Following Military Orders That May Be Unethical Research Paper

Following Military Orders That May Be Unethical - Research Paper Example There are many legal and social standards through which an action is ethical, but these standards do not solve the contradiction that comes with the relativity in situations, individuals and societies. While soldiers pledge to obey their superior’s orders they do so in view of the uniform code of military justice and the constitution. As such, soldiers â€Å"should not† obey illegal commands. Establishing the legality or illegality of a command has over the years has raised controversial ethical issues. Under the UCMJ, articles 90 to 92 hold that willful or un-willful disobedience of lawful orders from a senior officer is a criminal offence (Mason, 2011). During war, article 90 further stipulates that such an action is punishable by death (Mason, 2011). Unlawful orders are those that are repugnant to the Constitution seeing as the constitution is the supreme law of the land. The constitution derives form societal ethics and religious doctrines. However, the constitution does not take into account all societal ethics and religious standings of a people (Mason, 2011). There are many examples of illegal or potentially unethical orders issued every day in the army and other military organizations. This paper examines two accounts of death orders. The first example is that of William Calley 1968 during the Vietnam War (Thomas, 2012). The then Second Lieutenant claimed to have received orders from his superior to open fire and subsequently kill civilians. He then passed these orders to his juniors who, like him opened fire on innocent, unarmed civilians in the absence of duress (enemy fire) (Thomas, 2012). In 1971, William received a life sentence with the charge of premeditated murder. The aftermath of the sentence aside, Lieutenant William was guilty of murder while following the orders of a superior (Thomas, 2012). With the rise of terrorism threats cases of inhumane, unconstitutional mistreatment of prisoners is on the rise. A second example is an i ncident that occurred in the year 2004 during America’s invasion of Iraq. The 343rd Quartermaster Company on 13th October refused to go on a mission as ordered by their superiors (Mason, 2011). The unit cited unsafe and insufficient equipment as their reason to disobey orders claiming that the order was a suicide mission. The consequences of their actions have negative far reaching effects on their careers. These consequences include detainment, dishonorable discharge and forfeit of pay (Mason, 2011). In 1986, the U.S army listed some values an organization should have considered to form the foundation on which ethics stems from. These values included integrity, loyalty, selflessness and duty (Mason, 2011). For the individual, the army listed courage, commitment, candor and competence. This proclamation spells out two things. The first is that the superior officer (representative of the organization) should give due consideration to ethical matters while giving orders. Second ly, the officer receiving the orders should follow them while maintaining an ethical approach. Military laws and courts hold military persons accountable if their actions are unlawful regardless of the situation (whether they were following orders from a superior or not) (Mason, 2011). There are various theories that one can apply to examine the above situations. These theories include utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics relativism, emotivism and ethical egoism. John Stuart Mill advanced Consequentialism, a

Different kinds of motivation

Different kinds of motivation The importance of different kinds of motivation in SL learning The presence of different types of motivation can be really helpful for the language learner to achieve the best possible results in the learning process. Indeed, it is difficult to think of any kind of learning without motivation. Although too high levels of enthusiasm may backfire (and cause anxiety), it is inevitable to possess a healthy level of motivation in order to achieve results. Although students motivation is obviously not entirely under the teachers control, the instructor should do whatever is possible to increase this factor. It is commonly acknowledged that motivation can positively influence language learning. People are heavily dominated by their emotions, even in such seemingly dispassionate issues as language learning is. No wonder that student feelings have as much power to affect their learning success as their styles and strategies (Ehrman, 1996, p.135.). According to the definition of Ehrman (1996), motivation is the perceived payoff for the students investment of time, energy, and effort.(p.137.). Apparently, if this payoff is low, the student will either stop learning the language for good or, if they do not have an option, they will be caught in a web of bad feelings and even worse grades. Then, the failures will only generate further disappointment. On the other hand, a student who finds at least one legitimate reason for continuing their language study is already on the right track. Anyone who has attempted language study is able to think of a number of such reasons. Yet, the scientific study of motivation is extremely challenging, since all the factors influencing motivation are interrelated and continually changing. They cannot very well be categorized according to the degree of their power. Therefore, motivation for learning a foreign language has usually been classified according to its possible sources. A common way of categorization is to distinguish extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. According to definition (and closely connected with its name) intrinsic motivation is thought of as being within the task itself: a sense of achievement, self-esteem, pride in solving the problem, enjoyment of the class, being able to use the language as desired. (Johnson Johnson, 1998, p.220.) Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is connected with other consequences of success on the task (Johnson Johnson, p.220.), such as promotion at ones workplace, good grades, and so on. Another model of classification is that of Robert Gardners (as cited in Ehrman, 1996). He divided motivation into instrumental and integrative types. The first may be equated to extrinsic motivation, while the other is more interesting; it has to do with the desire to become part of a target language community. (Ehrman, 1996) As the research of motivation in language learning progressed, many other theories have been drawn up, using similar and new motivating elements as well. An especially intricate model of motivation has been created by Zoltà ¡n Dà ¶rnyei. It is called the L2 Motivational Self System and it consists of three main components: ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self and the L2 learning experience. (as cited in Csizà ©r Kormos, 2009, p.99.). The ideal L2 self is an image of how students would like to see themselves, in this case, as fluent speakers of a given language. This component includes Gardners integrative motivation as well. The ought-to L2 self includes the characteristics of an ideal person who is able to evade failure in language study. The notion of L2 learning experience is quite easy to grasp, it basically means the motivating force of the learning settings. An experiment that Csizà ©r and Kormos (2009) conducted with the participation of secondary school and university students in Budapest gave the results that the main factors influencing language learning were the ideal L2 self and the learning experiences, while the role of the ought-to L2 self seemed marginal (Csizà ©r Kormos, p.109.). Although this study is bound to be somewhat narrow to draw too general conclusions from, it clearly demonstrates an important idea: the learning environment has a great influence on student motivation. As is shown by the experiment of Csizà ©r and Kormos (2009), some motivation types have an implication for language instruction, because they may be influenced by teaching strategy. However, there are several problems with enhancing motivation. In the first place, as it has been mentioned before, it is not an easy task to study motivation: motivation types are notoriously difficult to isolate and motivation is problematical to measure. Moreover, the relationship of theory and research to classroom situation (Johnson Johnson, 1998, p.223.) is also questionable, that is, the theories are often difficult to prove and apply in real life situations. What is more, although motivation is generally considered to be necessary, teachers might not be able to devote enough attention to it, because of the large size of the learning group or other unfavourable circumstances. Finally, there are cases when motivation simply cannot be influenced from the outside, as in the case of integrative motiv ation of a person who pointedly dislikes a culture associated with a language or feels aversions to the language itself. In spite of all these complications, there has been a consistent move towards motivation-enhancing learning activities (Johnson Johnson, 1998, p.224.). The ways Ehrman (1996) suggests to deal with lack of motivation are the following: most importantly she advises listening to the anger, tension, and mixed motivations (p.142) of the unenthusiastic students and helping them cope with their destructive emotions using, for example, relaxation exercises(p.143). Another idea of Ehrman (1996) is to motivate students with activities that are in accordance with their interests and pastimes. These strategies sound very practical and sensible, however, they have considerable limitations taking into account the varied composition of the class and the fact that the teacher is not a psychologist. There are other, more theoretical means that are thought to boost motivation as well. According to Stevick (as cited in Johnson Johnson, 1998) relevance of material to the students language requirements , completeness of the syllabus, authenticity of the information provided, satisfaction of students beyond learning and immediacy of the knowledge gained are five types of reward that could be built into materials and would encourage students to persevere and succeed. (Johnson Johnson, 1996, p.224.). Some of Stevicks ideas, namely that of relevance, authenticity and immediacy have already been adopted (the first two by the Language for Specific Purposes movement and the last one in Notional Functional Syllabuses), while completeness and satisfaction are more debated (Johnson Johnson, p.224.) In summary, motivation is a slippery notion that can be neither measured properly, nor examined very precisely, as it changes from community to community, from person to person, and may even change in the learning history of a single student. Still, there are ways to study motivation and as it is admittedly an important factor of language learning, research and practice, hand in hand, should try to find ways to make it as high as possible. References Csizà ©r, K., Kormos, J. (2009). Learning Experiences, Selves and Motivated Learning Behaviour: A Comparative Analysis of Structural Models for Hungarian Secondary and University Learners of English. In Z. Dà ¶rnyei E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self (pp. 98-119). Bristol, England: Multilingual Matters. Ehrman, M. E. (1996). Understanding Second Language Learning Difficulties. London: SAGE. Johnson, K., Johnson H. (Eds.). (1998). Motivation. In Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. (pp. 219-225). Oxford, England: Blackwell.

Affirmative Action Violates Constitutional Rights Essay -- Argumentati

Affirmative Action Violates Constitutional Rights In 2003, the United States Supreme Court will hear two affirmative action cases. Each is dealing with the actions of the admissions office of the University of Michigan. The cases, Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, have been called "this generation's Brown v. Board of Education." (Montoya.) These cases have much hanging in their mists, "The outcome of †¦ affirmative action cases will determine whether our society moves forward towards greater equality or backwards to resegregation [sic] and greater inequality"("New†¦"). Affirmative action which is, as defined by Webster's II New College Dictionary, "A policy or program that seeks to redress past discrimination by increasing opportunities for underrepresented groups, as in employment." Affirmative action not only increases opportunities for women and minorities it decreases opportunities for white men. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. - Amendment XIV, section one The U.S. Constitution is clear, the privileges and immunities will not be decreased, and states can not deny any person in its jurisdiction equality. Affirmative action lessens the immunities of white men; they are no longer guaranteed an "equal opportunity employer." White men who are in the jurisdiction of the United States are denied equality. This is proved by the fact that qualifications are not the top reason for whom is hired, instead the main reason white men are turned down, when ... ...//clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/ OP/html/aa/aa02.html> Stephanopoulos, George, and Christopher Edley, Jr. "OTHER FEDERAL POLICIES: THE FCC AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF TREASURY AND AGRICULTURE." Affirmative Action Review Report to the President. 19 July 1995. 16 Dec. 2002 <http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/aa/aa11.html> Stephanopoulos, George, and Christopher Edley, Jr. "Letter to the President." Affirmative Action Review Report to the President. 19 July 1995. 16 Dec. 2002 <http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/aa/aa-lett.html> United States. Department of Justice. "MEMORANDUM TO GENERAL COUNSELS." Washington, D.C: Office of Legal Counsel. 28 June 1995. <http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/aa/ap-b.html> United States. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "The Civil Rights Act of 1964." 15 Jan. 1997 <http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/vii.html>   

The Extent of Fidel Castro’s Achievement of His Aims

To what extent was Fidel Castro able to achieve his aims between 1959 and 1979, and what prevented him from achieving more? During Fulgencio Batista’s reign in Cuba, Fidel Castro had insistently professed his dissatisfaction with the government, and when he finally took over in 1959, he effected a government that formed the basis from which the criticism of many historians today derives. To a minimal extent, Fidel Castro was able to achieve his aims between 1959 and 1979. Revealed in the 26th of July Movement’s doctrine, Castro’s goals called for Cuba to become fully independent and purely democratic while having a just society.Castro’s goals were hindered not only by the dependence on the U. S. , but also on the Soviet Union after relations with the U. S. intensified. By the end of his reign, Castro had not upheld his initial revolutionary ideology; therefore, he did not achieve his aims for Cuba to the greater extent. In one of his aims, Castro hoped to see Cuba become independent. In order to become less dependent on foreign countries, Castro implemented an economic reform that would allow Cuba to become less dependent on the foreign countries. He wanted to create a more centralized economy by confiscating businesses, many of which were American-owned.The U. S. saw this attempt of nationalization as a direct challenge to their interests, thus they removed the sugar quota placed an embargo on Cuba, threatening to destroy the base of the Cuban economy. Cuba had now become independent from U. S. trade, but with no means self-sufficiency, Cuba turned to another group–the socialist/communist nations in the eastern hemisphere. Cuba had increased their sugar production tremendously because of Castro’s speech, â€Å"The Year of Decisive Endeavor,† in 1963 which set a production goal of 10 million tons of sugar by 1970 so that Cuba could industrialize and become more self-reliant.USSR began buying this Cuban sugar in r eturn for industrial equipment and machinery which allowed Castro to develop their countries as allies. Germany also agreed to sell the industrial necessities needed by Cuba. During these early 1960 years, Cuba quickly lost nearly all economic dependence on the U. S. , but any progress toward self-sufficiency was undermined by the developing relationship with the Soviet Union. Unlike the U. S. , the Soviet Union was not hostile to the idea of an independent Cuba and was willing to defend Cuban interest.In reality, Castro might have professed his devotion to socialism in his Marxist-Leninist speech only for the benefit of siding with the world’s socialist superpowers for military and economic support. Castro’s favoring paid off because the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962; however, this caused U. S. -Soviet tensions to peak when the U. S. made the threat of invading Cuba. Castro also attempted to establish Cuba’s independence by making the cha nge to a Communist state, which began distinguished officially in 1965.Although the changes were small in the early 1960s, it was not until 1976 that Cuba created a new constitution. Another aspect proving Cuban independence was the buildup of a strong military force from foreign intervention and internal opposition. Castro suspected the U. S. of military action because of their discontent with his socialist policies. Nearing the end of the first decade of his reign, Castro revealed that Cuba did not meet the 10 million ton harvest, but welcomed the shame and criticism that the failure would bring about.Throughout the years of Castro’s reign, he strived to assert Cuba as an independent nation, as demonstrated with the victory in the Bay of Pigs Invasion; however, he never fully accomplished this aim, continuing to depend on their monoculture and export-oriented economy. Castro's objective for Cuba was to uphold an uncorrupted, democratic nation. However many of his actions pr ove his ideology wrong. Within the early months after he overthrew Batista, Castro made a decision with other revolutionaries to pass the Fundamental Law of the Republic in February of 1959.By passing this legislature he gave himself more legislative power as executive of the country, adding to his power to veto due to his rank as Executive of Army. Jose Cardona was replaced from his job as Head of Legislature which allowed Castro to basically become a dictator–the opposite of a democracy. The people of Cuba lost their freedoms that citizens should have in a democracy. The government began redistributing income from the urban to the rural working class. Although it created successes such as a raise in wages, a raise in purchasing power, and a decrease in unemployment, incomes were still not all equal.Land became another freedom of the people that the government decided to take away and redistribute. Large plantation estates called Latifundios were outlawed and limited to 995 acres with the Agrarian Reform Law. The INRA enforced the ARL which hurt large American owned companies like Coca Cola and Hershey’s, contributing more animosity from the U. S. Along with the Second Law of Agrarian Reform in 1963, both reforms created an agricultural system that did not produce the same amount of crop as they did pre-1959 until the late 1960s.After forming the Constitution in 1976, Castro made a government that was not very efficient and could silence any complaint with the â€Å"red tape† effect. By reorganizing the government into the military, executive committee, and communist party, the constitution made the Cuban bureaucracies contributing to a more authoritarian-like government. More and more, Castro nationalized Cuba in every aspect and Castro, having achieved an economic stability, made a Communistic dictatorship; therefore, he did not achieve his goal for a democracy in Cuba since his own regime was corrupt.Another goal that Castro had for Cu ba from 1959 to 1979 was to create a just society. One way Castro made this society was by targeting the needs of the people and providing them with an education and healthcare system. One of the biggest issues during Castro’s reign was the country’s lack of educated revolutionaries because most of the trained workers and professionals emigrated from the island. In his 1961 speech Castro proclaimed that this year would be the â€Å"Year of Education. † To some extent he did achieve this aspect of providing immediate literacy which rose from 76% to 94% in 1979.Other improvements occurred up through this first decade of Castro’s reign such as recruiting 100,000 students, the tripling of teachers, and quadrupling of schools. However, Castro did create a curriculum that would not only provide an education limited to only basic reading and writing but also indoctrinate students with the loyalty and morals of Communism. Vilma Espin, the head of The Cuban Womenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Federation, advocated for literacy rates in the female population while also pushing for education and healthcare as well. Through Espin’s work, Castro realized that it was larger issue, thus he passed the Family Code.This law mandated equality in marriage and legitimized divorce. This law was never really enforced but women were generally happy with the gain. Gender and racial equality was an issue with which no other country in Latin America had dealt. Castro also stressed the need for a healthcare system in Cuban society in order to create a just society. His system would implement a method that trained doctors in universities around the country. Because of forming of education and healthcare systems, Castro’s aim for social justice in Cuba was achieved to some extent.Castro was not able to uphold his ideology because limited reasons. The chief reason that may have hindered him from achieving more is the on-going tensions with the U. S. and the economic con sequences from this. If the U. S. did not have the discontent toward Cuba’s regime, Cuba would have developed the revolutionized economy that they sought. If Castro had developed relations with the U. S. and given up the socialist policies, Cuba would have avoided severe U. S. tensions and the embargo altogether. The U. S. embargo on Cuba was a major influence that hindered economic prosperity and diversified agriculture.Castro focused on manipulate Cuba from his revolutionary political aims in the 26th of July Movement. Initially, he attempts to create Cuba in the ideology of a system of social justice within the broadest concept of democracy, of freedom and of human rights. Throughout his reign Castro enacted laws and promoted policies in order to create this fully independent and democratic Cuba with a just society. To the least extent, Castro fulfilled this vision during the first two decades of the revolution, and on-going tensions with the U. S. prevented Castro from ex tending his revolutionary aim.

Kamkhya Temple Essay

The Kalika Purana, an ancient work in Sanskrit describes Kamakhya as the yielder of all desires, the young bride of Shiva, and the giver of salvation. Shakti is known as Kamakhya. The Kamakhya Temple, which is situated high up on a hill called Neelachal Parbat or Kamagiri in the city of Guwahati, is one of its several religious landmarks, which speaks volumes about the rich historical treasure over which the state of Assam is settled. This sacred temple in the heart of the capital city of Assam holds more than it meets the eye of the spectator. The Kamakhya Temple had been built in admiration to Goddess Kamakhya or Sati, who was one of the numerous incarnations of Goddess Durga or Goddess Shakti. History The temple is situated a few kilometers away from the Guwahati Railway Station, and is open for visitors throughout the year. The exact date of the original temple is not known. It is believed that, the temple is an ancient temple. The Temple was rebuilt in 1665, after being destroyed by Muslim invaders. It was probably an ancient Khasi sacrificial site, sacrifices are still very much part of worship here. Group of devotees arrive each morning with goats to offer to Shakti. Although little is known about the early history of the temple, the first reference to the place has been traced back to the Allahabad inscriptions of Emperor Samudragupta. There is a legend attached to the history of the temple, which goes way back to the mythological age. According to the legend, Sati the wife of Lord Shiva (one of the holy Trinities in Hindu mythology) took her life at a `Yagna` ceremony that had been organized by her father Daksha, because she could not bear the insults hurled at her husband by her father. On hearing the news of his wife`s death, Shiva, the destroyer of all that was evil flew into a rage and punished Daksha by replacing his head with that of a goat. Torn between misery and blind fury, Shiva picked up the corpse of his beloved wife Sati and performed a dance of destruction called the `Tandava`. The intensity of the destroyer`s fury was so overwhelming that it took several Gods to pacify his anger. In the midst of this struggle, Sati`s corpse accidentally got cut into 51 parts by the disc in the hands of Lord Vishnu (also one of the Trinities in Hindu mythology), and her female genitalia or `Yoni` fell on the spot where the Kamakhya temple stands today, forming one of the many Shakti `Peethas` adorning the rest of her body parts. But the place where her uterus fell was not known till the god of love, Kamadeva, searched it out to rid himself of a certain curse of Brahma`s. Kama regains his body here. The place came to be known as `Kamarup` and the presiding deity as `Kamakhya` or one worshipped by Kama. Another legend says that the demon Narakasura fell in love with Goddess Kamakhya once and he wanted to marry her. But as a goddess cannot marry a demon or asura, Goddess Kamakhya played a trick to save herself. She laid a condition that she would marry him only if he builds a temple for her within one night. Narakasura agreed to it and almost finished building the temple overnight. This scared Goddess Kamakhya and before the final steps of the temple were completed, a cock was sent to cry cock-a-doodle-do to announce the arrival of the morning, before it was actually dawn. This made Narakasura very angry and he killed the cock on that spot. But according to the condition Narakasura couldn`t marry Goddess Kamakhya after that. It is said that the present Kamakhya temple is the same that Narakasura had made for the Goddess. Still another Legend says that Shakti, the mother Goddess, challenged the supreme creative power of Bhrahma and that Brahma could thereafter create, only with the blessings of the Yoni, as the sole creative principle. After much penance, Bhrahma brought down a luminous body of light from heaven and placed it within the Yoni circle, which was created by the Goddess and placed at Kamarupa Kamakhya in Guwahati. Site & Architecture King Nara Narayana of Cooch Behar rebuilt the temple in 1665 after it had suffered destruction at the hands of foreign invaders. The temple consists of seven oval spires, each topped by three golden pitchers, and the entrance spirals down to a curvy path of some distance, which specially links the main road to the temple. Some of the sculptured panels of the temple carry depictions of Gods and Goddesses of Hindu pantheon carved in a delightful pattern. Tortoises, monkeys, and large number of pigeons have made the temple their home, and loiter around the premise, being fed by the temple authorities and the visitors. The cryptic, as well as the peaceful ambience of the temple combine together to soothe the nerves of visitors, and take their minds to flights of inner salvation, and this is the very reason that people come here for. Images of gods and goddesses of Hindu religion are carved on the walls. The image of the Goddess along with other deities is kept on a th rone. The current temple structure was constructed in1565 by Chilarai of the Koch dynasty in the style of medieval temples. The form of the earlier structure, destroyed by the Kala Pahar, is unknown. The temple consists of three major chambers. The western chamber is large and rectangular and is not used by the general pilgrims for worship. The middle chamber is a square, with a small idol of the Goddess, a later addition. The walls of this chamber contain sculpted images of Naranarayana, related inscriptions and other gods. The middle chamber leads to the Sanctum sanctorum of the temple in the form of a cave, which consists of no image but a natural underground spring. The spring emanates from a fissure in a large rock that symbolizes a Yoni. In summertime the water runs red with iron oxide resembling menstrual fluid, an occasion for the Ambubasi festival. Though the temple is aligned facing east like most Hindu temples, the worship of the yoni is performed facing north. The Kamakhya Temple has a beehive like shikhara. Some of the sculptured section seen here are of interest. There are images of Ganesha, Chamundeswari, dancing features etc. The temple is a natural cave with a spring. Down a flight of steps to the bowel of earth, is located a dark, mysterious chamber. Here, draped with a silk sari and covered with flowers, is kept the â€Å"matra yoni†. There is no image of Shakti here. Within a corner of a cave in the temple, there is a sculptured image of the Yoni of the Goddess, which is the object of reverence. A natural spring keeps the stone moist. Other temples on the Neelachala hill include those of Tara, Bhairavi, Bhuvaneswari and Ghantakarna With all its enigmatic splendor and picturesque locale, the Kamakhya Temple is one of the most astounding structures, not only in Assam, but also in the whole of India. Durga Puja is celebrated here annually during Navaratri in the month of September- October. It is a three-day festival attracting several visitors. A unique festival observed here is the Ambuvaci (Ameti) fertility festival wherein it is believed that the Goddess (mother Earth) undergoes her menstrual period.