another one and then there were three, all at once. I just stood there looking at them. I thought if I got over those I'd be all right but †¦ I didn't dare. Do you know what I kept thinking of? That game you play when you're kids, Giant Step. A voice in my mind was saying, Cora, take one giant step over the live wires in the street. And I was thinking May P May P One of the m was still spitting a few sparks, but the other two looked dead. But you can't tell. The third rail looks dead too. So I stood there, waiting for someone to come and nobody did. The house was still burning and the flames had spread to the lawn and the trees and the hedge beside it. But no fire trucks came. Of course they didn't. The whole west side was burning up by that time. And I felt so faint. And at last I knew it was take the giant step or faint and so I took it, as big a giant step as I could, and the heel of my slipper came down not an inch from the last wire. Then I got over and went around the end of one more wire and then I started to run. And that's all I remember. When morning came I was lying on a blanket in the police station with a lot of other people. Some of them – a few-were kids in their prom get-ups and I started to ask them if they had seen Rhonda. And said †¦ they s-s-said †¦ (A short recess) Q. You are personally sure that Carrie White did this? A. Yes. Q. Thank you, Mrs Simard. A. I'd like to ask a question, if you please. Q. Of course. A. What happens if there are others like her? What happens to the world? From The Shadow Exploded (p. 15 1): By 12:45 on the morning of May 28, the situation in Chamberlain was critical. The school had burned itself out on a fairly isolated piece of ground, but the entire downtown area was ablaze. Almost all the city water in that area had been tapped, but enough was available (at low pressure) from Deighan Street water mains to save the business buildings below the intersection of Main and Oak a~. The explosion of Tony's Citgo on upper Summer Street had resulted in a ferocious fire that was not to be controlled until nearly ten o'clock that morning. There was water on Summer Street, there simply were no firemen or fire-fighting equipment to utilize it. Equipment was then on its way from Lewiston, Auburn, Lisbon and Brunswick, but nothing arrived until one o'clock. On Carlin Street, an electrical fire, caused by downed power lines, had begun. It was eventually to gut the entire north side of the street, including the bungalow where Margaret White gave birth to her daughter. On the west end of town, just below what is commonly caned Brickyard Hill, the worst disaster had taken place. The explosion of a gas main and a resulting fire that raged out of control through most of the next day. And if we look at these flash points on a municipal map (see page facing), we can pick out Carrie's route – a wandering, looping path of destruction through the town, but one with an almost certain destination: home †¦ Something toppled over in the living room, and Margaret White straightened up, cocking her head to one side. The butcher knife glittered dully in the light of the flames. The electric power had gone off sometime before, and the only fight in the house came from the fire up the street. One of the pictures fell from the wall with a thump. A moment later the Black Forest cuckoo clock fell. The mechanical bird gave a small, strangled squawk and was still. From the town the sirens whooped endlessly, but she could still hear the footsteps when they turned up the walk. The door blew open. Steps in the hall. She heard the plaster plaques in the living room (CHRIST, THE UNSEEN GUEST, WHAT WOULD JESUS DO, THE HOUR DRAWETH NIGH; IF TONIGHT BECAME JUDGMENT, WOULD YOU BE READY) explode one after the other, like plaster birds in a shooting gallery. (o i've been there and seen the harlots shimmy on wooden stages) She sat up on her stool like a very bright scholar who has gone to the head of the class, but her eyes were deranged. The living-room windows blew outward. The kitchen door dammed and Carrie walked in. Her body seemed to have become twisted, shrunken, cronelike. The prom dress was in tatters and flaps, and the pig blood had began to clot and streak. There was a smudge of grease on her forehead and both knees were scraped and raw-looking. ‘Momma,' she whispered. Her eyes were preternaturally bright, hawklike, but her mouth was trembling. If someone had been them to watch, he would have been struck by the resemblance between them. Margaret White sat on her kitchen stool, the carving knife hidden among the folds of her dress in her lap. ‘I should have killed myself when he put it in me,' she said clearly. ‘After the first time, before we were married, he promised. Never again. He said we just †¦ slipped. I believed him. I fell down and I lost the baby and that was God's judgment. I felt that the sin had been expiated. By blood. But sin never dies. Sin †¦ never †¦ dies.' Her eyes glittered. ‘Momma' ‘At first it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, belly to belly sometimes, and O, I could feel the presence of the Serpent, but we never did until.' She began to grin, and it was a hard, terrible grin. ‘And that night I could see him looking at me That Way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength and he†¦ touched me. In that place. That woman place. And I sent him out of the house. He was gone for hours, and I prayed for him. I could see him in my mind's eye, walking the midnight streets, wrestling with the devil as Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord. And when he came back, my heart was filled with thanksgiving.' She paused, grinning her dry, spitless grin into the shifting shadows of the room. ‘Momma, I don't want to hear it!' Plates began to explode in the cupboards like clay pigeons. ‘It wasn't until he came in that I smelled the whiskey on his breath. And he took me. Took me! With the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey still on him he took me †¦ and I liked it She screamed out the last words at the ceiling. ‘I liked it o all that dirty fucking and his hands on me ALL OVER ME!' ‘MOMMA!' (MOMMA!!) She broke off as if slapped and blinked at her daughter ‘I almost killed myself,' she said in a more normal tone of voice. ‘And Ralph wept and talked about atonement and I didn't and then he was dead and then I thought God had visited me with cancer; that He was turning my female parts into something as black and rotten as my sinning soul. But that would have been too easy. The Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. I see that now. When the pains began I went and got a knife – this knife-‘ she held it up ‘-and waited for you to come so I could make my sacrifice. But I was weak and backsliding. I took this knife in hand again when you were three, and I backslid again. So now the devil has come home.' She held the knife up, and her eyes fastened hypnotically on the glittering hook of its blade. Carrie took a slow, blundering step forward.

What Is the Best Way of Explaining Football Hooliganism?

What is the best way of explaining football hooliganism? â€Å"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words: it is war minus the shooting. † (Oswell, 1945) The best way to explain football hooliganism is to perceive it in the same context as war. Like war, football hooliganism has different factors that all contribute to the overall goal.Although the goal of each is initially considered as overtly different – war, to some, is demonstrated as a positive thing, especially within the social movement of futurism, while football hooliganism is, as a whole, a negative as portrayed mostly by the media – there are however, similarities among the two that have yet to be further explored. To demonstrate this I will gain further insight into, what I believe are, the similarities of war and football hooliganism. I will do this by studying and explaining the three main attributes of each, which are; Territory, masculinity, and the moral codes each social group follows.With territory I will compare how the two groups defend and protect their ‘homelands' and how they achieve a sense of pride by claiming someone else's land. Although they conduct this in different ways, I will hopefully be able to present how similar their process of achieving this are. Through the study of masculinity, I will explore the symbolic meaning that each present, in order to achieve a high status of being a ‘real man'. How they vilify their rivals is also studied, in order to make them feel less worthy or ‘manly', including how fashion and uniform play an important role.Before concluding my findings, I will explore how moral codes set internal ‘laws' within each social group, to which each must abide in their realms of fighting, focusing specifically on the rule that non-combatants or ‘civilians' are not to be ha rmed during combat, and how each group distinguishes combatants and civilians from one another. I will support my claims by using my own methodological research – in which I interviewed an anonymous football hooligan, who we will name as ‘Darren' – I will also use Anthony Kings' The post-modernity of football hooliganism (1997) journal article, T. W.Reesers Masculinities in theory: An introduction, and Michael Byers' Understanding international law and armed conflict – War Law (2005). By using the various sources, as said above, I hope to be able to support my claim that football hooliganism can be explained in the same context as war, through three important components – Territory, masculinity and moral codes – in which I have identified similarities among the two social groups. â€Å"†¦ Hooliganism's central confrontation involved the ‘taking of the ends', where fans would seek to infiltrate the opponent's terrace and assert the ir claim to the space.This ritualistic combat was hyperbolically described as war (between nations) by many fans, but rarely involved the conquest of a complete terrace. † (King, 1997) The above quote – taken from Anthony Kings' article on the post-modernity of football hooliganism – shows us that the idea of hooliganism has similarities with the concept of war. This is not only shown through my own evidence, but also by football hooligans themselves. During colonisation, the British army would claim other territories in different countries and claim them as part of Britain.They would do this by capturing towns and cities, and forcing the surrender of the national people. The ultimate aim was to protect Britain and also show the world that we were a strong, independent country, with a powerful army, that could take over other nations with ease. Today, war is conducted differently. Colonisation is a thing of the past, instead of taking over and claiming other nati ons, the British army demonstrate their presence in other countries, and set up base camps within foreign towns as their own to claim these as part of their territory.Football hooligans use a technique similar to that of the colonisation period. On a match day, hooligans will show their strength and power by attempting to claim something of the oppositions. This varies from terraces to pubs, and sometimes to streets. During my interview with ‘Darren', he supported this claim by stating, when asked for an explanation of football hooliganism, â€Å"†¦ Just taking liberties, going to other people's manors, in their pubs, taking over, calling them out, defending our territory, and taking over theirs†¦ †(Darren, personal interview, Jan 2012).Most hooligans will confirm that the method of taking ‘enemy' territory is trashing the place they have ‘captured'. This is significant to the process of claiming territory as it places a mark on the oppositions nam e, letting them and other ‘firms' know that they the ability to control, sometimes with the use of specialised stickers with the perpetrators signature (which is usually the clubs emblem and a short message). In terms of similarities with war, when the British army would claim a territory for their own, they would mark it with the union jack flag, showing that they were now ‘in charge' so to speak.As shown above, in terms of territory, we can see the similarities between war and football hooliganism through the way in which they both mark their territory and set about claiming oppositions territory. Within both social groups, soldiers and hooligans both have the belief that they are fighting for something, a higher being than themselves: for soldiers it is for Queen and country; for hooligans it is for their team and local area. They both organise, plan and prepare for the execution of their actions, both knowing the risks of their actions, and are willing to take the ri sks to fight for what they believe is the ultimate cause.According to T. W. Reeser (2010), one way in which to view masculinity is to look at it as an ideology, instead of an individualised creation. Observing masculinity within this context allows us to see various concepts of masculinity within different institutions and groups. This theory can work on many levels and can be associated with many institutions such as the army, sports and the business world. If we view the ideology of masculinity within the army, it shows us that the state needs the army to present themselves as the best they can be, an example being the army's slogan – ‘army, be the best'.The way in which soldiers are disciplined and taught how to present themselves is all part of their training in masculinity. As a soldier, the uniform is what sets you apart from the public. It is the symbolic meaning of the uniform and weapon that a soldier possesses that is important in showing others their ideology of masculinity. When we, as the public, see a male soldier, in camouflage uniform holding a gun, we instantly see what is meant to be a ‘real man'. The uniform, particularly honorary medals, shows us that the person has served his country and fought against others in battle.The uniform represents the country that the soldier is fighting for and the gun is his weapon that he uses against the opposition, to disarm and hurt them. They affirm their masculinity through organised and planned attacks, when they succeed in disarming the opposition, or a bullet that reaches its target, is a soldiers way of removing the oppositions masculinity and building on their own. Football hooligans follow the same ideology of masculinity that soldiers do. They learn from their peers how to behave and act, and have a ‘uniform' to abide by, which, like soldiers, is a symbol of their masculinity.The uniform football hooligans wear is not as much a statement of authority, but a statement of fa shion. The uniform is known as the ‘casual look', which involves wearing top brand names of polo t-shirts, jumpers, jeans and trainers, and in some cases what is known as the goggle coat, a coat which disguises your face but allows the hooligan to see through a pair of inbuilt goggles. They use this uniform to tell each other apart, a way of knowing who is there to fight and who is not. â€Å"The casual look, its a way of telling people apart, you know who is who. (Darren, personal interview, Jan 2012) Darren supports this in the above quote. The casual look is a uniform which symbolises their masculinity to others around them. As soldiers will use their guns as another sign of masculinity and to vilify their opponents, hooligans instead will use their chants and songs. The chants and songs are specifically created to vilify their rivals, and mostly speak of the opposition as being sexually perverse, diminutive phallic references and mocking their sexual performance.This is s upported by Anthony King in his article on the post-modernity of football hooliganism. â€Å"Through the support of a football team, the male fan affirms his status as a man (in the eyes of his peers and himself) and also articulates the nature of that manhood. A central practice in the re- constitution of manhood in football is the communal chanting in which fans participate. Through these songs, male fans re-affirm and re-negotiate the partially sub-conscious idea of their masculinity. † (King, 1997)In terms of masculinity within the army and football hooliganism, we can see that the similarities are, the way each uses a uniform and weapon as a symbol of their masculinity. Although the uniform and weapons are different, the way each presents themselves within their uniform and the way they use their weapon to vilify and remove their rivals masculinity is similar. It is a way in which each know who their rivals are. Which also links in with the moral codes that each social g roup abides by. Any armed conflict involves two broad categories of individuals: Combatants and non-combatants (who are also referred to as civilians). International humanitarian law protects both categories of person, though non-combatants are shield more than those who take up arms† (Byers, 2005) In the above quote, Michael Byers explains the humanitarian law that armies around the world are expected to follow. The British army abide by these and use them as a moral code as well as a law. The harming of civilians is prohibited, and only other combatants can be return fired at.As said in terms of masculinity, the army uses uniforms and weapons as a means of telling combatants and non-combatants apart. The harming of an innocent civilian can prompt an official prosecution of the soldier who open fired, unless there is reasonable evidence to claim that they believed the individual was in fact a combatant. Football hooligans also follow a strict moral code similar to that of the army. Football hooligans distinguish each other through the clothes they wear and the chants they use.It is an unspoken rule that if someone is not part of the hooligan culture then they cannot be harmed or made to participate in the battles that take place. This is shown in a quote from Darren's interview â€Å"The casual look, its a way of telling people apart, you know who is who – We don't just kick the f**k out of a random person, only people who want to have a row back. †(Darren, personal interview, Jan 2012) This sets football hooliganism apart from just random street fights. With the presence of moral codes, we can see that football hooliganism is more developed and strategically balanced then first thought.It is not simply about fighting like primitive men in the streets, but about the preparation and planning that surround it, the certainty that where you are going will not be surrounded by civilians who do not want to be part of this culture. The consequenc es of a civilian being harmed is most likely the shame that will be burdened upon you by your peers, and in some cases, ‘taught a lesson' in that you will be expected to receive punishment through violence by your peers who are ranked more superior then you.Continuing on the theme of similarities, the humanitarian laws and moral codes that both social groups follow is similar in the way that each are expected to abide by rules that prevent them from harming civilians who are not involved in their particular conflict. The consequences of their actions, should they breach this, is the prosecution of themselves through court marshals and/or violent punishment from their superiors. As presented above, we can see that war and football hooliganism have various similarities.This shows us that we can explain football hooliganism in terms of war using three attributes; Territory, masculinity and the humanitarian law/ moral codes that both must abide by. Although the ultimate goal can b e seen as directly different, it is the way in which both of these social groups plan and participate in their battles. The taking of territory and confirming their presence is similar in that both mark the territory claimed with the use of a flag or sticker.The uniform and weapon is symbolic for both, in the way it presents and confirms their masculinity, whilst causing a negative impact on their oppositions masculinity. When fighting, both will abide by the same rules that civilians are not to be harmed in any way, or face the consequences of going against these rules, which involves being persecuted by others superior than themselves. Although soldiers fighting in wars are labeled as passionate heroes, whilst football hooligans are vilified as thugs, we can notice the similarities of the two social groups when placed in the context of war.The addictive adrenaline buzz associated with each group during battle is what spurs them on, gives them the power to keep fighting, and is wha t keeps them going back for more. ‘Darren' describes this buzz as â€Å"Better than sex. † (Darren, personal interview, Jan 2012) Throughout this essay, masculinity has made a continuous appearance, in some cases it is more disguised, but still apparent. This shows us that masculinity, and proving they have an adequately sized manhood, is the real connection behind war and football hooliganism.Overall, the best way to explain football hooliganism is in the same context as war through territory, humanitarian law/ moral codes and of course, masculinity. BIBLIOGRAPHY Byers, M (2005). War Law: Understanding international law and armed conflict. London: Atlantic books. p. 9. King, A. (Dec 1997). The Postmodernity of Football Hooliganism. The British Journal of Sociology. 48 (4), p. 576-593. Orwell, G (1945). The Sporting Spirit. London: Tribune. Reeser, T. W (2010). Masculinities in theory: An introduction. London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1.