Dueling and Honor in the Old South Essay Example for Free

Dueling and Honor in the Old South EssayThe practice of dueling in the Old South was inseparably brink to the nonion of prize, in all its cosmosifestations, that in large part defined the Southern self-image. Though dueling was a genuinely(prenominal) male activity, its influence as far as defining a universes character, courage and viability as a gentlemen was also a stiff integrity with women. The practice was malediction to Northern nonions of watch and accomplishment exactly for the Southern men who dueled the practice was inseparable from their identity as gentlemen, members of an elite and imposing caste. A CULTURE OF HONORIt is impossible to understand the importance of the ritual of dueling in the Old South without understanding the traditions of enjoy as they were celebrated by the men and women of the elite classes of the antebellum period. Honor, or the takeence of mavens honor, was the motivation behind the carnage that the practice of dueling go awa y in its wake. Honor, and the importance put upon it by the Southern aristocracy, flowed from the i wishs of hierarchy and entitlement. It was inseparable from the need to defend ones family, reputation and ones community (Wyatt-Brown, p. 4).The sanctions for violating honor were not trivial, presumptuousness that ones individualisedized honor could be connected to the honor of ones family and ones community as a whole. To be truly honorable in the South needed adherence to a particular paradigm Honor was obviously a very personal subject but it was also a very real prevalent matter that merited enforcement by elite the community. In the South, the community, and ones reputation in spite of appearance it, were as important as and a vital part of ones self-image. Everyone had to subordinate personal autonomy to the collective will.It was the test of leaders to consort out the comminitys desires, to uph venerable its sacredness some otherwise they would queue up that they t hemselves were the sacrifices offered up to the sanctified ideals. (Wyatt-Brown, p. 12) Elitism was intrinsic to the idea of Southern honor. The North had largely aban dod the idea that honor, short letter and priveledge where things that were earned by dint of family lines or wealth. The South, however, maintained the ideals of aristocracy long into the 19th Century (Wyatt-Brown, p. 19).Where the North idealized that all were passable before the law, the South steady held on to notions of in that location being different standards for different classes of people. For the Southerner of the elite classes, the Nothern view would represent an affront to their notions of entitlement. The Southern aristocrat was assumed to be a man, or woman, of honor simply because of their station in bearing. In the North, the situation was kind of different. Northern ideals of equality of all men before the law, though imperfect in practice as always, undermnined the privileges of the wealthy a nd wellborn.To get ahead required learning at intellectual tasks, not just expertise at manipulating othersor at least so the ideal became (Wyatt-Brown, p. 20). While honor in the North was quite often defined by temperance, intellectual achievement and rising to a higher place vice (Wyatt-Brown, p. 21), Sothern honor was inseperably attached to notions of masculinity and an important part of being masculine was the willingness to use violence and face death to settle disputes. The Sothern idea of honor is incoherent without understanding its opposite, shame.In the South, overt chastizement was still embraced as a better and adjust way to deal with those who had violated community standards, the husbandry of honor or had shown themselves to be, perhaps, unworthy of the station to which they had been born (Wyatt-Brown, p. 19). In the North, the pentitentiary system, an essentially backstage affair, and the idea that a deviant was accoutnable before the law quite of being acco utnable to the indignation of the community in such(prenominal) a public sense, represented a remarkable difference.A crime in the North was a crime against the written letter of the law. A crime in the South, however, could be cast as a violation of an archaic, elitst set of values and accountability was not tied to the private punishment of prison, but to public shame. In fact, Southern honor was such a powderkeg that one who was not familiar with local customs regarding what constituted an contumely literally took their life in their hands when travelling to one part of the South from another or to the South from another region (Williams, p. 23).If one were planning to exhibit a bit of wit at the expense of another, the only way to safely do so was to be certain that one knew the recipient role of the jest well enough that the subject mater would not be one that addressed too sensitive an issue or challenged too gratingly the gentlemans honor (Williams, p. 24). Another form of public shame was public goading. repugns to duels were frequently printing in newspapers or hung up in public placescalled posting someone and, of course, m all were given verbally in public settings.Both often consisted of rather eloquent hurts directed toward the desired opponent. (Williams, p. 23). Given the contraints of such an exacting close of honor, its easy enough to understand how this would leave a man otiose to let go such a public humiliation without seeiming to confirm the allegations of the rival. Another way to issue a challenge to duel with almost certain success was to call another man a liar (Greenberg, p. 32). For the Southern man, being given the lie, which meant to be called out for lying or to simply be accused of being a liar, was one of the highest forms of diss.Greenburg notes that determining whether or not Southern men were on the whole more or less honest than their contemporaries is essentially impossible but that is not the issue. What was im portant was that ones honesty was called into question and that, as much or more than anything else, was cause for deadly retribution. Cherchez la femme Southern women were as bound to the culture of honor as were men. In fact, a great deal of a mans personal and family honor was vested in the women of his family.An offend toward a wife, daughter, cousin or mother represented a slight against all that the man held dear, in particular his notion of personal and public honor. Possibly the pound insult that could be leveld against a woman was one implying promiscuity. To say as much of anyones wife or daughter almost guaranteed that violence would result quickly. This flowed from the notions of nobility carried on through a family line. A womans promiscuity implied the dishonor of the man, unable to protect his home of which his woman was part. Women also presented a threat in that they could present the man with an illigitimate child.This would cast doubt upon the legitimacy of th e entire line. (Wyatt-Brown, p. 54) Of course, in a region where the legitimacy of ones family film to aristocracy was essentially one of birthright, and insult such as this implied that the gentleman himself may be unworthy of the privelidges afforded the upper classes. quite a strong signification not only was the man, in this case, having his honor challenged but he was also was having his right to even call himself worthy of the title of an honorable man challenged. An insult such as this could not go unanswered.Wyatt-Brown traces this tradition all the way back to the ancestral lands of many white Sotherners. Fierce vengeance was thitherfore mandatary when a daughter, wife, or mother had been dishonored. So it had been in ancient German and Celtic tribes, and so it continued to be in antibelum society (Wyatt-Brown, p. 53). To modern minds, this brings up an obvious conflict surrounded by the typical freedom to be promiscuous granted to males and its not being granted to f emales. One must keep in mind that the world of the Old South was, in reality, a collection of many worlds.The worlds of the elite and the common, the free and slave and the man and woman. to the traditional mind there was no double standard of morality. The sexes differed. They lived separate livesone in the world, the other in the home, one in exterior cicumstances, the other in the inner sactuary that required vigilant safeguarding. (Wyatt-Brown, p. 54) This does not mean that women were simply the targets of insults over which duels ensued where men defended their honor or that they were not a part of the honor culture that lead to the ritualized violence.Quite to the contrary, women were often the causes, and sometimes the instigators, of duels. The view that a woman might not c atomic number 18 for a man unwilling to duel when challenged had implied support, at least, from the wife of a Clinton, Mississippi man who told him on the eve of a duel that she would rather be the w idow of a brave man than the wife of a coward (Williams, p. 19). This culture of manliness being validated by way of violence was characteristic of Southern honor and seems to have crossed gender-lines without difficulty.In order for the sort of ritualized cleanup embodied by dueling to continue, there needed to be a sort of conformity that existed above and beyond independent thought. Dueling depended strongly on those who gave faithful and somteis insensible adherence to the trappings of social elitism, who paid open homage to controlleed violence as being synonymous wwith both maleness and personal honor (Williams, p. 39). As we can see from the examples above, it was not only men who adhered to these notions of what defined them as masculine. Race and ClassWhite Southerners saw themselves as aristocrats and, like all good aristocrats, ones position could partially be measured by the amount of land over which one held power. Landownership was important for a great deal more tha n economic advance. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries landownership provided the necessary key to respected social position and to participation in policy-making life (Cooper Cooper, p. 6) This, of course, is anathema to the Northern idealif not always the practicethat all members of a society are entitled to an equal voice in politics.It is also implicative of the way in which Southern society was divided along class lines. However deep these divisions between rich and poor may have been, however, there were nowhere near as deep as the divisions between black and white which, in the old South, amounted to a division between human beings and those inured as if they were something less. Southern blacks were excluded from most of the benefits of personhood which, obviously, excluded them from the culture of honor which dominated the South.In fact, blacks werent even able to make a legally-binding statement. Those outside the commuiyt ranks, most especially blacks in the American South, were inelegible for oath-taking. For that reason, among others, slaves and free blacks could not serve as witnesses in trials of whites (Wyatt-Brown, p. 57). Oath-taking, denoting an unwritten, unbreakable code of ethics among men of honor, was an obsession in the South. Taking on debts, particuarly, was an instance where an oath substituted for the stronger bonds of family among Southern whites (Wyatt-Brown, p.55). This exclusionary idea of whom could give an oath, only a man whose honor was beyond reproach, and who could not, those classes and peoples who honor was suspect because of social rank or racial background, kept the white aristocracy on a pedestal forever above those they considered their lessers. It also presented an obvious route to a duel, should conflicts over truth to an oath ever present. To defy an oath was, essentially, to lie and to accuse one of breaking an oath was to call them a liar.In its exclusionary nature, the cutulre of honor had obviou s connections to the lengthiness of the institution of slavery. Slaves were deprived by masters of all the elements necessary for the formal duels of gentlemen of honor. They could not exchange notes because law and custom forbid their literacy. After all, a slave who could write a challenge could also write a pass allowing him his freedomor could read the abolitionist press. (Greenberg, p. 34) equivalentwise, a slave would certainly not be give the knife, stigma or pistol of the duelist A weapon of avenging ones honor could easily be turned upon ones master.While a gentleman was encouraged to venture his life in the defense of his honor, the institution of slavery was largely dependent upon the fear of life and limb on the part of the slaves. The last thing a slave owner wanted to encourage in his slaves was a willingness to risk their lives, lest they decide to risk those lives in an attempt to escape (Greenberg, p. 34). Of course, if a slave were encouraged to have a personal sense of honor, it is only obvious where he might find the first offender of that honor and against whom he may well have chose to avenge himself.Likewise, because a slave was absolutely subject to the will of his master and unable to form any legal contracts on his own (Oakes, p. 4), he was, by default unable to enter into the legal and honorbound world. How could someone less than a man deliver an insult to a man? How could one impugn the honesty of another man if his honesty, by virute of his race, was always assumed to be non-existent? OPPOSITION TO DUELING The involve of dueling was so great on Southern life that officials in some states still have to swear an oath regarding their opposition to and non-involvement in the old practice.Dueling in Kentucky dueling remains a serious matter. In Section 228 of the states constitution there remains a link with Kentuckys tearing past. That link is the famous dueling clause. Since 1891, the commonwealths officials have had to swear or affirm that since the adoption of the present Constitution, I being a citizen of the state, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within the State or nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted a challenge to represent a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as a Second in carrying a challenge nor aided or assisted any person thus offending, so help me God.(Kentucky, 2005) Given the strict culture of honor in the South and the very real damage that could be done to a mans economic and social status by turning down a challenge, legislators found themselves with a complex legal problem How does one pass a law that protects a mans honor and allows him to turn down a challenge to duel? For those men who already were serving as government officials, it was easy enough to make laws such as the Kentucky law quoted above to deal with the problem.The problem was that the people who engaged in duels thought of themselves as members of an elite and if a gentleman said, I cant due l because Ill go to jail, his challenger would accuse him of being a coward. So the states in the early 19th century tried an indirect approach They passed a series of laws that attempted to break the connection between dueling and honor by prohibiting people who dueled from holding public office (Rosen, 2002).A curious example of dueling, once a symbol of the status of those who had access to power now decent a barrier to the legal, governmental power structure that would come to replace the old aristocracy of the South. Ostracism and criminalization were frequently used as essence to discourage dueling. Another solution, though it seems to brush up hard against the first amendment, was to pass laws prohibiting fighting words. Fighting words being those said with the plan of inciting violence, whether they be true or not.By 1942, the Supreme Court had marginally enshrined the pattern of fighting words as constitutional (Rosen, 2002). Even though the concept had been accepted, by the time 1942 came along the culture of honor that would have led to personal insults resulting in duels to the death had long since passed away. The Old South was forever bygone and, with it, the need for gentlemen to settle their disputes, however petty they may seem by modern standards, with a firelock pistol or shotgun. Another antidote to the culture of honor was ridicule.A New York Times Article from May 19. 1886 betrays a bit of Northern condescension toward the honorable society of the sophisticated Southern aristocracy What would a few years ago have been a difficulty between twain eminent Colonels in North Carolina has now shrunk to the proportions of an affair, and now seems in all probability to dwindled still further to a mere incident. It is well worth noting as an illustration of how far modern ideas have penetrated the fastness to which chivalry has betaken itself (New York Times, 1886).With the end of the cabal came the end of the antebellum notions of hono r and, with it, the feeling, at least in the Northern states, that its demise was no cause for nostalgia but a sign of progress. RULES OF THE GAME Like the vast majority of the men who engaged in then, duels had their roots in Europe. Like many early American customs, dueling was imported. Starting in the Middle Ages, European nobles had defended their honor in man-to-man battles. An early version of dueling was cognize as judicial combat, so called because God allegedly judged the man in the right and let him win (Public Broadcasting Service, 2000).Above all other things, duels are a highly regulated, ritualized form of violence. They are not a spontaneous brawl nor are they an organized military battle where commanders endeavor to keep their tactics and intentions secret from their opponents. In a duel, both parties know the rules from the start and make their intentions clear. If there is a source document for the accepted rules of dueling, it would have to be the 1777 mandate Duello, written by a group of Irishmen (Public Broadcasting Service, 2000).The code was finalized at Clonmel Summer court of assize and nisi prius and intended to be adopted throughout Ireland. It was followed in adoption in England and in America with some variations in the latter (Public Broadcasting Service, 2000). The rules are quite exacting. The first rule, in fact, specifies that in a case where a man was insulted, it is the obligation of he who insulted him to apologize first, even if the insulted offered a much harsher retort than the original insult.Much of the document has to do less with the rules of the actual duel and more to do with mending the hurts to the insulted partys honor, or ego. The Code Duello applies to combat undertaken with sword and gun but does mention the most condescending form of punishment, being beaten or caned, usually reserved for lower classes, in the context of whirl oneself to be caned as a way of apologizing and taking responsibility for the instigating insult. Rule 5. As a blow is strictly prohibited under any serving among gentlemen, no verbal apology can be received for such an insult.The alternatives, therefore the offender handing a cane to the injured party, to be used on his own back, at the same time begging pardon firing on until one or both are disabled or exchanging tierce shots, and then asking pardon without proffer of the cane (Public Broadcasting Service, 2000). The rules are predictably chauvinistic, as well, insults to a lady being regarded as particularly grievous and requiring their own extreme form of apology. Two of the rules are particularly interesting in the way they act to control the violence.Rule 13 states that there shall be no dumb shooting or firing into the air as a government agency of preventing frivolous disputes from escalating to the level of a duel. Though the rule stipulates that The challenger ought not to have challenged without receiving offence and that the challenged sh ould have apologized before he reached the place of the duel. Jackson and Avery, in a duel where they both forewent taking a bleak shot at their opponent, clearly both violated this rule. Depending on ones perspective, this could be taken to both of their credits or detriments where honor is concerned.Seconds, through whom the duelists communicated and who were responsible for arranging the terms and rules of the duel, are regulated heavily in behavior and station in the Code Duello. Seconds were to be the duelists equal in social rank. The Seconds job, aside from facilitating and arranging the duel, was to try to reach reconciliation between the parties. According to Rule 21 of the Code, Seconds are bound to attempt a reconciliation before the meeting takes place, or after sufficient firing or hits, as specified. What is particularly telling close The Code Duello is the specificity of the rules. Dueling was clearly a sport, though a deadly one, by which men could redeem whatever honor had been taken from them by an insult, deed or implication. As gentlemen, the strictly-regulated nature of their conflicts separated them from the brawlers of the lower classes. In America, there were conventions not specified in the Code Duello. Duelists, though their Seconds could draw up contracts detailing the specifics of the duel and weapons other than pistols or swords could be used at the duelists preference (Williams, p.50). Particularly deadly as a dueling weapon was the shotgun. Where the high degree of inaccuracy associated with smooth-bore, flintlock weapons may well have saved the lives of more than one duelist (see the Clingman vs. Yancey duel described below) a shotgun requires little skill to ensure a hit. However, even among the elite classes, dueling was not automatically thought of as manly or honorable and was even viewed with scorn by some of Americas most famous men.George Washington congratulated one of his officers on refusing a challenge to duel (Publ ic Broadcasting Service, 2000), quite different from what would have been expected by a Southern military man who had declined such a challenge. Benjamin Franklin, for his part, failed to see the point of dueling at all. For him , the duels seemed a pointless activity because it could not determine whether a man had really lied (Greenberg, p. 14). From Franklins perspective, all the emphasis on honor was rather silly.For the Northerner, a duel over a debt failed to get the bullion back and was, therefore, essentially useless. For the Southern gentleman, the debt itself was pointless, the duel was about honor and tradition (Greenberg, p. 15). It would be difficult to find a modern American equivalent to the honor dueling that took place in the antebellum South. One could argue that sports such as boxing, wrestling and the cage fighting events such as the Ultimate Fighting Challenge are similar, but they are typically arranged fights based on factors such as weight class and fightin g record, not on personal slights.While a fist-fight may erupt over an insult to a womans honor or a mans, these are not the regulated, proscribed duels of the past. In short, a duel existed as a means of controlling and regulating violence as much as it was a means of fostering it. Where the modern world is concerned, the heavily-regulated and ritualized world of the Southern gentleman duelist is conspicuously absent. NOTABLE AMERICAN DUELS Burr vs. Hamilton On July 11, 1804, long-standing political and personal tenseness between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, two of Americas founding fathers came to a head.Their rivalry was longstanding and Burr believed he may have been the President, instead of the Vice President, if it had not been for Hamiltons interference (Americas Library, 2008). The Hamilton-Burr duel is an instance where a personal insult was the impetus for the duel. Hamilton voiced his disdain for Burr at a political dinner held for the Federalist party. The exact slur was not printed but Burr twice demanded and failed to receive what he would have considered an adequate apology from Hamilton. After impuissance the Second time, Burr demanded a duel (Jefferson National Expansion, 2008).Burr, ultimately, did receive satisfaction. He shot and mortally wounded Hamilton, who shot his pistol into the air, and Hamilton died the next solar day (Jefferson National Expansion, 2008). Burr was indicted for murder, dueling was not legal in New York, but was never prosecuted for the crime (Americas Library, 2008). He went on to serve out his term as Vice President. A question that had plagued historians is why, exactly, these men undertook such a drastic means of settling what amount to a fairly petty matter. For Burr, obviously, the idea of avenging an insult is explanation enough. precisely Hamilton was opposed to dueling on moral and religious grounds. He did not even expect to be challenged to a duel but was known for being very protective of his noti ons of personal honor, possibly because of his insecurities concerning his own illegitimacy (Freeman, 1996). However, Hamiltons failure to respond was not meant as an insult. Rather, a friend, Rufus king, advised Hamilton that the letter sent to Hamilton by Burr did not merit a response. Hamilton intended to accept a challenge should it have been offered but he hadnt any intention of shooting Burr (Freeman, 1996).According to Joanne B. Freeman, Hamiltons moral reasoning for accepting the duel was thus He had satisfied the code of honor by accepting Burrs challenge, violating the civil law only under duress. He had maintained his political integrity by refusing to apologize for heartfelt political convictions. Now he would uphold his moral and religious principles by withholding his fire (Freeman, 1996). It is interesting that Hamilton wanted none of the satisfaction of killing or lesion his opponent. As we shall see, this pageant aspect of dueling was not entirely unique, as repres ented in the Jackson vs.Avery duel described below. For Hamilton, his honor would be sustained by not killing his opponent. Convoluted reasoning, to be certain, but quite in line with the more Northern ideal that honor could be measured by a mans ability to withhold from vices, in this case bloodlust. Hamilton saw the honor in dueling not in the death of his opponent, but in having the courage to participate in such an affair, which he felt would benefit him politically as well as personally (Freeman, 1996). Jackson vs. DickinsonA very characteristically Southern duel between Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson. Charles Dickinson, 27 years old and having had a few drinks in him, made some uncomplimentary remarks about Rachel Jackson, Andrews Wife, who was the subject of much gossip (Williams, p. 18). The reaction was predictable, the next day Andrew Jackson confronted Dickinson, who attempted to no avail to apologize and found himself facing off against Jackson on the field of hon or in May of 1806. According to Williams account, Dickinson aimed and did successfully wound Jackson in the chest.Old Hickory, however, lived up to his heel and did not fall when struck. He clutched the wound, took one shot that failed to discharge his weapon and then a Second that killed Dickinson. Clay vs. Randolph On Saturday, April 8, 1825, Henry Clay and sewer Randolph squared off in Virginia over the latters support for John Quincy Adams and Clays having insulted Randolph for it. Randolph had a reputation for being a deadly-accurate sharpshooter and it was assumed among most Washington officials that Clay would not survive the encounter.What followed was as farcical as any duel could have been. Randolphs pistol dismissed before the duel was underway. Clay, not satisfied, insisted that they carry though. The duel was held at thirty-steps distance, apparently beyond the marksmanship skills of either duelist. Clay shot and hit the ground, Randolph managed to hit a corner stum p. Still, disdain the urging of a Second, they insisted on carrying through. The third attempt was slightly more impressive, Clay managed to penetrate Randolphs coat. Randolph, according to the Code Duello, now had the right to fire upon Clay.After stretching out the moment, apparently for maximum dramatic impact, he opted to fire into the air, against the rules of the Code Duello. Clay inquired whether he had injured Mr. Randolphs to which Randolph replied No, Mr. Clay. But you owe me a new coat. (Kentucky, 2005) NOTABLE NORTH CAROLINA DUELS Carson vs. Vance The Carson vs. Vance duel is representative of most Southern duels in both its impetus and the means in which it was conducted. Samuel P. Carson and Robert Brank Vance would seem, at first blush, to be men who had much in common.Both were known for their intelligence, their political skill and their charisma. In fact, the pair of them were friends before a political contend and a series of bitter slurs against Carson and his family on the part of Vance would tear the two apart and lead to their meeting on the field of honor. Vance and Carson both came from families with honored backgrounds, Carsons noted for his fathers service under Washington. Vance was a physician who, upon winning a lottery, retired early and entered politics. Both served as members of Congress where their skill came to be well-respected among their peers.Carson, for his part, was popular not only among people of his own class but even among the slaves at his fathers plantation. Vance was noticeably short, having a left leg six inches shorter than his right but his remarkable intelligence came to overshadow his physical form to most who made his acquaintance. Though the two were friends, during the course of a political debate in 1827, Vance would set into motion a series of events that would lead to their eventual duel. During the debate, after both men insinuated that the other wasnt so honest or trustworthy as they represented, Vance called Carson, in so many words, a coward.Vance did not believe that Carson would ever resort to a duel as Carson had refused to enter one years before. Things got even worse when Vance began attacking Carsons fathers military record. Implying that Col. Carson had sought the protection of the British, Vance essentially accused the Colonel, and, thereby his family, of being cowards and unworthy of their social status. Vance, despite his rather vicious efforts to disparage his opponent, lost the election. Colonel Carson wrote Vance an angry letter in regards to the accusations.Vance replied that he could not have an altercation with so aged a man as Colonel Carson and said that one of the Colonels sons should step up to defend the old mans honor. Colonel Carson sent a proxy to inquire as to which son Vance meant and Vance replied that Sam knew that Vance was speaking of him. Sam accepted the challenge. The duel took place on Saluda interruption on the North/South Carolina line. The weapons were pistols at ten yards. Vance missed his mark but Carson did not, sending a ball through Vances hip where it lodged. Vance died of his wound about 30 hours later at a hotel.Carson had expressed a desire to speak with Vance following the duel and Vance said that he held no ill-will toward Carson. The two never did speak, however, and the incident is said to have had negative repercussions on Carson for the rest of his life (Arthur, 1914). Clingman vs. Yancey Depending upon ones view of the custom of dueling, the duel between doubting Thomas Clingman and William Yancey was either a noble instance of two men desperately trying to uphold the rigid customs of honor or a telltale(a) example of the ridiculous nature of wanting to avenge insult with murder.Yancey, an Alabama congressman, had viciously attacked Clingman in a political speech, impugning Clingmans loyalty to the South. This was in retaliation to Clingmans attacks upon the Democrats which was a notably fiery pi ece of rhetoric (Jeffrey, p. 49). Both speeches were characteristic of the fierce partisanship of the time. Clingman was a Whig and Yancey a Democrat. However, a distinction between the remarks given by Clingman and those given by Yancey were that Yanceys attacked Clingman personally .Clingmans remarks were certainly over-the-top but they were not, at least in a personal sense, over-the-line (Jeffrey, p. 49). Yancey had turned the art of parliamentary rhetoric into a personal assault. The North Carolina Standard said that Never was any man so severely castigated as Mr. Clingman was. (Jeffrey, p. 49). On January 6 or 1845 Clingman told Yancey that he intended to press the matter. He challenged Yancey to meet him in Baltimore where he intended to deliver a formal challenge. Unfortunately, despite Clingmans enthusiasm for the duel, he was not familiar with the art of shooting

Night of Scorpion Essay Example for Free

Night of Scorpion EssayNight of the scorpion written by Nissim Ezkiel is an interest poesy and the poet brings about a very appealing contrast between good and evil in it altogether giving the poem an essence of equality. The poet makes it a trouble-free task for the readers to visualize the scenes with the appropriate use of various imageries. He has also done a marvelous work of adding various different senses into the poem. entirely the senses, visual, smell, internal feelings and sound have been included. In this poem we can see the scenes vividly with the help of lines like, to crawl beneath a sack of strain, and, Peasants came like decant of flies. Nissim Ezekiel is fitted to keep be mind alive and engaged the entire duration of the poem with the help of lines like, Peasants came like swarm of flies. When we read this line, we know that it is a simile and it help us to see how the peasants came along. But when think deeper we realize that it also registers us that t he narrator does not admire the kind of care that the villagers are showing, he just wants them to leave him and his family alone. The reason the villagers are compared to flies is to show exactly how exasperating they are and that they are not welcome, just like flies.The poet has do this poem complex, which is always a good thing. This can be proved because to describe the scorpion he uses words like diabolical and The Evil One which show it as a demonic creature. On the other hand he also used lines like, driven him to crawl beneath a sack of rice and risked the rain again, which brings about a contradiction as this line shows that the scorpion is not at all the villain, it is simply scared. Among the many turns of speech used in this poem onomatopoeia is one of them.He has used this figure of speech efficiently, enabling us to hear the constant noises that were made. The poet write that the villagers buzzed the name of god which again stresses on the transfer that the noise and commotion being made by the villagers was not at all welcome. The poet further draws the interest of the reader by using a figure of speech to convey this message and not doing it directly. He has also written They clicked their tongues, which is another instance of onomatopoeia. The element of smell is brought about because the poet has introduced candles and burning oil in lanterns in his poem as well.Nissim Ezekiel has made the mothers experience of getting bitten by the scorpion sound excruciating and eternal. He has conveyed this by using several(prenominal) very descriptive writing, example, May the poison purify your flesh of desire, and your spirit of ambition, Nissim Ezekiel successfully built the separate out atmosphere by using just a short sentence, My father, sceptic, rationalist, trying every curse and blessing, There is also an instance in which the poet uses alliteration, I watched the flame feeding on my mother.This line has also been able to build up the comp lex nature of the poem because of its dual meaning. We can simply say that the flame refers to flame of the paraffin or we can also say that flame refers to the scorpions poison. The poem ends sanguinely, with the mother surviving and being thankful to god for making her suffer and not her children. After all the tense moments of pain, suffering, torture and fear, the poem has a very touching and warm ending which proves the mothers love for her children.

What Extent Is English A Global Language?

What Extent Is side of meat A Global terminology?There ar numerous different deliverys are being used throughout the land. Since at that place are too many different lyric poems, a planetary lyric poem is produced. A spoken nomenclature can achieve this status only when it is important to the world activities such as communication between countries, trading between different countries across the world and culture. It plays an important role and it is recognized by every country (Crystal, 2003). Crystal (2003) reports that English has already reached this stage and there are nearly a stern of the worlds population around 1.2 to 1.5 billion passel is already know and use English. Nowadays, English is the most widely spoken terminology in the world. English has sustain a global row not because of it is both sonant to learn and is superior to opposite voice communication scarcely it has strong queen base. The thesis of this render is divided into a few parts, firs t look at what is a global language and what determines a language global then why English kick the bucket a global language.Global language means a language which is using around the world and it is important to the world operation and influencing the domains of the humankind activity in the world. For example, global language is usually uses to write songs, use to trading throughout the world and communication between countries in the world. Global language is important to the world operation and a global language is needed in the world.A language has two mains fashions to become global. It can be an official language and foreign language of countries. Official language means a language which wildly used as medium of communication, such as media, the domains as government and the education system (Crystal, 2003). It also can be the first language of few countries. Crystal (2003) claims that a language can permit a global status when it is used by former(a) countries around th e world. Since a language cannot become global only use by itself. abroad language means a language teaching in school which has no official status. A mother-tongue language becomes the foreign language and the official language is the step to make the language become global since a language cannot have a global status when it is not taken by the other countries. And English has finished the step to become an international language.English has become an international language not because it is easy to learn. There is no language is easy to learn and better, the difficulty of a language is depend on different prentice and Lutz (2010) points that it depends on which level of the learner want to achieve, the higher level, the much difficult. Ellis (1985) says that age, aptitude, cognitive style, motif and personalities are the five main aspects which separate individual learner differences in a different level. This means the difficulty of language are depends on learner. Ellis (19 85) reports that aptitude is a main factor to divides the language learner to different level. If a learner has a good aptitude and a effective way to study a second language, the language will become easier. Learner motivation also is a important factor that make a learner learn a second language success. A learner can likely learn a second language to be success when the motivation is high. Crystal (2003) reports that the intrinsic structural properties, the size of its vocabulary or it has been a vehicle of a great literature in the past or it was erstwhile associated with a great culture or religion are the motivation of some learner to learn a language but not the reasons make the language become global.English has become an international language also not because it is superior to other language. Crystal (2003) says that there are many people claim that a language can become global because its sense beauty, clear expression or religious standing and these are the misleading b eliefs. Language can become a global language not because the beauty of the language and the number of people who speak it but who speak the language. There are some properties of English makes it become global appealing but the characteristics of the language are not the main reason to be worth to learn but the relative importance between the language characteristics and the internationally value. This make a language be more appealing but not superior to the other languages. English may be more appealing than other languages but not superior to languages.Crystal (2003) says that language can become a global language not because the beauty of the language and the number of people who speak it but who speak the language. English can become a world language mainly because of the strong legions power and economic power. Crystal (2003) shows that a language cannot become global without strong power-bases, such as political power, military power and economic power. These are the domin ance of the language which makes a language become global. The military power is the main reason to make a language become a global language. When a country has a strong military power, the others need to listen to the language spoken by the people in that country. Which means it makes that language is used in many countries. Between the world war two, Britain set up a lot of colonies. English became the official language and foreign language of the colonies. This is very important to be the official language and foreign language of the colonies because it is a important step to make a language become global. English must be taken by others countries to become global because a language cannot become global when it is only use by the countries which English is the mother-tongue. So English become the official language and foreign language of the colonies becomes the base of English to become a global language. an economic power is still needed to maintain and expand the status of the language. Economically power became a main aspect which maintain and expand the status in the trigger off of twentieth century. The economic start to growth and develop around the world and there are many new markets were born. There were many new engineering science are invent. Communication between countries is needed to develop the economic and market. Country has a stronger economically power, the first language of that country will become more important and it can maintain it longer and expand it to larger through the economy. Crystal (2003) claims that Britain had become the worlds headmost industrial and trading country at the beginning of the ordinal century. The growth of economy of the English is the fastest in the world. These built the foundation of English in the world through the colonies and the economy. These are the two mains reasons to give English a global status.In conclusion, English has become an international language is not because it is both easy to lear n and is superior to other language because there is no language is superior to other language and the difficultly of a language is depend on the individual learner differences. The reasons why English can become a global language because the military and the economic power of the countries which speak English And English was in the right place at the right time. (Crystal, 20037-10) English set up the base to the world through out the world by Britain colonies. English is also maintained and expended by the economically power and military power of Britain and USA. That the reason why English can become the global language and why English can still be the global language until now.(1262 words)

Who is to blame for the Deepwater Horizon rig incident?

Who is to blame for the Deepwater skyline falsify incident?On the 20th of April 2011 explosion at Deepwater Horizon go under in the disconnect of Mexico killed 11 workers and led to the largest inunct declension in the petroleum fabrications history.Apportionment of blame is likely to be contested in the law courts for years to come. Who i.e. which stakeholders do you consider has to sh ar some responsibility for the solidus or do you consider it an ultimately unpreventable accident, in todays global economy?Trying to get out of the PR wars on the rock oil tumble, 4 month after the tragedy on September 8th, 2010, BP issued its protest internal 234-page address. BP cited at least eight errors of judgment and equipment failures that caused the explosion that sank the rig. BP concluded that a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational per variateance and team interfaces contributed to the incident.The participa tion accepted unaccompanied sh bed responsibility for the explosion and pointed fingers at its contractors Halliburton, which provided cement for the blown-up Macondo well, and Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon. Transocean assailed the BP report as self-serving, contending that BPs fatally flawed well design set the stage for the rig explosion 50 miles attain the Louisiana coast. Halliburton, which did the well cementing, said it found a turn of events of substantial omissions and inaccuracies in the report and remains confident that all the work it performed was completed in accordance with BPs specifications.BPs internal investigation report was met with criticism by watchdog groups who questi stard the companys motives. Wenonah Hauter, executive dealr of non-for-profit organization Food Water Watch told IPS News Agency BP is distributing the blame and deflecting responsibility for the incident so they can justify their continued operation in the Gulf.Rather th an accept the blame and financial consequences for its disaster, BP is continuing to point fingers at everyone it can, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity. BP is exculpatedly trying to limit its financial liability by blaming other companies and denying there was criminal negligence, Suckling said. If the division of Justice concludes that BP was criminally negligent, its fines under the Clean Water Act leave quadruple from 1,300 dollars per barrel to 4,300 dollars. That is more than a 10- billion-dollar difference.One month after the accident on whitethorn 21 President Barack Obama established the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The Commission examined the relevant facts and muckle concerning the root causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and developed options to guard against, and mitigate the impact of, any oil talks associated with offshore drilling in the fut ure. This included recommending improvements to federal laws, regulations, and industry practices. A final report on the Commissions key outings was presented to the President on January 12, 2011. check to the report, the Macondo blowout was the product of several individual missteps and oversights by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, which organisation regulators lacked the authority, the necessary resources, and the proficient expertise to prevent.Halliburton and BPs management processes did not ensure that cement was adequately tested. Halliburton had insufficient trains in place to ensure that laboratory testing was performed in a fourth dimensi and fashion or that test results were vetted rigorously in-house or with the client. In fact, it appears that Halliburton did not even rent testing results in its possession showing the Macondo slurry was immutable until after the job had been pumped. It is difficult to imagine a clearer failure of management or communication.BP, T ransocean, and Halliburton failed to communicate adequately. Information appears to have been excessively compartmentalized at Macondo as a result of poor communication. BP did not share master(prenominal) information with its contractors, or sometimes internally even with members of its own team. Contractors did not share important information with BP or each other. As a result, individuals often found themselves making critical decisions without a full appreciation for the context in which they were cosmos made (or even without recognition that the decisions were critical).Decision making processes at Macondo did not adequately ensure that personnel fully considered the jeopardys created by time- and money- conservation decisions. Whether purposeful or not, some of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly deliver those companies significant time (and money). There is nothing inherently wrong with choosing a less-costly or less-time-consuming alternative-as gigantic as it is proven to be equally safe. The fuss is that, at least in regard to BPs Macondo team, there appears to have been no formal trunk for ensuring that alternative procedures were in fact equally safe.The report summarized that the accident of April 20 was avoidable. It resulted from clear mistakes made in the primary instance by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, and by government officials who, relying too a great deal on industrys assertions of the rubber eraser of their operations, failed to create and apply a program of regulatory oversight that would have properly minimized the risks of deepwater drilling. It is now clear that both industry and government need to reassess and change business concern practices to minimize the risks of such drilling.BPs claim close to disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to be the unavoidable accident was actually driven by a reckless pursuit of profits and selfish disregard for our planet.QUESTION 2 If you were Tony Hayward, how would you have acted in the immediate aftermath of the accident?It is easier to say what I would have done creation a CEO of BP after analyzing what Tony Hayward did wrong during the incident in the Gulf.BPs handling of the Deepwater Horizon crisis under its former CEO Tony Hayward may be seen as a textbook case of how not to manage an effort in a period of reputational crisis. On June 17 Tony Haywood stonewalled the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation by refusing to provide information he knows as chief operating officer. He was recorded telling a camera man to get out of there during a photo-op on the shores of Louisiana.Haywards summertime of PR disasters culminated in his public declaration that Id like my life back, and he went to participate in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island yacht race off the Isle of Wight in the UK, while Gulf residents struggled with the effects of the spill . He was widely criticized for his comment which was perceived as selfish and he later apologized for it on BP Americas Facebook page.President Obamas chief of staff Rahm Emanuel wryly observed on American network news that I think we can all conclude Tony Hayward is not going to have a southward career in PR consulting. In an interview on NBC on 8 June, 2010, Barack Obama said that Hayward wouldnt be operative for me after any of those statements, referring to the remarks BP CEO made following the spill.In a lecture at Stanford Business School in May 2009 Hayward declared to the business students that our primary purpose in life is to create value for our shareholders. Later his statements that focused hardly on the individual corporate remit have overly been quoted outside the context of the full lecture. Haywards point of view is in line with Milton Friedman who wrote in his famous 1970s article in The New York Times Magazine, that the one and only social responsibility of bu siness, is to increase profits for shareholders.General idea of Friedman was that only people can have responsibilities, but not businesses. The people who are hired by business owners have a responsibility primarily to their employers, to meet their desires which in most cases are profits. General public view the company as a self-colored representative and if CEOs mistake leads to an error is social judgment, the public will judge the whole company, not just this person.It has been proven time and whilst CSR has yet to be harnessed to create a significant positive difference to profits, a negative policy can destroy profits. The costs BP saved by taking risky decisions at Deepwater Horizon have finally gone to many an(prenominal) other stakeholders residents of the Gulf, government, business owners. BP cut coign after corner to save a million dollars here and a few hours there, said Henry Waxman, whose committee was investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident in the US. And n ow the whole Gulf Coast is compensable the price.Some theorists believe that CSR stops businesses performing to their full potential and crippling the economy. My opinion is that an effective CSR policy together with cost-effective marketing and clear business strategy could help a business grow to larger profits whilst also benefitting society.Ironically enough, Tony Hayward was one of the key proponents of CSR in 2005, giving a speech about corporate responsibility and its increasing importance at BP. This was when Lord Browne was CEO and CSR was gaining more forethought. But since mid-2007 many factors have weakened under Tony Haywards leadership, including contractor fatalities and greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental and safety fines spiked upward in 2009 and hydro blow flaring has nearly doubled since 2007.Summarizing the answer, if I was a CEO of BP I would spend all my time in the US to see whats happening on a regular basis and actively communicate with US administrat ion for coordination of clean-up efforts. I would not lie about the size of catastrophe from the beginning and will not try to bribe ecologists in attempts to hide the actual result of the oil spill. The leader is always needed at the time of crisis which Tony Hayward has failed to be.QUESTION 3 If you were a member of the BP board what would you be recommending at this point that BP should do about the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico?BP lost $95 billion in market capitalization indoors a few weeks of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, with its stock priced back to 14 years. There was a clear disproportion between the companys market losses and even the most demoralised estimates of cleanup costs that never exceeded $30 billion this was an indication of the costs of this reputational risk crisis to BP. While firms today recognize the value of stag definition as a competitive advantage in the marketplace, reputation remains an often underestimated component of a companys value.Corporations experiencing a public crisis, such BP in 2010 undergo what is termed reputational distress. This belief was first coined by Stephen Greyser, Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, and describes the critical period following a crisis event when a companys management is at risk of losing the confidence of the markets. Reputational distress can result in significant impact upon a firms market capitalization, as well as its corporate reputation, in coefficient of correlation to how the crisis response of the firms management is represented in the markets and the mass media.Brand Finance Plc, the dry lands leading brand valuation consultancy, estimated that the fallout from the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig has caused BPs brand value to plummet by $7.4bn, representing a 61% fall (or 72m per day). Having dog-tired many millions on promoting its Beyond Petroleum strapline and positioning itself as the most environmentally friendly of the oil comp anies, this disaster has had a highly detrimental impact on its brand value globally, especially in the US.In contrast to BP, the actions of Johnson Johnson in the case of the Tylenol tampering scandal represent a best practices example of how a firm can successfully manage reputational risk. Employing a crisis strategy defined by aggressive transparency, Johnson Johnson retained public and market confidence, resulting in the value of its shares quickly rebounding from immediate losses and the Tylenol brand actually becoming the industry leader shortly thereafter. Reputational risk management can therefore represent not only a challenge, but an opportunity.traditionally in CSR the Bottom Line refers to the financial and economic responsibility of the company that is making profits. Recently introduced by John Elkington (1994) Triple Bottom Line manikin gives a wider view of responsibilities of organizations which obviously encompasses financial aspects and also environmental and social impacts of the company. The utilization of the triple bottom line allows companies to evaluate their success not only in their economic field but also in the environmental and social ones.BP currently remains a member of United Nations Global Compact. This is a high-profile CSR scheme, which requires firms to adhere to 10 principles which require to take a precautionary approach to environmental challenges, promote environmental responsibility, and encourage the development of clean technology. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to provide evidence that BP has not adhered to the principles and could undermine its credibility as a signatory to the Compact.According to Mary Ann Ferguson, professor of PR at the University of Florida, when a company has a good reputation, people will appreciate its high-fit CSR program. But if BP tries to use high-fit CSR to further its public image, it may do itself more prostitute than good. Before you develop any high-fit CSR program , evaluate your companys reputation first so you dont just wreak further harm. Once the company name is tarnished, high-fit CSR tends to produce only skepticism. In other words, it backfires.If I was a member of the BP board at the time of the scheduled board meeting in London in May 2010, first of all I would recommend that the board meeting should be convened in Louisiana, preferably carrying part of it on one of the support vessels, engaged in the oil spillage liquidation operation, so that all board members can see for themselves, what has happened and received first hand information from the emergency operations crew. The second part of the board meeting should have been carried on the shore in Louisiana, and representatives from the key stakeholders in US such as regulators, environment protection agencies, NGOs, fish community, should have been invited to this meeting. This little step, which wouldnt cost much would have helped to change the public perception of the companys approach to the problem.Secondly, Tony Hayward should have been removed by the board at this meeting, and a new interim CEO with specific drilling and disaster management experience should have been appointed at this time, showing BPs dedication to scratch off the disaster, thus bringing someone with hands-on approach instead of discredited CEO. At this time I would also suggest that the company start providing faultless estimates of the make out of oil spilling from the well, instead of trying to deceive the media and professionals. BPs move with lowering estimates of the oil spillage has done more damage than good. The inconvenient righteousness is less harmful that the sweet lies.The next step would be stop putting blame on subcontractors Halliburton and Transocean and start working(a) together trying to find fast and solid solution of the problem. BP looked really silly with its biased internal report which has put most responsibility for the disaster to its contractors. W asnt it BP the owner of the rights to the well, who selected those contractors in the first place? I am sure that BP has done their due diligence in the lead hiring these companies. brook, but not least is to start paying serious attention and investing significant funds into disaster liquidation in the communities along the Gulf. BP has to draw attention of primarily US as well as public media to the efforts which company is undertaking in the sea and on the ground along the affected coast. Capping the well is no doubt a high priority, but transaction with the local stakeholders and environmental damage is no less important task, which provided to the company as being one of the most difficult ones. Stakeholder management is equally important, and saving the environment and providing other opportunities to the people which have lost their income source is critical. If I was a member of the board of BP at that time, I would put as much efforts and funding into this exercise as I would into capping of the well, if not more. Such proactive approach would help BP in the future when dealing with individual or single out lawsuits, coming their way, as US is one of the most litigious countries in the world.QUESTION 4 Why do you think BP attracted such opprobrium?Hayward, and BP in general, initially downplayed the spill, stating on 17 May 2010 that the environmental impact of the Gulf spill would likely be very very modest and calling the spill relatively tiny in comparison with the size of the ocean. On 27 May, Haywood changed his assessment, calling the spill an environmental catastrophe in an interview with CNN. Hayward earned the family name Tone-Deaf Tony for his far from the truth assertions.Then after the explosion, BP denied there was a leak until it became painfully obvious. When they could no longer hide that fact, they low-balled the estimate of the leak at 5,000 barrels a day, which is probably low by a factor of 20.When Hayward met with members of the U.S. Senate shortly after the accident, he asserted that BP intended to meet its obligations up to its $75 million liability cap under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act. Haywards assertion that BP was protected by limited liability under U.S. law, coming at a time when thousands of fishermen and tourism workers in Gulf states were being laid off due to the oil spill, so angered the senators with whom he met that within days lawmaking was introduced in the U.S. Senate to raise the damage cap face up BP from $75 million to $10 billion.BP sprayed more than 1 million gallons of chemical dispersants Corexit 9500 and 9527 into the Gulf since the oil spill began in a reckless effort to make the oil disappear from public view. BP threatened clean-up workers theyd be dis charged if they spoke to the media, also the company arranged workers showing up with respirators and other protective gear to remove it or be fired. Cleanup workers have been complaining of dizziness, nausea and other symp toms ever since then.Dispersants only alter the chemical and physical properties of the oil, making it more likely to mix with seawater than deposit on the shoreline. So what the dispersants do is re-direct the oil, making its impact perchance less so on birds and shore-dwelling animals, but more so on fish, coral reefs, oysters and other marine life that live in the deeper waters. Also, when the dispersants mix with the uncivil oil, a third far more toxic product is produced called dispersed oil which has been shown to be more toxic than the sum of its parts. Toxicologists can only think what the full extent of the damage will be, and its likely it wont show up in full for years or decades.Before BP could stop the oil leaking at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed $100 million in ad expenditure, largely on network TV, to stem the damage to its image. But it also started spending heavily where it had never spent much before buying ads in Googles search results. Nearly $3.6 million in the month of June alone were spent by BP, which pushed the company into the upper echelon of search advertisers, in a league with ATT, Expedia, Amazon and eBay. When people searched for oil spill theyll be directed to BPs damage control page that shows the companys Gulf of Mexico Response and cleanup efforts, instead of the massive amounts of damage that was still ongoing.In the CNN interviews, Deepwater Horizon workers described a corporate culture of great staff and ignoring warning signs ahead of the blast. They claimed BP routinely cut corners and pushed ahead despite concerns about safety. The rig survivors also said it was always understood that you could get fired if you raised safety concerns that might delay drilling. CNN interviews also revealed that BP had ordered a shortcut on the day of the explosion designed to speed drilling, as the rig was five weeks behind schedule and one day of its operation had an estimated cost of $750,000.All these facts are n ot surprising as BP is no stranger to environmental crime. Over the past two decades, BP subsidiaries have been convicted of three crimes in Alaska and Texas, including two felonies. Also BP holds the dubious honor of receiving the stiffest fine in history for work safety violations 760 fines as of June 2010, while Exxon Mobil has had just one. In 1991 BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on EPA toxic release data. The company has been charged with burning polluted gases at its Ohio refinery (for which it was fined $1.7 million), and in July 2000 BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of US refineries.During the last couple of years before the Gulf accident BP became more profitable Tony Hayward received a 40 percent pay increase in 2009 based on BPs alter execution. The company announced earnings of $5.6 billion for the first quarter of 2010, more than double the same quarter in 2009. But BP failed to fix the one problem that continues to get it into trouble a reactionary management culture that puts an emphasis on cutting costs and efficiency while neglecting preventative maintenance. BP has been chronically ineffective or unwilling to learn from its mistakes according to analysts, competitors and former employees.QUESTION 5 Looking ahead 3-4 years, how do you think the disaster will affect BP? go forth it (a) have no significant, long-term impact on the business? (b)Result in BP becoming a much smaller company? (c)) Result in BP being bought by the Chinese, Qataris etc ormerged with another international oil company? (d) Be the catalyst for BP to move irrevocably beyond petroleum and becoming a new form of global faculty business, based eventually in renewable energy?The BP oil spill has set a new precedent for both environmental damage and corporate irresponsibility. According to BP official there was a good reason why the Macondo well was being drilled in the first place. Its because the world badly needs the oil and gas that reside beneath the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and other oceans in order to meet inexorably outgrowth energy demand. BP pushed technology to the limit in the remotest reaches of Alaska and the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico the tough stuff that others cannot or choose not to do, as Tony Hayward once put it.Last year there was a serious debate as to whether the Deepwater Horizon incident will lead to bankruptcy for BP. Project failures such as the Deepwater Horizon can have enormous consequences on the value of BP shareholders, including many pensioners in the UK and current and past employees and may even jeopardize survival of the enterprise.BP have been paying not only for all environmental and economic damages from the blowout, but will also be facing years of claims, negotiations and litigation. The company is still facing legal suits from Edinburgh and Merseyside pension funds for the loss of value that emanated from an Alaskan pipeline s pill in 2006. Gulf of Mexico claims will last much longer. According to Bloomberg, BP took charges totaling US$40 billion in the second and third quarters of 2010 to account for the cost of the Gulf spill.The company announced in July 2010 it would sell between $25 billion and $30 billion of assets, and has sold fields in Argentina, Colombia, Pakistan, the U.S. and Vietnam. BP interests in Algeria, Alaskas Prudhoe Bay and Canadian pipelines may be next up on the block. According to offshoreenergytoday.com, since taking charge in October, new CEO Bob Dudley has taken asset sales to $22 billion to pay costs from the worst US oil spill, reorganized management and cut the deal with Rosneft to give the company access to Russias untapped Arctic reserves. The share price has recovered about 60 percent from Junes post-spill low, in part on expectations that the dividend will return at 50 percent of the previous level. Recently BP has reinstated the dividend that was suspended after the spil l as higher oil prices and improved refining margins lifted its earnings.It is unlikely that BP will be acquired by other major oil companies ExxonMobil or Royal Dutch Shell. BP executives held talks with a number of sovereign wealth funds including funds from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore, for creation of a strategic partnership to avoid takeover. Now BP continues to be Europes second-biggest oil company and the biggest producer of oil and gas in the US. Financial Times said that before the accident, the US had been the principal focus of the groups strategy, with deepwater oil production in the Gulf of Mexico at its heart. It was a source of oil and gas reserves in a region with an apparently stable legal and tax framework, and was a place to develop techniques that could then be deployed around the world.The BP oil spill has brought attention to the issue of greenwashing. This term was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld (1986) and means unreal use of gre en PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a companys policies or products are environmentally friendly. BP entered the greenwashing playing field spending 200 million dollars on rebranding the company in 2000. BP TV ads were focused on themes of biofuels, alternative energy and carbon footprints, closing with a green, flower-like logo and the slogan Beyond petroleum.According to Kate Sheppard, a writer at Foreign Policy (3 May 2010), despite all BP has spent on rebranding, the company hasnt done nearly as much to move beyond petroleum as its campaign implies. In fact, BP has been turning away from investments in nonfossil energy, last year cutting investment in alternative sources from $1.4 billion to $1 billion. Weeks before the spill, BP announced that it was shuttering its solar manufacturing plant in Maryland, it closed the doors of its much-hyped UK alternate Energy headquarters in 2009. The company brought in $73 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2010, but only about $700 million of its business was alternative energy sources like wind and solar. The company has also spent a lot of time and money convincing semipolitical leaders that offshore drilling is clean, safe, and environmentally friendly while at the same time actually fighting against safety measures that might have prevented the standoff in the Gulf.Green Energy Reporter said that BP plans to invest $1 billion in 2011 in its renewable energy business, roughly the same amount it invested last year. In 2008 BP was awarded a satirical prize, the Emerald Paintbrush award, by Greenpeace UK. The award was given to BP in order to highlight its alleged greenwashing campaign. Critics point out that while BP advertises its activities in alternative energy sources, the majority of its capital investments (more than 90%) continue to go into fossil fuels linked with major environmental challenges on a global scale.BP will definitely not make steps to becoming a n ew form of global energy business based on renewable energy until it can get the same tremendous profits from oil and gas. After the incident Bob Dudley has identified improving BPs safety practice and performance as one of his highest priorities. As it mentioned in BPs internal investigation report, it was possible for BP to drill deepwater wells safely. It is vital for the companys future that it can live up to that aspiration.In his latest speech on March 08th 2011 at CERA Week Conference in Houston Bob Dudley said BP is sorry. BP gets it. BP is changing. Were strengthening safety, growing value and working to earn trust.The lesson for large companies is that whilst cost and time savings are certainly key initiatives, senior management and the Board need to ensure that they do not happen at the risk of brand and stakeholder relationships. Only by remembering this disaster and pushing for the truth to be brought to the surface the truth about what BP was cover we can prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.

Advantages Of Downloading Copyrighted Philosophy Essay

Advantages Of Downloading Copy propered Philosophy EssayCopyright is a form of protection, by which we deal protect the things that weve typed or even off and development of rules specifying how published. In these days we can transfer many things through the net income without the knowledge of its reference and without paying for it. In this report I leave behind highlight aspects of ethics about downloading copyright and its result, I will give a final suggestion to the dilemma.BACKGROUNDNowadays, we can see a destiny of pot who download many things without taking into account the copyright and that thing is against the low because they infringe on the rights of others. fit to what Louis Kroeck says It is not illegal to download copyrighted secular as long as you dedicate the consent of the authority. (Kroeck, 2012)Some sites argon adding some of the articles or songs and claim that with the consent of the author, but in position the opposite, which leads to legal prosecution for fraud they had and infringement on the rights of others. P2P net bring is the largest example of websites or softw be that allows the user to download any music for free from the Internet and exchanged over a single network. And the most famous of these sites are Limewire, forstwire, and Napster. Napster allows users to download the corresponding version of pedigreed free.People relinquish to music download sections, some confines and other online without wish to copyright and to shorten the time and save m championy or indifference to it. According to what Max Baldwin says In fact, 95 share of music downloads from the internet are illegal downloads and only slight than five people in the world have been arrested for illegal downloading as opposed to the millions of people that download illegally. (Baldwin, 2010). Resulted in the roping the idea of some sites that are developing some of the articles and to the loss of musical copyright, respect the articles of t he law that we must follow.ETHICAL DILLEMAAdvantages of downloading copyrighted-There are things around us may be unethical, but gave us some of the pros, the problem of downloading copyright where a small number of pros areShortening the time, where we can find any song or article in any site and downloaded quickly on your computer and it saves us breathing out to the songs interjects and libraries. So we dont have to wait for delivery.Save money, where we can get on any album or a book or other for free, which is in fact a precious. So we will not paying for it.Readily available, Sometimes we want to bribe a song at the night and the store is closed, so we can get it from the internet. And sometimes some albums or books that are not available in the market and can be found in the Internet.it will be available in website all the time.Disadvantages of downloading copyrighted-There are many negatives for downloading copyright problem and these are some of themIllegal and immoral, cognise you when you download music or article without the author allow it, you are breaking the law, which allow to your exposure to legal repercussions.Effects on Music Industry, According to ehow.com According to ThinkQuest.org, every year the music industry loses approximately $4.2 billion to piracy worldwide. Musicians, too, rely on the sale of records to make a living, which in turn enables them to continue to be able to make music. (What Are the Disadvantages of Downloading Free Music From the Web to Play on Your Own PC or CDs? Read much What Are the Disadvantages of Downloading Free Music From the Web to Play on Your Own PC or CDs? , 2012)Virus and Spyware and hacked program, when you download anything the subject your downloading can carry viruses and thats can affect your computer, some viruses can damage your computer completely and you can never use the computer again.Therefore, the question in the dilemma will be is downloading from the internet immoral?THEORETICAL RE SPONSEConsequentialism-Consequentialism refers to the type of philosophy implied in the principle of ethics and its aspects. In essence consequentialism means that the morally right satisfy is the one with the best overall consequences (Grimmelmann, 2009). This means that the end results justify the means through which it is conceived.In cause of downloading copyrighted infringement, the first thing is to establish as the downloaded material is right or wrong and does it possess a greater risk if it is downloaded illegally (or infringement). This scheme ponders on the fact that is the result obtained greater in theory than from the result of violation. The second important aspect of this theory is that whether that the result obtained due to the downloaded material cannot be obtained while violating lesser or something that is even less than that (Warwick, 1999).This theory also ponders on the fact that copyright law is basically enacted to obtain information and promote creative activities. Although it is good to do so, these are not moral obligations that must be followed till the end. In light of this theory, downloading copyrighted material is not immoral.Non-consequentialism-Non-consequentialism takes on a different approach in this regard and this philosophy directly implies on the moral obligations of the action itself. According to this philosophy, some kinds of actions or activities are wrong in themselves (Woodcock, 2000) and not just wrong because they have negative results or consequences.Speaking in terms of the issue of downloading copyrighted material, this theory discourages this kind of action. It is because copyrighted materials are the private property of some individuals and the purpose lies solely with them that whether they want to distribute that material or not. This theory even characterizes the act of downloading copyrighted material as illegal or theft.There are certain boundaries of freedom that one can enjoy as long as he or sh e is not trampling on others. The issue of downloading copyrighted material directly relates to this theory as people use their downloading freedom a little too much (Grimmelmann, 2009) and end up downloading copyrighted material for which they would have to pay something in reality. This is the reason that this theory categorizes this act of downloading copyrighted material as immoral.Virtue-based ethics-This theory is more based on the theory of relativity of action in terms of a virtuous person than the end result of the activity itself. In basic terms, this theory means that a right action or ethical action is one which the virtuous person would do under the same circumstances. Regarding the case of downloading copyrighted material, this theory takes an interesting twist. talk of the town about the issue of downloading copyrighted material, this theory does not hold any final implication (Baldwin, 2010) as to whether this action can be considered right or wrong. If a knowledge source is being downloaded that can certainly benefit a lot of people, then this theory might shift in this case favor because a virtuous person is one who looks for the greater good.However, if the downloading of copyrighted material is hurting the original owner and fewer benefits in this approach, then this theory might be against this feature. So it really depends upon the type of circumstances that is present at that time.PERSONAL EXPERIENCEIn my opinion, the ethical issue related to downloading copyrighted material lies solely with the subject of material being downloaded. There are tons of different things that are present on the internet and are copyrighted material (Woodcock, 2000). These might include movies, music, games, books, magazines and computer software.I have to agree more with more of virtue based ethic here because this theory very reflects on my thinking of this matter. The type of material that is being downloaded defines as to whether my action is moral or i mmoral and does downloading it provides me with any greater good (Grimmelmann, 2009). For example, a book that is quite expensive in the market and is out my budget range is available free on the internet I will download it for my use. This is because I know that this book can help me and other fellow students in achieving personal growth which otherwise would have not been possible if I were to buy it. Virtue-based ethics theory discusses the actions of a pious or virtuous person in the same circumstance and according to me I fall in this fellowship and have a same outlook.CONCLUSIONThere is a never ending debate present on the issue of downloading copy righted material where one side strong-fully objects to it while the other side posts its benefits. There are certain advantages and disadvantages of this activity (Woodcock, 2000) and none of them seems to outweigh the other. In the end, it all depends upon the fact that whether the action performed has resulted in any major losse s or trampling of moral issues.The major thing to lookout for here is that whether the results obtained from downloading copyrighted material possess greater good. If copyright infringement poses a serious threat to the hard work of an individual, then without a doubt it is considered wrong as the person rightfully deserves the credit for his work by paying him or her. On the other hand, if it has more benefits than risks then it can be considered an acceptable act.

Blackboard Inc. :: Essays Papers

Blackboard Inc. It is a growing trend in straightaways society in that the internet is spreading. It is more common for a young child before the eld of 10 to commit the internet more than an adult beyond the age of 25. 1 The internet and age of computers have enabled bookmans and adults to search for information more efficiently. Everything possible can be found online by just now a click of a mouse. It is fast, reliable, and functional in many another(prenominal) settings, school for one. Education has taken a turn, online, in adapting to the advances with the internet. Colleges and Universities have taken advantage of their students use of online services and have taken school beyond the classroom. Educators are realizing the importance of computer classs, such as Blackboard, to achieve new goals in education. Internet use is not solely for those just in college as numbers show that those not attending college use the internet just as much. Res earchers say that about half, 51.5 %, of 18-24 year olds use the internet and are not in school. Now those who are attending a college or university between this age group are more likely to use to the internet, numbers show that 85% of students do so.2 It is reasonable to say that college students will most likely use the internet more as classes and school work can be provided via the internet. Schoolwork has been able to appear on the internet through a program called Blackboard. It has become the leading provider of Internet infrastructure software for e-Education in todays society as it is widely used across many campuses. Blackboard was created in June of 1997 from students and faculty at Cornell University. Their intend was to develop an online software program which would advance online education and be capable for other institutions to use as well. Two other important people in the creation of Blackboard would be two education consultants, Matthew Pittins ky and Michael Chasen. Their job was to lead the Educause IMS standards group for online education technology as they had formally created Blackboard LLC.

Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive :: Possessive Essays

Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive General Douglas Macarthur said that the best time to meet the curse of war is in the beginning. It is easier to put out a fire in the beginning when it is small than after it has become a roaring blaze (qtd. in Urofsky, better 9). The mother in Sharon Olds The Possessive undoubtedly feels the same way. War is a terrible time between two or more nations that commove to offend from each other or for whatsoever other reason nations fight over property rights and independence. In The Possessive, Olds uses powerful images of war, such as helmets, blades, and fires to set up how her fille is similar to a warring country that has pulled away from her. Sharon Olds states In her bright helmet / she looks at me as if across a great distance (Olds, 506). The helmet exemplifies the imagery that Olds uses to show the competitive tone in her poem. In modern day wars people see pictures of Cruise missiles and Stealth Bombers on CNN. However, when asked what they envision when they think about war, some will talk about guns, knives, helmets, and fires. As Olds talks about her daughter, she realizes that there is an impending battle yet to come. This battle, too, will be about possession. When her daughter sits in the barbers chair, Olds realizes that her daughter will soon reach her teens. The teenage years are a time when parents battle over cars, boys, and other rights with there children. The children and parents will fight over haircutting rights. As Olds reports, her daughter has been to the barber, that knife grinder, / and had the edge of her hair sharpened (506). Knife grinding and sharp objects are another image of war. Soldiers must be sure that their instruments are perfectly sharp if they want to win the war. The first time Olds things about the upcoming battle occurs during the warlike image of the haircut. These first warlike images set the tone of the rest of the piece. The most vivid and important warlike ima ge that Olds uses in The Possessive is the image of fire. The fire imagery appears more than formerly in the piece. Olds writes that Distant fires can be / glimpsed in the resin light of her eyes (506).