The Art of Hospitality - The Greeks and the Odyssey Essay -- essays re

Each culture treats strangers and guests with distinct differences from every other culture. One of the most hospitable cultures was that of the ancient Greeks, exemplified in Homer’s The Odyssey by both gracious hosts and guests. In Greece and The Odyssey, not only was good hospitality etiquette expected, but the added pressure from the conviction that the gods would punish the host if guests were treated without respect (whether they were poor or rich) further compelled excellent manners. The Odyssey illustrates the proper etiquette when dealing with guests.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether friend or stranger, when a guest of any sort arrived the host would greet them and offer them food and drink before any further conversation or engagement of any kind would occur. If the host had considerable wealth, a maid would bring out a basin of water in a â€Å"graceful golden pitcher† to rinse their hands, seen in Book I (line 160) when Athena visits Telemachus, again in Book 4 (60) when Menelaus takes Telemachus and Athena as guests, and also in Book 7 when the King of the Phaeacians greets Odysseus. Appetizers, meats, and wines are all brought out and laid before the guest, as their coming is seen as a celebration, as seen when Telemachus is hosting Athena, â€Å"A staid housekeeper brought on bread to serve them,/appetizers aplenty too, lavishwith her bounty./A carver lifted platters of meat toward them,/meats of every sort†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Book 1, 163-166) On several occasions, a particularly h...

A Conflict of Cultural Values between Generations Essay

Two generations clash in Hanif Kureishi’s short story, â€Å"My Son, The Fanatic. † Parvez, the father, is an immigrant from Pakistan while his son, Ali, was born and grew up in England. In his adopted country, the father has exerted the effort to imbibe the English values and raise his son the English way; his son, meanwhile, suddenly decides to explore his familial roots and denounce everything Western. The story plays out the generational conflict between father and son in the context of their differing cultural values. Parvez is a good father according to traditional standards as to how a father should be. He grew up in his native Pakistan but left behind his old life when he migrated to England. He is hard-working. He has devoted his life to ensuring his son’s education and supplying his needs. He measures his accomplishments according to his son’s own. With an intelligent son who is also good at sports, he feels he has done well as a father. He is also concerned about Ali all the time. When he senses something wrong with his son, he immediately tries to find out the reasons for the latter’s behavior. While a good father, however, Parvez has forgotten his roots. He has renounced his old religion. He studied in a strict Islamic school as a boy, but has since stopped following its tenets. He is a taxi driver in England now and here, taxi drivers make â€Å"jokes about the local mullahs walking around with their caps and beards. † (Kureishi, 1196). The son, Ali, while he grew up in England, feels alienated with British culture. The story suggests, however, that the alienation occurs at a certain point in his life. The father’s dilemma begins when Ali starts throwing away his old toys, games and clothes. He gives up his sports and old friends, too. It is revealed later on that the reason for these changes is because Ali has embraced Islam. Along with his conversion is the realization that there is too much freedom in the west that is more destructive than liberating to the human soul. He sums up all that is wrong with the western civilization by declaring that â€Å"the west was a sink of hypocrites, adulterers, homosexuals, drug takers and prostitutes† (Kureishi, 1198). Furthermore, he believes that Muslims are being persecuted and thus should declare war against other religions. Ali’s fanaticism causes the conflict between him and his father. The latter begins to feel that his son’s mind has been convoluted with his newfound faith. Parvez tries to understand Ali and hopes to make him realize the wrong logic in his Islamic faith by inviting him out to dinner. It only worsens the conflict, though. Ali chastises his father for drinking and gambling, forbidden acts in the religion. He expresses his disapproval at the fact that his father eats pork in spite his still being a Muslim. Parvez explains his side by telling his son that they are in England now and they have to fit in. Ali, however, could not be swayed in his strong convictions against western civilization. The problem with the west, according to him, is being allowed too much freedom. He also tells his father that he is going to stop going to school because â€Å"western education cultivates an anti-religious attitude† (Kureishi, 1198). This totally crushes the father. After all, he has invested his entire life for his son and Ali’s decision would put to waste his dreams and the long hours he has worked. The story climbs to a climax when Parvez sees his son walking on the street on the poor side of town where there are two mosques. He asks Ali to get into the car. Beside him in the front seat is Bettina, the prostitute whom Parvez has made a close friendship. While Bettina tells Ali about how his father loves him, hoping to engage him in conversation, the son only responds with anger and comments on her profession. His son’s disgust and prejudice against Bettina humiliates Parvez in front of his friend. The night after this incident, Parvez forces himself into Ali’s room while the young man is praying. He kicks and hits him. He is disappointed and desperate with both his son and himself. He thinks that if reasoning with his son would not bring him to his senses, punishing him physically would. The boy, however, does not fight back but instead turns the table upon his father by asking; â€Å"So who’s the fanatic now? † (Kureishi, 1201). The final question which Ali accuses his father with begs an analysis as to who is in the right in the conflict between the father and his son. To Parvez, living in England is an escape from a life in Pakistan which he feels constricted him. To Ali who has become a devout Muslim, everything about England is a contradiction to the tenets of his newfound faith and the country, and others that practice the western culture, is prejudice to people like him. Each one has valid reasons for his actions, but any belief or value that is imbibed and led to the extreme—into fanaticism—could be harmful and cannot be acceptable. The concept of democracy as a western ideal is positive only up to a point as much as Islam is positive until it is taken to extremes. Furthermore, Parvez could not force his own beliefs and values upon his son at his age because Ali has already reached adulthood, that time in life when a person could already think for himself, when his will cannot be controlled as easily as when he was a mere child, and when can no longer be called his father’s child. If Parvez and his son could not meet halfway because they are consumed by their respective cultural beliefs and their fanaticism, they would only be at peace with each other if they learn to accept their differences. Work Cited Kureishi, Hanif. â€Å"My Son, The Fanatic. â€Å"

International Foods Essay

The International Food Group (IFG) was the largest purveyor of food products in the world. Since IFG went public in the 1980s they continued to grow while acquiring companies by the dozen each year. Some of the companies were competition that needed to be eliminated while others had good ideas which IFG liked. Josh’s company, Glow-Foods, fortunately had some ideas that attracted IFG. Josh, while not very important himself was asked to meet with John Ahern and Tonya James, manager if IT marketing. John and Tonya were impressed with Josh’s work at Glow-Foods using social networking and other multimedia to market Glow-Foods. His ability to reach the under-thirty demographic is what really impressed management at IFG. Tonya explained how IFG wanted Josh to help them reach the youth and young adult market with IT. Josh would get a team and whatever resources he needed to accomplish this. Weeks later Josh met his team to begin work. He first met with Tonya, who expressed her excitement in having Josh onboard. Tonya would be responsible for helping Josh work through the many obstacles she knew would lay ahead. The obstacles were within IT as well with the larger company as a whole. Tonya introduced Josh to Rick Visser, the chief technology officer. Rick was in charge of architecture, security, risk management and the technology roadmap. Rick quickly reminded him there are procedures must be followed. It did not take long for Josh to realize there might be a bit more obstacles than he would like. Moving from a smaller company like Glow-Foods to IFG meant drastic changes in the process. Initially issues began to surface slowly, starting with a polite email from Visser reminding the team that access to instant messaging and Facebook required prior approval from his group. Next a request to outline proposed work, with costs and benefits for the next fiscal year, beginning six months from now. Josh and his team were understandably frustrated since they had to be innovative and think outside the box while following a very restrictive process. Josh and his team  worked through the obstacles and come up with a three pronged marketing plan. First, using an interactive web site with real time responses from internal staff the company c ould connect directly to customers about new product development ideas. Second, reach out to different communities to gain insight into their needs to help guide future marketing plans and third, implement all these ideas on the cloud. This would allow for easy scalability while linking with the company databases. Several obstacles where mentioned immediately. What are the business values and initiatives? What if these customers don’t like our company or our products and say bad things about us? How do we handle these situations? There was also great concern about the cloud. IFG did not have the cloud in its architecture and there was a fear of having too much company information vulnerable to anyone on cyberspace. They also mentioned the cloud idea was tried a few years back and it did not go well. Josh needed to win support for his three-point plan to use technology to reach its customers. There are several avenues Josh can take. For the first item, I believe Josh can do several things to help alleviate fear of an interactive web site. One would be to reach out to others who may be doing something similar and get their feedback. Another would be to just lay out some basic procedures for getting negative fe edback. Chances are there will obviously be some for one reason or another; maybe the idea of coupons or refund programs could be looked into, although outside the IT realm, there could be others in the company who could help with this idea. The second talking point of reaching out to different communities did not appear to get a lot of push back. It may be that this idea can proceed with little resistance. The third and the most controversial talking point is the cloud. Josh would definitely have to work closely with Rick and come up with a cost effective plan that works for the company, at the same time will alleviate their fears of the â€Å"cloud†. A well laid out plan explaining the process, the risk management and the benefits of the cloud will help win support for this final point of his plan. In conclusion, in Josh’s own words he has hit the big time. While the company policies require a much more strict business process each of them needs and can be worked through. IT appears there was an initial conversation with John, where Tonya mentioned the enormous roadblocks that are present because of all the procedures in place. The team needed room to be creative while  still working within the system. John appeared to be receptive to further meetings to allow this to happen. Until then, while working within the system, Josh needs to adapt to the new business process, since resisting it will only hurt his cause for new IT marketing ideas. All of his talking points in his three pronged IT marketing attack were very good, Josh and his team need to be a bit more thorough and try their best to have answers to every possible situation. References McKeenm, James D., Smith, Heather A. IT Strategy: Issues and Practices. Upper Saddle River, NJ

Methods of Suppression in 1984 Essay

George Orwell’s anti-utopian novel 1984 paints a picture of a society in which the individual has no freedom, hope, or feeling. Three super states called Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, divide and ravage the earth with perpetual war between them. The story takes place in Oceania, which consists of the Americas as well as Great Brittan. Nineteen-eighty Four chronicles Winston Smith’s struggle to fight against the forever-reining, oppressive social system called the Party. Throughout 1984 several central themes through which the Party controls its members unfold – the first theme is dehumanization, the second theme is encroachment of privacy, and third theme is subtle erosions of freedom. Dehumanization, which clearly presides as the foremost theme in Orwell’s novel, occurs as the first theme. The ways in which the Party dehumanizes the people are the perversion of sex, the destruction of the family, and the deletion of human emotions. Big Brother despises sex. The Inner Party and Big Brother fear sex because sex causes extreme emotion. To destroy sex is to destroy emotions harmful to their rule. To complete this objective the Party conditions the women to hate sex: they completely pervert the natural emotion of sensual desire to something disgusting in nature. Orwell wrote, â€Å"The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or if it could not be killed, then to distort it and dirty it† (66). Starting when the girls are adolescents, they place them in classes such as the Junior Anti-Sex League and bombard them with lectures about the horrible implications of sex. The girls learn that sex is their duty to the party to produce children. Winston’s wife Katharine or â€Å"the human soundtrack† as Winston nicknames her, completely falls for all Party dogma (Orwell 66). She shudders at the thought of sexual relations, swallows all of Party’s propaganda, and has her only loyalty lying blindly in the hands of Big Brother. Julia, Winston’s adulteress, views oppose Katharine’s views in all ways possible. She desires sex as a form of rebellion and doesn’t take anything the Party says for truth. Winston describes her as â€Å"a rebel from the waist downwards† due to her apathy concerning Party situations (Orwell 156). Secondly, the destruction of family values also causes the dehumanization of the people.  By shifting loyalties from the family to Big Brother, the Party succeeds in destroying the family. Couples do not even feel love towards each other anymore. Destroying all emotional connections between family members centralizes as one of the Party’s goals. In the Parsons’ house lies a vision of how the Party wants the family to behave. Mr. Parsons, a Party drone, mutters down with Big Brother in his sl eep and his daughter betrays him to the thought-police. While being hauled off, he actually says that he feels proud of her for denouncing him. Denis Duclos wrote in his article â€Å"Dehumanization or the Disappearance of Pluralism?† that one of two forms of the inhuman was approached by destruction of the symbolic (1), and within the families of Oceania the symbolism of the family has been demolished. Finally, the Party achieves dehumanization by destroying emotions. While torturing Winston, O’Brien says to him, â€Å"In our world there will be no emotion except fear, rage, triumph, and self abasement† (Orwell 267). Throughout the book almost all public events deal with hate. Repeated examples of hate occur in 1984 including executions, the Two Minutes Hate, and Hate Week. The Party wants to build a society founded upon hatred. In the Ministry of Love, O’Brien says to Winston that, â€Å"There will be no loyalty except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no Love except the love of Big Brother† (Orwell 267). The Party wants to have a governed body of no emotions, thoughts, or feelings, for one who does not possess any of these is one that will be easily controlled. Encroachment of privacy takes place as the second theme in 1984. Keeping power in the hands of Party requires constant surveillance of its members in order to keep them in check with fears of thought-crime. They keep a close eye on everyone with a device called a telescreen. The telescreen simultaneously broadcasts propaganda and records all of the activities within its vision. It can never be turned off, only turned down, and it can be found in all the homes of party members as well as all public areas. It says in Goldstein’s book that â€Å"With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end,† (Orwell 206). The telescreen keeps Big Brother in control. Without constant surveillance, the people would feel no outside pressure to act in an  orthodox manner. In â€Å"Bye-bye, Big Brother† Peter Huber writes, â€Å"Without the telescreen there can be no Big Brother, or at least none quite so totalitarian as Orwell imagined† (2). For remote areas such as forests and mountains, the party places sound recording devices to make sure no place goes unmonitored. The party also puts a social stigma on privacy. In Newspeak, the official language of Oceania, the word for privacy is â€Å"ownlife† (Orwell 84). The Party establishes social programs for all of the members so that they will never have any free time: â€Å"In principle a Party member had no spare time, and was never alone except in bed† (Orwell 84). The Party even trains children to spy on their parents for symptoms of unorthodoxy. â€Å"Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the party,† Orwell writes. â€Å"It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children,† (Orwell 24). Subtle erosion of freedoms resides as the third theme of 1984. Through means of controlling the past via constant alterations to make the records reflect the Party’s propaganda, the Party can control what people think and believe. O’Brien says, â€Å"We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull,† (Orwell 268). The Party implements an ideal called doublethink. Doublethink requires believing the lie while still knowing the truth, or controlled insanity. To cite an example, midway through the Hate Week Oceania changed alliances from Eastasia to Eurasia, thus changing enemies as well. Mid speech, the orator changes the perpetrator from Eurasia to Eastasia as members of the Party run from rooftop to rooftop tearing down posters of Eurasians. The masses listening to the speech choose to mindlessly go along with what happened without questioning. Doublethink occurs in the Party’s slogan â€Å"War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ig norance is Strength† (Orwell 16). How could war possibly be peace or freedom be slavery? It can only be true if one believes that war is peace and by doing so contradicting logic. The waging of perpetual war also subtracts from peoples’ freedoms. When a populace is engaged in war, the populace tends to give up freedoms for protection. Peter Huber writes,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Until recently there was only one efficient way for many people to cooperate, and that was to surrender their freedoms. . . . Information traveled one way only, from the rulers to the ruled† (2) By waging perpetual war and only sharing slanted information the Party keeps its citizens at bay with fear of being overrun by another country. â€Å"How can people gauge risks to their lives and property if they are denied access to vital information about these risks?† writes Denis Duclos (3). Knowledge of the peoples’ situation in kept away from the citizens by the Party because knowledge is power. Newspeak is also a way of erasing thought. Syme, a craftsmen of the language, explains Newspeak to Winston when he says, â€Å"In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it,† (Orwell 52). Ceasing all actions of thought by narrowing the English language is Newspeak’s goal. In 1984 Orwell paints a scary picture of what society could be like if we continue on a path of apathy. The themes portrayed in 1984 are dehumanization, evasion of privacy, and erosion of freedoms. These are all things that can be avoided by taking action now. While O’Brien is talking to Winston in the Ministry of Love, he says, â€Å"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever,† (Orwell 267). Although this quote exaggerates how things are going for us at present, it gives us an idea of how it could be. Orwell’s message to us is to take control of our freedom and to abuse it to the fullest. Works Cited Duclos, Denis. â€Å"Dehumanization or the Disappearance of Pluralism?† Diogenes 49.195 (2002): 34-39. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Maize High School Library, KS. 27 October 2004 . Huber, Peter. â€Å"Bye-bye, Big Brother.† National Review. 15 August 1994: 48-51. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Maize High School Library, KS. 27 October 2004 . Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. New York: Penguin, 1971.

Managing Activities to achieve results Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing Activities to achieve results - Essay Example NIKE’s mission statement is â€Å"to bring inspiration and inspiration to all athletes in the world, if you have a body, you are an athlete† (Epstein et al, 2012: p341). NIKE has a preference for using Environmentally Preferred materials, or EPM, which have a lower environmental impact on waste or water, energy, and chemistry. They contend that sustainable products can only be achieved via addressing the product materials, which they do by forging closer relationships with suppliers to ensure they deliver against their needs, for instance, sustainability. One way that NIKE optimizes material use is through the continuous assessment and reduction of overall numbers utilized in production. The focus also aids in management of complexities and cost in the supply chain and design phase. The shift from traditional materials to EPMs requires comprehension of the material characteristics and their availability. The structure of NIKE An organizational structure activities like supervision, coordination, and task allocation that are directed to achieving the aims and objectives of a company. Organizations are, basically, clustered entities with variations. Depending on objectives, the company can be structured in various ways, which determines its operative and performance mode (Daft et al, 2010: p34). It allows for the allocation of responsibilities with regards to various processes and functions to entities such as the individual, workgroup, department, and branch. It also affects the action of the organization by the provision of the foundation for standard procedures of operation and routine, as well as determination of the individuals who participate in decision making and shape the actions of the company (Daft et al, 2010: p35). NIKE has a matrix organizational structure, also known as the flat organizational structure (Epstein et al, 2012: p342). In the flat organization at NIKE, the employees report to the product or project teams that are led by p roduct managers and to the department manager. Every brand possesses a department with this department making independent decisions. The departments also have sub-departments that are responsible for mini-tasks in the department. The product team and managers are involved in decision making with regards to production and specifications with the managers at the department level involved, primarily, in issues to do with policy, for instance, sustainability (Epstein et al, 2012: p342). The production team is able to react and take decisions faster than traditional department heads as these are removed from the line of production. NIKE’s Vision A vision statement is definitive of what an organization will perform in the future, as well as why it will be in existence tomorrow with defined goals with set dates of accomplishment (Daft et al, 2010: p45). Vision statements involve the organization’s current status and acts as a direction on the path the organization wishes to t ake. It can also be useful as a marketing tool since it acts to announce the organization’s purpose and goals to the media, vendors, clients, suppliers, and employees. NIKE has a clear vision that entails decoupling growth of profits from resource constraints (Epstein et al, 2012: p345). The vision is one that views the world in transition to a sustainable economy from an industrial one with renewable

David Bowie and Gender Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

David Bowie and Gender Performance - Essay Example He, in the words of Philip Auslander, can sing â€Å"in many voices and from many subject positions without identifying clearly with any of them† (Auslander 106). By not tying up gender too closely to identity, Bowie is able to demonstrate the degree to which gender is comprised of actions and choices rather than states of being, per se. In David Bowie’s music video â€Å"Life on Mars,† Bowie demonstrates and adroit understanding of the relationship between action and gender, putting on and taking off gender as it suits his lyrics and his messaging. David Bowie, more than almost any performer before him, communicated with all the senses available to him: his image was just as important as his sounds. He thus developed images of himself that aided him in delivering messages for his music. For this reason, one of the most prominent examples of Bowie’s deconstruction of music relate to his physical appearance. Our society tends to conflate physical appearance with identity: in race politics, for instance, identity is often a visible feature, and our society goes out of its way to display other identifying marks as openly as possible, with everything from gender based dress code to â€Å"hanky-codes† which use handkerchiefs to indicate sexual preferences. The fact is, however, that physical appearance, while informing identity, is not the same thing, especially where gender is concerned. Physical identity relates to gender solely in the â€Å"choices† (Butler 903) that are made: the choice to apply this product to one’s face, or the choice to wear a particular style of dress. David Bowie’s music video for â€Å"Life on Mars† plays off of this idea of choice through conscious contrasting of different gendered performances. Bowie appears against a white background, wearing extensive face-make up, â€Å"womanizing† his face through making aesthetic choices associated with femininity. He brings the p erformance over the top, applying blue eye liner, pink lipstick, and dark, thick mascara. However, when the camera pans out, it is apparent Bowie chooses to wear a suit, complete with a tie – one of the overriding symbols of patriarchal control of our society, and one of the few styles of dress that, even in the era in which he was performing, was still relatively confined to male use. He thus deconstructs gender into presentation choices by presenting both masculinity and femininity on one body, and embracing what each entails easily with the flick of a camera and a change in focus. Bowie uses this divergence to great effect when combined with the lyrics. â€Å"Life on Mars† consists of a series of surreal images that flash one after the other, including â€Å"cavemen† and â€Å"lawmen† attacking the wrong person (Bowie). He thus plays his female persona’s criticism against the ridiculousness of patriarchal control while at the same time referenci ng that patriarchal control’s influence over the character, through masculine clothing on the presumably female character. By referencing the brutality associated with masculine violence from the perspective of a woman – a gender that he chooses to portray rather than is assigned by sex, Bowie is able to demonstrate how such violence is not natural but rather a choice made as a way of defining and participating in particular gendered groupings. There are few artists in the world who have been as willing as David Bowie to

The role that Competition authorities may play in correcting market Essay

The role that Competition authorities may play in correcting market failures and facilitate competition - Essay Example Moreover, with the promulgation of more liberal trade, consumers can now enjoy better deals from various producers as the myriad of local and international firms increasingly compete on the basis of better pricing and more quality. Moreover, as more and more firms enter the market, companies are really forced to innovate in order to serve their market better. Central to this is competition. Basically, the globalization has greatly helped in levelling the trade barriers wherein the location is now hardly a source of competitive advantage. This has also been greatly helped by the leaps and bounds of technology which has facilitated vast improvements in transportation and communication. However, despite of these innovations, locations remain important when industries cluster on these areas. These industries amass in certain areas which can strengthen the various industries within them in order to be more productive and by directing and concentrating innovation as well as the stimulation of the birth of new business ventures in the area (Porter, 1998). Still, central to this endeavour is the competition or more accurately the presence of competition. Chang and Harrington (2003) recognize the importance of the level of competition that can be brought about by firms that are able to innovate greatly and maintain a global presence. Prior to the dawn of globalization, many companies are snugly operating within their realms and cuddled by their governments. However, nowadays, many multinational firms have far reaching capabilities globally which encourages innovation to bring about quality and at the same time bring down costs. Again, all these are only possible if firms can compete freely and fairly. Hence, there are various competition authorities that tries to ensure that competition remain healthy within a country. Section A Competition Authority Among the foremost issue that most competition authorities try to tackle is the problem of antitrust. In other words, alt hough innovation is greatly encouraged in the free market and that growth of companies are generally favourable to the economy, certain firms can amass greater market and control thru mergers and acquisitions that, if left unchecked, could result to a consolidation of the industry to only one major player. In such a scenario, there is an effective destruction of competition which can lead to inefficiencies. There are cases when cartels are formed or the dominant player induces practices that may hurt competition such as predatory pricing. Ginsburg and Wright (2010) relate about two deterrents to such practices which are the traditional and penalty deterrence. In their analysis, it can be gleaned that the force of penalties and regulation play crucially in order to maintain balance in a market and to ensure the health of the competition within that industry. UK and Competition The United Kingdom (UK) remains as one of the most competitive countries in the world except for a slight re spite in the past years when the country was reeling from the effects of the Great Recession. Recently though, the country has reclaimed its spot in the top ten along with other European countries. Looking at the list which includes Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands clearly Europe is a center for competitiveness. Although the UK was temporarily ousted from the top ten, the country was able to bounce back fuelled by its strong