Blog Post #4

Ethics (ˈeTHiks/) are the moral principles that govern a person or group's behavior. Ethics has also been referred to as philosophical ethics, ethical theory, moral theory, and moral philosophy. It is a branch of philosophical thinking that deals with defending and recommending concepts of wright and wrong.

In Death of a Salesman, the characters, namely the Lomen family, display repetitive non-ethical behavior. The main protagonist, Willy Lomen, has a rapidly deteriorating mind complex that causes him to flash back to different points in his life, as well as become erratic and unstable. His loss of reality also causes him to reveal some of the darker sides of his personality, such as fooling around with women despite being a married man, openly expressing his disappointment in his sons (namely Biff, his eldest), etc.

His family is no better. Willy's wife Linda is well aware of the problems going on in her household, yet she does nothing to fix it. Sure, she tries to get her sons to fix the problems, but that didn't really do much because Biff has a strained relationship with his dad, and Happy is a selfish moral degenerate who constantly fools around with women, and doesn't really seem to care about his family. Linda seems to look down upon Happy due to his playboy lifestyle and freeloading personality.

Etiquette (\ˈe-ti-kət, -ˌket\ ) is the conduct or procedure required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life. Or, if you want it to sound simpler, its the basic code of polite behavior in society or among others. If that's still not simple enough for you, its manners.

13 Examples of Etiquette Around the World:
_

1. In Taiwan, belching is considered a compliment to the chef, signifying that you have eaten well and enjoyed your meal.
2. In the Middle East, it is considered an insult to point you feet toward another person or to display them I any way. For example, resting your feet up on the table.
3. In most Asian countries, a business card is seen as an extension of the person it represents. Therefore, if you disrespect the card by folding it, writing on it, or just shoving it into your pocket without looking at it, the person who gave it to you could be very offended by your mannerisms.
4. In the Philippines, shaking someone's hand can be seen as a sign of aggression.
5. Orthodox Jews will not shake hands with someone of the opposite sex, while strict Muslim women will not shake hands with a man. To confuse matters, a Muslim man will shake hands with a non-Muslim woman. People in these cultures basically avoid touching people of the opposite sex who are not family members.
6. In China, be sure not to clear your plate out of politeness. The Chinese would find it disrespectful if they had to keep refilling it. If you leave food on your plate after each course, your host will acknowledge this as a compliment to their generosity. (Not sure I get that one)
7. No tips in Japan. People consider than an insult, seeing it as similar to begging for money.
8. Giving an "okay" sign (thumb and forefinger touching to make a circle) has varying responses in different parts of the world. Most countries see it as an inappropriately sexual gesture. So, I wouldn't use that sign to much. Especially in Japan...
9. In the United Kingdom, the two-fingered peace sign is given with the palm facing inward. Otherwise, it is considered extremely rude, having a meaning similar to raising the middle finger to someone in the United States.
   
10. In Greece, any hand signal that involves showing your open palm is extremely offensive. Such gestures include waving your hand, making a stop sign, among others.

Blog Post #2

 



The first step to starting a good research paper would to find a topic to focus on. Once you have chosen this topic, it would be wise to seek out potential sources to support you in your findings, narrowing it down to a more simplistic format. When your paper is like this, you will be able to make it more understandable and clearer for the reader to comprehend. After you've narrowed your topic down, you will want to start searching for information using internet databases, like the ones posted on the school library website. You can use these databases to search for specific articles that will give you information connected to your topic.

 

You may or may not need to annotate certain parts of the article, but if you want my opinion, it would probably be a good idea. An un-annotated article may include some format and vocabulary that may be alien to the readers. Lastly, it would be wise to collect as much article information as you can. That way, your skill as a writer will improve.

DWC Part 1

Anthony Fast

21 January, 2014

Contemporary Communications – Hour 4

Pittman

DWC Part 1: Rhetoric and Persuasion

            Our primary topic this semester so far has been the use of rhetoric and persuasion. Rhetoric is the art of using language persuasively. There are six different types of persuasion: ethos, pathos, logos, statistics, deliberation, and refutation; the former three are the ones we have gone over extensively in class. Describing the pivotal forms, ethos is used to demonstrate good character. The persuasion revolves around the speaker’s power and authority. Pathos is when the speaker uses their listener’s emotion to further clarify their case. As for the third, logos is the proof of the speech or point being made. It is but persuasion of words, not hard evidence. The novel we are currently reading, The Devil in the White City, uses rhetoric and persuasion rather frequently throughout the text. Author Erik Larson uses various rhetorical strategies for the characters to use in the book, the most significant being the aforementioned three. My thoughts on persuasion have varied over the course of this novel, or rather, what we have read from it. The Devil in the White City does not actually mention rhetoric or persuasion even when it’s being used. However, that is not bad, as it is a great way to give allusions to the concept.