Egyptian Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Egyptian Religion - Essay Example The people would revere the king as a person having a divine person. The king is also described as a human being. Also, the king is also depicted in movies and storybooks as a dictator king. The people bow down and obey his commands without hesitation. The following paragraphs explain the three interconnecting functions of the king or pharaoh. The king’s role in Egyptian religion is three -pronged. First, the king has a divine function. Second, the king is has a human form. Lastly, the king has an influential political role to implement on his subjects. First, the king has a divine function. The king is considered a god. The Egyptians were believed to have conceived the world as a social process that from dawn to dusk. The Egyptian king helps maintain the balance of the universe after its original maintainer was treacherously killed. The king is also helped by the Egyptian priests in the maintenance of a universe that moves in complete harmony. This theory of the delicate balance that the Egyptian universe hangs shows that the king plays a very precarious role indeed. The King’s power then extends beyond the horizon in Egypt because the sky also extends to the far reaches of the king of Egypt. The king is also called by such names as gods of the provinces, gods of the towns of the earth and other names (Quirke 70). As a god, the king grants prizes and rewards to his subjects that follow his every command.The book Ancient Egyptian Kings states that the kings were revered as gods through the construction of monuments like the landmark Pyramid. Egyptian society looked at the king as an elite member of society. Many quarters in Egypt even consider their king as more important than their gods in heaven. The country could not run without the king god ruling over them. In fact, the king is considered as the unifying apex of any dualities that form the Egyptian society. The king services as the mediator between the people and the Egyptians gods up in the sky. The king god of Egypt is replaced by heredity. This means that the next King -god must be the son of the current king. In addition, the god Horus was worshipped in Egypt by many people. The goddesses namely Wadjet and Buto, Saisin were linked to the Egyptian king (Baines, 100). The king gods were often helped by their temple priests.The king built temp les in the form of pyramids. And the province of Fayoum is one of the largest oases in Egypt. This is located Southwest of the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. The temple in antique for. "the kings of the 12th Dynasty (1991-1786 BC) chose to build their capital city here, and to be buried in pyramids built nearby, on the edge of the desert. Subsequently, priests and other personnel were employed in the pyramid temples, where the king's mortuary cult was performed after his death and burial. Around this nucleus, the community soon developed and lawyers, doctors, scribes, craftsmen, tradesmen and all the other elements of a thriving society came together.1" The above quote shows that a major portion of an ordinary Egyptian's life is spent constructing the pyramids. The pyramids have always caught the amazed and awe of its spectators. For, the ordinary people of today do not know how such a huge mammoth building was built with the primitive instruments that the Egyptians used during those time period. The pyramid is the resting place of the pharaoh or king when he dies. It has a locking mechanism so that no one can enter the tomb after the king is buried. For, this pyramid lock is used to prevent the looting of the treasures hidden inside the dead king's pyramid chamber. For."throughout the ages,

Chicken Run Essay Example for Free

Chicken Run Essay During 2005, Encik Selamat, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), was transferred from another subsidiary of PCK Holding, which dealt in the business of transportation to poultry and meat business, Excel Poultry and Meat Sdn Bhd (EPM). En Selamat was initially reluctant to accept the position as he lack of expertise in poultry and meat industry. However, later, he accepts and undertakes the position of General Manager in EPM as a new challenge to him. For the first three (3) years, he managed to handle the company smoothly. However, during the closing year end of 2008, the company has faced with tremendous operational crises. Thus, this report will identify and give recommendations on the issues arise in the company. There are two main issues or problems is being identified in this company, which are, increase in price of chicken feed and credit control and managerial problems. For the first issue, regarding the rise of chicken feed price, it is recommended for EPM to plant fast growing trees such as maize tree, trichanthera gigantea tree (fodder tree), or mulberry tree. These three trees have been proved by many researches and farmers all over the Asian countries as the alternative or substitute of commercial chicken feed. By consuming half or thirty percent (30%) of the substitute chicken feeds, this may reduce the existing cost of production. Moreover, it is cheap, fast and easy to plant these trees. In addition, the plant can be used for another purpose of business and may generate income. For example, one maize tree can produce 4 corns in a year and EPM can sell them and make money out of it. Same goes to trichanthera gigantea tree, the leaves and plants not only can be feed to chicken but many other animals such as, cows, goats, ducks, pigs, horses and many more. Thus, EPM can sell their leaves to other farmers and this can help them increase their income. Mulberry tree proves to have more uses. By fully utilize the tree, EPM can generates income in short term as well as in long term. The leaf can be made as tea powder, and can raise silk worm thus they can make silk cloth. The fruit itself can be made as foods or drinks such as wine, pies, tart, jelly jams and juice. Also, the bark or wood can be use to produce paper and furniture. Another way to reduce cost is by placing the breeder chickens in a free range farm. When the chickens are freely place in an open farm and freely eat whatever on the field such as worms, trees, and grass, the commercial chicken feeds will be lessen. Thus, this will give cost reduction for EPM. The commercial chicken feed is necessary for the chicken to consume as it contains all nutrition needed by all chicken. Thus, EPM may still bear the high price of commercial chicken feed. The price of chicken feed is uncontrollable by EPM, but not the sales of EPM. Therefore, there are many ways of increasing the income of the company. EPM can sell chicken eggs, chicken manure, as well as chicken feather to boost their income. Other than that, EPM may collaborate with East Coast Economic Region (ECER) and open branch in Mersing, Johor. The collaboration with ECER program will help to bring the company‘s name throughout nationwide. It is in line with the goal of ECER to increase the poultry output by 35% between years of 2005 to 2010. ECER program may also helps EPM to transform into major international and local tourism destination and exporter of resources and manufactured chicken poultry. The second issue in the company is on the credit control and managerial problem. Based on the case of financial reports of EPM, the costs of sales incur increasing closely and nearly to the revenue earned each year and the trade receivables amount also increase each year. The account receivable turnover ratio for the year 2006, 2007 and 2008 are 4. 307, 3. 396 and 2. 88 respectively. It shows the decrease in efficiency of a business in collecting its credit sales. Also, the trade receivable percentage of increase for the year 2007 and 2008 are 27. 56% and 60. 49% respectively. This shows that the account receivable increase drastically during the year. Therefore, this proves that ECM is having a weak credit control. It has being identified that the marketing department continued to supply chicken to Gold Cold Sdn Bhd (GCSB) even though GCSB has exceeded its credit limit. Thus, it is suggested for EPM to offer GCSB for cash discount to encourage early debt payment or cash sales. For example, offer 20% discount if they make payment within 1 week. Other alternative is that EPM should limit the supply to GCSB until they make payment of debts. Besides that, instead of Encik Selamat, the credit collection department staff should directly communicate to GCSB regarding the payment and supply of chicken. Not only that, EPM should send monthly credit sales statement to GCSB and remind GCSB about their debts through phone calls for instance. Instead of highly dependent on the sales from GCSB, the company may approach for more supplying tenders and contracts. For example, they can approach Ayamas Food Corporation Sdn Bhd, Ayam A1 Corporation Sdn Bhd, and all giant superstores. Also, they can carry out open tender instead of close tender to promote broader markets. Other than weak credit control, the company also has weak credit management. In this case, Puan Azura only concerned on sending reminders to debtors when she thought that auditors will be checking on that matters. Also, the records produced by Puan Azura are not similar with the figure from the confirmation letter by Mr. Siva. Therefore, the recommendation for EPM to solve the problem is, Puan Azura should be asked to send the monthly debtor statement regardless whether the auditor will be checking on her works or not. Other than that, the duties of employees should be segregated. For example, person whom collects the cash (Encik Munir) differs with the one whom updates the reports (Puan Azura) and the transaction should be verified by other personnel (Ms Choy). Furthermore, all the different personnel from different department must be communicated to each other to avoid error. Besides, managerial problems also arise in the company. From the case, we noticed that there is no supervision of Encik Kassim works by Encik Selamat. This problem can be solved by having more supervision over their staffs’ works by Encik Selamat as well as by board of directors. This can reduce the opportunity of fraud and misappropriate of company’s assets by their staffs. Other managerial problem is that, Encik Selamat was having personal meeting wih Encik Azman, the executive director of GCSB regarding their business and debt collection. The personal meeting should be avoided as it can lead to personal interest threats. Therefore, EPM must establish proper procedures for debt collection. Furthermore, EPM must as well establish and communicate a code of ethics which includes guidelines to be followed by debtors and employees with regards to debt collection. Even though there are many wrongdoings done by Encik Selamat, directors are reluctant to take any action against Encik Selamat. Therefore, it is highly recommended that PCK holding, the parent company, to change the directors. New directors may give new aspirations and directions for the company to continue to survive and succeed in the poultry industry. By solving all these problems, EPM may boost their performance for the next year onwards.

Social Constructionism Theory An Analysis

Social Constructionism Theory An Analysis This short study discusses the theory of social constructionism, with special regard to its implications for social workers and how its use can help them to understand human behaviour. Social constructionism represents a sociological theory of knowledge that studies the development of various sociological phenomena in social contexts. The theory, simply put, questions widely held assumptions about inherent qualities of items, concepts, or issues, and instead brings attention to the dependence of such qualities upon the contingent rationale of our social sense. It helps us in realising that human perceptions of reality and the world, of things, concepts and ideas, are shaped by deliberate human choices and linguistic reinforcement, rather than by natural laws or divine intention. A social construct, the anchor of this theory, represents the artefact of a specific group. To illustrate, intangible words like talent or brilliance, which in the overwhelming majority of cases represent little else than greater effort or the achievement of proficiency, are imbued with special significance and then tagged on to specific people separate them from the hoi polloi, resulting in the alteration of perceptions and behaviour of the masses towards such individuals. To be hard working is to be commonplace, to be brilliant is to be extraordinary. And to be called brilliant is even better. Language, as is obvious, plays a key role in the development of social constructs. The origins of present day social constructionist theories go back to the writings of Immanuel Kant. Kant argued for the existence of a world that was independent of human minds, thus implying that humans should not assert that they created the world. This world, he said, is without structure and is not divided into things and facts. Structure is imposed on the world by perceiving it and thinking of it in specific ways, as also by the adoption of particular, (rather than other), sets of beliefs about it. Vivine Burr (2003, p 2) and other advocates of social constructionist theory put forth the view that knowledge of constructionism enables individuals to adopt critical attitudes towards their conventional lenses for perceiving and understanding the world and their own selves. It provides humans with fresh ways of assessing ideas and things that are otherwise considered to be commonplace and accepted without demur. Numerous things like money, newspapers or citizenship are socially constructed and would not obviously have existed in the absence of society. Each of them furthermore could have well been differently constructed. This essay analyses and critiques the use of social constructionism by social workers in the understanding human behaviour. Specific emphasis has been given to the role of constructionism use in analysing commonly held perceptions and attitudes towards mental disorders. The study is segregated into three sections that sequentially take up the use of social constructionism for social workers in understanding human behaviour, its relevance in understanding mental disorders, and its areas of ambiguity and possible misuse. The Use of Social Constructionism to Understand Human Behaviour Social workers have two fundamental objectives, namely, (a) the strengthening of the ability of individuals and groups to cope with the many difficulties and challenges they confront in life and (b) the bringing about of improvements in various social and environmental circumstances in order to improve the satisfaction of human needs; especially of people from underprivileged and oppressed social segments. Social workers plan and attempt their various interventions through their understanding of environmental circumstances, the various reasons for development of such conditions, and the client system. Such knowledge and the consequent adoption of theoretic approaches significantly influence the point, the tool, and the nature of social work intervention. It becomes evident that understanding of the reality of the client environment is crucial, both to social work theory and to its practice. Theories of classical empiricism assert that the truth about the world is established and is independent of the individual. Social constructionism conversely puts forth the viewpoint that such truth, far from being independent of individuals, actually depends upon their thoughts, perceptions and beliefs. Whilst empiricists state that reality cannot be known separately from our elucidation of it, social constructionism messages that reality is constructed socially, with language being critical for the interpretation and construction of commonly accepted reality. It encourages people to question the widely held perception that conventional and accepted knowledge has sprung from objective and impartial examination of the world. It is in this sense opposed to the positivist epistemology of traditional science and spurs thinking individuals to constantly question their assumptions about the appearance of their environment and its various components. Objectivists assert that individuals make discoveries and find out about the reality of the world through the construction and testing of hypotheses via the actions of neutral observers, even as constructionists debunk such assumptions, arguing that the interests and values of observers can never be separated from their observations and are thus bound to influence the final construction of common perceptions about world realities. Gergen (1985, p 270), states that generation of ideas of reality is initiated by social, rather than individual, processes and that the touted objective reality of the positivist approach is actually the result of various social construction processes that are influenced by historical, political, cultural and economic conditions. Berger and Luckmann, (1966), state that individuals experience the world to be an objective reality, comprising of persons and events that exist separately of individual perceptions. Payne (1997), additionally states that reality, according to social constructionism, can be stated to be the guidance of behaviour by individual perceptions of knowledge and reality. Individuals arrive at shared perceptions of reality through the sharing of their knowledge via different social processes that first organise such knowledge and thereafter establish it by making it objective. Social and individual activity thus becomes habitual with individuals sharing their assumptions about their perceptions of reality. People behave in line with social conventions that are based on such shared knowledge. These conventions are furthermore institutionalised because of the agreement of many people on such understandings on different aspects of society. Such realisations and accords thereafter become legitimi sed by processes that integrate these ideas about reality into ordered and believable systems. Language provides the means through which individuals make sense of their environment, classify persons and events, and interpret new experiences. The shared reality of everyday life by different individuals distinguishes it from individual realities, (like dreams). Language helps individuals in sharing their experiences and making it available to others. Such sharing of reality leads to institutionalisation and thereafter to habitual ways of working. Habitualism in turn makes the behaviour of different individuals predictable, facilitates joint activity and perpetuates social control mechanisms. Knowledge is as such institutionalised within sub-groups, or at social levels, and significantly influences the behaviour of people. Shakespeare famously used his felicity with language to construct an illusionary reality about Jewish greed that persisted for centuries and shaped the perceptions and behaviours of millions of people towards the community. With such knowledge of reality being essentially constructed, it can change over time and diverge across cultural groups that embrace different perceptions and beliefs about human nature and development. Considering that the norms, beliefs, values, traditions, attitudes and practices of different cultural groups vary from each other, the social construction of their knowledge is also likely to differ significantly. An understanding of this fundamental principle can help social workers in their realisation of the different perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of different individuals towards similar social phenomena or stimuli. Social constructionism helps social workers in adopting critical stances towards established assumptions that reinforce the interests of powerful and dominant social groups and assists them in realising that the world has come about because of historical processes of communication and negotiation between groups and individuals. Gergen (1985, p 266), states that people see the world through the eyes of their particular communities and cultures and respond accordingly. Established assumptions, understandings and behaviours of people are sustained by social, political, economic and moral institutions. Social workers should, through its application, be better able to understand the various dimensions of reality within such individual thoughts, perceptions and beliefs. Social workers, the writer feels, need to realise that social understanding is finally the combined result of various human understandings through the operation of circular processes, wherein individuals contribute to the construction of social meaning within social structures of societies through processes of institutionalisation and legitimisation. Societies consequently create conventions through the participation of individuals in their structures, which, in turn influences the behaviours of people. Spirals of constantly moving influences build and rebuild the conventions that people adopt and by which they live. Social constructionism allows social workers to question dominant structures of knowledge and understand the impact of culture and history. Social workers understand the requirements of humans by and large through the application of specific ideological, ethical, political and economic approaches. An understanding of social constructionism can help them in understanding the responses behind the actions of both dominant and vulnerable groups of society and decide upon the adoption of the best suited routes for bringing about social change. Social Constructionism and Mental Illness Much of modern societys perceptions about mental ailments are influenced by the medical and psychological models. These state that medical illnesses are real; they concern disturbances in thoughts, experiences, and emotions that can be serious enough to cause functional impairment in individuals. Such ailments make it difficult for individuals to sustain interpersonal relationships and conduct their jobs. They can also sometimes result in self destructive actions, including suicides. The more serious of such illnesses, like extreme depression and schizophrenia, can often be chronic and lead to serious disability. Social constructionism argues that such perceptions about mental ailments are caused by specifically constructed vocabularies of medical and psychological models, which are replete with elaborate terminologies for mental disorders and focused on deficits. Walker, (2006), states that vocabularies of medical and psychological models, including the concept of mental illness itself, are essentially social constructions. They are made up of terms that describe deficits and diseases and perceive human beings as things that can be examined, diagnosed and treated, much in the manner of machines. Such perceptions (a) lead to obsessions with compliance, (b) distinguish between normal and pathological states, (c) position practitioners as experts, and (d) represent clients as passive and obedient objects of treatment. Recommended treatments focus on elimination of symptoms, support established paternalistic roles, and are not focused on actual client needs. Social constructionism, the writer fe els, can help social workers in understanding the destructive illusions that have been created by existing medical and psychological models and deficit based language. Examined from the perspective of linguistics, reified categories like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are defined by clusters termed as symptoms; schizophrenia for example is concerned with the occurrence of audio hallucinations. Such terms have come about due to the creation of consensus among doctors and psychologists and persist because of convention. Mental illnesses are often described by such specialists in terms akin to physical ailments like diabetes, where individuals manage their lives with specific medications; these comparisons are used to explain the working of medications and to make diagnosis and recommended treatment for mental ailments acceptable to clients. Analogies like these however do appear to the writer to be forced and even trifling considering that discussions about thoughts and feelings of individuals concern their identities and not their bodies. Social workers need to understand that the vocabularies of medical and psychological models essentially position clinicians as the most suitable interpreters of client experiences. Even superficially docile terms like clinical or treatment plans establish contexts where clients are perceived to be abnormal or having pathologies, even as clinicians are established as authorities with abilities to perform interventions for assisting clients in overcoming their pathologies. With the power of definition lying with clinicians, the labelling of people as mentally ill pushes them to the borders of society and takes away from them their intrinsic rights and privileges. Social constructionism helps social workers in understanding that whilst political and human pressure has helped in eliminating the incarceration of the mentally ill in mental hospitals, the distinction created by vocabulary on mental illness leads to the movement of foci of power to clinicians and undermines efforts for self determination and community integration. Such medical and psychological vocabularies constitute obstacles to more inclusive mental health programmes and undermine social understanding of people with mental disorders. Gray Areas Social workers need to however recognise the gray areas that surround social constructionist theory. Dominelli (97) states that social workers are ironically likely to regulate the social construction of the children of poor families, with whom they work extensively, by giving credibility to the dominant, white, heterosexual, nuclear family model. The writer feels that the casual application of the theory for the debunking of each and every thing, including important issues like culture and community, can lead to confusion and dilute the focus of social workers. Race and religion, for example, are essentially social constructs of dominant power groups but that does not take away from the fact that they exist and are not expected to disappear because of critical analysis by social constructists. Wanton overdoing of social construction has often resulted in methodologically substandard work, wherein scholars have spent time in libraries, worked on some novels and then put forth findings that the common images and metaphors in them were social constructions with wide relational powers in the reality, which such novels attempted to represent. Roche and Barnes Holmes (2003) state that the strength of social constructivism is also its weakness; its deconstructive methods dissolve the solutions as well as the problems from which they emerge. Social constructions surround us and include diverse aspects like racism, child abuse, crime, and disease. The writer feels that these things do not become unreal because of their social construction; even though the dominance of construction processes may differ between each of them.Spending a great deal of time in showing that most things are social constructs can well be little other than wasted effort. The large body of doctors and psychologists are again unlikely to give up their vocabulary because constructionists do not believe in them. Conclusions It is evident from the preceding discussion that the ongoing debate and dialogue on social constructionism has facilitated a whole new way of looking at established and accepted realities. With regard to the theory and practice of social work, the use of constructionism can help social workers in understanding how dominant groups have for long institutionalised constructs like race, age, gender, and physical and mental disability to perpetuate models of oppression and discrimination. Students and practitioners of social work, whilst making use of this theory, will however do well to consider that excessive stress on constructionist language and downplaying of materiality may well be counterproductive and result not only in idle discourse but in superimposition of their socialised views on vulnerable social segments. Social workers who participate in what they feel are social constructs could also end up questioning the relevance of their work. They may thus have to battle with their being engaged in phony actions and be adversely affected by the creation of manipulative sensibilities. Social workers must try to ensure that the theory is used practically for widening their knowledge and clarifying different aspects of human behaviour, yet refrain from making it irrelevant and trivial.

The Character of Safie in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay -- Franken

The Character of Safie in Frankenstein      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though she is only mentioned in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for a relatively brief period, the character, Safie, is very interesting as she is unique from the other characters in that her subjectivity is more clearly dependent on her religion and the culture of her nation. Contrasts can be made between the Orient and the European society which attempts to interpret it. Often, this creates stereotypes such as western feminists that have viewed "third-world" women as "ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious, domesticated, family oriented, (and) victimized"(Mohanty 290). Of course, some of these things could also have said of European women of the time period, although no one would argue the point since Oriental women were viewed as being more oppressed. Strong contrasts can also be made in relation to the differences between Safie's development as a foreign character and her subjectivity as a female character in relation to those of the other female characters of the book. While the other female characters lack depth into how their religion and culture affect them, Safie's religion and Arabian culture sculpt her into a subject with feminist qualities juxtaposed against her fulfillment of European domestic ideology.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many theorists, such as Benveniste who said, "Consciousness of self [or subjectivity] is only possible if it is experienced by contrast," argue that one's subjectivity can only exist in their relation to the Other(85). The subject's relation this "Other" depends on which aspect is being examined. For example, when dealing with gender, it would be the relationship between Man and... ...it fulfilled the domestic ideology of   the European society. The society itself   was phallogocentric and, by nature, riddled with its own subjectivity, such as the Orientalism inherent in Europe, which attempted to examine the Orient which had "a brute reality obviously greater than anything that could be said about them in the West"(Said 304).    Works Cited    Beneviste, Emile.   "Subjectivity in Language."   Course Reader.   83-88    Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. "Under Western Eyes:   Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses."   Course Reader. 289-300    Said, Edward W.   "Introduction to Orientalism."  Ã‚   Course Reader. 303-312    Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.  Ã‚   Ed. Johanna M. Smith.  Ã‚   Boston:   Bedford Books, 1992    Smith, Johanna M. "'Cooped Up':   Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein."   Bedford Books, 1992 270-285    The Character of Safie in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay -- Franken The Character of Safie in Frankenstein      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even though she is only mentioned in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for a relatively brief period, the character, Safie, is very interesting as she is unique from the other characters in that her subjectivity is more clearly dependent on her religion and the culture of her nation. Contrasts can be made between the Orient and the European society which attempts to interpret it. Often, this creates stereotypes such as western feminists that have viewed "third-world" women as "ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, religious, domesticated, family oriented, (and) victimized"(Mohanty 290). Of course, some of these things could also have said of European women of the time period, although no one would argue the point since Oriental women were viewed as being more oppressed. Strong contrasts can also be made in relation to the differences between Safie's development as a foreign character and her subjectivity as a female character in relation to those of the other female characters of the book. While the other female characters lack depth into how their religion and culture affect them, Safie's religion and Arabian culture sculpt her into a subject with feminist qualities juxtaposed against her fulfillment of European domestic ideology.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many theorists, such as Benveniste who said, "Consciousness of self [or subjectivity] is only possible if it is experienced by contrast," argue that one's subjectivity can only exist in their relation to the Other(85). The subject's relation this "Other" depends on which aspect is being examined. For example, when dealing with gender, it would be the relationship between Man and... ...it fulfilled the domestic ideology of   the European society. The society itself   was phallogocentric and, by nature, riddled with its own subjectivity, such as the Orientalism inherent in Europe, which attempted to examine the Orient which had "a brute reality obviously greater than anything that could be said about them in the West"(Said 304).    Works Cited    Beneviste, Emile.   "Subjectivity in Language."   Course Reader.   83-88    Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. "Under Western Eyes:   Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses."   Course Reader. 289-300    Said, Edward W.   "Introduction to Orientalism."  Ã‚   Course Reader. 303-312    Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.  Ã‚   Ed. Johanna M. Smith.  Ã‚   Boston:   Bedford Books, 1992    Smith, Johanna M. "'Cooped Up':   Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein."   Bedford Books, 1992 270-285   

Enron: the smartest guys in the room Essay

Enron Corporation was an energy, commodities, and service company out of Houston, Texas founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985. Lay built natural gas power energy in East Texas which helped Enron’s stock rise. Louis Borget, Andrew Fastow, and Jeffery Skilling were the top management executives from 1985 until 2001. Each helped to bring about the demise of the company in multiple ways. One of the first scandals in Enron involved President Louis Borget and two traders were discovered betting on Enron Stocks. The company books were altered to inflate profits so that the company appeared to be more profitable that it actually was. Borget was diverting company money into personal offshore accounts. Auditors tried to uncover the problem, but Borget and the traders had a separate set of books that they kept from the auditors. Kenneth Lay, who was aware of this unethical practice, and encouraged Borget to continue â€Å"making us millions†, two months later the separate set of books we re brought to the investigators and Enron fired the two traders and Borget had to serve one year in jail. After his biggest money maker was put behind bars Lay needed to find him a new money maker. So Lay hired Jeffrey Skilling to be the CEO. Jeffrey Skilling would only accept job if Enron adopted a mark-to-market accounting strategy. Mark-to-market accounting allowed the company to book potential profits on certain projects immediately after contracts were signed, regardless of the actual profits that the deal would eventually make. This gave Enron the ability to look like they were a profitable company. Skilling put together a performance review committee that graded employees and fired the bottom fifteen percent each year which made the employees very competitive and created a very tough working environment. Traders were very aggressive and they made it to where if you wanted to be in the market you didn’t have a choice to deal with Enron. Trading became the main reported profit for Enron. Skilling hired two guys that became his top lieutenants Lou Pai and Cliff Baxter. They were known as the â€Å"Guy with Spikes†. Baxter was a very smart guy and was Enron’s Chief deal maker. He was manic-depressive and best friends with Skilling. Pai was the CEO of Enron Energy Services. He was  very mysterious guy who employees say was never in the office. Pai only seemed to care about two things, money and strippers. He would bring strippers into the office and would put everything he spent in the strip clubs onto an expense reports to be reimbursed by Enron. All of Pai’s time in the strip clubs caught up to him and caused him to get a divorce. Once he got a divorce he sold all of his stock and resigned from Enron. He came out of Enron better than anyone cashing in his stock and receiving approximately two hundred and fifty million dollars. The division of Enron that Pai ran lost a total of around one billion dollars which was covered up by Enron. Enron had success in the bull market brought on by the dot-com bubble. Enron’s stock prices increased to record prices. The games was called â€Å"pump and dump† top executives would pump up the stock prices and then sell their million dollar options. Everyone at Enron was consumed with the stock price. Stock prices were even posted in the elevators for everyone to see. Enron launched a PR campaign to make itself look profitable even with all aspects of the company operating poorly. Skilling’s philosophy was to take high risks because these deals would make more money. One of these high risk deals was building a power plant in India, which nobody wanted to do because India could not afford the high prices. The company lost a billion dollars on this project but that fact was covered up by Skilling. The company paid out multi-million dollar bonus to executive on non-existent profits. Enron bought out Portland General Energy which gave them access to the deregulated market of California. All of the employees in PGE had bought their stock so when Enron took over all of the stock PGE stock became Enron. The Portland General Energy workers had always invested their 401k into stock which converted to Enron. These employees continued to purchase stock because of their trust in Enron. Enron’s main motivation for buying the company was to operate in California since they held the highest demand for energy in the United States. Enron’s traders would trick California’s electricity supply and export the energy to another state causing California to have blackouts. By California having these black outs they raised the energy rate in the state. Although Enron’s stock prices were steadily rising, the company was losing a lot of money. Skilling turned the company  into cyber space. They attempted to use broadband technology to deliver movies on demand and â€Å"trade weather† like a commodity. Both of the marketing strategies failed miserably. By using mark-to-market accounting they booked 53 million dollar in earnings on a deal that didn’t make a penny. Once they figured out they could not hide the company’s losses, the top executives started selling their stock. Enron was named the â€Å"most admired† corporation by Fortune magazine for the six years in a row. Jim Chanos, an Enron investor, and Bethany McLean, a Fortune reporter, both questioned the company’s financial statements and stock value. McLean tried to talk to Skilling about the irregularities but Skilling went on the defensive calling McLean unethical. Skilling sent three executives to meet with her and Fortune’s editor including CFO Andy Fastow. Andy Fastow was the main one keeping Enron running. He was cooking the books making it look like Enron was making a profit even though the company was more than 30 billion dollars in debt. Fastow created two limited partnerships, LJM1 and LJM2, for the purpose of buying Enron’s poorly performing stocks to improve its financial statements. Fastow had to go before the board of directors to get an exemption to run these two companies as well as Enron. This was a definite conflict of interest. He also had personal financial stake in these company’s either directly or through a partner. He made millions of dollars defrauding Enron. He pressured the investment banks such as Merrill Lynch, Citibank to invest by threatening them with loss of Enron’s bus iness if they did not. He had analysts fired who threatened to report Enron for wrong doings. A good sound ethics policy was established when Enron was formed. The problems occurred when the policy was not followed. By not following the ethics policy put in place, employees and management were encouraged to take risks thereby encouraging unethical behavior which ultimately brought down the company. Enron went bankrupt in 2001 due in large part to widespread fraud in company operating policies. The top executives were the main ones practicing unethical behavior in the company. By the top executives behaving unethically lower level employees followed their example. As long as Enron was making money no one cared how they went about doing it. In 2001, these unethical actions over the past decade and half caught up with Enron’s top executives and employees. Twenty thousand employees lost their job, medical insurance and employees also lost1.2 billion in retirement funds. Enron’s top executives were paid bonuses totaling 55 million and cashed in their stock at approximately 116 million dollars. Even though some of the executives mad e money in the deal they had to face criminal charges which placed some in prison and some still have pending cases. If Enron has survived their collapse in 2001 and I were to be a consultant for Enron, I would make sure that the code of ethics booklet that all employees read and signed before taking the job at Enron were followed. Employees and executives would have to take part in ethics training to be sure that they understand the book completely. Enron would have to have commitment from all of the executive positions to follow these rules and also enforce them even if the unethical actions were making the company more money. There would have to be a zero tolerance rule in place that everyone understood. All employees acting inappropriately would be reprimanded as established in the code of ethics booklet. Work cited Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Dir. Alex Gibney. By Alex Gibney, Peter Elkind, Bethany McLean, and Peter Coyote. Magnolia Pictures, 2005

The Hundred Years War History and Summary

The Hundred Years War History and Summary The Hundred Years War was a series of connected conflicts between England, the Valois kings of France, factions of French nobles and other allies over both claims to the French throne and control of land in France. It ran from 1337 to 1453; you’ve not misread that, it is actually longer than a hundred years; the name derived from nineteenth-century historians and has stuck. Context of the Hundred Years War: English Land in France Tensions between the English and French thrones over continental land dated to 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England. His descendants in England had gained further lands in France by the reign of Henry II, who inherited the County of Anjou from his father and control of the Dukedom of Aquitaine through his wife. Tensions simmered between the growing power of the French kings and the great power of their most powerful, and in some eyes equal, English royal vassal, occasionally leading to armed conflict. King John of England lost Normandy, Anjou, and other lands in France in 1204, and his son was forced to sign the Treaty of Paris ceding this land. In return, he received Aquitaine and other territories to be held as a vassal of France. This was one king bowing to another, and there were further wars in 1294 and 1324 when Aquitaine was confiscated by France and won back by the English crown. As the profits from Aquitaine alone rivaled those of England, the region was important  and retained many differences from the rest of France. Origins of the Hundred Years War When Edward III of England came to blows with David Bruce of Scotland in the first half of the fourteenth century, France supported Bruce, raising tensions. These rose further as both Edward and Philip prepared for war, and Philip confiscated the Duchy of Aquitaine in May 1337 in order to try and reassert his control. This was the direct start of the Hundred Years War. But what changed this conflict from the disputes over French land earlier was Edward III’s reaction: in 1340 he claimed the throne of France for himself. He had a legitimate right claim- when Charles IV of France had died in 1328 he was childless, and the 15-year-old Edward was a potential heir through his mother’s side, but a French Assembly chose Philip of Valois- but historians don’t know whether he really meant to try for the throne or was just using it as a bargaining chip to either gain land or divide the French nobility. Probably the latter but, either way, he called himself the King of France. Alternate Views As well as a conflict between England and France, the Hundred Years War can also be viewed as a struggle in France between the crown and major nobles for control of key ports and trading areas and equally a struggle between the centralizing authority of the French crown and local laws and independencies. Both are another stage in the development of the collapsing feudal/tenurial relationship between the King-Duke of England and the French King, and the growing power of the French crown/tenurial relationship between the King-Duke of England and the French King, and the growing power of the French crown. Edward III, the Black Prince and English Victories Edward III pursued a twofold attack on France. He worked to gain allies among disaffected French nobles, causing them to break with the Valois kings, or supported these nobles against their rivals. In addition, Edward, his nobles, and later his son- dubbed The Black Prince- led several great armed raids aimed at plundering, terrorizing and destroying French land, in order to enrich themselves and undermine the Valois king. These raids were called chevauchà ©es. French raids on the British coast were dealt a blow by the English naval victory at Sluys. Although the French and English armies often kept their distance, there were set-piece battles, and England won two famous victories at Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), the second capturing the Valois French King John. England had suddenly won a reputation for military success, and France was shocked. With France leaderless, with large parts in rebellion and the rest plagued by mercenary armies, Edward attempted to seize Paris and Rheims, perhaps for a royal coronation. He took neither  but brought the Dauphin- the name for the French heir to the throne - to the negotiating table. The Treaty of Brà ©tigny was signed in 1360 after further invasions: in return for dropping his claim on the throne. Edward won a large and independent Aquitaine, other land and a substantial sum of money. But complications in the text of this agreement allowed both sides to renew their claims later on. French Ascendance and a Pause Tensions rose again as England and France patronized opposing sides in a war for the Castilian crown. Debt from the conflict caused Britain to squeeze Aquitaine, whose nobles turned to France, who in turn confiscated Aquitaine again, and war erupted once more in 1369. The new Valois King of France, the intellectual Charles V, aided by an able guerrilla leader called Bertrand du Guesclin, reconquered much of the English gains while avoiding any large pitch battles with the attacking English forces. The Black Prince died in 1376, and Edward III in 1377, although the latter had been ineffectual in his last years. Even so, the English forces had managed to check the French gains and neither side sought a pitched battle; stalemate was reached. By 1380, the year both Charles V and du Guesclin died, both sides were growing tired of the conflict, and there were only sporadic raids interspersed by truces. England and France were both ruled by minors, and when Richard II of England came of age he reasserted himself over pro-war nobles (and a pro-war nation), suing for peace. Charles VI and his advisors also sought peace, and some went on crusade. Richard then became too tyrannical for his subjects and was deposed, while Charles went insane. French Division and Henry V In the early decades of the fifteenth-century tensions rose again, but this time between two noble houses in France - Burgundy and Orlà ©ans - over the right to govern on behalf of the mad king. This division led to civil war in 1407 after the head of Orlà ©ans was assassinated; the Orlà ©ans side became known as the Armagnacs after their new leader. After a misstep where a treaty was signed between the rebels and England, only for peace to break out in France when the English attacked, in 1415 a new English king seized the opportunity to intervene. This was Henry V, and his first campaign culminated in the most famous battle in English history: Agincourt. Critics might attack Henry for poor decisions which forced him to fight a larger pursing French force, but he won the battle. While this had little immediate effect on his plans for conquering France, the massive boost to his reputation allowed Henry to raise further funds for the war and made him a legend in British history. Henry returned again to France, this time aiming to take and hold land instead of carrying out chevauchà ©es; he soon had Normandy back under control. The Treaty of Troyes and an English King of France The struggles between the houses of Burgundy and Orlà ©ans continued, and even when a meeting was agreed to decide upon anti-English action, they fell out once more. This time John, Duke of Burgundy, was assassinated by one of the Dauphin’s party, and his heir allied with Henry, coming to terms in the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. Henry V of England would marry the daughter of the Valois King, become his heir and act as his regent. In return, England would continue the war against Orlà ©ans and their allies, which included the Dauphin. Decades later, a monk commenting upon the skull of Duke John said: â€Å"This is the hole through which the English entered France.† The Treaty was accepted in English and Burgundian held lands- largely the north of France- but not in the south, where the Valois heir to France was allied with the Orlà ©ans faction. However, in August 1422 Henry died, and the mad French King Charles VI followed soon after. Consequently, Henry’s nine-month-old son became king of both England and France, albeit with recognition largely in the north. Joan of Arc Henry VI’s regents won several victories as they readied for a push into the Orlà ©ans heartland, although their relationship with the Burgundians had grown fractious. By September 1428 they were besieging the town of Orlà ©ans itself, but they suffered a setback when the commanding Earl of Salisbury was killed observing the city. Then a new personality emerged: Joan of Arc. This peasant girl arrived at the Dauphin’s court claiming mystic voices had told her she was on a mission to free France from English forces. Her impact revitalized the moribund opposition, and they broke the siege around Orlà ©ans, defeated the English several times and were able to crown the Dauphin in Rheims cathedral. Joan was captured and executed by her enemies, but opposition in France now had a new king to rally around. After a few years of stalemate, they rallied around the new king when the Duke of Burgundy broke with the English in 1435. After the Congress of Arras, they recognized Charles VII as king. Many believe the Duke had decided England could never truly win France. French and Valois Victory The unification of Orlà ©ans and Burgundy under the Valois crown made an English victory all but impossible, but the war continued. The fighting was halted temporarily in 1444 with a truce and a marriage between Henry VI of England and a French princess. This, and the English government ceding Maine to achieve the truce caused an outcry in England. War soon began again when the English broke the truce. Charles VII had used the peace to reform the French army, and this new model made great advances against English lands on the continent and won the Battle of Formigny in 1450. By the end of 1453, after all, English land bar Calais had been retaken and feared English commander John Talbot had been killed at the Battle of Castillon, the war was effectively over.