Leadership Competencies: Garbage Can Model

Leadership Competencies: Garbage Can Model There are two major decision making models. The garbage can decision making model is reality based, and intended to extend the understanding of organizational decision making by accentuating a time-based context (the situation at one point in time) and accepting chaos as reality. This is typical decision making in the emergency room of a hospital; the expertise of the medical team is vital. Rational (willful choice) decision-making models are a subset of reality-based models (Ledlow Coppola, 2011). In an emergency room situation, willful choice principles are mentally checked off by physicians at roughly the speed of light. Choice is guided by four basic principles: (1) unambiguous (knowing which questions are relevant) awareness of another possibility; (2) likelihood and knowledge of significances; (3) a rational and reliable priority system for alternate ordering; and (4) heuristics or decision rules to choose an alternative (Ledlow Coppola, 2011). After a decision is made using the garbage can decision method, rational choices are made regarding implementation. The garbage can model is quite different from traditional decision-making models. It assumes that organizations are a long way from flawless and work in a condition of insurgency (without guidelines), where hierarchical inclinations and procedures are indistinct to the individuals from the association and policy makers in the association change frequently. The garbage can model assumes that no authoritative procedure for finding an answer for an issue exists and that decision makers are separated from issues and arrangements (Bugajenko, 2003). Both willful choice and garbage can decision models are utilized in health organizations. The willful choice, or rational, model accepts that individuals in associations settle on choices considering reason, in a purposeful way, through an insightful and deliberate procedure that results in an ideal choice. It involves six sequential steps: 1. Identify the problem. 2. Collect data. 3. List all possible solutions. 4. Test possible solutions. 5. Select the best course of action. 6. Implement the solution based on the decision made (Ledlow Coppola, 2011). The garbage can, or reality-based, hypothesis accept that decisions are made on a messy and indiscriminate premise, like satisficing or wading through. In health care associations members in the decision-making process regularly have clashing viewpoints of the issue, have restricted time and assets to gather information, and are obliged to consider every conceivable solution by regulatory compliance requirements. In addition, time and money limits make it irrational to test all conceivable arrangements (Problem Solving and Decision Making in Health Organizations, n.d.) Use of both decision-making tools is vital in such instances as mental health, providing a greater range of important input in treatment decision making (Strauss, Lawless, Sells, 2009). Overall, it is shown that in the medical industry, both willful choice and garbage can decision making models are instrumental in the successful delivery of healthcare. References: Bugajenko, O. (2003). The garbage can model of decision making. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-garbage-can-model-of-decision-making.html Ledlow, G. R., Coppola, M. N. (2011). Leadership for Health Professionals: Theory, Skills and Applications (14th ed.). Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781449626440/cfi/6/4!/4/2/14/8/26/[emailprotected]:0 Maister, D. (2001). Davidmaister.Com > garbage can decision making. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from David Maister Professional Business Professional Life, http://davidmaister.com/articles/garbage-can-decision-making/ Problem Solving and Decision Making in Health Organizations. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from Frates Health Care, file:///G:/HSM410/07ch_frates_health_care_1.pdf Strauss, J., Lawless, M. S., Sells, D. (2009). Becoming expert and understanding mental illness. Psychiatry, 72(3), 211-21. doi:https://search.proquest.com/docview/220676554?accountid=41759

Hatred in Swifts Gullivers Travels and Hartleys Film No Such Thing :: essays research papers

Misanthropy, or hatred of humankind, is one of the strongest feelings that people can have. In his novel Gulliver’s Travels, the author Jonathan Swift explores what causes this emotion. Likewise, Hal Hartley attempts to explain the roots of hatred through his film No Such Thing. Through their works, both men claim that it is not a universal emotion, but rather it is felt only by more evolved creatures. Hatred is a product of knowledge and the sense of superiority it creates in those who posses it. Swift interprets hatred to be an unpreventable consequence of intelligence. During his fourth voyage, Gulliver lands on the island of the Houyhnhnms, a race of horse-like creatures, and the Yahoos, human-like animals. The Houyhnhnms dominate over the Yahoos, much as humans rule over horses. These creatures hold their servants in disdain, viewing them as lower life forms. The Houyhnhnms are exponentially more evolved than the Yahoos, exhibiting a civilized form of society, while the Yahoos live in ape-like tribes and labor for the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver soon begins to view them in the same light: â€Å"There were few greater lovers of Mankind, at that time, than myself, yet I confess I never saw any sensitive Being so detestable on all Accounts, and the more I came near them, the more hateful they grew† (187). Gulliver sees how unintelligent and uncivilized the Yahoos are, causing him to think himself better than they are. The Houyhnhnms also notice the difference betwee n the Yahoos and him: â€Å"Every Servant of his House were desirous to teach me. For they looked upon it as a Prodigy that a brute Animal should discover such Marks of a ration Creature† (190). Although the Houyhnhnms initially look upon Gulliver was disdain, assuming that he is one of the Yahoos, they begin to treat him with respect after he demonstrates his intelligence to them. They only hold Gulliver in contempt while they believe that he is as stupid and uncivilized as the Yahoos, but once he proves that he is as well-mannered and intelligent as the Houyhnhnms are, their hatred diminishes. They treat him respectfully when they view him as an equal. Gulliver, on the other hand, becomes more and more misanthropic as he stays on the island. He knows immediately the difference between himself and the Yahoos.

Ethical Challenge of Protecting Software in Emerging Economies: Copyright Law and Enforcement in Pakistan :: Software Technology Protection Essays

Ethical Challenge of Protecting Software in Emerging Economies: Copyright Law and Enforcement in Pakistan Introduction The United States and Pakistan have similar laws protecting software using copyright and patents despite being at very different stages of economic development. Pakistan has an emerging economy with a per capita GDP of $2000 per capita and a literacy rate of 46%.[i] The US has a more mature economy with per capita GDP of $37,600 and a 97% literacy rate[ii]. Despite having similar laws regarding copyright and patent protection Pakistan has rampant piracy problems not seen in the US. It is estimated that 95% of digital media sold in Pakistan is pirated[iii]. This may be in part due to the high cost of software relative to income compared to US where software piracy exists but is less rampant. This discrepancy raises the question: Is it ethical to apply the same rules to two countries regardless of economic condition and industry maturity and what is the global effect of having the same laws but enforcing them differently? Background Two primary methods for protecting software throughout the world are patents and copyright[iv]. Each provides a different measure of protection. The goal of each is to promote the sharing of new inventions and creative works while ensuring that the developer of the work is compensated. Copyright provides the copyright holder rights to the work for 75 years after creation or 50 beyond author’s death whichever is shortest. It not only protects the actual syntax of the code from being copied but covers structure, sequence, and organization of the program. This is to prevent people from simply rewriting an application in another programming language. Copyright, as applied to more traditional written works such as books and songs provide for â€Å"fair use† by others. Fair use means that others can use a small portion of a copyright protected work without permission for certain reasons such as education or critical commentary. The fair use clause is not really applic able to software because it is rare that a small portion of a computer program would be used in the situations covered by the fair use clause. This is an example of stretching an existing law to cover new technology. Patents protect software in a different way by giving the creator rights to the process performed by the protected program.

Stereotype and Term Crooked Politician

Stereotypes are rampant in our culture and have been a dilapidating issue in our civilization for a long while. The use of stereotypes to judge another human being can cause serious detriment to the success and happiness of others. Understanding what stereotypes are and how they came about is important to eradicate the use of stereotypes and be able to assess a person’s worth based on their own individual traits. Some of the most common stereotypes are among politicians, tattooed persons, feminists, and senior citizens.I will uncover the stereotypes associated with these groups, how the stereotypes are used and why, and how stereotyping most definitely leaves a negative effect. Stereotyped Groups There is a vast majority of people that are stereotyped. When a stereotype is implemented, it groups individuals into a certain category (Moore, Parker, 2004). This poses a difficult standard because most people can fit into several categories based on different factors such as religi on, race, sex, and personality traits among other features.When someone chooses to group people and give that group a description, they are opting to provoke â€Å"a thought or image about a group of people based on little or no evidence† (Moore, Parker, 2004, p. 130). Political cues and stereotypes are key elements in the political spectrum that undoubtedly propel a certain gage in voter’s decisions (Johnston, 1981). Politicians have always had a general stereotype of being dishonest. The term â€Å"crooked politician† is a common one, and is seemingly used on a regular basis. Although there are mendacious politicians, it is unfair to ascertain that all or most of politicians have this characteristic.If a politician believes in a different ideal than a citizen, or if that politician simply belongs to the opposing political party, it is unfortunate that he or she may very well be coined as a dishonest politician. This is a form of mockery and slander. It is the more appropriate form of judgment to assess the unique traits and beliefs of that individual politician rather than putting them into a class of untrustworthy representatives by default. Another stereotype falls into the lap of tattooed persons. Those with tattoos have a stereotype of being tough, scary, and delinquent.One study perpetuated results that children connect a strong negative assumption about tattoos (Durkin, Houghton, 2000). Similarly, in this study it was also purported that young people who initiate interest in getting tattoos are aware of the stigma of criminality attached to those with tattoos or body art (Durkin, Houghton, 2000). Many people who choose to cover their bodies with tattoos do so with a creative edge and it does not represent any delinquency per se. However, it is obvious that many criminals and gangs have tattoos as standards, and this realization seems to bleed into the mainstream population of those with tattoos.It is unfortunate that society deems those with tattoos as estranged wrongdoers as it certainly impinges on the ability to gain employment or be generally respected and greeted appropriately by others. Feminists have long been looked upon as abrasive activists. Feminism started out this way in the 1960s in order to appease the needs of women and obtain rights. Some feminists have been extreme with their attitudes and choices of activism, but it does not necessarily represent the entire feminist population. Many feminists are not radicals but are mild heroines of women’s rights.Although some women have positive views of feminism as it related to fighting sexism and sexual oppression, only 12% of 200 college women in one particular study readily identified themselves in a feminist group (Roy, Weibust, Miller, 2007). This shows that feminism still has a negative connotation and most are scared to endorse feminism despite some of the positive aspects it entails. One last stereotype that seems highly unfortunate is t hat of senior citizens. Most people have the view that elderly people are slow and dumb. This comes from some facts pertaining to old age that include deterioration of the mind and body.However, it is very clear that many senior citizens have active lifestyles and are healthy and happy. Furthermore, the aspect of this stereotype that is most regrettable is that unlike the other groups that were discussed such as politicians, feminists, and tattooed persons, being elderly is not a choice; everyone comes to that stage in life. Therefore, perhaps the stereotypes forced upon senior citizens are by far the most pertinent examples of a lack of philanthropy and signify how stereotypes are harmful, outrageous slanters that lack conviction and critical thinking.The Truth Behind Stereotypes Stereotypes were developed on assumptions without any evidence. However, most stereotypes come alive with part truths that permeate the surface. There are relevant facts that pertain to stereotypes that ha ve been witnessed within a particular group. This is possibly the most crucial aspect of stereotyping. Because of this, most people engage in stereotypes without recourse because they believe that they are expressing truth. After all, some politicians are dishonest while some tattooed people are definitely unlawful.And most people can see that feminists are usually radicals while senior citizens are most surely slow and lack wit. However, it is not viable to put all individuals who share those labels into one group because there are most certainly many people that can be in those categories who invoke a ration of the unexpected. That is why truth should not be used as a scapegoat when applying stereotypes, because truth is whole and encompassing. Stereotypes clearly only deal with some and not the entire portion, therefore there is no truth to stereotypes.

College: Ready Or Not, Here It Comes! Essay

Schools from all over the country are preparing for the upcoming graduations in their respective institutions whether it is elementary, secondary or college academies especially those in high school. As often said, high school is a training ground for the upcoming college adventure of teenagers – a sanctuary for students to assert themselves and prepare themselves for the stress they are bound to face once they stepped on their college universities. But sadly, students graduating from secondary schools aren’t that assured as others believed to be. Unfortunately, according to the statistics, of the ten students that will finish elementary level, only seven would move up to the secondary level and only three would finish college up to the very end. These, as researches said, are commonly caused by poverty, lack of motivation and – yes – unpreparedness. The question is how we can deem a student ready for his /her college life. What are the things a student must have to be called prepared? What are the pointers that a senior student must consider in getting ready for college? First things first, we must know what we want. Choosing a course just simply because it’s ‘in’ would get you nowhere. Instead, select the one that would fit your character as well as your interests. Most college freshmen end up flunking their courses due to this misconception. Secondly, choose a college that would fit your standards. Somewhere near your place and offers quality education at your own price. After these two, you won’t have much difficulty in getting to college. But then, we always have the third cue. It would always end with the question ‘Can I do this?’ The answer? Of course you can! You would just need to shape up yourself. You must set your mind first to your goal. Your goal: to survive college and move on with life. Then, start having the confidence in you. Remember, this is college we are talking about. You will start off with only yourself to lean on before you get to meet other people. It would also help if you try to keep the pressure from getting to you. Take a load off and relax while you’re at it. Keep in mind that your education would not prosper if you would think of it as a duty – a burden – instead of an enjoyable activity. It doesn’t matter if you get awards or not, what matters is that you are learning steadily – awards are just bonuses. If you’ll observe our current society, you can perceive that the most successful personalities were not honor students during their times. Take them as your inspiration and surely, you can get through college with lesser difficulties. It wouldn’t hurt to put some effort on to something that we want to achieve. High school, as early as it seems, is not a mere phase of your life to learn something from the books. It is a phase where we should learn both the reality of life and to build an identity of our own – to discover ourselves. We can never stop time so use it wisely. Hopefully, students wouldn’t say the words ‘College: here it comes’ but rather, the declaration ‘College: ready or not, here I come’!

Utalitarian Principle in Charles Dickens Hard Times

INTRODUCTION Utilitarianism is the assumption that human beings act in a way that highlights their own self interest. It is based on factuality and leaves little room for imagination. Utilitarianism dominated as the form of government in England's Victorian age of eighteenth century. Utilitarianism, as rightly claimed by Dickens, robbed the people of their individuality and joy; deprived the children of their special period of their lives, ‘Childhood' and deprived women of their inherent right of equality.The theme of utilitarianism, along with industrialization and education is explored by Charles Dickens, in his novel  Hard Times.. Hard Times written in those times intended to explore its negativisms. Utilitarianism as a government was propounded as a value of system which evaluated its productivity by its overall utility. It substantiated the idea of â€Å"highest level of happiness for the highest numbers of people†. Since the overall happiness of the nation depend ed open the overall productivity, industrialism became the walk of everyday life.Moreover, since Utilitarianism assumes that what is good for majority is good for everyone, individual preferences are ignored. The majority answers are always right. Minorities are subjugated and oppressed, instead of being asked for their opinions. Their feelings are ignored and society becomes increasingly practical, and driven by economics. The theory fails to acknowledge any individual rights that could not be violated for the sake of the greater good. Hard Times  was in fact an attack on the Manchester School of economics, which supported  laissez-faire  and promoted a distorted view of Bentham’s ethics.The novel has been criticised for not offering specific remedies for the Condition-of-England problems it addresses. It is debatable whether solutions to social problems are to be sought in fiction, but nevertheless, Dickens’s novel anticipated the future debates concerning anti -pollution legislation, intelligent town-planning, health and safety measures in factories and a humane education system. The school teachers are compared to a gun loaded to its muzzle by facts ready to be exploded to the children. The children in schools don't have names and are called by numbers.There is no room for imaginative answers. When the teacher asks to answer what ‘horse' is, a student named Bitzer gives a factual answer, â€Å"quadruped† having this-many teeth etc, but by no means the ‘qualities' of the horse is exemplified and considered. The influence of utilitarianism is shown particularly by two characters in the novel, Gradgrind and Bounderby. Both are money-oriented, have materialistic outlook and give importance to ‘facts'. eople in insane productivity. Dickens provides three vivid examples of this utilitarian logic in Hard Times The first; Mr.Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, was the principal of a school in Coketo wn. He was a firm believer in utilitarianism and instilled this philosophy into the students at the school from a very young age, as well as his own children. Mr. Josiah Bounderby was also a practitioner of utilitarianism, but was more interested in the profit that stemmed from it. At the other end of the perspective, a group of circus members, who are the total opposite of utilitarians, are added by Dickens to provide a sharp contrast from the ideas of Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind.Thomas Gradgrind Sr. , a father of five children, has lived his life by the book and  never strayed from his philosophy that life is nothing more than facts and statistics. . Thomas Gradgrind in particular always gives importance to facts and raises his children to be hard, machine-like and epitomes of facts and they lack any emotions. Even while justifying Louisa's marriage to ‘old' Bounderby, he does so by some mathematical calculations and logic.. He has successfully incorporated this belief into the school system of Coketown, and has tried his best to do so with his own children.They did not consider, however, the children’s need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts that are used to expand children’s minds, all of which are essential today in order to produce well-rounded human beings through the educational process. One has to wonder how different the story would be if Gradgrind did not run the school. How can you give a utilitarian man such as Gradgrind such power over a town? I do like how Dickens structures the book to make one ask obvious questions such as these.Dickens does not tell us much about the success of the other students of the school besides Bitzer, who is fairly successful on paper, but does not have the capacity as a person to deal with life’s everyday struggles. Gradgrinds two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how this utilitarian method failed miserably. These children were never given the opportunity to thin k for themselves, experience fun things in life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are smart people in the factual sense but do not have the street smarts to survive.Tom is a young man who, so fed up with his father’s strictness and repetition, revolts against him and leaves home to work in Mr. Bounderby’s bank. Tom, now out from under his fathers wing, he begins to drink and gamble heavily. Eventually, to get out of a deep gambling debt, he robs a bank and is forced to flee the area. When Bitzer realizes that Tom has robbed the bank and catches him, Mr. Gradgrind begs him to let Tom go, reminding him of all of the hard work that was put on him while at the school.Ironically Bitzer, using the tools of factuality that he had learned in Gradgrinds school, replies that the school was paid for, but it is now over and he owes nothing more. I think this is extremely funny how, at a time of need, Gradgrind’s educational theory has backfired in his face. I thin k Dickens put this irony in as a comical device but also to show how ineffective the utilitarian method of teaching is. Louisa, unlike Tom, does get along with her father. She even agrees to marry Mr. Bounderby, even though she does not love him, in order to please her father.She stays in the marriage with Bounderby, and goes about life normally and factually, until she is faced with a dilemma and panics. Mr. James Harthouse, a young, good looking guy, is attracted to Louisa and deceivingly draws her attraction to him. She does not know what to do since she has never had feelings of her own before. Her father never gave her the opportunity to think for herself, or even love someone. This is why Louisa goes frantic and ends up crying in her fathers lap. She has always been told what to do and what is ‘right’, and now even her father is stumped.For the first time in the whole novel, Mr. Gradgrind strays from the utilitarian philosophy and shows compassion for his daughter and her feelings. One must think that he is beginning to doubt his philosophy after seeing it backfire in his face more than once. Josiah Bounderby is another prime example of utilitarianism. He is one of the wealthiest people in Coketown; owning a bank and a factory, but is not really a likable person. His utilitarian philosophy is similar to Gradgrinds in the sense that factuality is the single most important virtue that one could posses.Mr. Bounderby maintained throughout the story his utilitarian views, which basically stated that nothing else is important besides profit. Being the owner of both a factory and a bank, Bounderby employs many workers, yet seems to offer them no respect at all. He refers to the factory workers as â€Å"Hands,† because that is all they are to him. Bounderby often states that workers are all looking for â€Å"venison, turtle soup, and a golden spoon,† while all they really want is decent working conditions and fair wage for their work.H e is not concerned about his employees as human beings, but how much their hands can produce during the workday, resulting with money in his pocket. When one of his workers, Stephen Blackpool came to Bounderby’s house asking for advice about his bad marriage, he was treated as inferior just because of his social status. Dickens portrayed the scene as one in which Blackpool was on a level five steps below Bounderby and his associates because he was a lowly worker who was obviously much less educated than them.It almost seemed like they would not even take him seriously because he was such. Blackpool was told that he could not divorce his wife because it would be against the laws of England. Later in the book, Bounderby divorces his wife. This shows that wealth played a large role in determining the social classes that people were in and the privileges they had. This was definitely unfair but the social classes were structured in a way which allowed those who had money to look down upon those who were less fortunate.Generally, those who were not well-educated did not have any money, while the well-educated ones such as Bounderby and Gradgrind were wealthy. The people who knew the factual information, (utilitarians) were successful, while those who did not were reduced to working in the factories of the utilitarians. Dickens paints a vivid picture of this inequality between social classes and shows he does not care much for it. It is fairly easy to see that Dickens holds a contempt for Bounderby and the utilitarian philosophy he carries.The book details the philosophy, then shows how miserably it failed. How much different would their lives be if the town was not run by utilitarians. Dickens cleverly added in circus people as a contrast to the utilitarian approach to life. The circus people could be called the total opposite of utilitarianism. If one element of the book stands out in my mind, it would be this one. The circus people are simple, open-minded human beings whose goal in life is to make people laugh.Dickens portrays them as a step up from the â€Å"Hands† but still close to the bottom in the social structure. These people are hated by Gradgrind, Bounderby and other utilitarians because they represent everything that is shunned in utilitarianism such as love, imagination, and humor. Sissy Jupe, the daughter of a circus man, was taken in by the Gradgrinds to live in their home. She is representative of the circus people with her innocence and free-will, qualities which are lacking in the lives of the people around her.Just by her presence, her goodness rubs off on the people around her, although it is too late for most of them. Even after numerous attempts to force utilitarianism into her by Mr. Gradgrind and his school, she is still the fun-loving girl that she always was because she grew up living with â€Å"normal† people who thought for themselves and loved each other. She influenced these qualities on the youngest Gradgrind daughter Jane, who led a much more enjoyable and fulfilling life than her older sister Louisa because of those influences.Jane is not spoken of much until the end of the book but I like the way Dickens showed the effects of the utilitarian lifestyle as opposed to the non-utilitarian lifestyle. The utilitarians ultimately ended with a great downfall because their narrow-minds could not endure the pressures that life can impose on oneself. The people that did not fall victim to the utilitarian trap were able to live their lives happily and freely, able to love, laugh, and use their imagination; which is the way life ought to be lived.Dickens obviously had a definitive opinion of the way life should be lived and did an excellent job of depicting it. His method was somewhat indirect in the sense that he worked backwards to get his point across, but turned out to be very effective as the story progressed. Most of the story revolved around utilitarianism and the study o f cold hard facts, but when the character flaws began to surface as a result of this philosophy, Dickens is quick to emphasize them. One actually sees the main character of the book and firm supporter of utilitarianism, Mr.Thomas Gradgrind, experience the faults of his practice and begin to stray from it. Now, after watching his life fall apart, maybe he wishes he were in the circus. .  . The working and living conditions were often atrocious. Working days were long, and wages low, as employers often exploited their workers and increased their profits by lowering the cost of production by paying meagre wages and neglecting pollution control. Safety measures were often ignored and workers were put out of jobs by the introduction of machines that created a surplus of labour.The rate of accidents was very high. A handicapped worker was doomed to extreme poverty, as there were no social security or insurance payments. The New Poor Law of 1834 was based on the â€Å"principle of less eligibility,† which stipulated that the condition of the â€Å"able-bodied pauper† on relief (it did not apply to the sick, aged, or children) be less â€Å"eligible†that is, less desirable, less favorable than the condition of the independent laborer. This reasoning was absolutely correct from the scientific and the Utilitarian point of view, but it rejected any emotional considerations.There was no consciousness of class beyond a recognition that the ‘masters' constituted a different order of society into which they would never penetrate. Their aspirations were modest: to be respected by their fellows ;to see their families growing up and making their way in the world, and to die without debt and without sin. Trade unions did appear to introduce and protect workers rights, but in the initial stages of industrialisation, the workers were not protected. Purely theoretically, it can be proven that Utilitarianism poses a threat to humanity.For example, if one person must suffer to make other people happy, then in the Utilitarian terms it is acceptable to make that person suffer. One of the Hands in Bounderby’s factory, Stephen lives a life of drudgery and poverty. In spite of the hardships of his daily toil, Stephen strives to maintain his honesty, integrity, faith, and compassion. Stephen is an important character not only because his poverty and virtue contrast with Bounderby’s wealth and self-interest, but also because he finds himself in the midst of a labor dispute that illustrates the strained relations between rich and poor.Stephen is the only Hand who refuses to join a workers’ union: he believes that striking is not the best way to improve relations between factory owners and employees, and he also wants to earn an honest living. As a result, he is cast out of the workers’ group. However, he also refuses to spy on his fellow workers for Bounderby, who consequently sends him away. Both groups, rich an d poor, respond in the same self-interested, backstabbing way.As Rachael explains, Stephen ends up with the â€Å"masters against him on one hand, the men against him on the other, he only wantin’ to work hard in peace, and do what he felt right. † Through Stephen, Dickens suggests that industrialization threatens to compromise both the employee’s and employer’s moral integrity, thereby creating a social muddle to which there is no easy solution. Through his efforts to resist the moral corruption on all sides, Stephen becomes a martyr, or Christ figure, ultimately dying for Tom’s crime.When he falls into a mine shaft on his way back to Coketown to clear his name of the charge of robbing Bounderby’s bank, Stephen comforts himself by gazing at a particularly bright star that seems to shine on him in his â€Å"pain and trouble. † This star not only represents the ideals of virtue for which Stephen strives, but also the happiness and tran quility that is lacking in his troubled life. Moreover, his ability to find comfort in the star illustrates the importance of imagination, which enables him to escape the cold, hard facts of his miserable existence.In  Hard Times  human relationships are contaminated by economics. The principles of the ‘dismal science’ led to the formation of a selfish and atomistic society. The social commentary of  Hard Times  is quite clear. Dickens is concerned with the conditions of the urban labourers and the excesses of laissez-faire capitalism. He exposes the exploitation of the working class by unfeeling industrialists and the damaging consequences of propagating factual knowledge (statistics) at the expense of feeling and imagination.However, although Dickens is critical about Utilitarianism, he cannot find a better way of safeguarding social justice than through ethical means. â€Å"In place of Utilitarianism, Dickens can offer only good-heartedness, individual chari ty, and Sleary’s horse-riding; like other writers on the Condition of England Question, he was better equipped to examine the symptoms of the disease than to suggest a possible cure† (Wheeler, 81). Hard Times  proves that fancy is essential for human happiness, and in this aspect it is one of the best morally uplifting novels.Dickens avoided propagating employer paternalism in the manner of Disraeli, Charlotte Bronte and Gaskell, and strongly opposed commodification of labour in Victorian England. As John R. Harrison has pointed out: The target of Dickens’s criticism, however, was not Bentham’s Utilitarianism, nor Malthusian theories of population, nor Smith’s free-market economics, but the crude utilitarianism derived from such ideas by Benthamite Philosophical Radicals, which tended to dominate social, political, and economic thinking and policy at the time the novel was written.The Gradgrind/Bounderby philosophy is that the Coketown â€Å" Han ds† are commodities, â€Å" something† to be worked so much and paid so much, to be â€Å"infallibly settled† by â€Å"laws of supply and demand,† something that increased in number by a certain â€Å" rate of percentage† with accompanying percentages of crime and pauperism; in fact, â€Å"something wholesale, of which vast fortunes were made. † REFERENCES * All references to Bentham's  Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation  will be to the section of it republished in Burr and Goldinger's  Philosophy and Contemporary Issues.New York: Macmillan,1992. p. 225-232. * Dimwiddy, John. Bentham. Oxford  and  New York:  Oxford  UP, 1989. * Mitchell,Sally,ed. Victorian  Britain: An Encyclopedia. New York  and  London:  GarlandPublishing,1988. * Cazamian, Louis. The Social Novel in  England  1830-1850. London  and  Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. * Woodward, Sir Llewellyn. The Age of Reform 1815- 1870. The  Oxford  history of  England. Oxford:  Oxford  UP, 1962. Utalitarian Principle in Charles Dickens Hard Times INTRODUCTION Utilitarianism is the assumption that human beings act in a way that highlights their own self interest. It is based on factuality and leaves little room for imagination. Utilitarianism dominated as the form of government in England's Victorian age of eighteenth century. Utilitarianism, as rightly claimed by Dickens, robbed the people of their individuality and joy; deprived the children of their special period of their lives, ‘Childhood' and deprived women of their inherent right of equality.The theme of utilitarianism, along with industrialization and education is explored by Charles Dickens, in his novel  Hard Times.. Hard Times written in those times intended to explore its negativisms. Utilitarianism as a government was propounded as a value of system which evaluated its productivity by its overall utility. It substantiated the idea of â€Å"highest level of happiness for the highest numbers of people†. Since the overall happiness of the nation depend ed open the overall productivity, industrialism became the walk of everyday life.Moreover, since Utilitarianism assumes that what is good for majority is good for everyone, individual preferences are ignored. The majority answers are always right. Minorities are subjugated and oppressed, instead of being asked for their opinions. Their feelings are ignored and society becomes increasingly practical, and driven by economics. The theory fails to acknowledge any individual rights that could not be violated for the sake of the greater good. Hard Times  was in fact an attack on the Manchester School of economics, which supported  laissez-faire  and promoted a distorted view of Bentham’s ethics.The novel has been criticised for not offering specific remedies for the Condition-of-England problems it addresses. It is debatable whether solutions to social problems are to be sought in fiction, but nevertheless, Dickens’s novel anticipated the future debates concerning anti -pollution legislation, intelligent town-planning, health and safety measures in factories and a humane education system. The school teachers are compared to a gun loaded to its muzzle by facts ready to be exploded to the children. The children in schools don't have names and are called by numbers.There is no room for imaginative answers. When the teacher asks to answer what ‘horse' is, a student named Bitzer gives a factual answer, â€Å"quadruped† having this-many teeth etc, but by no means the ‘qualities' of the horse is exemplified and considered. The influence of utilitarianism is shown particularly by two characters in the novel, Gradgrind and Bounderby. Both are money-oriented, have materialistic outlook and give importance to ‘facts'. eople in insane productivity. Dickens provides three vivid examples of this utilitarian logic in Hard Times The first; Mr.Thomas Gradgrind, one of the main characters in the book, was the principal of a school in Coketo wn. He was a firm believer in utilitarianism and instilled this philosophy into the students at the school from a very young age, as well as his own children. Mr. Josiah Bounderby was also a practitioner of utilitarianism, but was more interested in the profit that stemmed from it. At the other end of the perspective, a group of circus members, who are the total opposite of utilitarians, are added by Dickens to provide a sharp contrast from the ideas of Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind.Thomas Gradgrind Sr. , a father of five children, has lived his life by the book and  never strayed from his philosophy that life is nothing more than facts and statistics. . Thomas Gradgrind in particular always gives importance to facts and raises his children to be hard, machine-like and epitomes of facts and they lack any emotions. Even while justifying Louisa's marriage to ‘old' Bounderby, he does so by some mathematical calculations and logic.. He has successfully incorporated this belief into the school system of Coketown, and has tried his best to do so with his own children.They did not consider, however, the children’s need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts that are used to expand children’s minds, all of which are essential today in order to produce well-rounded human beings through the educational process. One has to wonder how different the story would be if Gradgrind did not run the school. How can you give a utilitarian man such as Gradgrind such power over a town? I do like how Dickens structures the book to make one ask obvious questions such as these.Dickens does not tell us much about the success of the other students of the school besides Bitzer, who is fairly successful on paper, but does not have the capacity as a person to deal with life’s everyday struggles. Gradgrinds two oldest children, Tom and Louisa, are examples of how this utilitarian method failed miserably. These children were never given the opportunity to thin k for themselves, experience fun things in life, or even use their imaginations. True, they are smart people in the factual sense but do not have the street smarts to survive.Tom is a young man who, so fed up with his father’s strictness and repetition, revolts against him and leaves home to work in Mr. Bounderby’s bank. Tom, now out from under his fathers wing, he begins to drink and gamble heavily. Eventually, to get out of a deep gambling debt, he robs a bank and is forced to flee the area. When Bitzer realizes that Tom has robbed the bank and catches him, Mr. Gradgrind begs him to let Tom go, reminding him of all of the hard work that was put on him while at the school.Ironically Bitzer, using the tools of factuality that he had learned in Gradgrinds school, replies that the school was paid for, but it is now over and he owes nothing more. I think this is extremely funny how, at a time of need, Gradgrind’s educational theory has backfired in his face. I thin k Dickens put this irony in as a comical device but also to show how ineffective the utilitarian method of teaching is. Louisa, unlike Tom, does get along with her father. She even agrees to marry Mr. Bounderby, even though she does not love him, in order to please her father.She stays in the marriage with Bounderby, and goes about life normally and factually, until she is faced with a dilemma and panics. Mr. James Harthouse, a young, good looking guy, is attracted to Louisa and deceivingly draws her attraction to him. She does not know what to do since she has never had feelings of her own before. Her father never gave her the opportunity to think for herself, or even love someone. This is why Louisa goes frantic and ends up crying in her fathers lap. She has always been told what to do and what is ‘right’, and now even her father is stumped.For the first time in the whole novel, Mr. Gradgrind strays from the utilitarian philosophy and shows compassion for his daughter and her feelings. One must think that he is beginning to doubt his philosophy after seeing it backfire in his face more than once. Josiah Bounderby is another prime example of utilitarianism. He is one of the wealthiest people in Coketown; owning a bank and a factory, but is not really a likable person. His utilitarian philosophy is similar to Gradgrinds in the sense that factuality is the single most important virtue that one could posses.Mr. Bounderby maintained throughout the story his utilitarian views, which basically stated that nothing else is important besides profit. Being the owner of both a factory and a bank, Bounderby employs many workers, yet seems to offer them no respect at all. He refers to the factory workers as â€Å"Hands,† because that is all they are to him. Bounderby often states that workers are all looking for â€Å"venison, turtle soup, and a golden spoon,† while all they really want is decent working conditions and fair wage for their work.H e is not concerned about his employees as human beings, but how much their hands can produce during the workday, resulting with money in his pocket. When one of his workers, Stephen Blackpool came to Bounderby’s house asking for advice about his bad marriage, he was treated as inferior just because of his social status. Dickens portrayed the scene as one in which Blackpool was on a level five steps below Bounderby and his associates because he was a lowly worker who was obviously much less educated than them.It almost seemed like they would not even take him seriously because he was such. Blackpool was told that he could not divorce his wife because it would be against the laws of England. Later in the book, Bounderby divorces his wife. This shows that wealth played a large role in determining the social classes that people were in and the privileges they had. This was definitely unfair but the social classes were structured in a way which allowed those who had money to look down upon those who were less fortunate.Generally, those who were not well-educated did not have any money, while the well-educated ones such as Bounderby and Gradgrind were wealthy. The people who knew the factual information, (utilitarians) were successful, while those who did not were reduced to working in the factories of the utilitarians. Dickens paints a vivid picture of this inequality between social classes and shows he does not care much for it. It is fairly easy to see that Dickens holds a contempt for Bounderby and the utilitarian philosophy he carries.The book details the philosophy, then shows how miserably it failed. How much different would their lives be if the town was not run by utilitarians. Dickens cleverly added in circus people as a contrast to the utilitarian approach to life. The circus people could be called the total opposite of utilitarianism. If one element of the book stands out in my mind, it would be this one. The circus people are simple, open-minded human beings whose goal in life is to make people laugh.Dickens portrays them as a step up from the â€Å"Hands† but still close to the bottom in the social structure. These people are hated by Gradgrind, Bounderby and other utilitarians because they represent everything that is shunned in utilitarianism such as love, imagination, and humor. Sissy Jupe, the daughter of a circus man, was taken in by the Gradgrinds to live in their home. She is representative of the circus people with her innocence and free-will, qualities which are lacking in the lives of the people around her.Just by her presence, her goodness rubs off on the people around her, although it is too late for most of them. Even after numerous attempts to force utilitarianism into her by Mr. Gradgrind and his school, she is still the fun-loving girl that she always was because she grew up living with â€Å"normal† people who thought for themselves and loved each other. She influenced these qualities on the youngest Gradgrind daughter Jane, who led a much more enjoyable and fulfilling life than her older sister Louisa because of those influences.Jane is not spoken of much until the end of the book but I like the way Dickens showed the effects of the utilitarian lifestyle as opposed to the non-utilitarian lifestyle. The utilitarians ultimately ended with a great downfall because their narrow-minds could not endure the pressures that life can impose on oneself. The people that did not fall victim to the utilitarian trap were able to live their lives happily and freely, able to love, laugh, and use their imagination; which is the way life ought to be lived.Dickens obviously had a definitive opinion of the way life should be lived and did an excellent job of depicting it. His method was somewhat indirect in the sense that he worked backwards to get his point across, but turned out to be very effective as the story progressed. Most of the story revolved around utilitarianism and the study o f cold hard facts, but when the character flaws began to surface as a result of this philosophy, Dickens is quick to emphasize them. One actually sees the main character of the book and firm supporter of utilitarianism, Mr.Thomas Gradgrind, experience the faults of his practice and begin to stray from it. Now, after watching his life fall apart, maybe he wishes he were in the circus. .  . The working and living conditions were often atrocious. Working days were long, and wages low, as employers often exploited their workers and increased their profits by lowering the cost of production by paying meagre wages and neglecting pollution control. Safety measures were often ignored and workers were put out of jobs by the introduction of machines that created a surplus of labour.The rate of accidents was very high. A handicapped worker was doomed to extreme poverty, as there were no social security or insurance payments. The New Poor Law of 1834 was based on the â€Å"principle of less eligibility,† which stipulated that the condition of the â€Å"able-bodied pauper† on relief (it did not apply to the sick, aged, or children) be less â€Å"eligible†that is, less desirable, less favorable than the condition of the independent laborer. This reasoning was absolutely correct from the scientific and the Utilitarian point of view, but it rejected any emotional considerations.There was no consciousness of class beyond a recognition that the ‘masters' constituted a different order of society into which they would never penetrate. Their aspirations were modest: to be respected by their fellows ;to see their families growing up and making their way in the world, and to die without debt and without sin. Trade unions did appear to introduce and protect workers rights, but in the initial stages of industrialisation, the workers were not protected. Purely theoretically, it can be proven that Utilitarianism poses a threat to humanity.For example, if one person must suffer to make other people happy, then in the Utilitarian terms it is acceptable to make that person suffer. One of the Hands in Bounderby’s factory, Stephen lives a life of drudgery and poverty. In spite of the hardships of his daily toil, Stephen strives to maintain his honesty, integrity, faith, and compassion. Stephen is an important character not only because his poverty and virtue contrast with Bounderby’s wealth and self-interest, but also because he finds himself in the midst of a labor dispute that illustrates the strained relations between rich and poor.Stephen is the only Hand who refuses to join a workers’ union: he believes that striking is not the best way to improve relations between factory owners and employees, and he also wants to earn an honest living. As a result, he is cast out of the workers’ group. However, he also refuses to spy on his fellow workers for Bounderby, who consequently sends him away. Both groups, rich an d poor, respond in the same self-interested, backstabbing way.As Rachael explains, Stephen ends up with the â€Å"masters against him on one hand, the men against him on the other, he only wantin’ to work hard in peace, and do what he felt right. † Through Stephen, Dickens suggests that industrialization threatens to compromise both the employee’s and employer’s moral integrity, thereby creating a social muddle to which there is no easy solution. Through his efforts to resist the moral corruption on all sides, Stephen becomes a martyr, or Christ figure, ultimately dying for Tom’s crime.When he falls into a mine shaft on his way back to Coketown to clear his name of the charge of robbing Bounderby’s bank, Stephen comforts himself by gazing at a particularly bright star that seems to shine on him in his â€Å"pain and trouble. † This star not only represents the ideals of virtue for which Stephen strives, but also the happiness and tran quility that is lacking in his troubled life. Moreover, his ability to find comfort in the star illustrates the importance of imagination, which enables him to escape the cold, hard facts of his miserable existence.In  Hard Times  human relationships are contaminated by economics. The principles of the ‘dismal science’ led to the formation of a selfish and atomistic society. The social commentary of  Hard Times  is quite clear. Dickens is concerned with the conditions of the urban labourers and the excesses of laissez-faire capitalism. He exposes the exploitation of the working class by unfeeling industrialists and the damaging consequences of propagating factual knowledge (statistics) at the expense of feeling and imagination.However, although Dickens is critical about Utilitarianism, he cannot find a better way of safeguarding social justice than through ethical means. â€Å"In place of Utilitarianism, Dickens can offer only good-heartedness, individual chari ty, and Sleary’s horse-riding; like other writers on the Condition of England Question, he was better equipped to examine the symptoms of the disease than to suggest a possible cure† (Wheeler, 81). Hard Times  proves that fancy is essential for human happiness, and in this aspect it is one of the best morally uplifting novels.Dickens avoided propagating employer paternalism in the manner of Disraeli, Charlotte Bronte and Gaskell, and strongly opposed commodification of labour in Victorian England. As John R. Harrison has pointed out: The target of Dickens’s criticism, however, was not Bentham’s Utilitarianism, nor Malthusian theories of population, nor Smith’s free-market economics, but the crude utilitarianism derived from such ideas by Benthamite Philosophical Radicals, which tended to dominate social, political, and economic thinking and policy at the time the novel was written.The Gradgrind/Bounderby philosophy is that the Coketown â€Å" Han ds† are commodities, â€Å" something† to be worked so much and paid so much, to be â€Å"infallibly settled† by â€Å"laws of supply and demand,† something that increased in number by a certain â€Å" rate of percentage† with accompanying percentages of crime and pauperism; in fact, â€Å"something wholesale, of which vast fortunes were made. † REFERENCES * All references to Bentham's  Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation  will be to the section of it republished in Burr and Goldinger's  Philosophy and Contemporary Issues.New York: Macmillan,1992. p. 225-232. * Dimwiddy, John. Bentham. Oxford  and  New York:  Oxford  UP, 1989. * Mitchell,Sally,ed. Victorian  Britain: An Encyclopedia. New York  and  London:  GarlandPublishing,1988. * Cazamian, Louis. The Social Novel in  England  1830-1850. London  and  Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973. * Woodward, Sir Llewellyn. The Age of Reform 1815- 1870. The  Oxford  history of  England. Oxford:  Oxford  UP, 1962.

Irish Traditional Music

The Harp The harping tradition in Ireland flourished from medieval times until the seventeenth century. It was fostered and developed among the powerful and wealthy Irish and Anglo-Irish families. Harpers were employed along with poets and orators, known as reacoirs, to provide entertainment for the families. As the families acted as patrons to the harpers, they would often have solo pieces, known as planxties, written in their honour by their harper. One famous song is Planxty Kelly.The occupation of a harper was a very prestigious one. The harping tradition was passed on, father to son, for many years and was one of very few viable career options for blind boys at the time. However, after 1600, as the great families went into decline, there was a loss of patronage and harpers were left unemployed. The harping tradition then became a nomadic one, as harpers would travel from county to county, playing for money and food. There were two styles of harp: the Bardic harp and the Neo-Iris h harp.The Bardic harp had between 29 and 31 strings made of wire, which were played with the nails. Usually around 70cm in height with a curved pillar and a hollow soundbox, the Bardic harp was the more resonant of the two. The Neo-Irish harp typically had 34 strings made of nylon or cat gut, which were played with the pads of the fingers. They were taller (about 91cm in height) than the Bardic harp, but less resonant. In 1792 the Belfast Harp Festival was setup with the aim of preventing the decline of the harping tradition.It consisted of eleven harpers from the age of 15 to 97, playing pieces in their own particular style. One player that was the light of the day was Denis Hempson, age 97, being the oldest player there. Edward Bunting was commissioned by the Belfast Harp Society to record the lifestyles of the harpers as well as recording and writing down the music from the festival to preserve it for future generations. This method, unlike the oral tradition which had existed u p until then, did not allow for particular nuances in style and some of these were lost.There was a harping revival in the second half of the twentieth century. The role of the harp as a traditional instrument was led by Maire Ni Chathasaigh, who had solo albums such as â€Å"The New Strung Harp† and Laoise Kelly who release the album â€Å"Just Harp† Uilleann Pipes The uilleann pipes are the characteristic national Bagpipe of Ireland. Their current name (they were earlier known in English as â€Å"union pipes†) is a part translation of the Irish language term pioba uilleann (literally, â€Å"pipes of the elbow†), from their method of inflation.The uilleann pipes are distinguished from many other forms of bagpipes by their sweet tone and wide range of notes together with the unique blend of chanter, drones, and regulators. The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm. The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity.The chanter is the part of the instrument that plays the melody. It's somewhat like a low whistle except it is not placed in the mouth. Air is pumped through the bellows which is attached to the player's right elbow, hence the name. To achieve the â€Å"bottom D† the chanter is lifted off the knee, exposing the exit of the chanter's bore, where the note is produced. The chanter is set on the right knee thus closing off the bottom hole. Many players use a strip of leather placed over the knee, called a â€Å"popping strap,† which provides for an airtight seal.A great range of different timbres can be achieved by varying the fingering of notes and also raising the chanter off the knee, which gives the uilleann pipes a degree of dynamic range not found in other fo rms of bagpipes. A type of simultaneous vibrato and tremolo can be achieved by tapping a finger below the open note hole on the chanter. The bottom note also has two different â€Å"modes†, namely the â€Å"soft D† and the â€Å"hard D†. The hard bottom D sounds louder and more strident than the soft D and is accomplished by applying slightly more pressure to the bag and flicking a higher note finger as it is sounded.Many chanters are fitted with keys to allow accurate playing of all the semitones of the scale. Most uilleann chanters are very responsive to â€Å"half-holing† or â€Å"sliding†, which is the practice of obtaining a note by leaving a fingerhole only half covered. This is why many chanters sold in Ireland are sold without keys. The chanter uses a double reed similar to that of the oboe and bassoon. The regulators are equipped with closed keys which can be opened by the piper's wrist action enabling the piper to play simple chords, givi ng a rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment as needed. History The uilleann pipes developed around the beginning of the 18th century, the history of which is here depicted in prints of carvings and pictures from contemporary sources. The earliest surviving sets of uilleann pipes date from the second half of the 18th century but it must be said that datings are not definitive. Many of the early players in Ireland were Protestant, possibly the best known being the mid-18th century piper Jackson from Co Limerick. The pipes were certainly frequently used by the Protestant clergy who employed them as an alternative to the church organ.Tuning The instrument most typically is tuned in the key of D, although â€Å"flat† sets do exist in other keys. These terms only began to be used in the 1970s, when pipemakers began to receive requests for pipes that would be in tune with Generation tin whistles which are stamped with the key they play in: C, B? , etc. The chanter length determines the overall tuning; accompanying pieces of the instrument, such as drones and regulators, are tuned to the same key as the chanter.The D pipes are most commonly used in ensembles, while the flat-pitched pipes are more often used for solo playing. It is noteworthy that Irish music was predominately solo music until the late 19th century, when these fixed-pitch instruments began to play more of a role. Performers Davey Spillane of Moving Hearts has also recorded solo albums. Liam Og O Floinn of Planxty has also featured as soloist with Shaun Davey in The Brendan Voyage and with RTE orchestras. Paddy Maloney is with The Chieftains. Others from past and present include Seamus Ennis, Paddy Glackin and Paddy Keenan.