Bruce Beresford’s “Black Robe”: A Movie About Religious Conversion

Alexander Bermeo February 25, 2013 WHO 2001 – U01 Black Robe Although throughout the film it was evident that other Indian tribes, such as the Iroquois and Algonquin, did not want to convert to Christianity because it went against their own beliefs, the Huron’s were able to go against their belief and accept Christianity.Despite the Huron’s disapproval of the religion because of their own beliefs they eventually accept the religion based on the perception of father LaForgue and his humbleness when he arrives to the settlement, the Huron’s respective chauvinism changes and begins to tolerate the religion as time goes by when the settlement accepts Christianity and the honesty LaForgue gives off, and a cultural rapprochement is evident when the Huron settlement accept Christianity when father LaForgue is there and becomes the priest of the settlement.The film Black Robe shows that there was a successful convergence of the religion the Huron’s had to C hristianity. Throughout the film all the tribes did not like father LaForgue, as well as LaForgue’s assistant, Daniel. It is clear the Indians do not like father LaForgue because they discriminate him by referring to him as â€Å"black robe† and not by his actual name. (Black Robe) Also, when the Algonquin’s abandon LaForgue Daniel continues with the Indian tribe and they do not like it nor do they like him following them.For example, one member of the tribe attempts to murder Daniel as he is following the tribe. (Black Robe) However, despite all these things that have occurred father LaForgue remains humble and when he finally reaches the Huron settlement he respects the tribe and tells them that he loves them even though the other Indians tortured him and put him through a tough journey. During father LaForgue’s journey to the Huron settlement it is clear that each Indian tribe show a strong chauvinistic view on their respective religions. For example, even though LaForgue goes through many trials and ribulations with the Algonquin tribe, he is still with the chief as he is dying and still refuses LaForgue’s request to convert, and the chief even tells his daughter to abandon LaForgue because he witnessed it in his dream. (Black Robe) However, when LaForgue finally reaches the Huron’s it is evident that they too were strong in their faith. It is clear that they did not want to accept Christianity because they murdered one of the French inhabitants that were there in the beginning. (Black Robe) Despite the Huron’s resistance, they eventually accepted father LaForgue and Christianity because he was honest and loving towards the Huron’s.LaForgue was able to reveal the previous inhabitants lie to the Huron’s that baptism will cure their disease by saying it wouldn’t and be honest to the Huron’s to gain their respect, as well as their trust. Throughout the film there is always tension be tween the Indians and father LaForgue based on his ethnicity and more importantly his religion. However, a cultural rapprochement is reached between LaForgue and the Huron’s towards the end of the movie. This is evident when LaForgue finally reaches the settlement and sees that the Huron’s are lost and hopeless because they are slowly dying due to disease.Seeing how weak they are, LaForgue is asked by the Huron’s many questions to solidify his presence in the settlement. LaForgue eventually tells them the truth about the baptizing and that he loves all of them, even though he was mistreated and abandoned by the other Indians. When LaForgue is asked the question if he loves them, he flashes back on all the faces of the Indians he encountered on his voyage and he also reaches a cultural rapprochement with the Huron’s, and all the other Indians, by saying he loves them. With that response, the Huron’s accept LaForgue, and Christianity, and are baptize d at the end of the film. (Black Robe)Although throughout the film it is evident that the Indians, such as the Iroquois and Algonquin, reject Christianity because it goes against their own beliefs, the Huron’s were able to go against their own beliefs and accept Christianity. The Huron’s were able to accept Christianity because of the perception father LaForgue gave off and his humbleness he evokes in the settlement, the Huron’s respective chauvinism begins to change as they forego their own religion and accept Christianity through father LaForgue, and a cultural rapprochement is evident when father LaForgue arrives at the settlement and baptizes the Huron’s.

Rosewood Movie Review

Rosewood A great story based on real example, which happened in small town of Florida. This movie was directed by John Singleton, and based from real incident, that took place in 1923 in Florida. It is a story about how middle class African-Americans were living and enjoying life, until an incident happens in town. A white female is accusing colored person in raping her. From this point main goal of three main characters is to save people from mob attack, and lynching of colored people.This is a great example that we can relate to what he have learned in the class. As we know the main problem of this story is that a white female who had sexual intercourse with her lover, provoked him and he got in a fight with her. Leaving marks on her body and a clear mark on her face, witness of this event were colored people who were working outside and heard everything that was going on. Women was accusing that African-American men raped and beat her. She went outside screaming, and making a trag edy, hiding the truth.This is a great example of what was happening in 19 century, where lynching escalated to a new whole level. According to Jessie Ames, lynching was happening 29% in the North and 71% in the South. And what is the worst that all this killing was happening because of the women that excuse what made in South. Even though that we are knowing according to Jessie Ames that 71% lynching in the South that was happening, this event was instigated against white male, not against female. That said that lynching were happening for no reason, and excuse for it was white women.This move have related and showed us that no one was protected at that time. Living in this small town in Florida, having colored people everyone in middle class, leaving peacefully a knowing everyone. It still didn't help to solve the problem. In the movie was one important scheme when sheriff of the town asked women, if she is sure that it was African-American person or not. It gives us a hint that sh eriff does not belief what she is saying. Knowing that she is capable of not telling truth.White people are getting mad and are crushing and killing African Americans, they re mad and are following each other, while sheriff was trying to make everything fair and find the one who is guilty. But everything collapsed and they started killing and hanging African Americans. The only person who tried to stop and save their lives was owner of the shop. He didn't believed that someone couldn't done this to her. And he was certainly sure that colored people couldn't do that. He tried to save them from their death.He and a new guy, who came in town, team up in order to save kids and women, which ended up being a successful plan. This movie is a great example of what and how was going during mob attacks and racist killings. It showed up that there was a fear of white people to have and realized that colored people are getting educated and are having a better life style. That they are gaining p ower little bit by little bit. And we could see how white people were scared when â€Å"Major† came in to town, and knowing that he is wealthy. This is a story how white folks were scared of colored people, and were doing everything they could

Disciplinary Issues and Violence in School System Essay

Disciplinary Issues and Violence in School System Throughout the nations, disciplinary issue and violence in the school systems has been a controversial matter. These issues have been an argumentum dated back before our time. Since then, schools worldwide especially public schools has implemented different types of tragedies to discipline students and reduced the violence in the schools. These problems have placed students, teachers, administrators, and staffs in constant fear, and they have retarded the educational process, undermining a generation of students, therefore school violence is not a new phenomenon (Adams 2000). Discipline is, after all, a crucial aspect of education and a central component of teachers’ work. As educators, families, and community members turned to the district to intervene in matters of discipline, they also turned to other external agencies-including professional associations, state house, and even the courts- to intervene in other realms of education that had traditionally been controlled at the school site (Kafka 2008). The discipline and punishment of students has become particular harsh- a trend that mirrors the mounting punitiveness in the criminal justice system (Welch and Payne 2010). Sources Adams, A. T. (2000). The status of school discipline and violence. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science-School Violence, 567, 140-156. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/1049499 Kafka, J. (2008). â€Å"sitting on a tinderbox†: Racial conflict, teacher discretion, and the centralization of disciplinary authority. American Journal of Education, 114(3), 247-270. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/10. 1086/529501 Welch, K. , & Payne, A. A. (2010). Racial threat and punitive school discipline. Social Problems, 57(1), 25-48. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/10. 525/sp. 2010. 57. 1. 25 Throughout the nations, disciplinary issue and violence in the school systems has been a controversial matter. These issues have been an argumentum dated back before our time. Since then, schools worldwide especially public schools has implemented different types of tragedies to discipline students and reduced the violence in the schools. Th ese problems have placed students, teachers, administrators, and staffs in constant fear, and they have retarded the educational process, undermining a generation of students, therefore school violence is not a new phenomenon (Adams 2000). School violence and discipline are not the same concept, but they are related (Adams 2000). Adams (2000) mentions some of the practices for discipline in school such as suspension and expulsion, in school suspension (ISS), and zero tolerance. He also brought up an interesting factor about students who are on medication (s) for different type’s disorders such as ADD or ADHD sometimes used an excuse for the misbehaving (Adams 2000). Discipline is, after all, a crucial aspect of education and a central component of teachers’ work. As educators, families, and community members turned to the district to intervene in matters of discipline, they also turned to other external agencies-including professional associations, state house, and even the courts- to intervene in other realms of education that had traditionally been controlled at the school site (Kafka 2008). Therefore, throughout most of the American history, students discipline was largely decentralized: local educators were responsible for determining appropriate classroom behavior and for meting out punishments as they saw fit (Kafka 2008). Today, teachers and the public remain ambivalent about the location of disciplinary authority (Kafka 2008). There are researches and studies that have been done to see if tragedies such as some listed were effective or ineffective since implemented. Research has shown that certain student socio-demographic qualities are related to harsh school discipline. Statistic indicate that poorer students are, in fact, more likely to be targeted by harsh school practices, while wealthier students more often receive mild to moderate consequences (Welch and Payne 2010). In addition, various school characteristics have found to affect the social control of students. Discipline policies are more likely to be effectively improve student behavior and accountability in school with strong principal leadership which consists support of teachers, consistent supervision and the use of feedback, high visibility and presence, and effective planning and problem- solving (Welch and Payne 2010). Another thing that research found is racial status- consistently related to student punitiveness, with inority students receiving harsher treatment more often than white students. This is general given more frequently and more punitive for less serious offenses such as suspensions, expulsions, even corporal punishment, and zero tolerance violations (Welch and Payne 2010). Putting it all together, the effects of student race on discipline is that it is actually socioeconomic status that influences school punitiveness (Welch and Payne 2010). Discipline is both an antecedent and an expected outcome or predictable behavior. Discipline is sometimes used to measure violence. School violence and discipline are mutually constitutive of the problem and need to be considered in relationship to each other (Adams 2000). There are pros and cons on some of the tragedies that have been implemented for disciplinary in the school exclusions such as suspension and expulsion. The pros for exclusion are 1) it is and an effective way for administrators to handle large numbers of disruptive youths 2) it offered protection to a larger student body and 3) provide administrators with a sense of control over the uncontrollable (Adams 2000). In the other hand, there are negative sides to this exclusion 1) students who are routinely disciplined by being suspended are more likely to drop out of school which in turn causes derailment 2) it also sends the wrong message- students loses respect for authority figures when excluded from school for truancy and 3) it has the potential to predispose unsupervised children to become individuals who are asocial, with the likelihood of increased delinquency as well- it simply displaces the offending student from the school to the street (Adams 2000). Furthermore, in-school suspension better known as ISS has it positive and negative outcome as well. ISS is use in substituting for exclusions for 1) teachers, administrators, and school districts didn’t have to deal with lengthy hearings and counsel from school-appointed attorneys 2) the programs kept disruptive students on campus- the same student would be less likely to pose an immediate threat to their local communities and would be under supervision and 3) it kept disruptive student from coming into contact with students who were likely to engage in asocial behaviors during school operating hours (Adams 2000). Furthermore, ISS can be seen as 1) a holding ground for incorrigible students who lack motivation and who are generally inspired by institutional schooling- typically supervised by paraprofessional who lack training to work effectively with at-risk students and 2) the program lacks resources including pedagogic equipment, manipulative, and other learning devices-however there are certified teacher that masterfully run the program and facilitate the learning (Adams 2000). Many students who are placed in ISS programs are there because their teachers lack appropriate mediation skills – as a result, students often find themselves skidding into ISS because of the inability of their teachers to cope with students from diverse social background that often are at variance with the background of middle-class teachers (Adams 2000). Another policy that’s implemented is zero tolerance- it has the approach taken off in response to more violent nature of school disruption. It too has its advantages and disadvantages in the school system- it has two advantages as follows 1) detection aspect- which involved surveillance throughout the school except in the restroom, dressing room and classroom. It’s to help mobilize school security and have the proactive approach and 2) punishment- a return version of exclusion, when proof is there to expelled student with certain offenses (Adams 2000). On the opposite side, zero tolerance has it disadvantages 1) Students who are kicked out of school are the one that need education the most and mostly are from low income families and are at risk 2) tends to violates students’ right to due process 3) it absolved schools of their responsibility to provide nurturing, caring, and mentoring relations that prepare students for democratic society 4) it also has the unintended consequence of being racist- it disproportionately punishes minority students 5) often remove students from the educational process for minor offenses such as being tardy, class cutting, and insubordination and 6) it has no appreciable effects on reducing violence in the school (Adams 2000). With that all put together, some studies have found that the relation between school violence and discipline is more complex than they think. By constructing orderly school environments with reduced level of violence will help provide alternatives conflict resolution and pe aceful school movements (Adams 2000).

The corporation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The corporation - Assignment Example a range of industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceutical, oil, public relations, computer, branding, tire, and advertising and undercover marketing. In addition, the first management guru, critics, a range of academics, historians and thinkers, a Nobel-prize winning economist, and corporate spy, are interviewed and compared (The Corporation, 2004). In the film, cooperation is treated like human beings and subjected to psychiatrists diagnosis to determine how they would behave if they were human beings. Their behaviors are the major and minor details that make up the whole idea. By treating the cooperation as an individual, experts are able to determine its behavior. This builds the topic of the film, the behavior of the cooperation. The film producers interviews over forty people who are professionals in a different field such as business and psychology. In this way, the film informs people as they listen to experts describe the Cooperation. Use of direct interview informs the viewers the best. For instance, Joe Badaracco, a professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School is quoted to say, â€Å"In all his years teaching business, was never asked so pointedly what a business is† (The Corporation, 2004). By use of experts in the field of psychology and other fields, the movie persuades the viewer to believe its ideas. The people interviewed are experts in different fields including business and social sciences. Documentaries are based on some assumptions. In this documentary, the cooperation are assumed to human beings and subjected under psychiatric principles (The Corporation, 2004). The psychiatric analysis categorizes the film to match characteristics of a psychopath. It follows the attributes of the corporate world that shows features such as callous and lack of feelings for others, incapable of maintaining relationships, reckless and disregard others safety, a liar and con artist, lack guilt and one that goes against social norms and disrespect

The Regional Transportation District in Denver Essay - 1

The Regional Transportation District in Denver - Essay Example Through research and analysis, it has been shown that the project is feasible and the only thing needed to be done is the making of a dream into reality. Probably, the strength seen in this proposal is the consideration of its weaknesses so that preparations could be made for a positive response to problems that may arise. Foreseeing what could happen in the administration of the project makes one be prepared to face not only those which are expected but to anticipate things that have never been brought to mind during the course of planning. It is true that there could be other problems to be met in the future in the process of realizing the dream of a quality-based parking space and one could not know what to prepare for in such case but having an attitude of preparedness can evade unsolved problems. As all ideas have their strengths and weaknesses, it is also true in this thought of making a parking space to solve the current problems in Denver RTD. Not disregarding the weaknesses but considering them to make the plan even better, the team who will be working on this is encouraged to unite in the realization of a traffic free and parking space problem free community without even going against the law nor putting the burden on the citizenry. This author believes that everyone would love to live in a world where there is less stress in the streets and in the workplace and this proposal is not just a solution to the most evident problem on the parking spaces but also extends help to make our days go well in school and at work. It is then concluded that the proposition is not only feasible but also very helpful in the society, affecting many aspects of our lives, making the expenses and trouble we will all go through in realizing our desire. It is then my desire to encourage the actions of those who are in the position to approve review all the information presented in this paper and with the same passion as this author has, may you all become one in mind to exte nd the best that you can to have a Denver that can take pride in its Regional Transportation District.

Expensive products that are not in the reach of the masses Case Study

Expensive products that are not in the reach of the masses - Case Study Example Any marketing campaign will need to set the groundwork for yak milk benefits rather than Land 'o Lake branded yak milk features. i. The team of professionals working on the project is experienced, and has the expertise required. Simultaneously, the local Chinese team of Dr Wu and Mr. Dongzhou is a very suitable partner, as they have the government contacts; the local perspective and the experience of working in the country that the team can count on to formulate a successful and far-reaching campaign. Further to the fact that Dr. Wu and Mr. Dongzhou have good government contacts, the political structure of the country is such that if the right officials are on board and are agreeable to the project, the campaign has better chances of success. ii. The government is interested in developing the Tibetan region and has been working on developing the infrastructure to empower the impoverished herdsmen. Thus the team will have the government's support on its side if the team and the local partners lobby it with the officials as being a tool to improve the lives of the poor in that region. The team can promote the idea to the government that by selling their cattle's milk, the herdsmen will be provided a viable opportunity for conducting business and raising the standard of living in the region. The disadvantages of alternative #1 i. Even though the team from Land ' o Lakes has local partners, the team itself has relatively little experience of working in developing countries and therefore it will be difficult for them to truly grasp the nuances of local culture. ii. The advertising campaigns currently being undertaken are well developed and sophisticated, given this context, the yak milk project will have a very slight to nil margin of error in depicting local tastes and selling the brand as a foreign product, given that consumers view foreign goods as being of better quality. 2. The advantages and disadvantages of option 2 are: Advantages : i. Catering to a niche market is simpler and will allow for testing the viability of the brand with advantage of having lower losses in case the product fails to make an impact. ii. As it is an acquired taste, yak milk, if catered to such a market will not need marketing or sales push as much as it would need if it was catered to the mass consumer. Disadvantages i. Niche market consumers will be hard to target as their demographics and geography are not restricted to a certain class of households. Given this, targeted marketing campaigns pertaining to consumers' tastes will be difficult through conventional means therefore the campaign will have to be restrictive and yet catering to common tastes. ii. Targeting niche consumers will limit the brand's potential as there might be prospects for yak's milk for the general market. Recommendations: Recommend alternative #1, because catering to the mass market will also target consumer with the acquired taste and will also help create mass awareness about the nutritional value of the milk being superior to that of cow's milk. Further to the alternative, targeting

Case study memo on Business Ethics in USA Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Memo on Business Ethics in USA - Case Study Example We have received possible food poisoning reports from two counties in Seattle and south California about our unpasteurized products. Health officials through our company managers reported these cases to us and we dispatched them to these counties to collect batches of our nutritional products. As the most successful nutritional foods suppliers, it is our duty to figure out this problem before any more causalities arise from consumption of our nutritional products. When whether to pull all our products from the market or not. Because of lack of evidence that the products that caused the acute food poisoning are ours or not, we have to determine when to inform the retailers that we are pulling all our products. The ethical dilemma that the company is facing is whether or not to notify the customers about the food poisoning by its nutritional products and should it consider pulling all the products from the market. In this case, I find it difficult to agree with the decision that Fred James made but at the same time, I do not have a better solution. James and Healy acted after hearing of seven cases of nutritional food poisoning and after the newspapers had already informed the public. They should have recalled all the products from the market as soon as they learnt about the third or the fourth case of poisoning. Trying to minimize or cover up the damages would only cause more harm than good (Allott, 2001). To analyze the ethical issues in this case using the utilitarian approach, we should first identify the available courses of action. Then we should look at the stakeholders that shall be affected, the benefits and harms that shall be derived from these actions. Lastly, we should choose the action that will yield the least harm while producing the greatest benefits (Allott, 2001). Using the utilitarian approach, James and Healy should have apologized publically about the food poisoning and probably declared a deduction in the

Explain the growth in the concentration of media ownership around the Assignment

Explain the growth in the concentration of media ownership around the world - Assignment Example Founded and headquartered in Australia, the company now boasts of being the number one newspaper publisher in the world, with a cumulative daily readership of 14 million in these three countries alone. Murdoch has a near monopoly in the media space in Australia, owning two-thirds of all newspaper circulation in the country. Across the Tasman Sea, in New Zealand, he owns nearly half. Further, he is the owner of two fifths of the Australian Associated Press. (Knowlton & Parsons, 2005, p. 200) These holdings are notwithstanding his considerable market share in Britain and the United States. These statistics bear testimony to the Murdoch’s media monopoly. Between the lines one can read the dangers posed by monopoly in an industry that is crucial to socio-cultural discourse. One of the negative consequences of media concentration is that it nullifies ethical standards of journalism. News Corp’s official Standards of Business Conduct (SBC) document makes some bold claims. But the company’s actual behaviour is contradictory to these claims. For example, in the area of building trust with business partners and customers, it claims that trust and integrity are of utmost importance. The manner in which the company actually functions makes a mockery of these ethical concerns. There are several instances where News Corp had colluded with political organizations to attain favourable deals. One of the first instances of News Corp’s opportunistic use of political connections came to light in1995. Murdoch struck a book deal with the then House Speaker of the United States Congress Newt Gingrich for a substantial sum of $4.5 million. The ethical problem was obvious in this case. Murdoch, who was even at that time an influential and trans-global media personality, owned a newspaper chain and several television stations. He stood to gain enormously through the relationship with the Speaker. It was only after severe public

MGT501 - Management and Organizational Behavior Mod 5 Case Assignment Essay

MGT501 - Management and Organizational Behavior Mod 5 Case Assignment - Essay Example This paper will discuss these two articles in such a way as to begin to understand the management style needed today. It would be interesting to note that there has always been management controversy. There are those that believe that "management is a set o processes that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly" (Kotter, 1998, pg 26). There are also those that believe as Kennedy (1998) that "old style management is out. Younger workers do not want to be managed". According to Kennedy, workers want to be taught to manage their positions themselves and they judge their managers by the ability to do this. Kotter, on the other hand would say that workers are looking for management based on the different among them. For example, how you need to be managed is different than how your friend needs to be managed. Looking seriously at the Kennedy article and the Sun article, it is noted that there are some differences as well as some disagreements. Sun (2009) is suggesting ten ways to manage to stay out of trouble when it comes to the politics in the office and Kennedy (1998) is suggesting that the new generation of employees really does not care about what others think, that the next job is just down the road and if they get a bad recommendation, they will deal with it. Kennedy also believes that direct reports are the audience and that should be remembered and at the same time Sun indicates that it important that direct reports do not see that you might get involved in office politics. It also appears in Kennedys article that the newer generation of healthcare workers has a tendency to use the grapevine for passing information or gaining information and Sun (2009) warns not to get involved in the gossip sessions that occur in the office, especially not those that may be putting down the org anization or the boss. It is quite interesting as we look at this subject that the Kennedy article and

Macbeth Summary - historical context and the main female roles Essay Example for Free

Macbeth Summary historical context and the main female roles Essay * Macbeth was written around 1606 * King James I has recently honoured Shakespeares theatre company and so this play was a thank you to him; o The story is made relevant to him as he had written a book on Demonology about witchcraft with many of his beliefs appearing in Macbeth. o He also claimed direct descendant of Banquo. o King James later had a medal struck of a snake concealed by flowers after the gunpowder plot on him as it showed deceitful concealment of that in Macbeth. * Women in the 17th century (1600s) have had no rights and were inferior to men. o They were thought to be more misogynistic as well, implying that they were more susceptible to evil as well e.g. first sin. o They were to be obedient to father and husband and hostess to men so they couldnt get a divorce if divorced they would own property or land and would be frowned upon by society o Women had no power or education (Lady Macbeth is different; she can read has power over husband and as queen) o Only access to throne by way of manliness (Macduff stripped of his connections with weak womanhood as c-section birth) * Shakespeare takes the historical part of the story from a historian called Raphael Holinshed. In his chronicles, Lady Macbeth is only mentioned once. * The real Macbeth was a Scottish king in the 11th century who ruled after Duncan and is supposed to have been brave, honest and successful in conquering land. * The people of the era would have believed in the divine right of kings whereby a king was appointed by God and only God should have the power to kill him. Therefore the audience would have been appalled to her such a plot. * Witchcraft was very much believed in at this time and those who were thought to be a witch were burnt, hung and drowned as they where that dangerous. They thought they could control everything from the weather to the future and did the work of the devil. Those who didnt believe would still have followed it for the purposes of the play. Lady Macbeth * She has an abnormal female identity as she is able to read Macbeths letter symbolising her power * Her domineering personality also breaks social standards and the witches prophecies display the power of womans sexuality * Macbeth and her have an equal relationship my dearest partner of greatest and knows that Macbeth isnt ruthless enough and so she helps him murder Shalt be what thou art promised or Hie, thee hither that I may poor my spirits in thine ear. They are on the same wave length * Her decision to be unsexed by evil turns her into more into a witch character over time than a character of masculine power. * Lady Macbeth is first shown to be stronger, more ruthless and more ambitious than her husband as she plots and persuades her way to the murder of Duncan. She dominates the first meeting showing Macbeths dependence on her and the ease that he submits to the plan shows his true ambition. Look like the innocent flower and be the serpent under it * She is pre-eminently cunning with a practical mind to plan the murder * She wishes that she were not a women so she could murder herself and her husband implies she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body by linking masculinity to ambition and violence o Menstrual flow stop: womb equated to the womanly feelings of tenderness o Milk to gall: denies womanly instincts of birth and suckling child ( would bash in her own childs head to gain her ambitions) Antithesis of a maternal mother o Milk of human kindness while blood is masculine in bedchamber o She calls on darkness like her husband to hid the truth * She manipulates Macbeth by questioning his manhood as her ambitions of power have social constraints. He gives in by saying I dare do all that may become a man; ho dares to do more is none and when you durst do it, then you are a man * She is like a serpent behind the innocent flower as she performs evil behind being a good hostess to Duncan where he even says Fair and noble hostess, we are your guests tonight while she plans the Fatal end to Duncan under my battlements she plays the stereotypical women, the perfect mask to get away with murder. * She is very much involved with the murder as she drugs, leaves out the daggers smears blood over the guards. She even says, Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it which is a sign that she is human * She steadies her husbands nerves (a little water clears us of this deed) issuing imperative language and commands over what he should do, but slips later into madness as she sleep walks later through the castle trying to get rid of an invisible blood stain ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before so guilt haunts her more strongly afterward * She is partly responsible for the corruption of Scotland but from the point Macbeth murders the guards unplanned, she slowly slips out of the story * She is cool self-possession who is courageous enough to faint on the news of Duncans murder for her husband and dismiss him from the banquet. False faith doth hide what do the heart does know * Lady Macbeth gets queen which is what she wanted but isnt any happier as her husband drifts away from her (asks permission of servant to speak to him and is left out of other murders as Macbeth wants her to be innocent of the knowledge) * Just before the banquet, Macbeth takes over as the dominant partner controlling their conversion and it taken Lady Macbeths last bit of strength to think of an excuse for Macbeth seeing Banquos ghost. It works at first relating back to her masculine coward argument against Macbeth but the second time the ghost comes back, Macbeth is in so much shock that he doesnt give in to her. Lady Macbeth is then forced to call off the banquet without etiquette. On the plus side, Macbeth goes along with her excuse of his terrors showing their still is trust. * She is the complete opposite of Lady Macduff who is era standard woman who is a maternal mother defends husband despite criticism over leaving them. Her death relates back to Fair is foul and foul is fair as its the good that suffer. The murder of her innocents may have put lady Macduff over the edge. * Once Macbeth goes away, Lady Macbeth starts to sleep walk and wants a light beside her as she sleeps as there is so much darkness inside her. This scene shows her at her most venerable with Out damned spot as she reiterates the whole murder. She uses irony of Will these hands never be clean and hyperbole of all the perfumes in Arabia couldnt sweeten this hand which is a first for her logical mind. * She now says whats done cannot be undone compared to whats done is done strong minded opinion earlier in the story. * She apparently kills herself at the end as she cant cope with the guilt and her character has no further need as Macbeth cant face her as he sees what deeds they have done. * Macbeth feels that his life is now over because of her death as he uses a strong soliloquy saying There would have been time for a word tomorrow so he goes into battle to die a soldiers death. * The last words on her were from Malcolm saying This dead butcher and his fiend like queen which could be a biased opinion bit we dont know how she actually died. * Her role in the story is vital but supplementary to the work of the witches in tempting Macbeth to evil as she is the one who Macbeth trusts and loves * The witches and her share similar features in that they lack in human empathy and are ambiguous beings e.g. witches have beards and Lady Macbeth wants to be unsexed. The Three Witches * Three weird sisters who are the first characters we meet in the play providing dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil with their supernatural powers as they play on Macbeths ambitions like puppeteers. * They have beards giving the impressions that they are neither male or female therefore unambiguous * Each worked with their own familiar an animal of transfiguration (Greymalkin Paddock) * The witches appear in thunder and lightning as they control it. They speak in rhythmical paradox (rhyming couplets) fair is foul etc. which is echoed by Lady Macbeth and there appears to be an omen over the castle. * The witches plant the thought, Macbeth thinks it and Lady Macbeth waters it * The witches words are comical but a clearly the most dangerous characters as they act as independent agents toying with human lives and their prophecies are reports of the inevitable. * Their effects of temptation are shown in Macbeth as this great military hero is wrapped in a trance, sees visions, is unable to pray and suffers from fear before saying I have almost forgot the taste of fears * They could be thought to have controlled Lady Macbeth in her insanity when she rubs at the damned spot as they could have been the ones who as she says unsexed her * Shakespeare leaves the witches well outside the limits of human comprehension and only implies stereotypes of the era for the characters * The witches help no one but themselves, even when Macbeth is helped by their prophecies; there are tricks within e.g. Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane or being killed of a man not born of a woman. (Equivocation is the distortion of truth)

Ethics in Accounting: Financial Reporting Scandals

Ethics in Accounting: Financial Reporting Scandals Introduction The first thing is character, before money or anything else. J. P. Morgan Integrity is of utmost importance for a successful career in business and finance in the long run. Some believe that the world of finance lacks ethical considerations. Whereas the truth is that such issues are prevalent in all areas of business. The business environment in much of the world is reeling from the revelation of several financial scandals in the past few years. The optimism of the turn of the century has been replaced by scepticism and distrust. It will be discussed as to how we landed ourselves in this situation, what is being done to correct it, and what the future holds for us. Though Enron has been used as the poster-child for this purpose, breakdowns in accounting and corporate governance in Enron as well as in other companies will be discussed. Some companies that have encountered financial reporting problems will be discussed along with the role of auditors (including Andersens role in Enron), the regulatory environment, some of the causes of the problems, and the current and possible future outcomes. Ethics and Accounting Ethics (maintaining fair and true statements) is a key part of financial reporting. For shareholders to trust a company with money, they must feel confident in the companys financial reporting. Financial reporting presents all data relating to the entityscurrent, historical and projected health meaning investors and shareholders rely upon the financial data available for making informed and educated decisions. To help entities comply with business regulations and maintain financial reporting, shareholders can trust the existing organizations designed to monitor different aspects of the accounting world. Primary organizations are Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). These three bodies together ensure financial reporting is fair, reliable, and available to all investors. The specific importance of ethics in business and in financial reporting is to ensure public and investor confidence in companies. Without a strong code of ethics and adherence to that code, individuals may not be certain their investments are secure. Accounting professionals must have a strong ethical and moral reasoning because their decisions regarding financial reporting can have major consequences for individuals as well as corporations and entire nations. Ethics in the business environment are more than just issues relating to accounting; because ethical practices can and will cross boundary from business practice to what a company may ask its accounting professionals to do in financial recording. The many recent scandals involving accounting and reporting fraud generally began at the CEO and made their way down into the financial records. Before the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, various financial abuses such as WorldCom, Enron, and Adelphia Communications plagued the American public and affected economic health of the entire nation adversely. Most of these frauds stemmed from unethical accounting practices instituted at the highest levels of the corporations, but carried out in the financial reporting practices of public accounting firms. In December 2001, Enron, which used to be one of the worlds leading energy companies once, filed the largest bankruptcy in the history of the U.S., using the retirement accounts of thousands of American workers, to enrich those at the highest levels of the corporation. Using thousands of off-the-records partnerships to hide nearly $1 billion in debt and to inflate profits, company had defrauded shareholders of billions. Due to these scandals, President Bush and Congress were forced to take tough stance in the form of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July of 2002. When ethics seem to be on the downfall in a society, the common man naturally turns to the government for guidance. Various crises in the history of the United States have led to creation of several regulatory bodies and laws. The three entities in the US, mentioned above, work closely together to ensure financial accounting is honest. The SEC, the FASB, and the PCAOB are each an independent entity, but they often work in cooperation in certain areas such as oversight and reporting. While these three bodies work together, they rely on cooperation from member companies and from participation from â€Å"whistle-blowers† in companies and public citizens. As the Enron collapse illustrated, there were systemic failures in the private-sector watchdog-groups. The SEC and the PCAOB must work closely together and include way to fast-track criminal cases. Enron and other financial reporting scandals Enron was a great symbol of widespread problem in corporate America as its rise was as spectacular as its fall. Enron, formed in 1985 when Internorth purchased Houston Natural Gas was soon being run mainly by Houston Natural Gas executives, with Ken Lay as CEO. In 1990, both Jeffrey Skilling and Andy Fastow were hired. In 1996, Skilling became the President and COO. A meteoric rise in both reputation and stock value came by, with Enron being named as one of Fortunes most admired companies in 2001 and its stock price peaking at $90.56 a share as on August 23, 2000. Much of the companys success was credited to the financial wizardry of Fastow. However, companys fall was just around the corner, with Skilling resigning in August of 2001. This was followed by a $1.2 billion write-off, and the beginning of an SEC investigation in October. By December, Enron had declared bankruptcy and the share price was $.26 per share. If Enron had been a lone case, concern would have dissipated quickly and confidence in capital markets would not have plumped. But it was not so. Before Enron, there were companies such as Waste Management and Sunbeam — not significant by themselves, but they should have acted as a warning of what was to come. After Enron the disclosures kept coming. WorldCom was caught capitalizing expenses. While Enron was trying to outsmart the accounting and capital market regulators, WorldCom made accounting errors that even novice accounting students would know were inappropriate. A disturbing aspect of many of these scandals is the collusion among many executives. An important observation is that all of these scandals cant be attributed to one factor alone. Each one was different. Hence it can be concluded that the solution is not easy to find. There is no single accounting practice that made these entities vulnerable to executive excesses. What these scandals had in common was a culture that was pervasive in corporations. A culture had come in that made it permissible to lie to shareholders and the markets. â€Å"The ends justify the means† became the corporate mantra. Also, the watchdogs, the auditors had turned a blind eye with their focus just on their consulting businesses. They were not as vigilant as they should have been in audits. The auditors role in ensuring fair play Auditors are supposed to protect the public from the types of abuses that have been seen in the past. Even though financial statements are responsibility of management, the shareholders hire auditors for the protection of their interests and to add credibility to financial information provided by the firms. To be credible, auditors need both expertise and integrity. Expertise assures if there is a financial reporting irregularity, the auditor has the capacity to discover it. Integrity assures that auditors will disclose any irregularity they may find. These two qualities are essential. They are also multiplicative that is if either is missing, other has no value. It has been found that both were missing in many cases. Expertise was missing as audits had come under cost cutting measures of firms. This happened often at the cost of quality. Integrity was gone when auditors forgot that the first allegiance of a professional is to the public. Seldom did auditors betray management for the benefit of the public. Hence, even if they did discover reporting problems, rather than reporting them to the public they often helped management devise ways around the reporting problems. Auditors fell into this position (probably not because they were incompetent or unethical but) because of the cultures in major accounting firms. Andersen, Enrons auditor, is a classic example. There were good auditors who got caught up in an economic struggle leading to undue focus on revenue generation. An audit firm having the highest reputation for competence and integrity compromised on its values as that was the only way its partners thought to be economically competitive. In the more recent Satyam case in India, the fraud started at the top level management and reached the financial records. The role of Pricewaterhouse, Satyams auditor, is also controversial in the said scandal. Causes of financial reporting problems The regulatory environment had not changed suddenly then why did the financial reporting problems surface at the time, is a question to be pondered upon. There are many reasons, not one that dominates. It was a confluence of circumstances that opened eyes to the problems. The bursting of the bubble economy was a major reason these financial abuses came to light. When everything was seemed bright, nobody questioned companies financial reports. In accounting the lack of relevance of historical cost accounting and even the basic traditional accounting framework were being discussed. The â€Å"new economy† was not to last forever. And when it did not last, investors began to ask tough questions. For many of the questions, there were no answers — only denials and cover-ups. In the auditing profession, audits had become loss leaders. The balance sheets and income statements had lost value, so auditing of the statements was not important. Thus, many audits became hasty and more of a formality. No one was willing to pay for quality audits, so many audit firms believed there remained no sense in competing on the basis of quality. Cost drove audit decisions. Lower cost even with lower quality was the norm. The passivity of corporate boards was also a contributor. This was worsened by the growing number of complex financial transactions, most of which were beyond understanding of board members, who had gained their experience before such instruments came into being. Even a former accounting professor heading Enrons Audit Committee, a person of utmost integrity, had difficulty understanding the implications of the companys financial manoeuvring. Finally, the biggest culprit is the corporate culture. Focus was laid on short-term gains forgetting about all long-run considerations. Also the executive scorecard became focused on salary. Many players had become greedy — executives, investors, and attorney, among others — but more than that was the need to compete on the basis of compensation. Implications for accounting educators The perpetrators of most of financial reporting scandals are former students, graduates of accounting or MBA programs. So educators must ask themselves: What are they doing wrong and what must they do to fix the problems? The first obvious reaction is to emphasize ethics in business and accounting curricula. This is important. Educators in a business ethics class can not dissuade someone who is inclined to commit a fraud from doing so. But it is also true that most perpetrators did not at the onset set out to commit a fraud. They simply got ended up on a slippery zone. Also, the most disappointing aspect about most of the scandals is the number of people who, (though not personally involved) knew what was happening and still did nothing. Exceptions to the rule are some courageous whistle blowers, many of whom were products of university accounting programs. Thus, the focus of ethics classes should be to recognize and analyse the situations that can lead to compromise on ones ideals and values, and to promote the reporting of inappropriate behaviour. This can be best done in context because ethics issues come up in context, with you imagining yourself in the real situation. It is easy to go into an ethics class and give the answer that the instructor wants. It is an altogether different thing to put ones self in a case situation with conflicting pressures, and determine the appropriate action when ethics is only one of the many factors impacting your decision. Conclusion The accounting profession is in the middle of a challenging time. A reputation gained over years and decades can be lost in a day. Accountants were thought of as persons of high integrity working at an uninteresting job. In the current scenario the job has gotten more interesting, but at the cost of their reputation for integrity. It is essential to win back the trust of the public and maintain their belief in the importance of accounting. The road to restoring integrity of accountants today is a long one. The job will neither be quick nor easy, with the new series of financial reporting scandals that have come up. References Wikipedia online encyclopaedia Sarbanes-Oxley Act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes- Oxley_Act#Overview_of_the_PCAOB.27s_requirements Financial oversight of Enron: SEC and private-sector watchdogs http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/100702watchdogsreport.pdf http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/54065/accounting_ethics.html