Monday, April 6, 2020
Byron Bunch finds hope with Lena by his side Essays -
Byron Bunch found hope with Lena by his side. Byron Bunch, one of the most important characters of Light in August, a novel by William Faulkner, is the hard working man, working six times per week, and then directing the choir of the rural church. He had chosen to make a monotonous life, without taking any risks until the day Lena Grove comes in Jefferson. Byron Bunch finally decides to take a risk in his life. Hightower , who knows Byron for years, does not believe him when he talks about taking a risk. For the first time since they know each other, Hightower hears Byron talk about doing something of his own and showing confidence. ?No,? Byron says. Then he moves slightly; he speaks as if he too were walking: ?I hope not. I reckon I am trying to do the right thing by my own lights.?- ?And that,? Hightower thinks, ?is the first lie he ever told me. Ever told anyone, man or woman, perhaps including himself.? He looks across the desk at the stubborn, dogged, sober face that has not yet looked at him. ?Or maybe it is not lie yet because he does not know himself that it is so.? Byron Bunch puts his self in the middle of a tunnel, with a heavy burden on his shoulders; but this time he expresses belief in himself, he knows he can make it. The instinct of helping someone else who he suddenly feels a special feeling for, appears in his heart and mind. He decides to help a pregnant woman who has come into town to find the father of her child because he feels special about her. He knows he is doing the right thing. Byron Bunch loves Lena because he is trying to make her happy by all ways, even though he has to leave his feelings aside. First, he gives her shelter and then he makes his best to help her find the father of her child. ?I come to find out when you want to see him? and I said ?See who and he said ?They may have to send a deputy with him but I can persuade Kennedy to let him come? and I said ?Let who come and he said ?Lucas Burch? and I said ?Yes? and he went away. He just stood there and he went away. The last sentence shows how Bunch does not want to make the step, but he has to; he has to talk to the sheriff, make Lena and Lucas Burch meet together. The idea of Lena being with the father of her child, the person she has done all this long way for, does not make him feel good. Byron has feelings for her; but his spiritual nobility help him leave his feelings aside and think about Lena, think about her happiness. Byron asks permission to the sheriff to let Joe Brown see his wife and the newborn baby. ?I see,? the sheriff said. ?You think the time has come to get them married.? ?I don?t know. That?s his business and hers. I reckon now is the time for that.? The way he talks to the sheriff, with short phrases, show that he is talking about a decision that he has already taken, that he had to take even though he does not like it. Byron witnesses his self reborn, recognizing his past life deficiencies, ready to start a new life with Lena by his side. ?You?ve done throwed away what I aint had in thirtyfive years.? This is what he says to Lucas Birch before they fight. Byron fights a big man that can beat him easily. He knows that but he wants to show himself that he is another person now, who can take risks and take advantage of the chances given to him. He decides to fight the man who has caused so much pain to the woman he loves. At the same time he wants to make the old Byron Bunch die, away from his soul once forever. It lasted less than two minutes. Then Byron was lying quietly among the broken and trampled undergrowth, bleeding quietly about the face, hearing the underbrush crashing on, ceasing, fading into silence. Then
Sunday, March 8, 2020
The Significance of Jordan in essays
The Significance of Jordan in essays In the book, The Great Gatsby, Jordon is a minor character but plays a significant role for Gatsby by using her to get reacquainted with Daisy. Daisy, a materialistic woman, and Gatsby were in love with each other as youths but became separated from her while he served in WWI. While he was gone, she married Tom Buchanan because of his wealth, something that Gatsby did not have at the time. In the first three chapters, we meet Jordon Baker who is a professional golf player and a best friend to Daisy Buchanan. Jordon attends a dinner at the Buchanans where she meets Nick Carraway who is a cousin to Daisy and who is also neighbors with Gatsby. During this party, they visit and learn of their common bond with Gatsby. Later that summer, Gatsby, who realizes the relationship between Jordon and Nick to Daisy, invites them to a party at his home in hopes of getting to know Nick and to devise a plan to meet Daisy. In chapter five, Gatsby asks Jordon to persuade Nick to invite Daisy to a tea party at his home. Nick agrees and calls Daisy the next day to invite her and states Dont bring Tom (Fitzgerald, 88). Daisy, not knowing that Gatsby would be there, sees his face and is embarrassed. Gatsby is embarrassed as well, but as the party progresses they become more comfortable being together again. Jordons primary purpose as a character in this book is concentrated mostly during the first few chapters. Although a minor character, she is the primary source for Gatsby to meet Nick, who in turn, brings him together with Daisy again. ...
Friday, February 21, 2020
11 Movie Reviews Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
11 Reviews - Movie Review Example This movie is just as good as the first two, and I would say that it is one of the funniest movies that I have ever watched. What makes the script so good is the interplay between Chief Inspector Lee, played by Jackie Chan, and Detective James Carter, played by Chris Rock. Some of the lines that these two actors used had me laughing nonstop. The movie begins with the introduction of the Triads, a Chinese criminal organization, and Lee and Carter pursuing an assassin at the World Criminal Court. The next scene is perhaps the best scene of the whole movie. The clues lead Carter and Lee to a martial arts studio, where a giant martial arts expert confronts them. The conversation goes back and forward between Carter and the martial arts expert, with the words ââ¬Å"youâ⬠and ââ¬Å"meâ⬠used in a confusing manner. After this, the clues lead the two of them to Paris, France. The first place they go to is a triad hideout, where Lee manages to kill a Triad assassin called Jasmine, and Carter meets a beautiful lady, Genevieve. After Carter and Lee are told that Shy Shen, the leader of the Triads, is not a person but a number of leaders, they discover that Genevieve has the list of Triad leaders tattooed onto her forehead. The action then switches to the Eiffel Tower, where Lee and Carter go to get back Soo-Yung, an old friend of Lee. Lee manages to defeat Kenji while Carter saves Soo-Yung. The movie ends with Jackie Chan and Chris Rock walking off into the distance while dancing to the hit song ââ¬Å"War.â⬠Some of the scenes in this movie are similar to the prequels, but the movie still provides plenty of entertainment. Movie Review #2 ââ¬â Avatar This movie was perhaps the coolest movie that I have ever watched. In fact, Avatar has now become the highest grossing film of all time. This is largely due to the fact that the movie was made in 3-D. The director of this movie was James Cameron, who is an Oscar award winning director for his work on the film Titanic, which was the previous highest grossing movie of all time. The movie starts off showing humans invading a foreign world, Pandora. The lead character, Jake Sully, played by Australian actor Sam Worthington, has been chosen to replace his brother on the mission to Pandora. Where it gets complicated is that Sully is a paraplegic, but this all changes when he gets to use his very own avatar, which is a creature similar to the local population but used by humans. On a mission into the woods, Sully gets separated from the rest of his crew. While he is lost, a local Naââ¬â¢vi, Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, finds him and brings him back to her people. Back at the human base, the head of the security force is convinced to let Sully build a cover with the local population in order to gain their trust. The humans have the goal of getting hold of a mineral that is more valuable than anything else. To achieve this, the local Naââ¬â¢vi population must move so that the humans can go in and use the resources. This does not happen because Sully chooses to stick with the Naââ¬â¢vi and fight the humans for control of the land. The last scene is a huge battle between the humans and the Naââ¬â¢vi, which the Naââ¬â¢vi triumph in of course. At the end, Sully is accepted into the local culture and becomes one of them. In my opinion, Avatar is the greatest movie spectacle of all time. Movie Review #3 ââ¬â Shrek The movie Shrek is one that became very successful all around the world in large part due to the quality of actors in the movie. Mike Myers (Shrek), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) all brought star power to a movie that was
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Malaria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Malaria - Essay Example In actual fact, Malaria is still the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world and more especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is an indication that the tools available for malaria control are neither adequate nor good enough for the prevention. Therefore, participating in malaria clinical trial will help in finding a permanent solution for this disease as together with other researchers we try to find curative and preventive drugs and vaccines for malaria. Additionally, by getting involved in malaria clinical trial I will be able to have a chance to propagate and advocate a malaria vaccine and make it available for routine use. Moreover, I will be able to offer my own ideas and notions about this terrible disease as well as get to know qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection purposes especially in Africa. This will help to know how endemic is this disease and also facilitate in finding a malaria vaccine which will be more efficacio us than the malaria drug which has been used from time immemorial as a malaria control tool. To be precise it is clearly known that malaria is a tropical disease and is spread by female Anopheles mosquitos which are infected by a plasmodium parasite. Therefore, this plasmodium falcipavum malaria causes millions of clinical episodes globally but mostly endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria involves diseases such as shaking chills and high fevers among others. In countries like Ghana malaria claims so many lives of children and in 2008 only there were numerous deaths of children under the age of twelve years. Malaria can leads to cerebral malaria and anemia if not well controlled (Isle, 2001). Many strategies and measures have been taken to combat malaria; rapid diagnosis, treatment, intermittent preventive treatment especially given to pregnant women, use of sulphadoxine- pyrimethamine insecticide treated nets and introduction of sprays and mosquito repellant lotions. All these have been known to reduce morbidity and mortality, but this does not mean that there are no challenges. For instance, if mosquito nets are not used effectively people will still continue to die. For example, the nets may have a hole and used badly, some of the therapies are also facing resistance in some countries. These include Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) which is facing challenges of resistance in Thailand especially in Cambodian border. Therefore, going back to research more on how to eradicate malaria is very essential. Hence my participation in a clinical trial will not be propagation for new effective and appropriate drugs but to try and convince the researchers to focus on a vaccine and not a drug. Truly, vaccine has worked effectively for so many yearsââ¬â¢ records, and history has it that the vaccine has a great ability to protect humanity from diseases. Precisely, a vaccine has helped so much in combating smallpox, fighting polio and making the measles and yellow fever very rare (Dziedizc, 2010).. Therefore, vaccine can do so much more for public health, and I have a great conviction that malaria vaccines
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Erikosonian Psychosocial Tradition And Social Identity Theory
Erikosonian Psychosocial Tradition And Social Identity Theory Several psychological theories have attempted to provide a definition of identity and an explanation of the processes that develop it. Many theorists see identity development as a means for an individual to explain the present as a bridge from the past to the future, agreeing that identity consists of both individual and social elements. This essay aims to consider the contributions and implications posed by two different associated fields of study; the Erikosonian Psychosocial tradition and Social Identity Theory. Eriksons Psycho-social method was the first identity theory to provide an explanation between our self image (psycho) and the others in the community (social). He proposed individuals must have a stable sense of core identity, as failure to do so would mean the individual may be subject to an identity crisis. This is not to say that people must never experience a conflict of interest between individual needs and social demands. In fact Erikson argued that only by the successful resolution of these normative crises is the achievement of identity possible. He went on to identify eight stages in this life-long development of identity, marked by a distinct conflict, for which successful, normative crisis resolution would result in a favourable outcome. According to Erikson, the most important conflict takes place during adolescence, the fifth psychosocial age. Here the individual re-evaluates everything that was established in childhood by enduring psychosocial moratorium. During this so cially approved period of uncertainity, the indiviual can experieent with dfferent scial roles and consquently personality, self concept and self worth, may all be altered. Psychosocial Theory is a persuasive model. It is both accessible and relevant, resulting in Erikson being highly regarded amongst psychologists. He has been described as a visionary, providing a basis for the work of James Marcia on different forms of identity. The theory is still relevant in todays modern life, due to its utility in many professional arenas [such as] clinical, theoretical and empirical (McKinney, 2001). Erikson has had a huge impact in child development, resulting in teachers, parents and counselors drawing on ideals of his to support their work. Theorists such as Mary Ainsworth, who studied attachment in infancy explained concepts similar to those of Erikson, offering credibility to his work. The approach has been useful for understanding and explaining how personality and behaviour manifest, and therefore has become a much-used tool in dealing with conflict managent and in general self-awareness. It also provides a convincing explaination for many current issues, such as bullying in school. During stage 5à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦. and current racial issues and why it can cause so much aggression and understanding of motives behind terrorism. However the theory does not go without criticism. Santrock (2004) highlights research which suggests that identity formation does not begin or end in adolescence, that the conflict is notably less dramatic than proposed, and that in fact some individuals go through their teenage years without any real problems at all. It therefore seems that erikson may have placed too much emphasis on adolescence. This maybe due to eriksons own personal experiences having an effect on his interpretation of results. His young life was fraught with problems, not least being tall and blond and living in a jewish neighbourhood, with a jewish step-family. This need for acceptance and the conflict associated with being different became important themes in his theory. à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦Ã ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦Ã ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦Ã ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦Based on field work, so reliable as in own environment; He studied combat crises in U.S. soldiers during World War II, child-rearing practices in Native American communities and soci al behavior in India. There are two basic problems with the pychosocial approach to identity. Firstly that large social group were ignored beause although Erikson believed person and social were interlinked, he treated them separately. And secondily Erikson focused on individual identities to explain how people identitfy with indivudal groups. Sit:- 700 words get down to 200! social identity theory (SIT) aims to resolve some of these problems highlighted with the pychosocial tradition, by producing a social rather than individual focus on identity, empahsising on the way we compare ourselves to others. concerned with when and why individuals identify with, and behave as part of, social groups, adopting shared attitudes. Tajfel, the founder of the theory, directly challenged the eriksons concept that group behaviour could be explained by looking at the psychology of individuals. He studied the relationships between people and proposed two separate sub-systems; Personal Identity (describing oneself as a friend or parent for example) and Social Identity (in instances such as referring to gender, race or religion). Their alternative theory suggested a distinctive level of collective psychological processes. This meant that people acted as group members as well as individuals. Their central idea was that behaviour and identity operated on a continuum based on situation, ranging from the highly individual and unique at one end (purely interpersonal), to the collective and common at the other (purely intergroup).The theorys fundamental idea is that identity is drawn from selfcatagorisation, when describing characteristics from our social group. This provides labels for ourselves, in turn provding rules for our behaviour. The category in which we place ourselves is called the ingroup. There is a sence of elitism and a tendency to exclude others; the outgroup. Tajfel research aimed to consider this discrimination between the groups, by proposing superficial differences, he split participants into inial groups and subjected the to à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã ¦.he concluded that this was sufficient enough to generate predujices. This has been demonstrated, for instance in one example where school boys were placed in groups based on preference for abstract painters such as Klee or Kandinsky. Even using this trivial basis for grouping, and despite the fact th at the school boys didnt know who was in the groups, the boys allocated more resources towards ingroup members than outgroup members. In addition, the resources were given to other individuals in a group instead of the group as a whole, so the boys were not just giving resources to themselves out of self-interest.[13] This experiment was especially interesting because it challenged other models of intergroup interaction which are based on the idea that discrimination between groups happens because there is a clear reason for it, such as a competition for resources or a conflict of interests between the groups. Sit proposes that the reason for this discrimination is because of the need to belong to a group, taht are distinctive and have a high status, it boosts self esteem by making the other group inferior however sit argues that the resistance to this prejudice can result in some individuals seeking to iprove their status by using social obility or leaving behind their soial group. Others may attept social change, by social creativietly, a redefition of the group or through social competition, actively dmenading alternative social ideas in regard to a particular group. People dont like being in the out goup; so one answer is Moving to another group, but requires social mobility to be practicable. For instance, this may be viable in the case of social class or a job, but not so much in groups based on race or gender for example. Social mobility is at the individualistic end of the social behaviour continuum suggested by social identity theory.At the other end of the continuum, group level strategies focus on direct competition. But for this to be possible, there needs to be a belief that change is genuinely possible as well as desirable. In addition, group members need to perceive the current relationships with other groups to be unjustified.Finally, if neither of the above two options are viable, members of groups wishing to change their status may decide to compare themselves using different criteria where they compare more favourably, or focus on comparisons with a different group compared to whom they fare better. People can also choose to redef ine the negative elements of their group identity, or even redefine the group identity itself. These actions are not as effective as the others described above, but do allow group members to contend in a small way with the undesirable current perception of their group. Good bits Attepts to explain prejudies and self esteem, where erikson did not. Self-categorization theory grew from Tajfel and Turners early work on social identity. It is a development of social identity theory, specifically in the part of the relationship between group behaviour and self-concept that describes the social cognitive processes that create social identity effects. The theory describes how people define themselves at a group level but also at an individual level.[4][15] It considers group and individual identities to be at different levels of self-categorization, and more distinct from each other than social identity theory does. For instance, individuals can have several different group identities (e.g. gender, occupation, or nationality) and also several different individual identities depending on context (e.g. how someone considers themself as a male or how they consider themselves compared to their colleagues at work).[16][17] This concept of a hierarchy of different identities replaced the continuum in social identity theory, and allowed an individual an unlimited range of identities based on context.[18] The salience of a particular group identity is based on how accessible a categorization is to an individual, and how well it fits the social context (e.g. bearing in mind what the individual wants to achieve with their behaviour, or what they did last time they were in the situation). For instance, when discussing political issues in a conversation, nationality may become more salient.[19] Bad triviualise issues such as diability Ethical ? Labtest unreliable? Can results be applied to real life stuations. Some criritces cos it trear groups as indivudals (see bx on pg 66) Conclusion:- Although Eriksons theory of identity development is widely cited, other theories provide important knowledge about identity and its development. However Eriksons work is as relevant today as when he first outlined his original theory, in fact given the modern pressures on society, family and relationships and the quest for personal development and fulfilment his ideas are probably more relevant now than ever. Erikson was keen to improve the way children and young people are taught and nurtured, and it would be appropriate for his ideas to be more widely known and used in day-to-day life, beyond the clinical and counselling professions. Eriksons psychosocial theory is. As with any concept there are critics, but generally Eriksons theory is considered fundamentally significant. Erikson was a psychoanalyst and also a humanitarian. So his theory is useful far beyond psychoanalysis its useful for any application involving personal awareness and development of oneself or others. Social learning theories expand the constructs of self concept and self worth as the basis of self description in late childhood. Cognitive development theory describes the age-related processes leading to a childs limitation before adolescence and competence during adolescence for establishing identity. Researchers investigating Eriksons theory of identity development have provided important modifications to the theory.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Capital Punishment - The View of International and National Courts :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics
Capital Punishment and International and National Courts à Around the world we travel in this paper, which reviews the attitude of courts worldwide regarding the death penalty. à By way of international courts, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), in a judgement which may have far-reaching consequences on death penalty cases in the English-speaking Caribbean, commuted the death sentences of six convicted prisoners in Jamaica on 12 September. The JCPC which serves as the final appeal court for English-speaking Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Bahamas, ruled that it is unlawful to execute prisoners whose appeals are pending before international bodies such as the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee. à The JCPC also ruled that the Jamaican Privy Council (Mercy Committee) when considering whether to exercise the prerogative of mercy, must provide prisoners with an effective and adequate opportunity to participate in the mercy process, including notification of the date on which the Mercy Committee will consider the case and the opportunity to make informed representations to the Committee and to challenge any inaccurate information before it. This judgement overrules previous decisions of the JCPC and other Caribbean courts, including the 1996 decision from the Bahamas, in which the JCPC had held that a condemned prisoner had no rights before the Mercy Committee. à The International Court of Justice (ICJ) held public hearings in the LaGrand case (Germany v the USA) from 13 - 17 November in The Hague. For the first time in its history, the ICJ has been asked to determine what remedies are required under international law when arrested foreign nationals are not informed of their consular rights and are then sentenced to death. à German nationals Karl and Walter LaGrand were sentenced to death in Arizona, USA, for killing a bank manager during a robbery in 1982. Although the local authorities were aware of their nationality, the two brothers were arrested, tried and sentenced to death without being advised of their right to consular notification and assistance, as required under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Germany maintains that the treaty violation contributed to the death sentences by preventing consular assistance in the gathering of mitigating evidence for presentation at the sentencing stage of the trial. German consular officers only became aware of the case 10 years after the trial when they were contacted by the LaGrands, who had finally learned of their right to consular assistance, not from the Arizona authorities but from other prison inmates.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Whistle Blowing
A whistleblower is someone that raises a concern about a wrongdoing that is happening in their company or organization. There are many things that the whistleblower can reveal such as the breaking of laws, exposing fraud, corruption, or health and safety violations. These allegations can expressed to the people that run the company or organization and they can be expressed to the outside world such as the media or law enforcement. The whistleblower normally faces reprisal from their company, related organizations, or sometimes from the law.Whistle blowing happens when people get caught between business and social responsibility. They have to decide what is best for the business and what is best for the world. In the Insider Big tobacco denies that nicotine is an addictive drug. Jeff Wigand is a tobacco executive and has to decide whether or not give an interview with 60 minutes about cigarettes and if nicotine is and addictive drug or not. Jeff signed a confidentiality agreement with his company saying that he will not disclose any information about nicotine.Even though he is fired and receives death threats, Jeff decides to give the interview and whistle blow on his company by exposing the facts about nicotine that his company was hiding. There are three elements in whistle blowing and when these elements are combined they make whistle blowing very bitter and distaste full. They are dissent, accusation, and breach of loyalty. Dissent is a disagreement with a superior or the majority which can be hard to do in a work environment.Whistle blowingââ¬â¢s dissent is shedding light on a risk and assigning responsibility for the risk. The whistleblower also accuses someone of who is often higher on the corporate ladder than him. When he accuses this person it is like he calls that person a foul and that gets the strongest reaction from that person and they try to defend themselves. The whistleblower is calling out his own colleagues and this is seen as a breach of loyalty because he has certain obligations to his colleagues and this loyalty is put against the public interest.There are many different views on when it is appropriate to whistle blow. Michael McFarland uses a study by Simon, Powers, and Gunneman that there are four factors that must be present in order to morally require someone to go and help another person. They are that there is a critical need for the help, is within the ââ¬Å"network of social relationsâ⬠which means a person duty to family, friends and so on, the ability to help without damage to self, and the lack of other sources of help.McFarland states suggests that engineers should be held to a higher standard of social responsibility than ordinary individuals but the responsibility should be dispersed among all of the members of the engineering society instead of just an individual engineer. He uses the example of Kitty Genovese. Kitty was murdered and many people in her apartment building either watched or list ened and did nothing. It has been argued that had the neighbors banned together they could have prevented the murder. McFarland uses this example to show that when no other sources of help are available that engineers should take responsibility by banding together.McFarland encourages engineers to change their thinking of individual responsibility to the responsibility of the engineering profession on a broader level. Richard De George states that loyalty to the company is the most important thing for a person to have. He gives three requirements for a person to have permissibility to whistle blow which are as follows. If harm to the public will be serous and considerable, if the person informs their superiors of the problem and nothing is done, and if the person informs everyone above them on the cooperate ladder and nothing is done.George also gives requirements for when whistle blowing is a moral obligation of a person. They include the three previously stated requirements and th at the person has documentation about their concern and that there is strong evidence that making their concerns know to the public will stop the problem. This seems like good criteria for a person to whistle blow but this approach can take a long time to complete because sometimes informing all the people above the whistleblower on the cooperate ladder can be an extensive process. This caused the Challenger disaster.The shuttle that was launched prior to the challenger had many time because of weather and mechanical factors. NASA did not want delay the launch of the Challenger so the launch pad could be refurbished on time and so it would launch at the same time as President Reagan gave his State of the Union address. The Challenger uses solid rocket boosters with solid fuel to overcome Earthââ¬â¢s gravity. These boosters are assembled with four segments that are held together by two O rings. The O rings keep hot gas from escaping from the motor.Heat putty is used to separate th e rubber rings and the hot gases. Engineers discover that the O rings may not be able to keep the boosters sealed at temperatures lower than 40o F and they brought this up to their superiors. The superiors disagreed and thought that the O rings would hold regardless of the temperature. The night before the launch the temperature dropped greatly below the safety limits of the O rings. Ice formed on the pad and some fell on a booster cooling it to 28o F causing the seal to fail. The shuttle was launched and fifty nine seconds later the shuttle exploded.Had the engineers whistle blowed instead of bringing up the problem all of their superiors then the shuttle may have not launched. While they did not have enough low temperature data to prove that it was dangerous to launch, they also did not have enough data to prove that it was safe enough to launch. Had they gone to the media there may have been enough public support against the launch for NASA to delay it. We will never know. What w e do know is that informing all of the engineerââ¬â¢s superiors took too long and the engineers did not have enough time to try and find another way to stop the shuttle launch.The National Society of Professional Engineersââ¬â¢ Code of Ethics for engineers has six fundamental cannons that state that for engineers to fulfill their professional duties they must, hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, perform services only in areas of their competence, issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner, act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, avoid deceptive acts, and conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.The first principle states that an engineer has the duty to the publicââ¬â¢s safety, health and welfare before a duty to a client or employer. This keeps an engineer protected in the event of whistle blowing. Some c odes even go as far as disciplining or revoking the engineerââ¬â¢s license if the engineer fails to report something that the engineer knew was not in the publicââ¬â¢s best interest.Having this principle in the Code of Ethics has help justify whistle blowing by engineers and has the courts often side with engineer, overruling confidentiality agreements and duties to employers that in the past would have prevented the engineer from speaking out. I believe that whistle blowing is a necessary part of being an engineer. It gives the engineer some power over the company or organization that has hired them.If the company fears that the engineer may go and tell the public things that the company does that are harmful to the public, the company will try to avoid doing things that are harmful to the public. While whistle blowing is often times distasteful and hard to do, it is often a necessity. There are companies in the world that only care about making a profit and do not worry abou t the publicââ¬â¢s health.These companies need the help of engineers to design their projects which gives the engineers insight that the public will not have. While the engineers have loyalty to the company that they work for, it is also the engineersââ¬â¢ duty to the public to make sure that the company acts in the publicââ¬â¢s best interest. And if the engineers can not convince the company that what they are doing is wrong, then it is time to bring the act to the publicââ¬â¢s attention. Whistle Blowing A whistleblower is someone that raises a concern about a wrongdoing that is happening in their company or organization. There are many things that the whistleblower can reveal such as the breaking of laws, exposing fraud, corruption, or health and safety violations. These allegations can expressed to the people that run the company or organization and they can be expressed to the outside world such as the media or law enforcement. The whistleblower normally faces reprisal from their company, related organizations, or sometimes from the law.Whistle blowing happens when people get caught between business and social responsibility. They have to decide what is best for the business and what is best for the world. In the Insider Big tobacco denies that nicotine is an addictive drug. Jeff Wigand is a tobacco executive and has to decide whether or not give an interview with 60 minutes about cigarettes and if nicotine is and addictive drug or not. Jeff signed a confidentiality agreement with his company saying that he will not disclose any information about nicotine.Even though he is fired and receives death threats, Jeff decides to give the interview and whistle blow on his company by exposing the facts about nicotine that his company was hiding. There are three elements in whistle blowing and when these elements are combined they make whistle blowing very bitter and distaste full. They are dissent, accusation, and breach of loyalty. Dissent is a disagreement with a superior or the majority which can be hard to do in a work environment.Whistle blowingââ¬â¢s dissent is shedding light on a risk and assigning responsibility for the risk. The whistleblower also accuses someone of who is often higher on the corporate ladder than him. When he accuses this person it is like he calls that person a foul and that gets the strongest reaction from that person and they try to defend themselves. The whistleblower is calling out his own colleagues and this is seen as a breach of loyalty because he has certain obligations to his colleagues and this loyalty is put against the public interest.There are many different views on when it is appropriate to whistle blow. Michael McFarland uses a study by Simon, Powers, and Gunneman that there are four factors that must be present in order to morally require someone to go and help another person. They are that there is a critical need for the help, is within the ââ¬Å"network of social relationsâ⬠which means a person duty to family, friends and so on, the ability to help without damage to self, and the lack of other sources of help.McFarland states suggests that engineers should be held to a higher standard of social responsibility than ordinary individuals but the responsibility should be dispersed among all of the members of the engineering society instead of just an individual engineer. He uses the example of Kitty Genovese. Kitty was murdered and many people in her apartment building either watched or list ened and did nothing. It has been argued that had the neighbors banned together they could have prevented the murder. McFarland uses this example to show that when no other sources of help are available that engineers should take responsibility by banding together.McFarland encourages engineers to change their thinking of individual responsibility to the responsibility of the engineering profession on a broader level. Richard De George states that loyalty to the company is the most important thing for a person to have. He gives three requirements for a person to have permissibility to whistle blow which are as follows. If harm to the public will be serous and considerable, if the person informs their superiors of the problem and nothing is done, and if the person informs everyone above them on the cooperate ladder and nothing is done.George also gives requirements for when whistle blowing is a moral obligation of a person. They include the three previously stated requirements and th at the person has documentation about their concern and that there is strong evidence that making their concerns know to the public will stop the problem. This seems like good criteria for a person to whistle blow but this approach can take a long time to complete because sometimes informing all the people above the whistleblower on the cooperate ladder can be an extensive process. This caused the Challenger disaster.The shuttle that was launched prior to the challenger had many time because of weather and mechanical factors. NASA did not want delay the launch of the Challenger so the launch pad could be refurbished on time and so it would launch at the same time as President Reagan gave his State of the Union address. The Challenger uses solid rocket boosters with solid fuel to overcome Earthââ¬â¢s gravity. These boosters are assembled with four segments that are held together by two O rings. The O rings keep hot gas from escaping from the motor.Heat putty is used to separate th e rubber rings and the hot gases. Engineers discover that the O rings may not be able to keep the boosters sealed at temperatures lower than 40o F and they brought this up to their superiors. The superiors disagreed and thought that the O rings would hold regardless of the temperature. The night before the launch the temperature dropped greatly below the safety limits of the O rings. Ice formed on the pad and some fell on a booster cooling it to 28o F causing the seal to fail. The shuttle was launched and fifty nine seconds later the shuttle exploded.Had the engineers whistle blowed instead of bringing up the problem all of their superiors then the shuttle may have not launched. While they did not have enough low temperature data to prove that it was dangerous to launch, they also did not have enough data to prove that it was safe enough to launch. Had they gone to the media there may have been enough public support against the launch for NASA to delay it. We will never know. What w e do know is that informing all of the engineerââ¬â¢s superiors took too long and the engineers did not have enough time to try and find another way to stop the shuttle launch.The National Society of Professional Engineersââ¬â¢ Code of Ethics for engineers has six fundamental cannons that state that for engineers to fulfill their professional duties they must, hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, perform services only in areas of their competence, issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner, act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, avoid deceptive acts, and conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.The first principle states that an engineer has the duty to the publicââ¬â¢s safety, health and welfare before a duty to a client or employer. This keeps an engineer protected in the event of whistle blowing. Some c odes even go as far as disciplining or revoking the engineerââ¬â¢s license if the engineer fails to report something that the engineer knew was not in the publicââ¬â¢s best interest.Having this principle in the Code of Ethics has help justify whistle blowing by engineers and has the courts often side with engineer, overruling confidentiality agreements and duties to employers that in the past would have prevented the engineer from speaking out. I believe that whistle blowing is a necessary part of being an engineer. It gives the engineer some power over the company or organization that has hired them.If the company fears that the engineer may go and tell the public things that the company does that are harmful to the public, the company will try to avoid doing things that are harmful to the public. While whistle blowing is often times distasteful and hard to do, it is often a necessity. There are companies in the world that only care about making a profit and do not worry abou t the publicââ¬â¢s health.These companies need the help of engineers to design their projects which gives the engineers insight that the public will not have. While the engineers have loyalty to the company that they work for, it is also the engineersââ¬â¢ duty to the public to make sure that the company acts in the publicââ¬â¢s best interest. And if the engineers can not convince the company that what they are doing is wrong, then it is time to bring the act to the publicââ¬â¢s attention.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)