Should All Inmates Have the Right to Be Treated Fairly?

Imagine . . . It is 10:00 PM on a Friday night. You walk into a liquor store to get a night cap when a man in a ski mask barges in with a gun. The man points the gun at the clerk behind the counter demanding that he give him all the money in the cash register. The store clerk tries to fight back and gets shot. The robber jumps behind the counter and empties the cash register, and then he decides to rob everyone in the store as well. While he is gathering wallets and purses from the patrons in the liquor store, the police show up and arrest the man.

After the robber is handcuffed and placed in the police cruiser, the policemen start to take statements from everyone that was in the store at the time. They get to a middle aged man and ask him his name. Upon running his name through the system they find out that this man has a warrant for his arrest for non-payment of child support. Both men are taken to jail. Should they both be treated equally as criminals? Does one or the other, both, or neither, have the right to be treated fairly?

Copyright Laws: Are they important?

            Have you ever printed a copy of a photograph you found online? You could be guilty of a copyright infringement. The fact is that all work is automatically copyrighted whether it bares a copyright symbol (©) or not (Copyrightclear, 2010). There are many people that infringe upon copyright laws every day; some people are aware of it, and others just do not think about it. This essay will discuss some of the advantages and challenges of having such a broad spectrum of images available at our fingertips, some of the legal and ethical implications of using copyrighted images, and ways to avoid these issues. It will be shown that ignoring a copyright is a dangerous and unethical action.

            The main advantage of having all of the images available is to learn. Many people learn by seeing and looking up an image of something may be much easier and clearer to understand than reading a description. It is also a great way to see photographs of places in the world you may want to see but are unable to visit; or even to research different places to go for vacation. The author uses Google Images to show her children new things; for example her daughter asked last week “What is a cornucopia”, Krystal was able to look up an image and use it to help describe what it is and how it is used.

What is Visual Literacy?

            What is visual literacy? Well, it could depend on who you ask as it can be described in many ways. Yet, the common idea of visual literacy is comprehension of vision or images. This essay will look into the commonalities and differences of two definitions of visual literacy; that of Brian Kennedy of Dartmouth College, and of William Ryan of the University of Oregon. The essay will also go on to explain how visual literacy is universal and how it can impact communication and global understanding. Through this discussion it will be discovered that, no matter the specific definition, visual literacy is important to our daily lives.

            William Ryan wrote the CGD218 course text, Visual Literacy: Learning to See (2012), in it he describes the definition of visual literacy as “the competent creation and consumption of visual messages” (p.5, para.4). In Brian Kennedy’s video clip on YouTube, he goes on to describe visual literacy as the “ability to construct meaning from images . . . [it is a] form of critical thinking that enhances your intellectual capacity” (Dartmouth, 2010). Basically, these two definitions can be broken down to mean the same thing, using cognitive thought to understand visual elements. Although their requirements of how use visual literacy do differ slightly.

           

Discipline and Conflict Management in the Workplace

           Have you ever worked for a company where all of the employees had positive attitudes, were always working productively, and never complained or made excuses? Yeah, I didn’t think so. One of the biggest challenges for managers is to effectively manage their employees and to keep them focused, motivated and productive. A problematic employee could have a negative effect on the department or even the company as a whole. It is important to know how to properly handle difficult situations that may arise. Let’s look at an example.

Case Study:

“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

Communicating with People from Different Cultures

I enjoyed reading the article Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication, it has some great basic information about communicating with people from other cultures. There are many situations where you may need to utilize this information. Cultural diversity is something that companies these days are striving for; it is not uncommon to have employees from several different cultures working together. You could also benefit from this information if your career requires you to travel for work, if your company works directly with other companies, or even in our everyday lives – at a gas station or the grocery store.

I used to work as a server/bartender in a small, family owned, restaurant. The family that owned the restaurant was from Mexico. I have had plenty of Hispanic friends, but they were all born in the U.S., I had never known anyone that had moved here from Mexico. Some of the cultural differences were surprising.

One of the Ten Commandments mentioned was etiquette rules, or manners (Hahn, 2005). I used to open the restaurant at 8 a.m. I am not a morning person and generally avoid as much conversation as I can. When the cooks would come in to work, I would continue to do my job, getting as much prepped and ready for the rush as I could. After a while, I found out that I was unintentionally being offensive and rude. In the town the family moved from, it is customary to greet everyone with “good morning” or “Buenos Dias”, even strangers and people they disliked. Not greeting someone is considered offensive. After they told me this, I did my best to greet them every morning when they came in.

Analysis of Four Common Media Outlets

There are so many different types of media that can be used to relay information to others. Why don’t we take a look at some of the similarities and differences between four common media sources: social media blogging, magazine articles, radio spots, and television.

Social Media Blog

A blog is a type of online journal, short for web log. Blogs can be created by any person for any reason; they are informal writings that are meant to be informative or entertaining (Marsh, Guth, & Short, 2009). Many blogs are written by individuals who want to share their knowledge or opinions with the world, but blogs can be beneficial to companies as well. Many companies have people that write blog posts about the company and what is happening within. Although there are so many different ways for a company to share news with its audience, blogs are more of a non-traditional source that can reach a wider audience.

Does Humor Increase the Effectiveness of Persuasion?

As we discuss humor and persuasion, and the retention of information learned through humorous messages, I am drifted back to my freshman year in high school. I recall sitting in my German Foreign Language class and the teacher used humor in his instruction for the day. He picked up his waste basket, took the bag out, and passed it around the class – each student took turns yelling into the waste basket “EIN PAPIERKORB” – which is the German word for waste basket or recycle bin. The whole class laughed as each student took a turn with the waste basket – I have never forgotten this useless word (how often would I really need to say “waste basket” in German?).


The point of the opening story is that in some situations, humor can have a lasting effect on the recipient. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the effectiveness and risks of using humor in persuasion. Humor will also be related to other persuasion theories with a discussion of how it may
support or limit the effectiveness of persuasion.

Through all the research done for this essay, it has not been proven or disproven that humor helps or hinders persuasion attempts; each incident is different. With that being said “although the literature has not supported the conclusion that humor (in general) supports persuasion (in general), there is reason to think that humor may bolster the weak link between attitude change and behavior” (Lyttle, 2001, p. 66).