Monday, January 27, 2020
The Roles And Uses Of Political Rhetoric Politics Essay
The Roles And Uses Of Political Rhetoric Politics Essay This paper discusses how Aristotle defined rhetoric and analyzes the reasoning that went into development of a persuasive speech. This paper looks at the three types of rhetoric Aristotle described as well as the explanation for the role and place of rhetoric in todays political environment. Political Rhetoric Rhetoric as defined by Aristotle was the ability, in each particular case, to use the available means of persuasion. In general, rhetoric is the energy inherent in emotion and thought, transmitted through a system of signs, including language, to others to influence their decisions or actions(Kennedy, pp. 5-8). Aristotle introduces rhetoric as an art which focuses on persuasion and the various methods used to convince an audience of a specific point of view. Some people see rhetoric as a technique of manipulation and not a form of persuasion, however, as with everything that point is debatable. In general, rhetoric is the art of public speaking and debate. Rhetorical skills are valued in such professions as teaching, law, religion, news reporting and politics. While the purpose of rhetoric concentrates on the emotional response of sensitive topics such as religion and politics, the ultimate goal of rhetoric is to sway ones opinion. Professional rhetoricians dont have to be honest in the speech, they do, however must show a form of entertainment and be effective. Aristotle described three major rhetorical means of persuasion; ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos uses trust to persuade the audience. A politician uses his or her respective reputation and what is perceived and said about them; however there is a close connection between reputation and reality. Credibility depends both on expertise and how this is portrayed. In order to persuade the audience, you must first believe in yourself. Pathos does not directly involve the argument itself; instead pathos relies on the emotions of the audience. An efficient way to move the audience is to appeal to their values. Logos is Greek for logic and is used to persuade the audience by demonstrating the truth and is based on scientific facts. Logos is also used to appeal to the intellect of the audience, and is considered an argument of logic. The use of rhetoric is very apparent in political speeches and the outcome is measured by a vote placed by each member of the audience. Aristotelian rhetoric assumes that you believe the politician, and disbelieve all other politicians that have different views. The persuasiveness or manipulation of a speech not only depends on the nature of the speech, but also on the believability of its origin and beliefs shared by the speaker and the audience. The audience is attracted to the integrity, passion and reasoning of the speaker. The speaker must find the proper balance of the aforementioned qualities in the debate in order to be effective. In the end the audience is persuaded because they sense that the speaker is an expert on the topic based on his or her substantial confidence and the amount of emotion involved. Rhetoric used in the past The foundation of the modern approach to society, including the entirety of the modern political system, is fallout from the medieval rediscovery of Aristotles work; during the Crusades, Europeans re-discovered Latin translations of Aristotle in various libraries throughout the Islamic world. When rhetoric is applied to political speech, therefore, it may be concluded that the politician is attempting to sway the publics opinion in a manner that is unjust and false. Today political parties in the United States play an integral role in political elections, local, state and national. Parties have become a vehicle for exerting the ideas and agenda of large and collective groups of citizens. However, political parties in colonial American and the early Republic were viewed negatively, by both early politicians and philosophers. Even the founding fathers had issues with political parties. Parties were thought to divide Americans. Also, thinkers of the time thought that forming parties would result in spawning a winning side and a losing side in elections, which would further split Americans. People in society today are greatly influenced by what they read. The articles in the newspapers skew peoples beliefs of political affairs and current events in the same way that biased articles in popular magazines seem to shape the way the general public views different types of cultural aspects. Keeping this in mind, it is especially important to note that during the 1800s, the people lacked other forms of media and communication that people in modern times are influenced by. Instead, they relied heavily on literature to entertain themselves, most of which shaped the way they viewed culture, politics, and life itself. Consider how politicians use rhetoric to promote their policies. We focus on a particular type of rhetorical appeal-those based on emotionally charged predictions about policy consequences. For politicians, we emphasize maximizing and strategic behavior, reflecting their full-time employment in politics and large personal stakes in political outcomes. Political leaders want to win policy debates and they employ rhetoric in an effort to move public opinion to their respective sides. The very reason for public political debate between parties is to sway those preferences in one or the other direction. Politicians often try to shape citizens beliefs about current conditions and the likelihood that particular outcomes will occur if a policy is or is not put into law (e.g., Jerit, 2009; Lupia Menning, 2009). Politicians can attempt to form and change such beliefs, fundamentally, because of the role of uncertainty in policy decisions. There is always considerable and sometimes enormous uncertainty about the impact of proposed policies (see, e.g., Riker, 1996).1 Not even experts really know the consequences of a policy in advance. We agree that value-based arguments are an important part of politicians rhetoric. If politics were solely about values, each side would assert its values early, and citizens would line up on one side or the other. Politicians say many things during the course of a policy debate, and so the first task is to identify the forms that political rhetoric and argument can take. From the perspective of politicians seeking to persuade citizens, the three potentially most valuable forms are assertions of core party values and principles, predictions of future states,3 and factual descriptions of current circumstances. All three forms of political rhetoric are motivated by party leaders desires to sway opinion in the preferred direction, although each form has its own purpose. If parties can shape beliefs, and thus preferences, by taking advantage of uncertainty and strategically using rhetoric, then winning elections and winning policy debates through rhetorical persuasion are both possible, if not mutually reinforcing. Political rhetoric will not evolve in precisely the same way across different policy debates. We have offered several propositions about how politicians should behave when they believe they can shape citizens beliefs. They also show that neither politicians nor the media seem to provide citizens with reliable, readily identified cues to help distinguish those that are worth taking seriously from those that are just hot air. Under such circumstances, what can we reasonably expect from citizens who are asked to render political judgments? Speculations on Citizens Responses to Political Rhetoric To address citizens responses to predictive rhetoric, we first comment on two important perspectives in political psychology that appear to suggest grounds for expecting quite competent performance. test is crucial to understanding the uses of predictive rhetoric and its consequences for citizen competence. Unfortunately, we are about to navigate largely uncharted waters. 11 Citizens Assessments of Asserted Links in Predictive Arguments Assuming that citizens care about the outcome, they will consciously or unconsciously consider the claimed link between the focal policy and that outcome. Does an important causal linkage exist? To avoid effort, and lacking expertise in the policy area, citizens will limit their answers to a simple categorical question: Is there a genuine, significant link of the sort claimed, or is the claimed link minimal or nonexistent? Unlike experts, ordinary people generally will not bother with refined distinctions, for example, attempting to distinguish between a very important and a somewhat important link. To avoid being manipulated, unaligned citizens will not take politicians at their word, but rather will try to assess the validity of an alleged link independently. In searching for independent corroboration, they will employ simple heuristics, including the following three in particular. We concluded that rhetorical predictions about the consequences of policies create obstacles for citizens who seek to make reasonable decisions. Conclusion In this very exploratory chapter, we have considered the political logic of policy rhetoric; the prominence of appeals that rely on extreme and mostly negative predictions and seek to elicit an emotional response; the processes that citizens use in determining their response; and the consequences of those processes for the competence of individual and collective decisions about policy. To put our findings simply, the information environment in which citizens make decisions about policies presents a constant stream of dramatic, emotionally salient predictive claims, covering a wide range of outcomes, and presented largely without supporting evidence or other diagnostic information. The highly partisan cope with this constant stream by adopting the party line. The unaligned have no such luxury, and thus must try to make sense of the political rhetoric. Sometimes the dire predictions elicit some form of corroborating information-a pertinent schema, an example from daily life, or the like-in the minds of these citizens, thus ringing a bell with them. There is little reason to suppose that the predictive appeals that ring a bell in this way correspond at all closely to the considerations that would prove decisive in an environment that encouraged deliberate judgment on the basis of realistic claims and the best available diagnostic information. But, then, there is no reason to believe that taking party cues does, either.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Morality and Ethics Essay
As two members of our group are children of sea captains, the case of Exxon Valdez oil spill was extremely interesting for our team. It demonstrates that irresponsible behavior of people can lead to the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters of the past century. Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the incident. In our group’s opinion, the most important are: the captain was drunk being on duty, the third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel, possibly due to fatigue or excessive workload and finally, the Raycas radar system was broken, because the company found it too expensive to fix it. To begin with, we think that due to the restricted responsibilities of the crew comparing to the captain, its commitment was relatively low. Therefore the main motivation was their salary and working conditions didn’t play a role. Probably that is why sailors were ready to work overloaded shifts in order to earn as much as they could, to our mind, despite the fact that physically it was impossible. Thus the responsible sailor had to assess his ability to steer the ship before beginning the watch – in this case he had no right to do that being too tired. Talking about the captain of the ship, our group found him being the most irresponsible person in this situation. He did not act according to the ethical norms. Firstly, captain is the person, who is fully responsible for the ship and the crew, but he dared to exceed the allowed norm of the alcohol. Secondly, he had to insist on the radar repair. Finally, he is the one who is responsible for the crew’s adequate performance. Nevertheless, Exxon is fully liable for this disaster and the subsequent oil spill being the owner of the tanker. Hence, in our opinion, the company had to pay for the cleaning up the oil spill. To sum up, our group sees the ethical dilemma only concerning the crew. They had two choices only. On the one hand, when signing the contract they automatically agree to fulfill their duties, that is why no one can afford to skip the watch even if he fills tired. On the other hand, the third mate had no right to expose to danger the ship and the rest of the crew by taking the watch in unacceptable condition. We would like to add, that despite the fact that this was the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters, it pushed the government to develop new laws in this industry and turned to be a good lesson for the human beings overall.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Procurement Management Paper Essay
INTRODUCTION:            There are organizations those who manufacture products (or services) in bulk and then send their finish goods into the market. To manufacture goods in huge quantity, the companies usually want materials, accessories, and equipments etc that are used for the production process. Most of the companies don’t have these raw materials. So what they do is get these goods from the recognized suppliers, those who can get the company with their desired goods, in quantity wanted and in time. So what companies do they contract suppliers and get the raw materials. PROCUREMENT:            As discussed in the introduction paragraph that companies do when they need raw materials for production. So this process of purchasing the raw materials and related goods is called Procurement or Acquisition. Thus, procurement in basic terms can be called as the process of purchasing of raw materials for the process of production. The procurement can be direct and indirect. The Direct includes the acquiring of products, and Indirect includes services, maintenance of the acquired goods. So managing and handling the procurement related issues is called Procurement Management. As we know that organizations, especially the manufacturing firms, follow the concept of Supply Chain Management, which includes the raw materials required for manufacturing till it finally get available for the consumers. Most of authors, take procurement as the first phase of the Supply chain. Most of the firms have dedicated procurement departments, which deals with procurement related issues and post-procurement activities. The most basic task of procurement is to ensure that manufacturing department gets supplies on time and in described quantity. The timing of supplies is an important issue because the materials must reach production on time, JIT and it all reduces the cost of inventory. The procurement department also needs to make relationship with the suppliers. In many firms, there are many suppliers, providing with different materials. These suppliers might have their own suppliers as well. So procurement management also include the maintaining relationship with suppliers and their tiers. PROCUREMENT PROCESS:            The procurement process constitute of the related activates that are used in the process of acquiring the goods. The procurement process is somewhat similar for organization, i.e. military, natural resource manufacturing firms etc. However, the complexity of the process might be different depending upon the size of the firm. A well established firms need to give emphasis on the procurement process, and there are objectives that are the procurement department needs to ensure. First of the company, need to see weather the quantity and quality of the materials are according to described requirements. The department needs to check that are materials are good shape, are meeting the technical aspect, and according to quality requirements. The second objective is to check time schedule. As already discussed earlier, the aim to receive goods before the schedule deadline. Most of the firms get supplies before the time, but in process the quality of goods are compromised. So it is better to deliver on time, and in good quality. And the last objective, and often considered as the most, is the cost issue. In this process, the main aim to have least cost, but that should meet the previous requirements of quality, technical aspects, time etc. It is not necessary that firm go for cheapest supplies. The cost can go high, if the goods supplied are of good nature. PROCUREMENT STEPS:            Now as we have discussed the criteria that procurement department needs to keep in mind when checking the supplies. Now, let us go through the steps that firms follow when they select the suppliers, from which they acquire supplies. To explain this process, I would select a firm, for which we would select the suppliers. The firm is have chosen is manufacturer of clothes, especially T-shirts. Following is the steps that are:            The first step is identifying the goods (or services) that are required for manufacturing of the product. For this, the firm needs to define the materials required, along with description, which covers all the above-discussed objectives. For instance, in case of T-shirts, the major material that has to procure would be cloth. I would also have to tell the material required, i.e. cotton, polyester, silk etc. Then the quantity of material also has to define and similarly, the estimated cost that my firm is willing to pay. This step is also referred as evaluating the tenders.            The second is to select the suppliers that are meeting the requirements, described in the first step. Then the suppliers are required to submit their Request for Proposals (RFP). The procurement department analyzes the proposals (RFP’s) of the major suppliers and asks them for their Request for Quotations (RFQ’s). So what our firm would so here is find the bidders that clearing the requirements that we have asked for.            The third step is to ask for the qualified suppliers to prepare their bid proposal. The procurement department will analyze the proposal of candidates. The suppliers to do this activity are given time by the firm. In case of our, we the department will go though their cost along with the requirements. Actually, the firm starts that auctioning process.            The fourth and often considered as the main step is which evaluate the final bidders that are offering supplies at the most reasonable price. The firm looks at their past reputation and records. The process is often complex in nature, as firm also need to view the quality of the supplies. In this process, the firm selects the final supplier.            Once the firm has selected the final suppliers, the step of making contract with the supplier comes. In this process, the firm needs to go for final agreement with the firm and all issues are discuss. A formal document as a proof is signed among the firms, which is according to contract act. The time period of the contract is also discussed in this phase. The mode of payment is also settled.            The final step is the formal closing of contract. The closing of contract require the some activities to fulfill. We can say that when exchange of supplies and payment is made, the formal closing of contract place. In case of firm, the contract closes out when that we receive all materials i.e. clothes and payment of the material is made. Both the parties need to sort of issues. But in worst case, if issues go unsettled, any party can take the other party to court and solve this in legal way. Post-Procurement Activities:            There are activities that are related to post-procurement period i.e. once the purchase has been done, the activities such as maintenance, repairing and operating services (MRO’s) take place. These activities are related to indirect procurement. For instance, we have agreed with our suppliers to provide us with MRO’s, and now evaluating their performance we have an option of renewal of the same suppliers, if we are satisfied with their performance. CONCLUSION:            The procurement management is considered as one of the main phase of firm’s supply chain management, which is responsible with the goods used for manufactures. Thus, we may call procurement as heart of supply chain management. The firms need to emphasis on procurement policies and try to adapt to new technologies that are helping them managing procurement activities. References: Quentin Fleming (2003) Project Procurement Management: Contracting, Subcontracting, Teaming. Fmc Press; Fred, C.P.M. Sollish, John, C.P.M. Semanik (2007) The Procurement and Supply Manager’s Desk Reference. Wiley;
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Scope Ratio When Anchoring
Scope is a ratio of the length of an anchor rode from the bit to the anchor shackle and the depth of the water under the bow of the boat measured from deck height. The anchor, shackle, rode, and bit are a few components of Ground Tackle used in anchoring a ​​vessel. Or, if you like formulas: SL/D where L is the length of the anchor rode and D is depth under the bow. What is the Correct Scope? The correct scope depends on several variables, but there is no need to compute this exactly. Getting close is good enough in this case. First, it might be best to explain why we want a certain ratio of scope and what will happen if the ratio is much too large or much too small. Too small is much worse than too large when it comes to scope. Different types of anchors bite into the bottom in different ways, but all have the same property of digging in when they have pulled along at a low angle in relation to the bottom structure. This dragging is what secures the anchor to the bottom. If the water is 60 feet (18 M) deep and the anchor rode is 120 feet (36 M) then the scope is 2:1 and far too small. You see, when the boat drifts and pulls the anchor with this ratio of scope it will not drag smoothly and bite in. The result is the anchor being pulled from the bottom with each small wave and bouncing along leaving the vessel far from the intended position. If the scope is too large, the anchor will bite or set into position but the vessel will most likely surge and drift as forces act on it. In this case, we will use the same water depth of 60 feet (18 M) but increase the length of the rode to 600 feet (180 M). This gives us a scope of 10:1 which is not inappropriate if winds or currents are very strong but is not the best ratio for general anchoring. The scope that is best for keeping the anchor set and keeping tension on the anchor rode is around 7:1. If we plug our numbers into the formula a water depth of 60 feet (18 M) will require a rode of 420 feet (126 M). A scope of 7:1 will not pull the anchor free but it will maintain tension for a safe and comfortable stay in the anchorage. Areas with Strong Tidal Runs If you do find yourself in an area with a strong tidal run, like you may find in some hurricane holes, it will be necessary to reset the anchor rode scope. Tides of less than three or four meters can come and go as long as the sailor takes this change into account when setting the anchor. In a big tidal run of ten or more meters, its best to lay out a fore and aft anchor and be generous with the scope. Adjustments should always be made to prevent slack and avoid collision with other vessels or obstacles. In areas of hard rock or coral, care should be taken with the first thirty feet of rode which should be abrasion resistant Kevlar jacketed line or chain. Chain provides the best protection but it can cause sharp jolts in rough conditions although, in light waves, the weight of the chain will buffer some of the movement. Jacketed anchor rode is generally better because it is lighter and easier to handle plus it offers some shock absorbing properties that could add years of life to the deck and tying fixtures of your boat.
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