Reasoning

I have had a hard time with the weekly blog assignments. With the research that I did on blogs and in the paper that I wrote at the beginning of the semester, blogs have not seemed like a good idea to me. I completed the prompts because I have no problem writing in response to a question asked of me. When it comes to free writing, I don't particularly want everyone to read it, especially a class full of people that I have never met. I don't like to state my opinions in mixed company and I don't like to say things that will make people angry. I also didn't want to get in trouble with my job or my friends and family. So I don't feel bad that I did not do the free writing weekly, I did not feel like venting in a public forum that I can not control. Just like now, I am venting about a class that I do not care for and I will more than likely get "talked to" about this post by the proffessor. Just so you understand I could have written one of these a week and I really don't think that would have been appropriate.

Ethics of Journalists

I have heard many times that the news the people want to hear is what is reported. Fox News is said to have a very large Republican base so they tend to report news that will interest their viewers. Democracy Now! as is stated in the name will mostly appeal to democrats. I do not see the advertisers as the ones that push a certain kind of news, I think that if the audience doesn't hear what they like they will go elsewhere and the advertisers will follow the audience. When it comes to the code of ethics I think that journalists do follow it, the ones that don't we would consider "unethical" as a person not just as a journalist. I think the hardest thing that a journalist has to do is to report news that the public needs to hear, but the public doesn't want to hear. I see them trying to dress up these pieces of information so that the public knows what is going on. With the way our society works today I don't blame journalists that bend the code a little to make things a little sensationalized or tend to stick to topics that their audience wants to hear.

MLA Format

A calm before the storm can be seen in a look back over the fall of the Conferderates in 1865. As one soldier "felt that there had not been a finer day than this one since the creation." A woman of Massachusetts said "she never saw a calmer Sunday morning." During the services on that Sunday morning in April "dignitaries were called out ... from [Mr. Davis'] church and from others."(Catton 444) The town slowly began to realize something was wrong, as the news spread that "Lee was going to retreat, ... the Yankees would take over in the morning."(Catton 445)

Works Cited

Catton, Bruce. Never Call Retreat. Garden City New York:

Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1965. 444-445.

Code of Ethics

I don't believe that the Qatar Code of Ethics is a code of ethics. I believe that it is a list of rules and should be treated that way. When you break a rule you get punished, with a code of ethics it is an 'on your honor' system. There is nothing enforceable about a code of ethics and no way, in court to present it as such. The first two statements are mostly for virus protection of the system. The third is the campus protecting itself from getting in trouble by the software companies. The fourth and fifth statements are 'do unto others' comments. There is no way to strictly enforce any of these terms and there is no way to hold them up in court as legitimate rules if you were to try and get somebody expelled or suspended based on them. I think they need to be written differently, stated in more of a rule-consequence manner. I also think that everyone on the system should have to read and sign a copy saying that they will follow the rules and they understand what will happen if they do not.

A dear friend

A friend of mine died this week. He was shot while waiting for police to respond to a call he made about burglars breaking into his apt. It is a tragedy that this happened and that nothing could be done about it. I am thankful for the news stations though, I now see the usefulness of his death being broadcast across the state. People are a little more wary about strangers and I found out about his death, when I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I am saddened and my prayers go out to the family and all of his other friends.

Corruption

I believe that corruption should be rooted out of places when it is found. Promoting the practice of local corruption only makes it solidify in the culture. We do not stand for it in our own culture so why would we tollerate it anywhere else? Disguising it as local culture is no excuse, it is not a cultural pracitice that should be allowed to be carried on. We find genital mutiliation abhorable, and try to get rid of it when it is found, so why not do the same with corruption. They serve the same purpose to keep a society where it is, and not promote progress.

McDonald's

As a student of international programs here at Texas A&M I can understand the offensiveness of the new commercial. Normally when there is an ethnicity to a commercial it is to draw that ethnicity's attention. In this case, the chinese people were offended rather than drawn to the commercial. McDonald's should expect to lose business considering that there are stores in China and from the Chinese people around the world. There will also be people, especially here in the US, that will boycott McDonalds for a time due to the offense of an entire ethnicity. I believe that they could have easily avoided this by doing focus group testing with different ethnicities, thinking that it might be seen as targeting towards them. I believe that the advertising company did not do their homework, the Chinese see their customs of prayer and thanks as very important and full of honor. By making light of those customs in this commercial the honor of the Chinese people has been insulted. I believe that "modern" is just an excuse and if nobody had said anything than there would have been no title or classification to the commerical. I think any company, especially one that centers around inter-cultural societies, has to be very careful of stereotypes. Specific ethnicities should not be picked out for their stereotypes, especially when they are very serious ones.

Listserv

When dealing with a listserv in todays world everything has to be scanned for political correctness. When I do anything with an organization it goes through at least two proofreaders for revisions before going out to the general public on the listserv. When thinking of who could possibly read those listserv mails especially during growing collaborations with areas that may be sensative to the materials contained, I would think twice before sending anything to the whole group. Those specific emails given as samples in the prompt were very inappropriate to be sent over the listserv, they should have been done in a private email to the 2 other supervisors. On simple principle anything that could be considered offensive should not be mentioned and was uncalled for. As supervisors and policy developers they should also be looking at the example they set and the face that they are puting on the company by their actions and words. I think a public listserv response is required but not so chastising that firing would be required. I also think that their positions should be reconsidered thinking that as policy makers they may need to have some retraining as to what is actually appropriate. I would not react differently if the company was not dealing with a cooperative firm in a sensative environment. As people we should be considerate of our fellow employees and their situations.

Mutual Accountability

I normally dread group projects. I am assigned one a semester, generally. I don't like them for the specific reason that I end up running them because I think the project should be the best it can be, not just average to get an average grade. I understand that everybody should put forth the same amount of effort, but I hardly ever see that happen. I know that the simple fact of it is that everybody has different priorities. If my priority is to get the best grade in my english class, seeing as it is my only class, it will most likely be a high priority. I will tend to put my best foot forward here because I am not stretched between too many group projects and other tests or classes to study for.

I know that this time I am trying my best not to take over. I want to let others have a bigger part but I know as it gets closser to the end of the semester I will become more frantic and more perfectionistic.

Forwarding E-mail

When I think of E-mailing and the issues faced with forwarding e-mails I always think about patient and client confidentiality. I grew up surrounded by patient and client confidentiality, because of the medical and science fields that I have been surrounded with. I take confidentiality very seriously and I know that as e-mail has grown as a means of common communication very strict rules have been implemented to deal with confidentiality issues. If I, as a professional, was sent an e-mail with privileged information I would take the time to delete the sensitive data or re-write the information omitting what was inappropriate. Even if the e-mail was sent to my boss; they may not or do not need to know everything that was contained within especially in such an unsecured arena as cyber space. I also know that in most of the fields that I would work in or expect to work in, the IT person is not doing a very good job with managing the internet access if while hitting "reply" you automatically respond to all. If something did get "reply to all" that shouldn't have in the medical field I could expect to be fired. If it had to do with negative comments on another employee I would expect to have severe disciplinary actions taken. The internet is not something to gossip over or share personal information; it has too many uncontrollable variables. I don't think the people who grew up not immersed in the technology really understand what all can happen when something goes wrong with the internet. I do also understand that being fired or disciplinary actions taken is a worst case scenario but I also understand that if the e-mail dealt with how to tell Patient A that you have to turn in a positive AIDS report to the state the state, the hospital, everyone in your department, and you could be sued. So I don't see a point in not considering the worst case scenario, I think better safe than sorry when it comes to my job and my livelihood.