Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Drunk Driving Should Be Imprisoned On The First Offense

Many loved ones are lost each year due to drivers under the influence of alcohol. The biggest cause of the deaths in the United States is Drunk Driving. Drunk Driving is such a big issue that it has an effect on all age groups. The majority of the cases reported are from the age groups 20-26. This was the most common group involved with drinking and driving. Studies show that the DUI rate dropped from 2010 to 2013, now it s back up again at the same rate from before. The government has taken many precautions due to all the DUI’s yearly, by making ignition installments legal to DUI users. This system has helped the United States save many lives by not letting the driver start their car without having a BAC level of .00. Even though some†¦show more content†¦If you think of the amount of people that is, it s horrifying. I have seen DUI arrests and deaths in my hometown, it s crazy to think that people would go out and liquor themselves up and end up driving into head on traffic or crashes into a random field without any knowledge of it. There are many reasons why I think they should imprison Drunk Drivers on their first offense, but there is also another side that will argue against me. Many will agree that it is logical to imprison drunk drivers, but it also depends on how much they have been drinking and how intoxicated they really are. Alcohol is a substance that can change your ways of thinking and the way you function. You can only imagine the way someone would drive while intoxicated and behind the wheel. Many deaths are recorded each year due to the â€Å"devil in the bottle†, These numbers have been raised and lowered throughout the years according to my research. I took a pol l at school and recorded the information on what the student body had to think about my topic. About 70% of the students I asked said that drunk drivers should be imprisoned on their first offense because â€Å"they can cause total harm and can ruin people s lives.† said Nestor Brenes, a former student here at Chowchilla Union High School. The other 30% said that they should NOT be imprisoned because they said â€Å" it depends onShow MoreRelatedDrunk Drivers Essay1097 Words   |  5 PagesDriving a vehicle is a huge responsibility, and can be dangerous for anyone who is careless on the road. That danger increases as drivers attempt to drive either intoxicated or drunk. Blood alcohol concentration, also known as BAC, is the amount of alcohol in the blood of one’s system, and is used as a measure of degree of intoxication in an individual (answers.com). In the United States it is illegal per se, to drive with a BAC of .08 for all drivers who are 21 and older (nhtsa.go v). As the bloodRead MoreHow Does the Bottle Taste in Prison? Essay769 Words   |  4 Pagestwenty-seven people die as a result of drunk driving which equates to approximately 10,000 people a year. Driving under the influence is a crime when a person’s blood level of alcohol exceeds the legal limit of 0.08%. Standard penalties against first time offenders include: having their driver’s licenses revoked and paying a fine ranging from $500-$2,000. All drunk drivers should be imprisoned for eight or more months because they are likely to repeat the offense, they cause most automobile fatalities/injuriesRead MoreEssay about Drunk Drivers Should Be Imprisoned on the First Offense758 Words   |  4 PagesDrunk Drivers Should Be Imprisoned On The First Offense Drunk Drivers accounted for 32% of all traffic fatalities last year, which amounts to someone being killed every 45 minutes by a drunk driver. The penalties for most states is just temporary suspension of driver’s licenses for up to 1 year, and to only pay associated fines accessed by the court. Usually, drunken driving offenders are back on the road driving within a year, and with the assistance of a good attorney with weeks. AlthoughRead MoreSobriety Court Is More Appealing Than Jail Essay1542 Words   |  7 PagesSobriety Court is available for those who have felonies or convictions of drunk driving offenses to receive a driver s license with certain restrictions. This is one of the choices a judge in the state of Michigan may sentence someone with a DUI offense. An example of this would be if a mother of two was convicted of drinking and driving, she could either spend five years in jail or take two years of sobriety court, where the mother could live at home with her family, go to work, and drive (withRead MoreEssay about Crime876 Words   |  4 Pagespunishable by law, usually considered an evil act. Crime refers to many types of misconduct forbidden by law. Crimes include such things as murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, possession or dealing of illegal drugs, being nude in public , drunk driving, and bank robbery. Crime is an act that has been timeless and has been committed practically since the start of time. For example, ever since Cain killed his brother Abel (B.C.), people being charged with witchcraft in the 1600’s, prostitutionRead MoreLegal Consequences That Can Be Faced By Bolton Co1988 Words   |  8 Pagesencounter and provide aprotective measure. If the Health and Safety Law is not followed and there is a breach which is the case in the given scenario then it comes under the criminal offense that punishable by either fine or the director of the organization could be imprisoned (MacIntyre 2014). In the given scenario where the offense is a casualty, the fine against Bolton Co can be anything ranging from 100,000 pounds to 1 million pounds. An organization that is found guilty of breaching the health andRead MoreWhen I Read That The United States Has A â€Å"Drug Problem†,1060 Words   |  5 Pagesthe United States has a â€Å"drug problem†, I immediately thought of the obvious culprits like heroin or cocaine. What most people fail to realize, however, is that substances like alcohol and nicotine are considered to be drugs as well. Throughout my first year of college I have gotten to know more about drug abuse than I ever knew before. I realized that the way in which most young people cope with disorders like depression or anxiety is through substance abuse. While some people look at this as a helpfulRead MoreRunning Head : Legalize Marijuana1528 Words   |  7 PagesRunning Head: Legalize Marijuana Pro-Legalization of Marijuana in California Mirna Abujudeh CSUSB Mary Dolan PSYCH 105 T/R Intaking Marijuana for Medical Purposes Should be Legal for the Sick and Ill in California Marijuana has been achieving euphoria for humans since ancient times; the use spread from China to India and then to North Africa and Europe as early as A.D. 500. Cannabis is said to contain over 400 different chemicals, the main ingredient that impinge the mind is THC. TheRead MoreDrug Addiction And Its Effects On The Brain4200 Words   |  17 Pagescombined with the rise of crack cocaine in the early 1980s, minor drug offenders were filling the United States prison system at a rapid rate. From 1980 to 1990, the U.S. prison population doubled while, at the same time, the proportion of those imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes grew from 7.5 percent to 24 percent; over a 300% increase (D Amico, 2013). In order to be proactive in rehabilitating an offender with a substance addiction, many aspects of their problem needs to be addressed. AccordingRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?2147 Words   |  9 PagesAll Drugs Should be Legalized in the US Over the past twenty years we have made a tremendous amount of changes in terms of what should be considered legal and illegal substances. For example, we can focus in on one specific drug that has become popular in controversial debates recently, marijuana. Until this point, marijuana was considered illegal. Recently, a handful of states have made the decision to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. To date there has been

Monday, December 23, 2019

Why A Business Market Is It s Name Value Or Their Customers

What is more important to companies is it their name value or their customers? This question is what is going to be answered and all your curiosity will be exchanged to support to one of the two sides. This week s reading consisted of two articles that have different views, but at the same time are written in two different centuries so it is understandable that their views are completely different, a lot of things change in the world of business. I will summarize both articles and then inform you on their main view and then answer the question myself on where a business market stands. I will start with summarizing the first article, this author of this article is named Levitt.T. and it is called â€Å"Marketing Myopia†. He starts with his main claim early in the article and this claim would be that for a company to grow then the company indeed depends on its customers. If a company is not growing then it is simply due to false management and the manager is at fault. Growth of a company also comes with two other factors that are not particularly as big as customers, those two factors are from population and competition. Due to the correlation that competition has with population they both go hand-in-hand. It also states that companies believe that customers / society is a dependent variable in which this is false because they argue that customers are independent variables and that the market follows the customers wants and needs and not vice-versa. This view for businesses hadShow MoreRelatedGlobal Marketing : Global Brand, Indian Brands, Product, Branding S trategies Essay1512 Words   |  7 Pagesthose of another. Brand Building process is a value addition technique which projects the image of the product, the company and the country at large. Branding is more powerful than it is normally perceived and those companies which realized this have capitalized by building a strong Global Brand. 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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Social Responsibility, Consumerism, and the Marketing Concept Free Essays

string(83) " consideration of the relationship between their own needs and product attributes\." SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, CONSUMERISM, AND THE MARKETING CONCEPT Robert D. Winsor, Loyola Marymount University ABSTRACT This paper compares the often-criticized â€Å"selling orientation† or â€Å"selling concept† with the commonly-praised â€Å"societal marketing concept â€Å"from the perspectives of consumer rationality and persuasibility. It is suggested that both orientations view consumers as relatively irrational and as easily prone to manipulation by marketers. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Responsibility, Consumerism, and the Marketing Concept or any similar topic only for you Order Now The implications of this similarity are explored from the perspectives of consumerism and social responsibility. INTRODUCTION Critics of marketing have consistently attacked the discipline for discounting consumers’ intelligence and capacity for rational choice and for deliberately confounding consumers in their efforts to make rational, informed, unbiased, and free economic choices. At the same time, societal trends have pushed U. S. businesses in the direction of increasing concern for social issues and attention to long-run consumer welfare. The aforementioned criticisms and pressures for increasing social responsibility are largely driven by the same social paradigms and constituents. Yet, it is noteworthy that the ultimate result of an expanded social responsibility of business is the concomitant diminishment of free consumer choice. Moreover, this obstruction of consumer discretion is the inevitable consequence of presumptions of consumer irrationality. Thus, while groups such as consumerists have often criticized marketers explicitly for rejecting notions of consumer rationality, these same groups and sentiments have forcefully promoted the social responsibility of business and the societal marketing concept as advancements in business thought and practice. As a result, contradictions can be seen to exist within the consumerist agenda, and are apparent (but unacknowledged) in the â€Å"societal marketing concept† and calls for increasing the responsibility of business toward social issues and concerns. The goal of this paper is to expose these contradictions and to elaborate upon their implications for business and society in general. THE EVOLUTION OF THE MARKETING CONCEPT In January of 1960, the marketing discipline entered a new age. In this year, we were presented with no ground-breaking theory, no pioneering methodology, no brilliant adaptation of another discipline’s construct, and no monumental grant. We were, however, given something we would come to treasure much more highly than any of these. We were provided a raison d’etre and a philosophical foundation. It was on this date that the Journal of Marketing published an article by Robert Keith (1960) entitled â€Å"The Marketing Revolution. And, since its publication, marketers have been able to feel justified in believing that their efforts were not only indispensable, but that they have been instrumental in bringing about sweeping improvements in the evolution of business practice. Although the revolution described by Keith has been tamed to become the â€Å"evolution† of the marketing concept, and the generalizablity of the evolution it described has been questioned by some (e. g. Fullerton, 1988), the transformation in American busi ness described by Keith’s model has nonetheless served as a source of explanation and justification for marketing academicians. The â€Å"post-evolution† marketers have been lent a degree of dignity and a sense of purpose which was conspicuously lacking before. Prior to this date, marketers were perceived to be at best superfluous, and at worst dishonest or unscrupulous. Not that the average citizen considers marketing in any different light today, but the belief in an evolution of the marketing concept has allowed the academic marketing community a certain degree of self-respect. In his article, Keith described four â€Å"eras† or periods of thought and practice through which his organization, The Pillsbury Company, progressed. Keith believed that these eras were characteristic of most businesses which were contemporaries of Pillsbury, and thus speculated that an overall movement was in evidence. Since the publication of Keith’s article, other writers have modified, refined, and extended the basic thesis advancing this evolutionary process: The most noteworthy and well-known of these descriptions is that of Philip Kotler. Kotler describes five alternative concepts or philosophies through which most businesses have evolved. Although any given business can operate under any of the philosophies, the underlying precept of the evolution thesis is that these philosophies form a hierarchy, with later philosophies being superior to those of earlier eras (Keith, 1960; Kotler, 1994). The implication is that to move from a lower level (earlier) philosophy to that on a higher level (later) is not only insightful, but also good business. The first eras or business philosophies are termed the â€Å"product† and the â€Å"production† concepts. The product concept emphasizes product quality and/or performance, and assumes that at least some consumers are knowledgeable enough to recognize and respect superior attributes in these areas. The production concept focuses upon systems for producing large volumes of products in an effort to drive down costs by exploiting economies of scale. This philosophy is based upon the assumption that most consumers not only recognize, but prefer high value (benefits – price) offerings and are knowledgeable and rational in selecting among alternative products. A later era is known as the selling concept, and is based upon the premise that consumers are relatively uninformed regarding product attributes, or base their selection upon fashion or other â€Å"non-rational† criteria. Moreover, this orientation assumes that consumers are easily influenced. As a result, organizations employing the selling concept typically resort to aggressive selling and promotional efforts, with the goal of seducing or coercing customers into purchasing the product. A considerably higher plane of enlightenment is represented by the marketing concept era. The marketing concept is considered to be a quantum leap up the evolutionary hierarchy, and continues to be embraced by a great number of marketing scholars and businesses. The marketing concept â€Å"holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists in determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors† (Kotler, 1994, p. 18; 1977a). The motto of the marketing concept is â€Å"find a need and fill it,† and its credo is â€Å"The Customer is King. Like the product and production concepts, but unlike the selling concept, the marketing concept is founded upon the assumption that consumers are knowledgeable, intelligent, and rational, and base their product purchases upon a careful consideration of the relationship between their own needs and product attributes. You read "Social Responsibility, Consumerism, and the Marketing Concept" in category "Essay examples" As a resul t, the fundamental premise of the marketing concept becomes a focus on the consumer as the pivotal point for all business activity (Barksdale and Darden, 1971). The thinking underlying the marketing concept was espoused as early as the 1940’s and 1950’s (Samli, Palda, and Barker, 1987; Bell and Emory, 1971). In 1958 the term â€Å"marketing concept† was coined to describe the philosophy behind this approach (see McKitterick, 1958), and â€Å"by 1965 practically all introductory marketing texts included some discussion of the ‘new’ marketing concept† (Bell Emory, 197 1). The reason that the marketing concept was considered a major breakthrough in business philosophy is that it represented the antithesis of the product, production, and selling concepts. Rather than taking an existing product and endeavoring to modify demand for it by adding features, reducing price, or varying promotional technique, the marketing concept holds that businesses should first determine the existing needs in the marketplace and then design and produce a product to satisfy this need. In this sense the marketing concept is driven by the needs of the marketplace, rather than the existing abilities of the firm. The fifth, and supposedly highest stage of evolution in marketing philosophies is what Kotler terms the societal marketing concept. In each of his writings referencing the marketing concept, Kotler (1972, 1977b, 1994) clearly states his belief that the societal marketing concept embodies a higher and more enlightened plane of marketing thought and practice, and suggests that this new concept represents an attempt to harmonize the goals of business to the occasionally conflicting goals of society. As such, it postulates that the â€Å"the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and society’s well-being (Kotler, 1994, p. 29). It should be noted that the societal marketing concept is founded upon one dominant and critical proposition. This is the assumption that â€Å"consumers’ wants do not always coincide with their long-run interests or society’s long-run interests,† and that, given this, marketers should place the â€Å"emphasis on ‘long-run consumer and societal well being† (Kotler, 1977b). As a result, the societal marketing concept represents an endorsement and justification for the social responsibility of business in contemporary society, and a refutation of Milton Friedman’s infamous assertion that â€Å"the social responsibility of business is to make a profit† (Friedman, 1962). THE CONSUMERISM MOVEMENT AS THE CATALYST FOR THE SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT The latest consumerism movement is a cause that has been accumulating momentum for over 30 years in the U. S. , and its disciples assert that all consumers have an inherent right to products which are: safe in use (and even misuse), effective for the use designed, economical, reliable, honestly labeled and advertised, and benign in their impacts upon the environment. Moreover, consumerists have been very proactive in seeing that these â€Å"rights† are guaranteed to individual consumers, either by the firms selling the products, or by the government of this country. Adherents of consumerism tend to believe that businesses are so overwhelmingly motivated by the desire to make a profit that they commonly compromise the quality of the product offerings, thereby jeopardizing the safety of consumers. Consumerists cite examples of this â€Å"greed,† such as the Beech-Nut case involving the sale over 10 years of millions of cases of â€Å"apple juice† which was in reality only sweetened, flavored water (Business Week, 1988). The fact that such a large number and variety of these cases exist and continue to be exposed on a regular basis lends a great deal of credibility to the consumerism movement and its underlying assumptions. In explaining the rise of consumerism, Peter Drucker blamed the marketers for failing their consumers and publics in using the marketing concept: We have asked ourselves where in the marketing concept consumerism fits or belongs. I have come to the conclusion that, so far, the only way one can really define it within the total marketing concept is as the shame of the total marketing concept. It is essentially a mark of failure of the concept†¦ (Drucker, 1969) This quote is now famous to marketing practitioners, scholars, and critics alike, and the legitimacy of Drucker’s view is generally conceded. In the same year that Drucker made this accusation, Business Week (1969) also asserted that â€Å"In the very broadest sense, consumerism can be defined as the bankruptcy of what the business schools have been calling the ‘marketing concept. â€Å"‘ These condemnations of the marketing concept reflected a general assumption within both the business and academic spheres regarding the implications of consumerism’s growing popularity. A substantial portion of scholars and managers surveyed in 1971, for example, believed that the rise in consumerism was a direct reflection of the inadequacy of the marketing concept (Barksdale and Darden, 1971). As the presumed response to the failure of the marketing concept, then, the consumerist movement became the foundation for â€Å"a revised marketing concept† which Kotler (1972) proposed as the successor to the â€Å"failed† marketing concept. As in earlier stages of the marketing philosophy evolution, the â€Å"societal marketing concept† was ostensibly constructed upon the ruins of its immediate predecessor. Since the most recent consumerist movement in the U. S. served as the catalyst for today’s conceptualization and implementation of the societal marketing concept, it would seem important to understand the modern origins of this movement. ORIGINS OF THE MODERN CONSUMERISM MOVEMENT Writing in 1987, the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide described one car as â€Å"perhaps the most sophisticated (certainly one of the most ambitious) cars ever to come from Detroit† (Langworth and Robson, 1987, p. 51). These authors went on to proclaim that these were â€Å"the kind of cars we should have had in the 1970’s, and didn’t. The car was the Chevrolet Corvair of the 1960’s, and its conspicuous absence in the 1970’s was the direct result of what many consider to be both consumerism’s explosive postwar debut and also its finest hour. Indeed, the tomb of the Corvair became the foundation of consumerism as we know it today. While business historianâ€℠¢s (e. g. , Halberstam, 1986) are eager to criticize Detroit’s apparent indifference and ineptitude regarding the 1970’s invasion of small, economical automobiles from foreign countries and the oil crisis which precipitated this invasion, this blame has been clearly misplaced and undeserved. In 1959, General Motors, acknowledging an existing need in the marketplace for a small, inexpensive, sporty, and fuel-efficient automobile, designed and marketed a vehicle to fill this need. This automobile, the Corvair, was indeed revolutionary in many respects, having four-wheel independent suspension, a rear-mounted air-cooled six-cylinder engine, the option of turbo-charging (a first), and an exhaust system design which would be used on a majority of automobiles for years to come. Both the Corvair and its functional, but considerably more primitive predecessor, the Volkswagen Beetle, were designed, built, and marketed with the highest regard for the marketing concept–offering lower-income consumers the opportunity to own an economical, reliable, and fun-todrive automobile. Both cars were strong sellers, and appeared to satisfy a number of preexisting needs in the marketplace. In 1960, Consumer Reports praised the Volkswagen for its good workmanship, and handling and roadability which were â€Å"well ahead of the U. S. average†. Additionally, about the worst thing that Consumer Reports could find to say about the Corvair was a remark about its â€Å"unimpressive trim quality† (cf. Abernathy, Clark, and Kantrow, 1983). Unfortunately for many consumers, Ralph Nader would use these cars as a catapult for his career, and in so doing, would become synonymous with the consumerism movement. In 1965 he wrote a book entitled Unsafe at Any Speed, in which he criticized General Motors as being irresponsible, greedy, and unconcerned for the public’s safety. Nader used the Corvair as the book’s primary example, developing an elaborate, scathing, but also relatively misplaced criticism of the Corvair. Due to the negative publicity which the book generated, the book dealt a death blow to the Corvair, which immediately began a downward sales spiral toward its eventual extinction in 1969. Inspired by the â€Å"success† of Unsafe at Any Speed, an equivalently brutal and faulty criticism of the Volkswagen Beetle was written in 1971 by a colleague and ally of Nader, and was entitled Small—On Safety (Dodge, 197 1). Since, by the time of this book’s publication, millions of Volkswagens were on the road and were well-regarded as providing reliable, economical, and serviceable transportation, the book failed to achieve any credibility, and did little harm to Volkswagen’s sales. What should have been evident to readers of either book and to consumers in general, but was perhaps not appreciated until much later, was that it was physically impossible to construct a small economy car which was as safe as the leviathan Cadillacs, Lincolns, and Chryslers of the same period. Had a well-designed car such as the Honda Civic (or any other contemporary compact automobile) been introduced into the market in the 1960’s, it too would have certainly been labeled as unsafe, and forced off the market. THE SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT AND THEORY X The societal marketing concept is largely congruent with the â€Å"multiple constituency model of organizations† (Kimery and Rinehart, 1998), and general notions of the responsibility or obligation of businesses to social and environmental stakeholders. Contrasted to the marketing concept or orientation, which posits the direct and simple relationship between organizational profitability and responsiveness to customer needs and concerns, the societal marketing concept or multiple constituency model suggests that success is highly dependent upon an organization’s attentiveness to all constituencies simultaneously (Kimery and Rinehart, 1998). Yet due to the common opposition between immediate consumer needs and long-term societal and individual needs, the simultaneous â€Å"satisfaction† of all of these demands is frequently difficult if not impossible. Moreover, the focus upon â€Å"un-stated† or long-term customer needs and a concomitant discounting of stated consumer desires have distinct overtones of corporate or governmental paternalism and the assumptions of producer or governmental sovereignty, which this perspective necessarily implies. In short, where the marketing concept is the economic equivalent of the democratic process, the societal marketing concept is antithetical to the tenets of democratic equality and more comparable to economic fascism. In an eloquent paper outlining the conceptual foundations of his societal marketing concept, Kotler adapted Douglas McGregor’s managerial â€Å"Theory X / Theory Y† to illustrate alternative perspectives of customers (Kotler, 1977b). According to McGregor, Theory X managers view their employees as being lazy, ignorant, gullible, suspicious, and disloyal. In contrast, Theory Y managers view their employees as informed, intelligent, motivated, unique, and rational (McGregor, 1957, 1985). In his adaptation, Kotler makes the assertion that businesses subscribing to the philosophy embodied within the societal marketing concept make assumptions about their customers which are consistent with Theory Y (as opposed to Theory X). In other words, Kotler believes that the societal marketing concept is philosophically consonant with a perspective of the consumer as informed, intelligent, and rational, suggesting the higher plane of enlightenment shared by adopters of this concept and alluding to the concept’s supposed capacity for consumer empowerment. Although Kotler makes a valuable contribution in adapting this managerial framework to the marketing discipline, he grossly errs in his interpretation. A far more plausible observation is that the societal marketing concept is solidly built upon Theory X assumptions about consumers on the part of the marketer. According to Kotler (1977b), â€Å"societal marketers are more attuned to the buyers’ unexpressed needs than overexpressed wants,† and place an emphasis upon â€Å"long-run consumer and societal well being. Because of this, the societal marketing concept clearly forces or compels marketers to make judgments about what is â€Å"best† for consumers, and what needs are valid (as opposed to those that are spurious or unwholesome). It is in this way that the societal marketing concept becomes the ultimate subscriber and underwriter to the Theory X mentality. The conceptual foundation of the societal marketing concept (as well as of the consumerism movement) res ts eavily upon the belief that the individual consumer is unable to â€Å"look out for him/herself,† is gullible, ignorant, easily misled, does not know what is actually in his/her own best interest, and thus needs to be protected from powerful and unscrupulous marketers. In this way, the belief that the role of the marketer is to interpret what is â€Å"best† for society and individuals necessitates the assumption that individuals do not and cannot know what is best for themselves. Nor is this an overstatement of the societal marketing concept’s goals and assumptions. Bell and Emory (1971, p. 40), proponents of this concept, assert that â€Å"The typical consumer is at such a disadvantage that he cannot assure his own effectiveness. Business has the responsibility to help him, and if business fails then the government or other parties must act on the consumer’s behalf. † In addition, in circumstances â€Å"where the buyer is unwilling or unable to make rational decisions,† Bell and Emory believe that â€Å"It is the duty of business to promote proper consumption values† (Bell Emory, 197 1, p. 40, emphasis added). Yet these are precisely the â€Å"paternalistic† attitudes which characterize the Theory X â€Å"manager† according to McGregor. The fact that some consumers may choose to buy a subcompact automobile because they prefer economy over a certain degree of safety, or that some choose to subsist on McDonald’s hamburgers, fries and milkshakes despite their â€Å"unhealthfullness† does not imply that these individuals are stupid, or gullible, or that they need to be â€Å"enlightened† by consumerism or societal marketing techniques, This is in fact the precise point at which the â€Å"evolution† of the marketing concept breaks down. The marketing concept holds that marketers should strive to supply products for every consumer need, provided these needs are not grossly threatening to society, and that â€Å"any decision the customer makes to serve his own perceived selfinterest is rational† (Bauer Greyser, 1967). It is thus impossible to interpret the societal marketing concept as anything but a move backward into the period where the selling concept ruled–where consumers were â€Å"ignorant,† â€Å"irrational,† and easily anipulated by more insightful marketers. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS While consumerists and other critics of the selling concept regularly and loudly chastise business organizations for employing marketing strategies and campaigns which are ostensibly based upon assumptions of consumer ignorance and irrationality, these same guardians of consumer interest are typically synonymous with those pushing organizations most forcefully into programs of social responsibilit y and the societal marketing concept. Yet, as noted above, the agenda of social responsibility in business is clearly based upon assumptions of equal (or even greater) degrees of consumer ignorance and irrationality. Disciples of the societal marketing concept appear to be largely oblivious to the relatively absurd levels that businesses have been pushed by forces in concert with their agenda. (Witness the warning on McDonald’s coffee cups: â€Å"Caution: HOT! . . . CAUTION: CONTENTS HOT! †¦ Caution: HOT! . . . Caution: HOT! . . . WARNING: HOT! †¦ /! .. † which are combined with a corollary reduction in the temperature of the liquid itself — actions which were necessitated by the infamous multimillion dollar legal claim against the company — a lawsuit which was applauded by numerous consumerist groups. ) But, as Levitt noted in 1958, â€Å"self-conscious dedication to social responsibility may have started as a purely defensive maneuver against strident attacks on big corporations a nd on the moral efficacy of the profit system. But defense alone no longer explains the motive. The motive for corporate social responsibility and the overwhelming push for social responsibility in the pursuit of sales now arises out of the industrial sector’s near-total dependence on social trends and the sentiment of a minority of consumers. Corporations that have been beaten into submission by frivolous lawsuits and that are afraid to arouse consumerist accusations of indifference have been forced to pander to the lowest common denominator of consumer passivity, ignorance, and laziness. As predicted by McGregor, these Theory X attitudes and actions have subsequently bred and reinforced the very passivity, ignorance, and laziness in consumers they were designed to anticipate and amend. Ironically, the similarities between the selling concept and the societal marketing concept regarding their shared assumption of consumer ignorance can be seen as forming the perfect foundation for either societal altruism or, alternatively, opportunistic exploitation. In many cases, these efforts can be difficult to distinguish from one another, and apparent acts of altruism or social responsibility can provide the perfect camouflage for exploitation. Because organizations are rapidly becoming aware of the power of â€Å"greenconsumers,† for example, there is a significant temptation to advance this agenda through the marketing program as a powerful device for cultivating customer loyalty and anesthetizing consumer prudence and vigilance. As Kotler (1994, p. 30) notes, â€Å"a number of companies have achieved notable sales and profit gains through adopting and practicing the societal marketing concept. † One of the two shining examples Kotler cites is The Body Shop, started by Anita Roddick in 1976. This organization has experienced phenomenal sales growth by actively promoting its products as all-natural, environmentally friendly, and non-animal-tested, and its business practices as sociallyconcerned. Moreover, Roddick has frequently and publicly ridiculed other cosmetics companies, noting that they are â€Å"run by men who create needs that don’t exist† (Zinn, 1991). Indeed, The Body Shop became in the 1980’s the prototype that all â€Å"earth-friendly† businesses would seek to emulate. As the vanguard of social responsibility, The Body Shop and its founder became the beneficiary of huge volumes of positive publicity, international acclaim, and consumer goodwill. Yet recent explorations into The Body Shop’s products and business practices have found elements which yield a stark contrast to the public images and perceptions noted above. Products of the company have been found to be largely petrochemical-based and of relatively poor-quality, and a large proportion of them have been tested on animals. In addition, the â€Å"socially-enlightened† business practices of this company have been exposed as creative public relations efforts, and the FTC has nvestigated the firm for fraudulent business dealings (Entine, 1993; Buszka, 1997). Clearly, it must inevitably be those organizations which are encouraged to view their consumers as ignorant or irrational that can and will most easily extend that notion to discover opportunities for exploiting that ignorance and irrationality. It is for this reason that those espousing the societal marketing concept and the social responsibility of business can be seen as the greatest danger to consum er sovereignty and consumer welfare. As Lord Acton observed, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Yet it is a corollary rule that in reducing one individual’s power, all others with whom that person deals have their relative power increased. By forcing consumers into the roles of ignorant, helpless, and mindless children in need of protection and corporate welfare, advocates of the societal marketing concept have liberated consumers from both responsibility and power, and have concomitantly made business more powerful. REFERENCES Abernathy, W. Clark, and Kantrow (1983), Industrial Renaissance; Producing a Competitive Future for America, New York: Basic Books. Bauer, R. and S. Greyser (1967), â€Å"The Dialogue That Never Happens,† Harvard Business Review, (November-December), 186-190. Barksdale, Hiram C. and Bill Darden (1971), â€Å"Marketers’ Attitudes Toward the Marketing Concept,† Journal of Marketing, 35 (October), 28-36. Bell, M. and W. Emory (1971), â€Å"The Falter ing Marketing Concept,† Journal of Marketing 35, (October), (37-42). Business Week (1969), â€Å"Business Responds to Consumerism,† September 6, 95. Business Week (1988), â€Å"What Led Beech-Nut Down the Road to Disgrace,† February 2, 124-127. Buszka, Sharlene (1997), â€Å"A Case of Greewashing: The Body Shop,† in Proceedings of the Association of Management and the International Association of Management l5th Annual International Conference, Organizational Management Division, Volume 15, Number 1, 199-294. Dodge, Lowell (1972), Small–On Safety: The Designed-In Dangers of the Volkswagen, New York: Grossman. Drucker, P. (1958), â€Å"Marketing and Economic Development,† Journal of Marketing, (January), (252-259). _________(1969), Consumerism: The Opportunity of Marketing,† address before the National Association of Manufacturers, New York, April 10, later printed as â€Å"The Shame of Marketing,† Marketing Communications, August, 1969, 60. Entine, Jon (1994), â€Å"Shattered Image: Is the Body Shop Too Good to Be True? † Business Ethics, (September/October). Friedman, Milton (1962) , Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fullerton, Ronald A. (1988), â€Å"How Modern is Modern Marketing? Marketing’s Evolution and the Myth of the ‘Production Era,'† Journal of Marketing, 52 (January), 108-125. Halberstam, David (1986), The Reckoning, New York: Avon Books. Keith, R. (1960), â€Å"The Marketing Revolution,† Journal of Marketing, 24(January), 35-3 8. Klein, T. (1979), â€Å"Contemporary Problems, Marketing Theory, and Futures Research,† in Conceptual and Theoretical Developments in Marketing: AMA Proceedings, 258-263. Kimery, Kathryn M. and Shelley M. Rinehart (1998), â€Å"Markets and Constituencies: An Alternative View of the Marketing Concept,† Journal of Business Research, 43, 117-124. Kotler, P. (1977a), â€Å"From Sales Obsession to Marketing Effectiveness,† Harvard Business Review (November-December), 67-75. _______(1972), â€Å"What Consumerism Means for Marketers,† Harvard Business Review, (May-June), 48-57. ________(1977b), â€Å"Considerations In a Theory of Humanistic Marketing,† Working Paper, Graduate School Of Management, Northwestern University. ________(1994), Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control, eig hth edition, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. ________, and S. Levy, (1969), â€Å"Broadening the Concept of Marketing,† Journal of Marketing, (January), 10-15. Langworth, Richard M. nd Graham Robson (1987), The Complete Book of Collectible Cars, 1930-1980, New York: Beekman House. Levitt, T. (1958), â€Å"The Dangers of Social Responsibility,† Harvard Business Review, 36, 5(September-October), 41-50. _______(1960), â€Å"Marketing Myopia,† Harvard Business Review, (July-August). _______(1977), â€Å"Marketing When Things Change,† Journal of Marketing, (NovemberDecember), 107-113. McGregor, D. (1957), â€Å"The Human Side of Enterprise,† Management Review (November), 22-28. McGregor, D. (1985), The Human Side of Enterprise, New York: McGraw-Hill. McKitterick, J. (1958), â€Å"What is the Marketing Management Concept? † in The Frontiers of Marketing Thought and Science, Chicago: American Marketing Association, 71-82. Nader, Ralph (1965), Unsafe At Any Speed: The Designed In Dangers of the American Automobile, New York: Grossman. Samli, A. , K. Palda, and A. Barker (1987), â€Å"Toward a Mature Marketing Concept,† Sloan Management Review (Winter), 45-5 1. Zinn, Laura (1991), â€Å"Whales, Human Rights, Rain Forests — And the Heady Smell of Profits,† Business Week, July 15, 114-115. How to cite Social Responsibility, Consumerism, and the Marketing Concept, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Critically Evaluate The Use Of Text Matching Software free essay sample

Sometimes plagiarism occurs when a student fails to adopt because they do not know proper rules to referring to academic material, including appropriate ways for quoting and compiling reference lists. In cases like this there is no ultimate intent to deliberately deceive and the literary theft is accidental. Unintentional Plagiarism can be caused by hidden memory. Students may perceive it to be a new idea but in actual they unknowingly have clicked an idea saved at the back of their mind. For some students plagiarism is no big deal. Students do not see cheating as a major problem among their peers.For example, a study by Limit Sec (2001 ) based in Singapore which they describe as one of the most competitive educational system in the world found that students are morally ambivalent about academic cheating and are rather tolerant of dishonesty among their peers. Most of the reports go undetected it does not give a consistent picture about the scale and nature of plagiarism the extent to which it is changing through time varies from country to country, from subject to subject between post graduates and graduates. We will write a custom essay sample on Critically Evaluate The Use Of Text Matching Software or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We do not understand that plagiarism an act is unethical and its shows the mentality of person. Plagiarism is caused due to last minute submission thus tutors should keep a check on a regular basis about the status of the assignments and help them if they have any sort of a problem. This exercise must be done for all the students who have problems in academic writing. If there is a requirement of using another authors work it must be done in quotation marks and the author must be referenced properly. References must be made of facts that cannot be presumed as common knowledge. Diagrams and tables borrowed must also be referenced properly. Opinions of authors cannot be presumed to be yours.Thus it must be referenced properly. A common question asked is that why do students plagiarism : When they are unclear about the meaning of common knowledge and expressing in their own words. To get better grades and save time. Due to lack of time management, students cheat because they have peer pressure and a busy social life and other commitments for sports. Personal Values: Some students plagiarism to be good, because they considered short cut to be clever and a smart way. To some students plagiarism is a tangible way of showing dissent and expressing a lack of respect of authority.Students attitude: Some students cheat because they have negative attitude towards assignments and tasks. Denial/Naturalization: Some students deny to themselves of cheating by passing the blame to others, Temptation Opportunity: It is both easier and tempting to plagiarism as information is easily accessible on the internet. We should learn that sources support not substitute their own ideas. There is also uncertainty about the point at which the ideas passes into general knowledge in a way that no longer requires attribution. Most writers agree that matters of common knowledge do not require referencing in academic rating.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Affects of Child Abuse Essay Example For Students

The Affects of Child Abuse Essay 1.One of the worst crimes in existence today is child abuse and neglect. Not only does child abuse affect and hurt a child when it happens, but, it stays with that person for the rest of their lives. It is a crime that does not stop after it has occurred, but, goes on and on for ever. This paper will discuss the horrid crime of child abuse, and identify why this is such a devastating thing to happen to a child. 2.Imagine for one moment that you are not yourself any longer. Visualize instead that you are a young girl; old enough to know right from wrong yet still young enough to be terrified by the dark shadows in your room. It is a cool autumn night and your parents have opted to attend a party which you are not allowed at. It will be fine, they say. Although you already know what is to come. We will write a custom essay on The Affects of Child Abuse specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now 3.Your uncle comes over to watch you for the evening, and your parents are so pleased by the fact that they do not have to find a sitter. As soon as he arrives, your mother kisses you on the cheek and scurries out the door to join your father already waiting in the car outside. The nightmare begins. His slimy hands casually slide a tape into the VCR as he smiles at you seductively. You can feel his eyes worming their gaze through your clothes every time that he looks at you. You feel dirty and violated every time you think about what he does to you when you are alone. He walks over to the couch and sits down next to you. His hand slithers its way onto your knee and you cringe in revulsion. Dont be afraid, I wont hurt you, he chides. 4.Your mind feels panicky as you feel his touch in more intimate places and you scream involuntarily. His grip tightens as he places his hand over your mouth. Well have to do this the hard way! comes his intense whisper. You flail your arms at him, but it doesnt help. His writhing massive body is on top of yours, and you feel so powerless. Eventually, you sink into a sobbing heap and simply wait for his passions to stop. You wait for the nightmare to end. When he is done, you limp to the laundry room and try fruitlessly to get the blood stains out of your clothes (Reardon p.5-68). 5. It is all your fault Abuse: The violation or defilement of; What you have just experienced is one type of abuse that occurs millions of times every year across America. Estimates of abuse range wildly depending on the source of ones information. Estimates of chld abuse or neglice by parents or guardians range from about 1 out of every 100 children to more than 1 out of every 7. At least 500,000 children are physically abused in the United States each year, and many more are emotionally abused and neglected.. (Brittanica p. 1) All sources agree on the simple truth that not nearly all cases of child abuse are reported or even estimated. Many cases go unreported. 7.It is clear that families are undergoing a number of important structural changes: families are smaller than in the past, with fewer children and sometimes with only one parent; parents have children at a later age; more couples live together without the bonds of matrimony which was accepted as a sacred bond so few years in human history. The source of this degradation of such a basic unit of society is unknown throughout all areas of research. It is a question that one person needs to answer for himself and solve for himself. .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .postImageUrl , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:hover , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:visited , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:active { border:0!important; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:active , .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254 .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u122fee86a3e963c0b553b701ab8cc254:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Drug Abuse in the NFL Essay Something a young child is not capable of doing. 8.Physical abuse has many forms. It may involve the hitting or kicking of a child with the fists or the feet, or with another object; such as belts, shovels, changes, ropes, electric cords, leather straps, canes, baseball bats, sticks, broom handles, or assorted large objects. Other forms of abuse include the pouring of scalding water or coffee on a childs body, holding a childs head under the water of .

Monday, November 25, 2019

3 Reasons Why The Handmaid’s Tale Remains Relevant

3 Reasons Why 'The Handmaid’s Tale' Remains Relevant The Handmaid’s Tale is the second dystopian work of speculative fiction - after George Orwell’s 1984 - to suddenly appear on top of the bestseller lists years after its release. The renewed interest in Margaret Atwood’s classic story of a post-apocalyptic America dominated by a puritanical religious sect that reduces most women to subjugated breeder status stems from both the current political atmosphere in the United States and the adaptation airing on Hulu starring Elizabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, and Joseph Fiennes. What’s interesting about The Handmaid’s Tale is how many people assume it’s much older than it actually is. The book was originally published in 1985, and while that’s 32 years ago many people are surprised it wasn’t penned in the 1950s or 1960s; blame this on our tendency to believe that the present and very recent past are fairly enlightened. People assume the book was written during what some see as the final gasp of patriarchy- before birth control and the women’s liberation movement started the slow, agonizing process of pursuing equality for women and raising consciousness around the world. On the other hand, a book written three decades ago still resonates with a particular power. Hulu didnt adapt The Handmaid’s Tale as a revered classic kept behind glass, but rather as a pulsing, living work of literature that speaks to modern-day America. Not many books can retain that kind of power for thirty years, and The Handmaid’s Tale remains a powerfully current story- for three distinct reasons that go beyond politics. Margaret Atwood Just Updated It One aspect of The Handmaid’s Tale that is often overlooked is the author’s dedication to the story. When the author herself regards the story as a living, breathing work and continued to discuss and develop the ideas within it, the story retains some of the immediacy that surrounded it upon publication. In fact, Atwood has actually just expanded the story. As part of the launch of the updated audio version of the novel on Audible (recorded by Claire Danes in 2012, but with a completely new sound design) Atwood wrote both an afterward discussing the book and its legacy, but also new material that extends the story. The book famously ends with the line â€Å"Are there any questions?† The new material comes in the form of an interview with Professor Piexoto, which is the sort of thing fans dream about. The material is performed by a full cast in the Audible version, giving it a rich, realistic feel. It’s also a little mind-bending, since the ending of the novel makes it clear that the good professor is discussing Offred’s story far in the future, long after Gilead has disappeared, based on audio recordings she left behind, which Atwood herself has noted makes the Audible version appropriate. It’s Not Really Science Fiction ... or Fiction First of all, we should note that Atwood dislikes the term â€Å"science fiction† when applied to her work, and prefers â€Å"speculative fiction.† It might seem like a subtle point, but it makes sense. The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t actually involve any weird science or anything implausible. A revolution establishes a Theocratic dictatorship that severely limits all human rights (and especially those of women, who are even forbidden to read) while ecological factors reduce the fertility of the human race significantly, resulting in the creation of Handmaids, fertile women who are used for breeding. None of that is particularly sci-fi. Secondly, Atwood has stated that nothing in the book is made-up- in fact, she’s said there is â€Å"... nothing in the book that didn’t happen, somewhere.† That’s part of the chilling power of The Handmaid’s Tale. All you need to do is check out some of the darker areas of the Internet, or even some of the legislative bodies around the country, to see that male attitudes towards women haven’t changed nearly as much as we might like. When the Vice President of the United States won’t have dinner alone with a woman who isn’t his wife, it’s not hard to imagine a world not so different from Atwood’s vision coming around... again. In fact, many seem to have forgotten the 1991 film adaptation of the book, with a script written by Harold Pinter and a cast featuring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Duvall- a film that almost didn’t get made despite the power of those names because the project encountered â€Å"a wall of ignorance, hostility, and indifference,† according to journalist Sheldon Teitelbaum as reported in The Atlantic. He goes on to say that â€Å"Movie executives declined to back the project, stating ‛that a film for and about women †¦ would be lucky if it made it to video.’† Next time you wonder if The Handmaid’s Tale is so far-fetched, consider that statement. Theres a reason women in Texas recently dressed as Handmaids as a form of protest. The Book Is Constantly Under Attack You can often judge the power and influence of a novel by the number of attempts that are made to ban it- another ghostly echo when you consider that women in the novel are forbidden to read. The Handmaid’s Tale was the 37th most-challenged book of the 1990s, according to the American Library Association. As recently as 2015, parents in Oregon complained that the book contained sexually explicit scenes and was anti-Christian, and students were offered an alternative book to read (which is certainly better than an outright ban). The fact that The Handmaid’s Tale continues to be on the receiving end of these sorts of attempts is directly related to how powerful its ideas are. It’s a slippery slide from celebrating supposedly â€Å"traditional values† and gender roles to enforcing those roles in a cruel, humorless, and terrifying way. Atwood has stated that she wrote the novel in part to â€Å"fend off† the grim future she laid out in its pages; with the release of the new Audible material and the Hulu adaptation, hopefully a new generation of people will be inspired to fend off that future as well. The Handmaid’s Tale remains a living, breathing work of potential history that’s well worth reading or listening to.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Analysis of Addiction Service

Analysis of Addiction Service Colin O’Rourke Sankalpa Addiction Services Sankalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning idea or notion formed in the heart or mind, a solemn vow or determination to perform and a desire or definite intention. History of the agency The Millennium Carvings program which was established in 1998 and was supported and funded by FAS and the Local Drug Task Force (LDTF). Designed to deliver rehabilitation programs for stabilised or former drug users in the Finglas/ Cabra area it offered holistic programs exploring individual creativity together with therapeutic rehabilitation programs. Millennium Carvings evolved into Sankalpa and continued to create an holistic and therapeutic environment utilising artwork and creativity. This allows clients participate in their own recovery process while addressing some of the complex needs of service users through personal development and group work. The LDTF now ensure Sankalpa adhere to the National Drug Strategy. Agency Ethos ‘A sustainable p athway out of addiction leading towards a culture of recovery in Finglas & Cabra, built by support organizations and service users working in solidarity’ The characteristic spirit underpinning the Sankalpa culture is that of client centered therapeutic environment in a creative, holistic environment, the emphasis being on community. In creating this community that enables the clients to change intrinsically, the realization being that the client understands what motivates them better than the therapist, change comes from within. It is recognised that the relationship between the client and the therapist is of prime importance when evaluating the success of the therapeutic process, and that the cornerstone of recovery is this relationship. Aims Sankalpa aim to respect the dignity and rights of the client in a just and safe environment while understanding that sole responsibility for any addiction is the responsibility of the client that developed it. In doing so it hopes to en hance intrinsic worth in a therapeutic environment that values learning with a view to facilitating the healing process. It is believed that the therapeutic process is assisted by creating a space where drug related harm is minimised and where well organised levels of drug services are made available. Best practice and evidence based interventions are aimed to be utilised as is the support of non medical treatment of pain. Sankalpa aim to promote problem solving and critical thinking with their clients while remaining honest and open minded in their affairs. Objectives To meet their aims Sankalpa deliver quality programs while utilising trained staff who are  focused on achieving the desired outcomes by being part of the continuum of clients’ recovery  and linking and partnering with other agencies to assist in this continuum. Sankalpa support  clients by offering CE schemes to assist with moving on to employment and education. They  offer accredited further education to clients’ presenting with addiction issues or stabilised on  their medication and assist motivated clients in the continuum of recovery by way of the  development and implementation of their therapeutic model. What kind of treatment approach underpins the agency? The Sankalpa therapeutic model is psychosocial, client centered and evidence based. It utilises structured interventions the aim being to reduce or stabilise the harms associated with illicit drug use. The therapeutic work is mainly done in groups and uses Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), Motivational Interviewing (M.I) and Mindfulness. One to one sessions include goal setting, reviews and assessments. It is understood by employees of Sankalpa that access to education and employment that may previously have been out of reach due to social deprivation can be the cornerstone of successful recovery.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Teaching Materials for Secondary School Teachers Essay

Teaching Materials for Secondary School Teachers - Essay Example To be able to help students to achieve a productive future that ultimately can help the nation, schools should not provide mediocre learning. This can be attributed to the fact that educational system should aim for high quality in the education methods and techniques that are used and utilized. Quality education can be considered as a necessity since the search for employment to be able to survive in the present society can be considered as one of the most competitive process. It is then important primarily to define quality education. Specifically, quality education is a term that is based on the four principles of education. Quality can be equivalent to the standard that makes students more than capable to be able to present themselves in the real world. The basic foundation principles include the concepts of learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together with others, and learning to be. The provision of quality education can be considered as one of the basic rights of a person falling next to the basic needs (Sims and Sims, 1995). Quality education is culturally appropriate and locally relevant where the economic, environmental and social contexts of a particular area are taken into consideration in the formulation of the curriculum. It develops knowledge, perspectives, values, attitudes and life skills. Quality education provides the means to transform existing societies to more sustainable societies (Lee, 1963; Sims and Sims, 1995). Based on the definition of quality education it can be considered that there is a great need to be able to have an in depth study on the factors that can contribute to the achievement of quality education. ... In relation to the said issues regarding education, the main focus of the study is the presentation of the importance of one of the essential factors of educational process which is the educators and the capabilities to facilitate the process of learning. II. Essential Notions in Education In the aim to achieve quality education in the secondary level, there are different notions that are needed to be considered. One is the teaching methods and principles which can be considered as the main content in teaching. The said component can commonly be observed through the analysis of the composition of the curriculum in an educational institution (Lee, 1963). Another important component is the educators that can be considered as the main personalities that serve as keys to the attainment of the type of education that is aspired for. The ability of the educators extends from the capacity to present and achieve a learning process on the different aspects of a learner's personality. To be able to achieve the objectives of learning the learning techniques and styles of an educator is essential. This can be attributed to the fact that the educator facilitates the leaning process (Sims and Sims, 1995). One important factor of the learning process also is the learner. Basically, the abilities, attitudes and predispositions of learner also make the facilitation of the learning process possible. Abilities can be considered as the natural capabilities of the learners and students that are needed to be enhanced and developed in the process of learning. Determination of such abilities is essential although the said measure vary for every student. Another is the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Diversity in organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Diversity in organization - Research Paper Example Hence proper management of diverse workforce is acutely necessary for the organizations. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 The evolving concept of diversity 4 Multiculturalism 5 Benefits of diversity in workforce for for-profit business organizations 6 Challenges faced by the organization due to diverse workforce 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction The world is changing rapidly and the concept of diversity has become a truism in current times (Rosado, 2006). Change in the view of the world is more vividly visible since the onset of the twenty-first century. At present diversity has been acknowledged in social and business layers, which include variety in labor force, civil rights of the human being, their property right and living and working conditions of the people. In the different industrialized countries across the globe, instances of demographically diversified labor force are increasing. In many countries gender relations are changing swiftly and the ef fect of this change is visible in the business sphere. With rapid globalization, the number of emigrant workers is increasing and recent trend shows that immigration is taking place into the developed countries of the world (Dumont, Spielvogel & Widmaier, 2010). The structure of labor population is also changing with the aging population in the developed countries, due to which the labor intensive organizations are facing higher diversity in their workforce. Increased diversification within workgroups or labor force has to be dealt sincerely through efficient diversity management. Such changes cast potentially important impact on group performance within organizations. According to Bleijenbergh, Peters and Poutsma (2010) diversity management in an organization further encourages the organization to attain their strategic goals. It allows inclusion of diverse employee categories and provides scope to the organization to allow individual development of its employees. Diversity managem ent in business supports creation and retention â€Å"of equal opportunities† (Bleijenbergh, Peters & Poutsma, 2010, p. 414). In the long term it helps to create a sustainable employment situation and leads to profitable business. The evolving concept of diversity The needs of this century pose the demand for a mass of citizens â€Å"that is culturally sensitive and internationally focused, with an orientation toward the future rather than the past† (Rosado, 2006, p. 1). Recent research works reveal that diversity management has come through over the years. There has been a gradual change in the purpose of diversity management from the ‘purpose of exclusion’ to the ‘purpose of inclusion’. In the beginning of the twenty-first century there was no definite established pattern or model for the organizations to follow while dealing with diversity related to physical, biological and social or cultural differences. Any behavior or attitude that belo nged to outside of the ‘norm’ prevalent in the particular society were identified as diversity and were dealt with the policy of â€Å"exclusion and control† (Rosado, 2006, p. 4). With the passage of time, particularly in the profit oriented corporate firms, organizational policy of dealing with diversity has changed; today in order to realize the maximum potential

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Appraising and Rewarding Performance of Manulife China Bank Life Essay Example for Free

Appraising and Rewarding Performance of Manulife China Bank Life Essay Assurance Corporation Manulife Philippines marks its 100th year of existence in our country. It is one of the oldest insurance firms in the country. The firm received its license to operate in Manila in 1907, twenty years after the company was first established in Toronto, Canada in 1887 by Sir John A. Macdonald, who at the same time was Prime Minister of Canada. Manulife Philippines was the first foreign company to list in the Philippine Stock Exchange, and is among the top five life insurance companies in our country today. The firm’s dedication to client service enabled it to grow and increase financial strength. In 2007, the Philippine Insurance Commission (IC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank) approved the operation of a bank assurance joint venture company, Manulife China Bank Life Assurance Corporation (MCB Life). MCB Life is a strategic bank assurance alliance of China Banking Corporation (China Bank), the Philippines’ first privately owned commercial bank, and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife), a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian-based Manulife Financial Corporation. In Asia, Manulifes goal for each market is to develop a company that will best meet the needs of customers, achieve employee satisfaction, and provide leadership in the life insurance industry. Manulife works hard to build companies that cultivate wealth creation, wealth protection, and an improved quality of life for local customers. Manulifes corporate vision is to be the most professional life insurance company in the world: providing the very best financial protection and wealth management services tailored to customers in every market where the company does business. MCB Life’s mission is committed to develop long term relationships with families and businesses which make us the company of choice in providing economic security through a broad range of financial services, customized and delivered by competent and ethical professionals. C. Company Profile and Background of Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial is an international leader in protection and wealth management with key operations in Canada, US, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Bermuda, and the Philippines. Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) pioneered life insurance in the Philippines in 1895. Today, Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. , is one of the largest and most trusted insurers in the country with almost a half a million policies in force and is boosted by the strength and stability of Sun Life Financial shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Sun Life Asset Management Company, Inc. SLAMCI) is the fund manager and principal distributor of the biggest family of mutual funds in the Philippines, the Sun Life Prosperity Funds. It also boasts of being the first in its field to put in place the accounting system needed to adequately comply with the standards set by the International Accounting Standards (IAS). Serving as the company’s wealth management arm, SLAMCI benefits from the expertise of its mother company’s close association with MFS Investment Management (the inventor of mutual funds in the US). Sun Life Financial Plans, Inc. SLFPI) is the second wholly-owned subsidiary of SLOCPI and the sole distributor of its pension and education plans. SLFPI holds the distinction of being the fastest growing pre-need company in the country today. For 113 years now, SLF-Philippines continues to be a proud and trusted partner of the Filipino in his journey to financial freedom. D. Company Mission and Vision of Sun Life Financial Sun Life Financial’s vision is To be the preeminent provider of financial security to individuals over their lifetime. With regards to this mission of the company, Sun Life Financial aims to provide financial freedom for Filipinos. The objective of this study is to present the methods of rewarding and appraising performance of our two chosen companies, particularly in the insurance industry. For this research, we chose to do a study on Manulife Philippines, more specifically Manulife China Bank Life Assurance Corporation (MCB Life); and also Sun Life Financial. This paper aims to present the different rewards given to employees and performance appraisals done to evaluate their employees’ performance, while comparing both companies. In order to obtain a clearer picture on how employees are being appraised and rewarded in two companies in the same industry, a comparison between Manulife Philippines and Sun Life Financial should be done. F. Statement of Problem The researchers would conduct a study on the rewarding and appraising of performance of insurance companies, and what the companies want to achieve. The researchers would like to find out how the companies reward their employers in this industry, and the process of performance appraisal; and the effects of these human resource activities in the daily operation of the companies.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Exploitative Commercials in Children’s TV Programming Essay -- Media T

Alcohol. Obesity. Violence. For kids today in the United States, these are only a few of the problems linked to the child-targeted mass media, especially the multi- million dollar business—television commercials in children’s programming. With the disappearance of a TV-free environment, a typical American kid sees about 40,000 television advertisements each year, most of which are for soda, candy, video games, fast food and their free toys. In order to collect some information, I sat down on a Saturday morning on July 16, 2004, and recorded several kids’ TV ads for further analysis. Needless to say, the results were quite shocking—aside from the obvious, I also noticed that most ads featured active and aggressive boys while the presence of girls was rarely to be seen. Being a girl myself, I felt the need to take a close look at such inequality. I began to wonder if commercialism has overlooked the importance of gender issues, which would then create negative impacts on children by sending out harmful hidden messages. For example, these ads can promote a polarization of gender roles that portray the sexes in stereotypical and traditional ways, which will unconsciously affect young viewers’ attitudes and values. In his article written in 1988, â€Å"What Are TV Ads Selling to Children,† John J. O’Connor asserts, â€Å"Things haven’t changed much in the television business of children’s merchandising, and some aspects of the scene are even more appalling.† Indeed, though not as prevalent as in earlier years, TV commercials aimed at kids still contain underlying themes such as sexism that’s extremely harmful to the development of the youth. Stereotypical images permeate kids’ television commercials, giving young chi... ...ey’re being preached of becoming the gentle, pretty, sensitive and domesticated â€Å"dream-girls† who are submissive to boys. It is as if females’ lives revolve around males. On the other hand, boys tend to get the wrong impression that men have to be physically strong, competitive, rational and superior to women. As illustrated by stereotypes, roles, and representation, boys always seem to be the winner in the unequal gender portrayal on kids’ TV commercials. Many kids try to emulate such characteristics from role-models they see on the screen, which can be very misleading and harmful, for they hinder the development of children’s innate talents and abilities. As O’Connor indicates, â€Å"Commercials in children’s programming [are] exploitative and a disservice to society.† Despite recent improvement, sexism remains to be a major problem in the child-targeted commercialism.

Monday, November 11, 2019

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Ten

Meredith sat down on the knee-high wall of the ruined church. â€Å"You said it was going to be dangerous, Stefan, but you didn't say you were going to let him strangle me.† â€Å"I'm sorry. I was hoping he'd give some more information, especially after he admitted to being there when Sue died. But I shouldn't have waited.† â€Å"I haven't admitted anything! You can't prove anything,† Tyler said. The animal whine was back in his voice, but on the walk up his face and body had returned to normal. Or rather, they'd returned to human, Meredith thought. The swelling and bruises and dried blood weren't normal. â€Å"This isn't a court of law, Tyler,† she said. â€Å"Your father can't help you now.† â€Å"But if it were, we'd have a pretty good case,† Stefan added. â€Å"Enough to put you away on conspiracy to commit murder, I think.† â€Å"That's if somebody doesn't melt down their grandma's teaspoons to make a silver bullet,† Matt put in. Tyler looked from one to another of them. â€Å"I won't tell you anything.† â€Å"Tyler, you know what you are? You're a bully,† Bonnie said. â€Å"And bullies always talk.† â€Å"You don't mind pinning a girl down and threatening her,† said Matt, â€Å"but when her friends turn up, you're scared spitless.† Tyler just glared at all of them. â€Å"Well, if you don't want to talk, I guess I'll have to,† Stefan said. He leaned down and picked up the thick book he'd gotten from the library. One foot on the lip of the tomb, he rested the book on his knee and opened it. In that moment, Meredith thought, he looked frighteningly like Damon. â€Å"This is a book by Gervase of Tilbury, Tyler,† he said. â€Å"It was written around the year 1210 a.d. One of the things it talks about is werewolves.† â€Å"You can't prove anything! You don't have any evidence-â€Å" â€Å"Shut up, Tyler!† Stefan looked at him. â€Å"I don't need to prove it. I can see it, even now. Have you forgotten what I am?† There was a silence, and then Stefan went on. â€Å"When I got here a few days ago, there was a mystery. A girl was dead. But who killed her? And why? All the clues I could see seemed contradictory. â€Å"It wasn't an ordinary killing, not some human psycho off the street. I had the word of somebody I trusted on that-and independent evidence, too. An ordinary killer can't work a Ouija board by telekinesis. An ordinary killer can't cause fuses to blow in a power plant hundreds of miles away. â€Å"No, this was somebody with tremendous physical and psychic power. From everything Vickie told me, it sounded like a vampire. â€Å"And there was another thing. You were in that house, Tyler. You made the mistake of grabbing Bonnie that night, and then you made the mistake of shooting off your mouth the next day, saying things you couldn't have known unless you were there. â€Å"So what did we have? A seasoned vampire, a vicious killer with Power to spare? Or a high school bully who couldn't organize a trip to the toilet without falling over his own feet? Which? The evidence pointed both ways, and I couldn't make up my mind. â€Å"Then I went to see Sue's body myself. And there it was, the biggest mystery of all. A cut here.† Stefan's finger sketched a sharp line down from his collarbone. â€Å"Typical, traditional cut-made by vampires to share their own blood. But Sue wasn't a vampire, and she didn't make that cut herself. Someone made it for her as she lay there dying on the ground.† Meredith shut her eyes, and she heard Bonnie swallow hard beside her. She put out a hand and found Bonnie's and held tight, but she went on listening. Stefan had not gone into this kind of detail in his explanation to them before. â€Å"Vampires don't need to cut their victims like that; they use their teeth,† Stefan said. His upper lip lifted slightly to show his own teeth. â€Å"But if a vampire wanted to draw blood for somebody else to drink, he might cut instead of biting. If a vampire wanted to give someone else the first and only taste, he might do that. â€Å"And that started me thinking about blood. Blood is important, you see. For vampires, it gives life, Power. It's all we need for survival, and there are times when needing it drives us crazy. But it's good for other things, too. For instance†¦ initiation. â€Å"Initiation and Power. Now I was thinking about those two things, putting them together with what I'd seen of you, Tyler, when I was in Fell's Church before. Little things I hadn't really focused on. But I remembered something Elena had told me about your family history, and I decided to check it out in Honoria Fell's journal.† Stefan lifted a piece of paper from between the pages of the book he held. â€Å"And there it was, in Honoria's handwriting. I Xeroxed the page so I could read it to you. The Smallwoods' little family secret-if you can read between the lines.† Looking down at the paper, he read: â€Å"November 12. Candles made, flax spun. We are short on cornmeal and salt, but we will get through the winter. Last night an alarm; wolves attacked Jacob Smallwood as he returned from the forest. I treated the wound with whortleberry and sallow bark, but it is deep and I am afraid. After coming home I cast the runes. I have told no one but Thomas the results. â€Å"December 20. Wolf trouble at the Smallwoods' again. We heard the screams a few minutes ago, and Thomas said it was time. He made the bullets yesterday. He has loaded his rifle and we will walk over. If we are spared, I will write again. â€Å"December 21. Went over to Smallwoods' last night. Jacob sorely afflicted. Wolf killed. â€Å"We will bury Jacob in the little graveyard at the foot of the hill. May his soul find peace in death. â€Å"In the official history of Fell's Church,† Stefan said, â€Å"that's been interpreted to mean that Thomas Fell and his wife went over to the Smallwoods' to find Jacob Smallwood being attacked by a wolf again, and that the wolf killed him. But that's wrong. What it really says is not that the wolf killed Jacob Smallwood but that Jacob Smallwood, the wolf, was killed.† Stefan shut the book. â€Å"He was a werewolf, your great-great-great-whatever grandfather, Tyler. He got that way by being attacked by a werewolf himself. And he passed his werewolf virus on to the son who was born eight and a half months after he died. Just the way your father passed it on to you.† â€Å"I always knew there was something about you, Tyler,† Bonnie said, and Meredith opened her eyes. â€Å"I never could tell what it was, but at the back of my mind something was telling me you were creepy.† â€Å"We used to make jokes about it,† Meredith said, her voice still husky. â€Å"About your ‘animal magnetism and your big white teeth. We just never knew how close to the mark we were.† â€Å"Sometimes psychics can sense that kind of thing,† Stefan conceded. â€Å"Sometimes even ordinary people can. I should have seen it, but I was preoccupied. Still, that's no excuse. And obviously somebody else-the psychic killer-saw it right away. Didn't he, Tyler? A man wearing an old raincoat came to you. He was tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, and he made some kind of a deal with you. In exchange for-something-he'd show you how to reclaim your heritage. How to become a real werewolf. â€Å"Because according to Gervase of Tilbury†-Stefan tapped the book on his knee -â€Å"a werewolf who hasn't been bitten himself needs to be initiated. That means you can have the werewolf virus all your life but never even know it because it's never activated. Generations of Smallwoods have lived and died, but the virus was dormant in them because they didn't know the secret of waking it up. But the man in the raincoat knew. He knew that you have to kill and taste fresh blood. After that, at the first full moon you can change.† Stefan glanced up, and Meredith followed his gaze to the white disk of the moon in the sky. It looked clean and two dimensional now, no longer a sullen red globe. â€Å"Very clever,† said Meredith, and Matt said, â€Å"No kidding.† Bonnie wet her finger and marked an imaginary 1 on an invisible Scoreboard. â€Å"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist following one of the girls here if you thought she'd be alone,† said Stefan. â€Å"You'd think that the graveyard was the perfect place to kill; you'd have complete privacy. And I knew you wouldn't be able to resist bragging about what you'd done. I was hoping you'd tell Meredith more about the other killer, the one who actually threw Sue out the window, the one who cut her so you could drink fresh blood. The vampire, Tyler. Who is he? Where is he hiding?† Tyler's look of venomous hatred changed to a sneer. â€Å"You think I'd tell you that? He's my friend.† â€Å"He is not your friend, Tyler. He's using you. And he's a murderer.† â€Å"Don't get in any deeper, Tyler,† Matt added. â€Å"You're already an accessory. Tonight you tried to kill Meredith. Pretty soon you're not going to be able to go back even if you want to. Be smart and stop this now. Tell us what you know.† Tyler bared his teeth. â€Å"I'm not telling you anything. How're you going to make me?† The others exchanged glances. The atmosphere changed, became charged with tension as they all turned back to Tyler. â€Å"You really don't understand, do you?† Meredith said quietly. â€Å"Tyler, you helped kill Sue. She died for an obscene ritual so that you could change into that thing I saw. You were planning to kill me, and Vickie and Bonnie too, I'm sure. Do you think we have any pity for you? Do you think we brought you up here to be nice to you?† There was a silence. The sneer was fading from Tyler's lips. He looked from one face to another. They were all implacable. Even Bonnie's small face was unforgiving. â€Å"Gervase of Tilbury mentions one interesting thing,† Stefan said, almost pleasantly. â€Å"There's a cure for werewolves besides the traditional silver bullet. Listen.† By moonlight, he read from the book on his knee. â€Å"It is commonly reported and held by grave and worthy doctors that if a werewolf be shorn of one of his members, he shall surely recover his original body. Gervase goes on to tell the story of Raimbaud of Auvergne, a werewolf who was cured when a carpenter cut off one of his hind paws. Of course, that was probably hideously painful, but the story goes that Raimbaud thanked the carpenter ‘for ridding him forever of the accursed and damnable form.' † Stefan raised his head. â€Å"Now, I'm thinking that if Tyler won't help us with information, the least we can do is make sure he doesn't go out and kill again. What do the rest of you say?† â€Å"All we have to do is relieve him of one of his members,† Bonnie agreed. â€Å"I can think of one right off,† Meredith said under her breath. Tyler's eyes were starting to bulge. Under the dirt and blood his normally ruddy face had gone pale. â€Å"You're bluffing!† â€Å"Get the ax, Matt,† said Stefan. â€Å"Meredith, you take off one of his shoes.† Tyler kicked when she did, aiming for her face. Matt came and got his head in a hammer-lock. â€Å"Don't make it any worse on yourself, Tyler.† The bare foot Meredith exposed was big, the sole as sweaty as Tyler's palms. Coarse hair sprouted from the toes. It made Meredith's skin crawl. â€Å"Let's get this over with,† she said. â€Å"You're joking!† Tyler howled, thrashing so that Bonnie had to come and grab his other leg and kneel on it. â€Å"You can't do this! You can't!† â€Å"Keep him still,† Stefan said. Working together, they stretched Tyler out, his head locked in Matt's arm, his legs spread and pinned by the girls. Making sure Tyler could see what he was doing, Stefan balanced a branch perhaps two inches thick on the lip of the tomb. He raised the ax and then brought it down hard, severing the stick with one blow. â€Å"It's sharp enough,† he said. â€Å"Meredith, roll his pants leg up. Then tie some of that cord just above his ankle as tight as you can for a tourniquet. Otherwise he'll bleed out.† â€Å"You can't do this!† Tyler was screaming. â€Å"You can't dooooooo this!† â€Å"Scream all you want, Tyler. Up here, nobody's going to hear you, right?† Stefan said. â€Å"You're no better than I am!† Tyler yelled in a spray of spittle. â€Å"You're a killer too!† â€Å"I know exactly what I am,† Stefan said. â€Å"Believe me, Tyler. I know. Is everybody ready? Good. Hold on to him; he's going to jump when I do it.† Tyler's screams weren't even words anymore. Matt was holding him so that he could see Stefan kneel and take aim, hefting the ax blade above Tyler's ankle to gauge force and distance. â€Å"Now,† said Stefan, raising the ax high. â€Å"No! No! I'll talk to you! I'll talk!† shrieked Tyler. Stefan glanced at him. â€Å"Too late,† he said, and brought the ax down. It rebounded off the stone floor with a clang and a spark, but the noise was drowned by Tyler's screaming. It seemed to take Tyler several minutes to realize that the blade hadn't touched his foot. He paused for breath only when he choked, and turned wild, bulging eyes on Stefan. Little whimpers were coming from Tyler's throat and there was foam on his lips. â€Å"I don't know his name,† he gasped out. â€Å"But he looks like you said. And you're right; he's a vampire, man! I saw him drain a ten-point buck while it was still kicking. He lied to me,† Tyler added, the whine creeping back into his voice. â€Å"He told me I'd be stronger than anybody, as strong as him. He said I could have any girl I wanted, any way I wanted. The creep lied.† â€Å"He told you that you could kill and get away with it,† Stefan said. â€Å"He said I could do Caroline that night. She had it coming after the way she ditched me. I wanted to make her beg-but she got out of the house somehow. I could have Caroline and Vickie, he said. All he wanted was Bonnie and Meredith.† â€Å"But you just tried to kill Meredith.† â€Å"That was now. Things are different now, stupid. He said it was all right.† â€Å"Why?† Meredith asked Stefan in an undertone. â€Å"Maybe because you'd served your purpose,† he said. â€Å"You'd brought me here.† Then he went on, â€Å"All right, Tyler, show us you're cooperating. Tell us how we can get this guy.† â€Å"Get him? You're nuts!† Tyler burst into ugly laughter, and Matt tightened the arm around his throat. â€Å"Hey, choke me all you want; it's still the truth. He told me he's one of the Old Ones, one of the Originals, whatever that means. He said he's been making vampires since before the pyramids. He said he's made a bargain with the devil. You could stick a stake in his heart and it wouldn't do anything. You can't kill him.† The laughter became uncontrolled. â€Å"Where's he hiding, Tyler?† Stefan rapped out. â€Å"Every vampire needs a place to sleep. Where is it?† â€Å"He'd kill me if I told you that. He'd eat me, man. God, if I told you what he did to that buck before it died†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyler's laughter was turning into something like sobs. â€Å"Then you'd better help us destroy him before he can find you, hadn't you? What's his weak point? How's he vulnerable?† â€Å"God, that poor buck†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyler was blubbering. â€Å"What about Sue? Did you cry over her?† Stefan said sharply. He picked up the ax. â€Å"I think,† he said, â€Å"that you're wasting our time.† The ax lifted. â€Å"No! No! I'll talk to you; I'll tell you something. Look, there's one kind of wood that can hurt him-not kill him, but hurt him. He admitted that but didn't tell me what it was! I swear to you that's the truth!† â€Å"Not good enough, Tyler,† said Stefan. â€Å"For God's sake-I'll tell you where he's going tonight. If you get over there fast enough, maybe you can stop him.† â€Å"What do you mean, where he's going tonight? Talk fast, Tyler!† â€Å"He's going to Vickie's, okay? He said tonight we get one each. That's helpful, isn't it? If you hurry, maybe you can get there!† Stefan had frozen, and Meredith felt her heart racing. Vickie. They hadn't even thought about an attack on Vickie. â€Å"Damon's guarding her,† Matt said. â€Å"Right, Stefan? Right?† â€Å"He's supposed to be,† Stefan said. â€Å"I left him there at dusk. If something happened, he should have called me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You guys,† Bonnie whispered. Her eyes were big and her lips were trembling. â€Å"I think we'd better get over there now.† They stared at her a moment and then everyone was moving. The ax clanged on the floor as Stefan dropped it. â€Å"Hey, you can't leave me like this! I can't drive! He's gonna come back for me! Come back and untie my hands!† Tyler shrieked. None of them answered. They ran all the way down the hill and piled into Meredith's car. Meredith took off speeding, rounding corners dangerously fast and gliding through stop signs, but there was a part of her that didn't want to get to Vickie's house. That wanted to turn around and drive the other way. I'm calm; I'm the one who's always calm, she thought. But that was on the outside. Meredith knew very well how calm you could look on the outside when inside everything was breaking up. They rounded the last corner onto Birch Street and Meredith hit the brakes. â€Å"Oh, God!† Bonnie cried from the backseat. â€Å"No! No!† â€Å"Quick,† Stefan said. â€Å"There may still be a chance.† He wrenched open the door and was out even before the car had stopped. But in back, Bonnie was sobbing.