Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Wife of Bath is the rapist knight herself Essay Example for Free

The Wife of Bath is the rapist knight herself Essay She still praises him and speaks of the abuse inflicted on her very matter-of-factly. As difficult as it may be to swallow, could it be that she is an example of a woman who merely wants the illusion of having control while she is really the one who is controlled? It is not to say that women dont want power. We just dont want all of the power. After taking another one of his beatings, she made her fifth husband feel so guilty that he relinquished all of his assets. Therefore, there was a cessation of power which perhaps implies to the reader that her husband may now be less desirable to her, since she has now defeated and conquered him. After this encounter, we do not hear much more of the fifth husband. Why is that? Is it because theres nothing left to tell now that she controls him? We arent even told how this marriage ends whether he died or they separated. Of tongue and fist, indeed of all hed got. I made him burn that book upon the spot. And when Id mastered him, and out of deadlock. Secured myself the sovereignty of wedlock. For ages, women have begged men to be more eager to listen and indulge us in our thoughts and desires. However, we tend to become bored with these men. Though the two latter marriages dont seem successful, the reader can see the transition between husbands from ones that were simple and easily tames to the ones that were more difficult and harder to control. She is finding it harder to find a husband, now that she feels weakened, by what she considers the natural flaw of aging I wont prevent him! Ill have a husband yet. So now she needs to assert herself, using some other way to demonstrate her power. She doesnt really have the things that she describes as important, except for what she has superficially attainted through past marriages. You say that some desire us for our wealth, Some for our shapeliness, our looks, our health, Some for our singing, others for our dancing, Some for our gentleness and dalliant glancing, And some because our hands are soft and small; But your account the devil gets us all. Though in her tale she brings out her point that women want dominance over a man in marriage, there are flaws to her story telling. The nominal hero in the tale is a rapist. The word rape is often promoted by the Wife of Bath throughout her tale. The king in the Wifes tale represents authority and would have inflicted the punishment of death on the knight. The queen on the other hand would have preferred the knight to also be raped, an eye for an eye. Out of context, it can be seen that the Wife of Bath is the rapist knight herself. Since the story is her own, her traits can be seen through the different characters. The Wife of Bath is interchangeable. She can be the knight who conquers the woman and who is also blinded by the false importance of age and beauty. Having created the knight and the theme of rape, she becomes a perpetual self-rapist. She could be the woman who is overtaken by the knights sexuality and strength, a sign of her sexual weakness. She could be the queen who is set upon this man learning that woman want/need control. Or even more so, we can see her as the hag who conquers the man and wins the power in the relationship. There is a gentle irony in the Wifes tale. Her story is of the antifeminist clichi that all women in their hearts desire to have control but also subconsciously want to be raped.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Rebuttal to Killing Them Softly Essay -- Jacob Sullum Tobacco Essays

Rebuttal to â€Å"Killing Them Softly† â€Å"Killing Them Softly,† an essay by Jacob Sullum, addresses the issue of Senator Judd Gregg’s bill to give the Food and Drug Administration control over tobacco products. This bill would allow the FDA to make such decisions as halting tobacco companies’ marketing of safer tobacco products and reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes. Sullum argues that by giving the FDA the power to make such decisions, individual consumers would be disadvantaged and lives could possibly be lost instead of saved. If given control of such decisions, the FDA would not allow the introduction of safer tobacco products as they feel this will increase the number of smokers. They feel more people will begin using these products that are advertised as less harmful substances, whereas Sullum feels it would be better for people to change their habits to these â€Å"safer alternatives.† Sullum fails to consider benefits of relinquishing control to the FDA, however. By c onsidering some of the positive results, Sullum might develop a different opinion and support the bill as he should. One major point that Sullum tries to emphasize is how people’s health will be disadvantaged once the FDA is given control. When making the decision about marketing safer tobacco products, the FDA is concerned about how the introduction of smokeless tobacco will be interpreted by the â€Å"population as a whole.† Sullum, on the other hand, believes the concern should be with individual consumers. He believes smokers could be doing something healthier for themselves if the FDA promoted smokeless tobacco. However, the FDA believes advertising smokeless tobacco as a less harmful substitute for cigarette smoking misleads people and encourage... ...rth thinking about, it is in the best interest of the â€Å"population as a whole† that the Food and Drug Administration be given the rights to control the image that tobacco receives and exploit its negative aspects. Works Cited 1Up Health. Tobacco Use - Smoking and Smokeless Tobacco. 2003. 9 Oct. 2003. . Just Eliminate Lies. A Division of Tobacco Use Prevention and Control. 9 Dec. 2003. . Kick Butts Day. Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids. 9 Dec. 2003. . Sullum, Jacob. â€Å"Killing Them Softly.† Reason Online. 19 Sept. 2003. 2 Oct. 2003. . Teens Against Tobacco Use. American Lung Association. 9 Dec. 2003. .

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Business strategy: A guide to Effective Decision making Essay

Strategies decisions depends highly on perceptions, people’s attitudes and assumptions, therefore they are rarely straightforward or simple. Strategic decisions determine the direction as well as success of an organization, which is why it is essential for decision-makers to understand the decision-making process in order to make the right decisions. Chapter 2, 3, and 4 focus on introducing forces which will form a decision, including ideas, developments and potential pitfalls. In chapter 4, a practical and useful framework is also created to guide step by step in a decision-making process. Chapter 8 outlines insights and techniques for implementing and improving decisions in order to have a competitive strategy. Chapter 12 introduces forces which will have affection in sales, marketing and brand management decisions. It is necessary to understand the decision-making process and other involved factors to be able to create a practical and competitive strategy. Right decisions will make a huge impact on company’s directions as well as success in the future. Chapter 2: Ideas at Work Setting a strategy has always been complex due to the changes that company has to face over time. There are several factors that will affect the decision making process. Decision-making approaches The classical administrator The classical administrator, which was founded by Henri Fayol, has become the most traditional model of the decision-makers or strategists. A set of common activities and principles of managements was developed and divided into five sections: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Planning involves setting the goals of the organization and developing an action plan for future success. Organizing involves structuring the organization and using necessary resources to achieve these aims. Commanding makes sure the optimum return from people, which is usually considered the most expensive component of a business. Coordinating involves focusing on people’s effort to achieve the goals. Control makes sure that everything is going according to plan, making adjustment when necessary to ensure success. The design planner When the strategy is planned, the techniques of the classical administrator would be used to implement the strategy. Design planning will help the implementation process and it requires expertise in two areas: Analyzing and anticipating the future environment, techniques and models. Be aware of the external opportunities and threats; internal strengths and weaknesses. The role player The role player involves in the strategic decision-maker’s job as a reflective and analyzing planner and controller, to make sure the plan is realistic and practical. The competitive positioner It is crucial for competitive positioner to understand the power of the external environment in order to achieve competitive advantage. Customers and suppliers, substitute products, present and potential competitors are considered competitive forces. The competitive positioned should be able to eliminate barriers to enter its market, set a competitive prices, reduce operating costs and be aware of its rivals. The visionary transformer Vision is one of the fundamental tools to make a strategic decision, and it should focus on answering the following questions: Where in the market should the organization position itself? Brand positioning? How should the organization achieve its goal? However, visions should be achievable and visionary transformers should be able to ensure that they are achieved. The self-organizer The self-organizer needs the ability to network, innovate and collaborate with people to achieve the organization’s goal. The turnaround strategist The turnaround strategist focuses on turning around the performance of an organization once a visionary leader has failed. It is important to adapt new control systems quickly, find out the reasons for failing and be able to reverse them. Financial issues There are three financial issues that influence strategic decisions, they are: cash management, risk management and budgeting. It is important for company to be able to manage its cash flow and have an effective financial control while implementing strategic decisions. Controlling costs Controlling costs, by saving money, making cost-cutting is one way to boost profits and reduce losses. Managing for value: implementing the balanced scorecard The balances scorecard takes into account four important perspective of activity, they are: financial perspective, customers, internal processes, innovation and learning perspective. The main stages of implementing the balanced scorecard include: Preparing and defining the strategy, deciding what to measure, finalizing and implementing the plan, publicizing a d using the results, reviewing and revising the system. The rise of technology and the impact on technology on decision-making The rise of technology has opened up a multiple ways to add value, increase sales, reduce costs and manage more efficiently, therefore technology has made a huge and diverse impact on business decisions. Factors that affect a business and decision-making such as: adding value, understanding customer needs, competitive advantage and assessing costs can be done much faster and more efficient with the help of technology. That is why it is definitely important to use and manage information systems properly to take the best out of it. Chapter 3: Pitfalls In this chapter, several types of failure may be encountered in decision-making process, such as: thinking flaws, leadership flaws and cultural flaws. Behavioral flaws In order to avoid traps made by human brain while making decisions, common traps should be recognized and understood which ones are likely to influence decision-maker’s thinking. Some common traps which were mentioned in this chapter were: the anchoring trap, the status quo trap, the sunk-cost trap, the confirming-evidence trap, the overconfidence trap, the framing trap, the recent event trap, and the prudence trap. Leadership flaws Leadership flaws can also affect strategic decisions. One of them is failure of understanding, when the leader does not properly understand a problem. Another common flaw is rationalistic planning, when everybody assumes that there is only one effective choice, therefore, leads to only one conclusion. Decision-making pitfalls Cultural flaws The culture of an organization can make a negative effect on strategic decision, and fragmentation occurs when people are in disagreement. In the other hand, groupthink is when an idea is given because it is supposed to harmony with the majority. Such behaviors are common and therefore, decisions may be affected by the cultural of an organization. Failure to respond to change It is important to sense when to change before the business goes down and gets bankrupt. Responding to the need to change may be not easy, due to other external factors, but changing in the right way and at the right time is crucial to remain the business in the market. Overcoming decision-making problems It is usually much more difficult to over problems than just pointing them out. When looking for a solution, two main factors should be considered seriously: the ability of the decision maker and the importance of testing and perfecting decisions. Some other ways to overcome problems and aim to effective decision-making are: being aware (and raising awareness among others), avoiding subjective or irrational analysis, being sensitive, establishing clear priorities and objectives, fostering creativity and innovation, understanding substantive issues and last but not least, focusing on the relevance and potency of the business idea. Organizational learning and scenarios Two popular approaches that can be used to avoid the pitfalls of strategic thinking are adaptive organizational learning and scenario thinking. Adaptive organizational learning means continuing the process by adapting new changes to suit the organizational environment and to improve performance. Scenario thinking is a process which is divided into two parts: a formal element designed by managers, and an informal part, characterized by casual conversations. Chapter 4: Rational or intuitive? Frameworks for decision-making The rational approach Assessing the situation Assessing the situation is the first step of rational decision-making process. It starts by asking whether the decision relates to a permanent issue or it is the result of an isolated event, therefore the decision-maker may have some idea of what to do in the next step. Defining the critical issues When considering a decision, all aspects should be taken into account, and funneling is a useful and rational technique to be used. The method involves collecting information, then prioritizes and eliminates issues that aroused based on the data that were collected and analyzed. Specifying the decision This step defines what the decision must achieve. By defining the minimum set of goals, this helps to ensure focus and smooth implementation. Making the decision Compromise is usually involved in the decision-making process. In this stage of the process, embracing with creativity and innovation may ensure the strategic decision will be implemented successfully. Implementing the decision After defining the decision, executing it is usually the most critical and time-consuming phase. These following factors are involved: planning how it will be implemented, assigning the tasks clearly and specifically, communicating, motivating and rewarding, managing resources to ensure that people carrying out the decision have the necessary equipment to complete their task. Monitoring and making adjustments It is very important to monitor the implementation so that everything is going according to plan and adjustments can be made in time. Decision-making is a cycle, from the last step comes back to the first step again, therefore the assessment of the next decisions should start will the monitoring of current ones. The intuitive approach

Monday, January 6, 2020

The Epidemic Of Hiv / Aids - 1065 Words

Although HIV/AIDS is on the rise together, we can put an end to the increasing numbers. Globally HIV/AIDS is growing rapidly by the end of 2015 the number of people infected and diagnosed could beat any of the previous year’s records. Shockingly enough, this statistic even stands true for our home state Kansas. These numbers may be rising because more people want to know their statuses and are becoming aware of the dangers hidden in this deadly virus. On the other hand, people may be living more risky life styles, foolishly thinking they are above catching HIV. Regardless of the reason, the numbers are too high when the quantity of new cases should be actively decreasing. HIV is an acronym and stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus.†¦show more content†¦There are also some early symptoms of HIV; these symptoms often resemble the flu with many of the symptoms being the same. A few examples are fatigue, chills, fever, headache, and swollen lymph nodes. These can occur as early as 2 weeks to 2 months after exposure to the virus and can seem to go away rather quickly, another symptom that does not fit in with the flu like symptoms is a rash covering the body; this is caused by your immune system being attacked. Not saying every time you feel a bit under the weather you should run to the doctor to be tested but if your involved in any risky behavior its best to know and stay aware. After all, a painless test only takes a minute. Many people still think that HIV is a virus for gay men or drug users. While this is factual, HIV is in every economical type in the world. HIV does not halt with gay men and drug users; it is everywhere! HIV is transmitted several different ways. These include sharing needles for drug use, needle sticks, blood transfusions, breast-feeding, and sexual acts. If you are involved in any of these actions, YOU ARE AT RISK! It is hard to tell individuals how to live their lives but if your one of those people who feel like they must live life on the edge then you can still take all methods imaginable to stay safe and HIV free. Using a clean needle and never sharing your needles