Interreligious Dialogue free essay sample

Dialogue with respect to theological pluralism Statistics show that most of the world’s population is affiliated with some type of religion, with Christianity and Islam encompassing slightly over 50% of the population. Though interreligious dialogue is beneficial in gaining a better understanding of another’s religion, is it possible to hold one’s religion as being the absolute truth while engaging in an open interreligious dialogue with another religion? Many spiritual people will tend to be theological exclusivists, because a lot of the religions are divided and differ in many ways from one another, but they must accept the values and beliefs of other people if they are to remain truly faithful to the conviction of their traditions. Interreligious dialogue in a broad sense is being in communication with someone of a different religion to increase the understanding of one’s own religion or tradition as well as others. Since half of the world’s population is either Christian or Muslim, we will take a look into the differences these religions shares. We will write a custom essay sample on Interreligious Dialogue or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One of the main issues is developed in Klostermaiers book, In the Paradise of Krishna. It exemplifies some of the differences religions tend to hold, such as the discussion between Muslims and Christians on where the role of Jesus stands in Senestant 2 connection to God. Muslims agree that Jesus was an important figure and served a purpose as a great teacher of righteousness, but fail to see his true connection with God the Father. They claim that he is only a prophet sent by God but not equal to God. The position Klostermaier takes on Jesus, or ‘Son of Man’, is that he is the movement towards God in every being. He is what ultimately allows for us to have a relationship with God. The Son of Man only makes use of two basic distinctions: My Father on the one side everything else on the other. He doesn’t judge people based off of other people’s judgment or the rules set by man, rather he judges people based on their relation to the Father. Klostermaier also wants us to recognize that Christ is not an ‘avatara’. There were many people before Jesus’ time who were sent on this earth to save God’s people from particular calamities that were caused by mankind. Those people were very important because they were chosen by God to do his will. Noah’s obedience to God’s command to salvage humanity by building an arc to withstand the flood or Moses standing up to the Pharaoh and allowing his people to be set free are just a few instances of God’s sons who assisted in salvation. Saying Jesus is the ‘Only Son of God’ is putting a limitation on the abilities of God and not recognizing his full power. It also confuses the Muslim sect because of their belief that God sent many people throughout history who were a source of deliverance from any disaster that was occurring at the time. They are referred to as prophets therefore Jesus must also be a prophet and nothing more. Instead, he wants us to look at Christ as the movement to God Senestant 3 that will grant us ultimate salvation. He is the deciding factor that will determine whether we will enjoy eternity in the promise land or feel the wrath of God as we torment in hell. A second main issue in the book is dialoguing on a daily basis with familiar and unfamiliar religions. Before dialoguing with other people, it’s crucial to have a great understanding on your own religion. It’s very important to study and learn what your beliefs are founded upon, although it’s very time consuming and doesn’t aid in spiritual progress. While it is good to study and familiarize yourself with the religion you are currently practicing, it is also beneficial to converse with others about your religion as well. People tend to only see what’s on the surface because they are uneducated and misguided on certain areas and fail in attempting to delve deeper to find the true meaning of things. As you enter into dialogue with someone of an opposing religion, you must be very open-minded and unbiased to allow each other to learn things that aren’t obvious at first glance. It allows for a different perspective of who you think you are and helps you identify if you’re living and acting according to your beliefs. It’s also important to have inner dialogue with yourself. Meditating and reflecting on the impact our religion have in our lives and in our hearts. Is the essence of Hinduism and Christianity or any other religion we profess just words coming out of our mouths or does it directly impact our lives and allows us to live in peace and unity? These are the questions we must ask ourselves in helping to determine if we’re living in fallacy and wasting our time, or if we’re in accordance to Senestant 4 our beliefs. A starving old Brahmin talked about four kinds of people praying: â€Å"some pray that God should preserve their wealth, others that God should give them wealth. Those who asked for heavens were better; but those who neither had nor wanted riches and did not ask for heaven, but only wished to serve God for his own sake, they were the best. †(Klostermaier 95) Those people who only wished to serve God know of his magnificence and splendor and being connected to that will enhance their spirituality and respect for man and not traditions. This allows anyone from any religion to become like brothers and sisters. â€Å"If we insisted on our theologies – you as a Christian, I as a Hindu – we should be fighting each other. We have found one another because we probed more deeply, towards spirituality. †(Klostermaier 99) A third issue in the book is the idea of three persons in one God. Many established religions view God as being absolute and indescribable because of how minute we are compared to God. Other religions are able to grasp the physical nature of God and give him attributes and qualities which can only be possible if this God was visible. However, Christians hold the position that God is both of these things and can go between each form when necessary. This is seen by God revealing himself through his son Jesus Christ. Through him we’re able to become attached and have understanding of where our beliefs lie. When other religions look at Christianity, they view it as a religion without any real philosophy and that â€Å"it has taken its teachings from everywhere and justifies them by claiming to possess the only true revelation, to Senestant 5 dispense the only salvation† (Klostermaier 29). Therefore they see it as being immature when relating to religion. They even go as far as saying they’re uneducated on their religion therefore they can’t hold intelligent conversations and go in depth on the various issues that involve religion. I found this to be very true because as a Christian myself, I attempted to discuss religion with one of my atheist friends. After a few minutes went by, I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought. It led me to examining what I believed in and why. Towards the end of the conversation, I grew more respect for people who weren’t adapted to a particular religion and understood there’s a lot that can be learned from them. It showed me the unimportance of the different sects of religion and only claiming to a religion without close examination of it will lead to immaturity and idiocy. As a Sikh professor in Klostermaier’s book says, â€Å"Religion cannot be proved by logic – religion is inner experience. †(Klostermaier 31) This inner experience is affirmed through meditation as well as the various acts of people around you whom you have no association with. When looking at theological exclusivism versus pluralism, it is confusing as to whether they are relevant in deciding whether to converse with people of different religions. Looking only at theological exclusivism, it is the theological position that holds to the finality of the Christian faith in Christ. The finality of Christ means that there is no salvation outside the Christian faith. By definition, exclusivism seems to be self-contradictory. It contains the fact that Senestant 6 human beings are limited in the amount of knowledge they have and are unable to understand the infinite(God) to its fullness. However, followers of this concept are not restricted in believing that they are the only people that have the ability to be connected to God. They look at people of other religions as being infidels, not actually having a religious belief. They also claim to be the ones most devoted to God, when in all actuality; they are just followers of religious doctrine, created by man. Though the Bible was created by man, it was said to be created through spiritual guidance of the Most High. Every religious person who looks at the Bible sees it as being full of truth, which by nature is exclusivist. So everyone who follows the rules and guidelines the Bible have set in place is partially exclusivist. Since the Bible is considered as be exclusivist, it is only right to dwell on some of teachings it talks about. It talks about a God, who is full of mercy and compassion, one who loves all of his children and continues to love them through all the sins they have committed and continue to commit. It is a God that loved us so much that, â€Å"he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. † (Stoughton 897) A God of this nature does not sound like a God that will only come to save those who believe in Christ. Although that was his only ‘begotten son’, they are many people who do not have the opportunity to believe in such a religion. This can be caused by the way the person was rought up, or where the person was brought up, in which case Christianity was not the religion of choice. They are also instances of when someone dies prematurely and does not Senestant 7 have the opportunity to have a true relationship with Christ Jesus. These people shouldn’t be and are not exempt from the sanctifying grace of God. Th is is a God who created all of mankind in his image and likeness, so that everyone will have the ability to be saved. â€Å"God must be seen at the center of religions / The pluralistic contention is that all religions are fundamentally the same though superficially different. (Hick 42) The pluralist believes that the world religions are true and equally valid in their communication of the truth about God, the world, and salvation. This is also backed by the Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions, which says that other religions possess â€Å"validity and truth in their own right / These religions are understood as different cultural reflections or expressions of the same divine reality and as such constitute legitimate ways to God† (Larousse 437). This seems to make the most logical sense because we are not sole-bearers of the truth. We were only created to praise and give worship to the Almighty. Since this is true, we will all have our own understanding and interpretations about who God is, what our place is in this world and why we were created, and the steps in receiving salvation. At the core of our beliefs we hold the same truths, but slightly differ in minor details. Some examples are the day in which we should attend mass or how often we should pray. Yes these things are important and are what gives meaning to our life, but God only requires us to recognize who he is and the impact he has in our lives. By whatsoever way men worship Me, even so do I accept them; for, in all ways, O Partha, men walk in My path. † Senestant 8 (Bhagavad-Gita 4. 11) God is evident in all religions that have him in its center. As long as his followers stay true to the doctrine their religion provides, God will have favor on them. Many of the religions out there share these commonalities so they should be treated with equa lity when evaluating their doctrine with respect to God. In the sense of interreligious dialogue, the idea of being a theological exclusivist is irrelevant. It does not bring anything meaningful to the table when people of two different religions come together. Rather it would just be hurtful banter between the opposing religions and nothing worthwhile will be accomplished. Since by definition, an exclusivist can only view their religion and belief as being the only one which holds the absolute truth, to deviate from this by indulging in conversations that can potential alter that belief is dangerous and when placed in a position like that, mockery will be imminent. The only way the strengthen interreligious dialogue is through a pluralist outlook. They both go hand in hand, in that a pluralist will be very open to dialogue. This will increase their knowledge of not only the other person’s religion but also one’s own, since they both stem from the same root. Senestant 9 Works Cited 1)Goring, Rosemary, Frank Whaling, John Marshall, and David Brogan. Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions. Edinburgh: Larousse, 1994. Print. 2)Lopresti, Matthew. INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: A Philosophical Critique of Pope Benedict XVI and the Fall of Religious Absolutism (Matthew LoPresti) Academia. edu. Hawaii Pacific University Academia. du. Hawaii Pacific University. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. . 3)Marbaniang, Domenic. Theology Of Religions: Pluralism, Inclusivism, Exclusivism  « Earthpages. org. Earthpages. org. Web. 14 Dec. 2011. . 4)Bhagavadgita. Lewiston, N. Y. [u. a. : Edwin Mellen Pr. , 2010. Print. 5)Klostermaier, Klaus, and Antonia Fonseca. In the Paradise of Krishna: Hindu and Christian Seekers. Ph iladelphia: Westminster, 1969. Print. 6)Hick, John. God and the Universe of Faiths : Essays in the Philosophy of Religion. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988. Print. 7)NIV Bible. London: Hodder Stoughton, 1997. Print.

Free Essays on The Old Man And The Sea

Eighty-four days had passed since Santiago, the old fisherman, had caught a fish, and he was forced to suffer not only the ridicule of younger fishermen, but near-starvation as well. Moreover, Santiago had lost his young companion, a boy named Manolin, whose father had ordered him to leave Santiago in order to work with more successful seamen. But the devoted child still loved Santiago, and each day brought food and bait to his shack, where they indulged in their favorite pastime: talking about the American baseball leagues. The old man's hero was the New York Yankees' Joe DiMaggio. Santiago identified with the ballplayer's skill and discipline, and declared he would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing some time. After visiting one particular afternoon, the boy left Santiago, who fell asleep. Lions immediately filled his dreams. As a boy he had sailed to Africa and had seen lions on the beaches. Now, as an old man, he constantly dreamed of the great and noble beasts. He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of Great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach ... He loved them as he loved the boy. Before dawn of the next day, the fisherman, as usual, hauled his salt-encrusted skiff onto the beach and set out by himself. But today, in hopes of breaking his unlucky streak, he was determined to sail into deep waters, out much farther than the other anglers would go. He followed the sea birds and flying fish; they would tell him b y their movements where the fish congregated. He watched the turtles swimming near his boat. He loved the turtles, "with their elegance and speed... " Most people are Heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut tip and butchered. The old man thought, I have such a heart too ... Early on, Santiago managed to land a tenpound tuna. Th... Free Essays on The Old Man And The Sea Free Essays on The Old Man And The Sea Title: The Old Man and the Sea Author: Ernest Hemingway Genre: Novel Copyright Date: 1952 Setting: Effect of Setting on Characters and Plot: Main Characters: Major Characters Santiago: The hero of the story. He is an old Cuban fisherman who is a perfectionist when it comes to fishing. Despite his precise methods, he has no luck at sea. Santiago wants to be unique: a greater and stranger person than his peers out at sea. He loves baseball and dreams of lions. He is alone, except for the company of Manolin. He is determined to catch one big fish. Manolin: The young boy who is a disciple of Santiago and who takes care of him. His parents prefer that he work with more successful fishermen, but as he becomes his own man, he chooses to be loyal to Santiago. Marlin: The Marlin is the big fish that Santiago desperately wants and needs to catch. It is an awesome fish that impresses the old man. Because of the fish's greatness, he becomes like a brother to Santiago Minor Characters Manolin's Parents: The parents of the young boy. They want their son to abandon Santiago and fish with fishermen who are more successful and will earn more money. Santiago is torn between his duty to them and his loyalty to the old man. Local Fishermen: The fishermen in town who either laugh at or pity Santiago. They are not as precise in technique as the old man, but they catch more fish. Minor Characters: Summary: Plot Summary In a small fishing village in Cuba, Santiago, an old, weathered fisherman has just gone 84 days without catching a fish. On the 85th day, he is determined to catch a big, impressive fish. For years, Santiago has been fishing with a young boy named Manolin. Manolin started fishing with the old man when he was only 5 years old. Santiago is like Manolin's second father, and has taught the young boy everything about fishing. Manolin is extremely loyal to Santiago and makes sure that the old man is always ... Free Essays on The Old Man And The Sea Eighty-four days had passed since Santiago, the old fisherman, had caught a fish, and he was forced to suffer not only the ridicule of younger fishermen, but near-starvation as well. Moreover, Santiago had lost his young companion, a boy named Manolin, whose father had ordered him to leave Santiago in order to work with more successful seamen. But the devoted child still loved Santiago, and each day brought food and bait to his shack, where they indulged in their favorite pastime: talking about the American baseball leagues. The old man's hero was the New York Yankees' Joe DiMaggio. Santiago identified with the ballplayer's skill and discipline, and declared he would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing some time. After visiting one particular afternoon, the boy left Santiago, who fell asleep. Lions immediately filled his dreams. As a boy he had sailed to Africa and had seen lions on the beaches. Now, as an old man, he constantly dreamed of the great and noble beasts. He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of Great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach ... He loved them as he loved the boy. Before dawn of the next day, the fisherman, as usual, hauled his salt-encrusted skiff onto the beach and set out by himself. But today, in hopes of breaking his unlucky streak, he was determined to sail into deep waters, out much farther than the other anglers would go. He followed the sea birds and flying fish; they would tell him b y their movements where the fish congregated. He watched the turtles swimming near his boat. He loved the turtles, "with their elegance and speed... " Most people are Heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut tip and butchered. The old man thought, I have such a heart too ... Early on, Santiago managed to land a tenpound tuna. Th...

Literary theory is an organon of methods. Discuss this statement Essay

Literary theory is an organon of methods. Discuss this statement - Essay Example From this line of thinking, someone can deduce the meaning of synonyms/unethical words, the meaning of homonymous/equivocal, and the meaning of paronymous/denominative words. These facts lead to the divisibility of speech into either simple, or structured with composition1. Only structured forms of speech can be false or true. What is said of a subject can be said to be the description of the subject as a whole. Under normal circumstances, what is said about a subject is always meant to answer the question of exactly what the subject is. What is said to be contained in a subject is always meant to describe the content of the subject. These are things whose existence completely depend on the existence of the subject. What is contained in a subject can also be referred to as inherence. Some things can be predicated of a subject, but do not exist in any subject. For instance, â€Å"man† might be predicated of John or James, but fail to be in any subject. Some things can be in a subject, but cannot be predicated of a subject. In such cases, a certain specific point of grammatical knowledge is in the subject but cannot be predicated of any subject because of its individuality. Some things have the ability to be predicated of a subject and be in a subject. A good example of such a case will be science. Science is in the mind as in a subject while at the same time can be predicated of geometry. There are also things that cannot be in any subject, neither can they be predicated of any subject. The reason as to why they cannot be predicted is that they are individuals. They cannot be in a subject because they are substances2. Organon can also help in the comprehensive, explicit, and formal understanding of the relationship between logic and language. Basic linguistic formscan be classified into prepositions and simple terms, verbs and nouns, negation, the number of simple propositions, on modal propositions, and studies on the excluded

Movie Alice in wonderland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Movie Alice in wonderland - Essay Example Tim Burton’s portrayal of Underland is visually unique as is his point of view. Burton as director is essential to the overall look and feel of the film. This film grossed $319.3 million at the box office and DVD sales to date. The setting of the film at times is rather creepy. This Alice is unlike any others in the Alice and Wonderland films previously made. Alice is curious, but strong willed and not easily swayed into what she, eventually, does by the end of the film. Alice is visually stunning, but the portrayal by the actors is weak, the story itself is rather weak. For a fantasy film it works, little kids would enjoy this film, as well, but the action and adventure is just not something that Alice in Wonderland should have shown. For a fantasy film, I would need to see at least the following three criteria. First, it must be visually stunning, Star Wars saga falls here. Second, it must have strange and unique creatures to its world, e.g. Hobbit / Lord of the Rings movies. And third, there must be a quest which the lead character needs to complete, whether or not it is destined for him or his own altogether, Harry Potter saga. Alice in Wonderland is visually stunning. From the colorations of the wardrobe to the design of the characters themselves, Tim Burton has a knack for stunning visualization. And like Star Wars, which is visually stunning with a grimy feeling to it, Alice in Wonderland, with its gothic, dark feeling to it, still is quite visually stunning with the varied shapes of the settings, to the wardrobe and the make-up of each and every character in the story. The visuals of a boring party, even felt as though it were stuffy in the room as I watched this scene, to the many different place in Undeland (as Wonderland is called in this film) where the visuals change and your feelings to go along right with them.At one point in the film, shortly after Alice arrives in

Tackling Fraud in the Workplace

Tackling Fraud in the Workplace Subject Who to trust? Tackling Employee Fraud   Chapter 1: Introduction With globalization and the increasing use of technology, the problem of fraud and its great complexity has become an enormous concern for the businesses. The businesses not only attack by unknown distance fraudsters but it suffers from insider fraudsters too. This study will outline the internal employee fraud, its measurements and controls within the businesses. The fraudsters, that they can be operators, managers, directors or even owners of the businesses. Insiders fraud became mutual and businesses are alarmed identifying methods to reduce the workplace fraud. Even though fraud cannot be eliminated completely as because of its nature, Brooks, Button and Frimpong (2009) stated that understanding lack of awareness of deception tactics, techniques and calculating fraud will help decrease its amount. There are some approaches to prevent fraud activities to decrease its influences, detect fraud risks and cope with them. However, are these approaches enough to stop fraudulent activitie s within the businesses? This research will examine broad range of secondary data that sources retrieved from both government and private sector organisations, financial and anti-fraud organisations publications with the purpose of measure the existing condition of tackling with the workplace fraud, trends and, it will search for possible developments that might result in a decrease amount of dishonest activities and loss to build an better confidence and trust within the organizations. Background Stoy Hayward (2008) underlined that the main risk to organizations was not from outside fraudsters, but from employees and managers, calculated for 46% of deception cases and loss of companies  £541 million. This formed %77 of the total of fraud (Hayward, 2008 cited by Smith, 2011). CIFAS study claimed that employee fraud has been even more increasing concern lately. In 2015, members of CIFAS recorded and identified more workplace fraud cases than ever before. More than 320,000 instances were identified and the figure increased more by 16% than the figures for 2014. (CIFAS, 2016) In this perspective, regardless sizes of companies, there is a need to understand workplace fraud and raise a question why and how it occurs who more likely to commit this crime and finally what can be done to reduce the amount of workplace fraud cases. Workplace fraud is equally problematic and expensive to reveal, even once it is realised. For that reason, organisations must to stop fraud activities at the first place before its occurrence. However the question is how to do this? Better understanding of workplace fraud and employees might help to reduce these high level of workplace fraudulent activities. Research aims Research objectives (3 or 4) The broad aims of this research are to enhance the understanding, assessing the nature of workplace fraud and organisational measures to address the problem. It will be addressed with reference to three specific objectives. To explore the nature of insider fraud in the workplace (Chapter 3 title) First objective seeks to establish the nature and scale of insider fraud, its definition, and identifying types of workplace fraud and understanding perpetrators mind and behaviours, examining what is already known. To assess how effectively organisations are addressing the problem (Chapter 4 title) Second objective is to assess how effectively organisations are addressing the problem. It will also look into types of measurement and their strengths and weakness addressed with reference to the literature in order to examine what improvements could be implemented. To make recommendations on how organisations can be better equipped to manage the challenge of insider fraud. (Chapter 5 title How organisations manage to fight insider fraud) Third objective is concerning to make recommendations on how organisations counter fraud capability can be better equipped to manage the challenge of insider fraud. Chapter 2: First thematic chapter related to 1st objective The nature of insider fraud in the workplace Introduction This chapter outline the nature and scale of insider fraud, its definition, and identifying types of workplace fraud and understanding perpetrators mind and behaviours, examining what is already known. What is fraud? There is no global definition of fraud. Numerous definitions of fraud can be found in the legal and professional literature on the subject. However all of them contain the common notion of fraud being either theft by deception, or trickery. Thus, Stephen (1996): Although the words fraud and corruption are often used interchangeably, a strict distinction between the two will be maintained in this paper and the focus will solely be on fraud. I believe that it is important to make this distinction and not to collapse the distinction between the two related phenomena. The reason for making this distinction is that corruption is associated with the misuse of public positions and consequently mostly associated with the public sector and public officials. As a result of these connotations corruption can be painted as something that affects only the public sector and public officials. By collapsing the distinction between fraud and corruption, fraud is equally being portrayed as something that mainly affects the public sector and public officials. This, however, is not the case. Fraud is a phenomenon that can occur in both the public and private sectors. It further is not a phenomenon in which only public officials are involved, but any employee or even outsiders can be perpetrators of fraud. Furthermore, corruption implies third-party involvement, while fraud does not necessarily imply third-party involvement. In the case of corruption employees violate their duty to their principals by colluding with a third party. Instead of fulfilling their obligations to their principals they abuse their positions by either accepting or demanding a bribe offered by or demanded of a third party. This is not the case in fraud. Here employees or even persons from outside the organization can commit fraud on their own initiative. Because there is not necessarily third-party involvement in fraud, it is much more difficult to detect. Third-party involvement always provides an immediate source of information that someone abused his or her position as employee. Exactly because fraud lacks this third- party involvement, it is more difficult to detect it and consequently a different approach is required to identify and combat it. Fraud within organ izations can be defined as intentional deception by concealing or misrepresenting information that harms the financial interest of another person(s) and benefits the financial interests of the perpetrator.  This differs from corruption, which can be defined as inducement by improper means to violate ones duty towards ones principal resulting in harm to the interest of another party and in financial benefit for the perpetrator. Because corruption has the element of inducement by a third party, it is often associated with bribery. 2. Understanding Fraud In order to fight fraud it is imperative first to gain a proper understanding of the phenomenon. Important work in this regard was done by Coleman.* In his book. The criminal elite: the sociology of white-collar crime, he contends that there always are three dimensions to fraud-motive, opportunity, and a lack of feelings of guilt. A brief discussion of each of the three dimensions follows. 2.1. Motive In order to commit fraud one must have a sufficiently strong motivation for doing it. The aspirant fraudster is aware that s/he is about to commit an illegal deed that might result in penalties of some sort (e.g. dismissal, fines, and imprisonment). They thus should have a sufficiently strong motive for perpetrating fraud despite the fact that they know it is illegal and despite the fact that they know it might result in them being punished for doing it. 2.2. Opportunity Opportunity for fraud is, according to Coleman, enhanced by three factors. First, the person must be in a position of trust or must have access to persons in positions of trust. Second, the person must have knowledge of the control systems of the company in order to be able to beat them. Third, the person should have access to the assets of the company. The combination of these three factors creates the opportunity for committing fraud. 2.3. Lack of feelings of guilt Colemans third condition for fraud is that the perpetrator should not be deterred from his/her actions by feelings of guilt. Given the unique characteristic of fraud, viz., that most perpetrators commit fraud repeatedly, it is evident that a lack of feelings of guilt is a typical feature of fraud. In order to free themselves of such feelings of guilt, perpetrators of fraud should find some form of excuse or rationalization to rid themselves of feelings of guilt that might result from deliberately indulging in illegal acts of fraud. In business terms, fraud is sometimes difficult to define as it extends, for example, from conduct as trivial as an employee having an extended lunch break without permission, to large scale misappropriation of funds by a company accountant involving many millions of dollars. Having an understanding of how fraud is defined, is thus able to help organisations decide how best to respond to individual cases when they arise as sometimes an incident could more appropriately be dealt with as a personnel management issue rather than an issue that require a direct legal response. Coleman, J. W. 1989. The criminal elite. The sociology of white-collar crime. New York: St. Martin. The 2010 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse takes a comprehensive look at workplace schemes, their perpetrators, how the crimes were ultimately detected and their estimated cost. The report is based on data compiled from a study of 1,843 cases of occupational fraud that occurred worldwide between January 2008 and December 2009. All information was provided by the Certified Fraud Examiners who investigated the cases. The study examines a wide range of misconduct by employees, managers and executives. Occupational fraud schemes can be as simple as pilferage of company supplies or as complex as sophisticated financial statement frauds, the report says. For the first time, the ACFE expanded the study to include cases from countries outside the U.S. The findings include feedback from 106 countries, with more than 40% of the cases happening outside the U.S. The charts and graphs featured here, which are global in scope unless otherwise indicated, are Just a slice of the overall results

12 Angry Men Essay -- 12 Angry Men, movie, film

Twelve Angry Men is a classic movie depicting how one determined leader can alter an entire crowd. Through dedication, curiosity, and the pursuit for the truth he is able to persuade a group of twelve to second guess even themselves. Within this heterogynous group are a dozen different personalities - some of which were leaders and most of which were not.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The strongest leader in this movie by far is the Architect in the White Suit. Right off from the beginning at the original vote the Architect stated clearly his position in the matter. Against the rest of the group he strongly held his ground and fought for what he believed. Most people in his position would have changed their opinion immediately after realizing that he was completely outnumbered. However he continued to argue his points and reiterate the reasons why â€Å"evidence† needed to be questioned. His mind was simply brilliant. As he sat there listening to the other jurors reasoning he always found a way to prove them wrong or make them question themselves. Whether it was through logic, mathematical reasoning, or questioning of evidence he seemed to always wow the other jurors. His strength as a leader is that he is a natural born one. He wasn’t trying to look smart or impress anyone. He simply was doing what he was born to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He used both pushing and pulling tactics to influence his peers. His strongest tactic was the usage of rational persuasion. While other jurors were able to dismiss facts without consideration, he immediately noted a potential fault. Through the analysis of facts he was able to convince others to reconsider. One of the most notable discrepancies he proved was that of the witness across the street. Through common noises, known train speeds, and common knowledge he proved that the witness was anything but one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The architect also uses inspirational appeal to convince his colleagues. He makes the other jurors consider the humanity of the situation. A mans life is at stake and he realizes the impact that his decision as well the rest of theirs will have on the man. The importance of values is portrayed. Likewise he keeps his own position non-emotional stating that he will concur with the group about the guilt, but only if they can convince him that he should.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Addi... ...vie and it completely altered the fate of the trial and the boys life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The other leader of the film was the assistant football coach who was also the Foreman of the jury. As the film played on it became clear why he was the assistant coach and not the head one. His leadership skills were minimal. Despite his good intentions on running a smooth discussion he couldn’t do so himself. He asked for direction several times, or was told by the others what they should do. He certainly is not a leader, but was forced to pretend to be one for the duration of the trial.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Despite their differences all five leaders were critical to the case at hand. The Angry father and the Architect were essential to represent each opinion group. The Salesman was necessary to serve as head of the rest of the bored people as well as to regulate the comfortability. The Foreman was necessary in theory to control the meeting. And the Old Man was the saving grace in the entire trial. Their vastly unique leadership styles each had its own place in the movie and certainly represented the true reality of the necessity of different leaders in our environment.

Professional Beggar Problem Essay

Introduction Police in Shanghai published a list of beggars who have been caught most often on metro trains over the past four years on 21 August 2012, sparking debates about the problem of â€Å"professional† beggars. The scorekeeper, who has been caught 308 times, is 22-year-old young man from Anhui province in perfect health, following by an 88-year-old woman with a record of 292 times[1]. Of the various problems which our country faces today, the problem of begging is one of the most acute ones. Every one of us has seen numerous kinds of beggars. Some are blind, lame or crippled, and so take to begging. Child and orphan beggars also are very common. However, others, who are physically sound before they join the begging â€Å"career† but undertake is as their profession, for it enables them to earn their living easily. The causes of begging are many, and they are very similar between inland China beggars and those in other developing countries (e.g. India, Pakistan etc.)[2]. First of all, some people, mostly the elder and the very young, are physically incapable of doing any work and have no other skills. The only way of getting food open to them is begging. They also deserve the sympathy of others. Secondly, some people take to begging due to natural disasters. Thirdly, some criminals when they come out of jails are not treated sympathetically by society. They are not given any chance to begin their life afresh. Becoming a beggar is the only way to find a shelter. On the other hand, mostly in the big cities, some people, who do not suffer from poverty and handicap, see the trade of begging flourishing and beggars earning their livelihood in a very easy way, they just enter the profession. In order to earn more sympathy, they broke their own legs or putrefied their own skin; or even worse, some kidnapped other people’s children and handicapped them. There are also illegal organizations which train children in the art of begging. One can argue that improper social rehabilitation and salvage mechanism may cause the problem in the above paragraph. But the truth is the mature Homel ess Shelter & Aid Station system in China’s big cities leaves little room for criticism. We not only provide food, water and shelter in these aid stations, we also provide job consultancy service for the health ones and train tickets to send them home. So, what is the motivation of these people (some even with a college degree) to become professional beggars? Let us compare the following two income numbers first. The average monthly income of a middle-level manager in Beijing is around US$1440 ($65 daily) before tax; the average daily income of a professional beggar who â€Å"work† on metro trains in Shanghai is US$130, and tax-free. To top it all, on 13 November 2012, a male beggar carrying a kid was spotted getting on his Audi A6 sedan after â€Å"work† in Qingdao city, east China’s Shandong province.[3] These professional beggars also refuse any kind of help from the social and private charity groups. In China’s big cities, the professional beggars seem to live a better life than ordinary working class people. Based on the evidence and arguments above, we will now use the PATH model to find out the truth beneath the problem and try to find a way (or several) to tackle this conundrum. Why does the problem of professional beggars so severe in China’s big cities? What is the motive under the career choosing? Can we help them to establish a correct value of wealth? 1. PATH-Problem: Identifying and defining the problem According to Buunk and Van Vugt (2008)’s PATH protocol in order to fully understand the root of the problem, we need to diagnose it with brainstorming and various background data. For the professional beggar problem specifically, here is what we need to know: a. What is the central problem that needs to be understood and addressed? Unlike real beggars who are unable to support themselves, professional beggars take begging as a profitable career. Their willingness to beg is the key problem lying behind the social phenomenon. (Hong Ying, Li 2000) Many news reports[4] and social policy articles (Zhi. Li 2006, Chao Li 2005, Jiaqing Zou 2003 etc) have pointed out that the low sense of dignity versus the high income the beggars get may be one of the core issues needed to be tackled in the problem. We also consider this as our central problem in our PATH model. b. Why is a particular issue perceived as a problem in the first place? The beggars’ personal unwillingness to change their career path is not only the core issue in the begging problem, it is also the root of several other detrimental social problems which we’ll illustrate later in the paragraph. If we cannot change their value, any aid and help from other people and the government will eventually end in vein. As we posted in the introduction part, even though the Homeless Shelter & Aid station mechanism is quite mature (Liulu Zhang 2009) in China’s big cities, the professional beggars still won’t accept these help. c. For whom is it a problem? We found out besides that the whole society which will be indirectly affected by this problem; there are three types of people/organizations that suffer directly from it. First, are the beggars themselves. Since they have chosen that as their career, they lost chances to be employed as full-time workers with sufficient welfare benefit and medical insurance. In china, the composition of the professional beggars is mostly the floating population, meaning they cannot get the citizenship in the cities they beg and their original places will terminate their pension supply or even their ID after certain years. Second, are the beggars’ families. Their begging behavior humiliates the whole families, even the whole village, sometimes. On practical level, since they may lose their ID after several years’ begging career in big citers, their children will miss the education opportunity due to black hukou (residence registration). Third, the governments of big cities are victims, to o. Not only because the professional beggar damaged the city image and wasted public resources, but they also rose the crime rate especially in child-kidnapping and street violence. (Xiangyu Chen, Na Li. 2011) d. What causes the problem and how do these causes affect the problem? On the larger scale, the mammonism (money worship) of the whole country is the culprit. Just as the ancient Chinese saying goes â€Å"prostitution is better than poverty† became the firm belief of the professional beggars (Daming Zhu, 2010). They witnessed the gap of wealth when they arrived at the big cities, in order to attenuate the relative deprivation, they might have tried several job and then found that begging is the easiest way, which leading to another cause. That is the laziness rooted in them. Why is that the case? In most small town people’s child memories, big cities were heavenly places filled with gold. They were never aware of our hard-working principles. From generations to generations, they enjoy their lay-back lifestyle and envy others’ wealth in the mean time. They just cannot get the simple logic of the positive relation between hardworking and wealth-gaining. However, we cannot simply blame this wrong idea to the professional beggars only; their family education and grow-up environment have a lot to do with. As the floating population, many migrant workers choose to leave their young offspring with their old parent. The lack of parent-child interaction unfortunately causes the apathy among family members. That is why when some professional beggars were interviewed; they said they feel abandoned by the family so there is no need to feel shame in their career. e.who should be convinced of the problem? Besides the professional beggars, their families and the city government we mentioned above. The citizens and the workers of the Homeless Shelter & Aid Stations are also need to be convinced of the problem. They should form the idea that their sympathy and help to the professional beggars are encouraging postures, which, in the long run, will deepen the problem. f. Whose cooperation is necessary to help solve the problem? The professional beggars themselves, their families, the workers of the aid stations, citizens with superfluous sympathy as well as the city governments. g. Can a social psychological intervention be helpful to tackle the problem at hand? Absolutely. As mentioned in previous paragraphs, the existing regulations and the help mechanisms do not work in a sufficient way. According to the law, begging is not a crime thus so as to respect their human rights the enforcing authority can only send them to the aid station. However, they will come back to pursue their begging career in big cities after the aid workers send them home again and again. Embracing a social psychological intervention will help us to figure out a solution that may tackle the core of the problem (i.e. the beggars’ willingness to give up begging voluntarily). By applying this, we aim to shift their begging behavior through rectifying their attitude and cognition towards wealth gaining. The outcome of the problem definition: Most of the professional beggars are healthy people or the self-mutilated ones who choose to be beggars. Their willingness to beg is solely based on the twisted wealthy-oriented value. (problem) Why do these self supportable people (target population) beg rather than work (behaviours) and what can we do to change their mind and live a normal life? (solution) 2. PATH-Analysis: Formulating appropriate concepts and developing theory based explanations 2.1 The outcome variables In the previous problem-definition chapter we named several variables that influence the behavior of the professional beggars. In this paragraph, we’re going into detail to put these variables into three categories: predisposing factors, reinforcing factors and enabling factors. On the larger scale, the predisposing factors the general money worship mood of the society drive these professional beggars to choose begging as a career path. Besides that, other citizens categorize the problem as separate from their own; they have no incentive to care or to help the government solving the issue. On the personal scale of the beggars, the gap of wealth they witnessed is one of the strongest drivers for begging behavior. The family pressure can be considered as the main reinforcing factor that influences the begging behavior which has a strong encourage effect. For the beggars themselves, the substitutability of their previous normal jobs will enhance their continuation of begging. Although, tremendous effort has been put into the social aid system, there is always some room to improve. If a social psychology perspective help can be added in the system, which will sure be more helpful than mere material and advising aid. 2.2 Brainstorming: Explaining â€Å"willingness to live a self-support life† For the professional beggars themselves, no trust in the welfare system, lack of work motivation and the â€Å"easy money/ quick money† that they can acquire through begging largely weaken the desire to give up. For their families, fear of poverty is the largest negative factors which influence the willingness. At the other end, the shame they feel when they get to know that their family member is a beggar might pressure these professional beggars to live a self-supported life. To the city governments, how to increase the willingness of the professional beggars to give up the career voluntarily is a thorny problem. Because on one hand, stricter regulation and laws will violate their human rights, on the other hand, the current rules and aid system do not seem to work in a productive. The governments need to find a way that can produce positive result as well as minimize the waste of public reso urces. 2.3 Provisional Explanation Based on the above analysis and brainstorming, we came out with the provisional explanation of our professional beggars’ problem which shows the graph below: On the left hand, five personal and external determinants are listed that will directly influence the willingness to live a self-support life. The environmental conditions with the outcome variable (i.e. give up career begging) is showed to the right. [pic] 2.4 Issue related approaches Several study papers written by domestic policy researcher have shown us certain possible reason for this existing phenomenon: – Instability of job position (Wei Guo, 2012). A lot of people can find a labor job, but since it is mostly not skill related and therefore they are highly replaceable. In comparison, being a professional beggar, they are at least â€Å"self-employed†. – Lack of understanding from the society (Xiangyu Chen, Na li, 2010). The society mostly fails to really understand the difficulty of professional beggar without having been in similar situation. With the idea of not being understood, professional beggars then have doubts about the readiness of social help, which negatively effects their willingness to try to start a self-dependent life. – Polarization of social wealth (D Xue-hui, 2003). As a popular theory goes, 20% of the population possess 80% of the resources, so that the rich become richer, the poor then poorer. The professional beggars in this environment face a higher likelihood to think they are lower level human being and of no use to the society. That’s why they also have only little willingness to give up the begging career. 2.5 Conceptual approaches To incorporate to the social psychological level, we try to look at this problem with some field related theories: – Emotion on decision making. One of the braches of it is Self Defense Mechanisms (Phebe Cramer 2006). SDM in simple words are psychological strategies brought into play to maintain a socially acceptable self-image. In our case, choosing the professional beggar career is a cause of shame and embarrassment. When they categorize themselves in a lower level of social life, they have doubts about the truthfulness of the society. Thinking that they are only pitied and not understood, they become closed to themselves and fail to trust in the true kindness. As consequence, they are not ready or open to accept possible help which could help them to start a independent life. – Social comparison (Naomi Ellemers, 2002). To be more specific for our case, we need to understand Relative Deprivation Theory. It refers to the discontent people feel when they compare their positions to others and realize that they have less of what they believe themselves to be entitled than those around them. Most professional beggars are not enough educated or maybe even have not been through the obligated education phase, which leaves them with no competitive skills to set food in the job market. They also don’t see themselves with any potential success in the society. Alone with this, they still need to face the unrealistic high expectation from the family. When they want to go back home, in order not to â€Å"lose face†, they will need to have enough money, which, considering their situation, is hard to earn other than being beggars. – Risk perception. Affect being a important part of the risk perception, we will here take a look at how Mood Congruence Effect (Seo et al., 2010) can influence our problem. According to this effect, if positive feeling responds to positive outcome, a prospective positive outcome will be rated as more likely. In our case, the amount of money earned is very close to the amount of a normal employee, which for the beggars is a surprisingly good income level. Combined the positive income and the happy feeling, they are more convinced about the â€Å"bright future† in the begging career, and therefore not willing to give it up. 2.6 General theory approach Expected Utility At the end it all comes to expectation: individuals expect a higher social status; families expect the children to be successful; the society expects the professional beggars to disappear. We will see a bit closer from these three aspects: – Personal: individuals leave home to try to make a career so that they can feed their family, make them proud and be useful to the society. But having a goal without having corresponding skills to actually live up to their expectation, leaves them in frustration. Being a professional beggar in this situation becomes their lifebuoy. The money they earn from it in some level creates them the illusion of having a career and it amends for the feeling of losing social status. – Family: every parent thinks that their children can be successful in the society one way or another. The money the beggars bring home is the â€Å"proof† of their success, which, when the family is not aware of the method how they earn it, is sometimes more than enough for the family to believe that their expectation has been met. – Society: the society deep down wishes that the professional beggars won’t, one day, be a problem anymore. With this in mind, people try to donate material or offer voluntary help. The material/monetary help in some way actually assures the beggars that they will be able to make a life being in the career. When the society doesn’t see the improvement of their expectation over time, they lose the motivation to keep on helping. 3. Test – final answer Before we can come to the final graph, we go through again all the possible relevant elements with 2 criterions: relevance and changeability. The same time we try to eliminate the elements with low relevance and/or low changeability, also the ones that overlap with others. – Substitutability (in a job position): it means that it’s hard for the beggars to find a stable job. It then overlaps with â€Å"easy money†, which says that the beggar career offers them the possibility to have a â€Å"job† that also earns them money easily. – Experience similarity (from the social help side): having a similar experience brings a bigger chance to actually understand the difficulties that others are facing. With appropriate understand the help can then be genuine. It therefore overlaps with â€Å"sympathy†. But then in order to understand most of the time is a issue of willingness. The society has already rated the beggars negative without seeing the actua lly reasons of the phenomenon. Some who have faced the same situation but came out being actually successful may despite the others who couldn’t. In the way, the similar experience is not so relevant to solve the problem. – Skill learning opportunities: as the quote goes, you give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, you teach a man to fish and you feed him for lifetime. Learning a practical skill is the approach which will eventually have huge impact on this issue. The opportunities are actually widely offered, but then the beggars are not willing to take them, since they think the learning then finding a job process is taking the time away from them earning easy money. So the skill learning opportunities is here not so relevant. – Awareness of manipulation: some beggars did not start the beggar career on their own intention. They might have been talked into the line of work. Those people who talked them into form this company-like group, they act like their â€Å"manager†, assign their tasks, location etc and also take profit from them. But then it’s hard to notice that they are manipulated while they are actually having income. This element is hard to be changed. – Over-valuation of material life: in the big environment money talks. Money can’t do everything but then without money nothing can be done. Generally accepted idea is that a good material life is the basis of a successful life. This element exist worldwide so that it would be really difficult to change people’s believe in it. |Determinants |Changeability |Relevance |Overlap (Y/N) | |Substitutability |+ + |+ |Y | |Experience similarity |- – |+ |Y | |Learning opportunities |+ |/ |N | |Awareness of manipulation |- – |+ |N | |Over-valuation material life |- – |+ + |Y | |Establishment of dignity |+ |+ + |N | |Disbelief in society |- |+ |N | |Easy moneys |+ + |+ |N | |Empathy/Real solicitude |+ + |+ + |N | |Family pressure |+ |+ + |N | After the eliminations, we can now here draw a final graph: As illustrated above, there are three main variables (Establishment of dignity, Empathy/Real solicitude and Readiness to accept help) hold positive relation with the â€Å"give up begging† outcome, and two negative ones (Family pressure and Easy money). [pic] We believe that â€Å"Establishment of dignity† from the personal side of the sbeggar and â€Å"Empathy/ Real solicitude† from the society/government side serves as the most important positive fact in the whole relationship. Not only because they are more initiative variables than others, but also, as shown, they get more positive determinants. 3.2 Tests With the final graph presented, now we will incorporate the social psychology theory and the real life issue together to understand the existence of the problem and eventually find out the possible solution to solve it. – Readiness to accept help. If the beggars get to earn more self-esteem, it will reduce the feeling of embarrassment or shame. Alone side they will more likely to think the society is not just pitying them but instead try to understand and help them. With these two influences, the self defense mechanisms would play a less important role. In the end they will be more ready to open themselves to the help. – Family pressure. The high expectation from family doesn’t match with the actual skills is the core reason why the beggars experience the relative deprivation. If they feel that there are no ways that they can be useful or appreciated, they will lose the willingness to improve themselves. In this case the families need to understand them too. They should not only compare the monetary income but more the skills learned and the independence of their lives, to value the individual improvement more. – Easy money. Compared to the income of a normal low skill required labor work, the money they earned being a professional beggar is rather nice. Therefore, their belief in future gain becomes a strong moderator in the relationship between easy money and the willingness to live a self-support life. The unexpected income level leads to positive emotions, with which they have more expectation towards the continuation of this career. If they think they can earn a living from it, then they won’t be willing to give up and try to start a self-supported life. PATH – Help 4. Hypothetical conclusion After trying to analyze the phenomenon, we came across some possible steps that we can take to improve the situation, among which the measures on a personal base seem to have the ability to create the biggest impact. It means a change of their way to think. Only when they believe in self value, in the genuine help from the society, can the other measures or policy do their work. To do that, truthful communications between families and individuals as well as between individuals and the society should be encouraged t to take place. The openness will improve the understanding, which eventually improves the social situation. Reference LI Hong-ying 2000. On the problem of career beggar in modern Chinese society. Journal of Anhui Normal University (Philosophy & social Sciences. 2000-01 Mei-Guangyao WuXiuling Zhangfan Zhengwenyan Yexiuzhi Chenchen Hefenglan(School Education Science of South China Norm University);College students’ attitude to the beggar and the correlation research with altruism[J];Science of Social Psychology;2006-05 Checkoway, Barry, 1990. Unanswered Questions about Public Service in the Public Research University. SAGE Social Science Collection GAO Hui(Marxism College,Tian Jin University of Commence,Tianjin 300134,China);The Governance and Successful Experiences of the Communist Party of China on Main Beggar Problems[J];Central China Normal University Journal of Postgraduates;2012-01 Cramer, Phebe 2006. Protecting the Self: Defense Mechanisms in Action. The Guilford Press; 1 edition (May 18, 2006) Iain Walker, Heather J. Smith 2002. â€Å"Relative Deprivation, Specification, Development, and Integration† LIU Shu-dong (Department of Literature and History,Hunan University of Arts and Science,Changde,415000,China);The Influence of the Refugees’ Entry into the City on the Urbanization[J];Journal of Hunan University of Arts and Science(Social Science Edition);2008-06 XU Zhan-chun(School of Politics and Law,Yichun University,Yichun 336000,China);The Opening of Shanghai Port and its Changes and Impacts onthe Development of Shanghai and Region South of the Yangtze River[J];Journal of Changshu Institute of Technology;2009-03 YANG Ya-hua (College of Law,Fujian Normal University,Fuzhou 350108,China);The Regulations of Beggars and Vagabones from the View of the Difference and Fusion of Chinese and Western Cultures[J];Journal of Fujian Normal University(Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition);2007-06 TANG Xiujuan,WANG Xia (School of Public Administration,Guangzhou University,Guangzhou,Guangdong,510006,China);Analysis of Urban Vagrants’ Relief Situation and Relevant Measures[J];Journal of Guangzhou University(Social Science Edition);2007-08 GAO Min,ZHANG Chao-hong,YAN Feng (College of Humanities and Law,Shandong University of Science and Technology,Qingdao 266510,China);Countermeasures on Controlling Social Phenomenon of Street Begging in China[J];Journal of Shandong Institute of Business and Technology;2006-05 RAO Xiaojun, SHAO Xiaoguang;MARGINAL COMMUNITY: A PERSPECTIVE OF THE SOCIAL SPACE OF THE URBAN COMMUNITIES[J];City Planning Review;2001-09 M Seo, R Ilies. 2009. â€Å"The role of self-efficacy, goal, and affect in dynamic motivation self-regulation. â€Å"Organizational behavior and Human decision Process. Li Zemin Du Danxia Wang Xinhua (Dept.of management,Guangdong Polytechnic Normal Univ.,Guangzhou 510665,China);Report on the Living Conditions of Beggars and Image of Guangzhou[J];Journal of Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University;2005-05 Chu Zhixia,Fang Le(Postgraduate,Law School of Nanjing Normal University.,Nanjing,210097,China);Right of Begging Viewed from Sociology of