Deferred Compensation

Deferred Compensation Deferred compensation plans are arrangements by which a part of an employee’s compensation is paid at a later date, or put into investment instruments that the employee can only access at some point in the future Benefits and Hazards of Deferred Compensation There is a large variety of deferred compensation plans, arrangements by which a part of an employee’s compensation is paid at a later date, or put into investment instruments that the employee can only access at some point in the future. There are two basic reasons for deferred compensation. From the employee’s point of view, it reduces  or at least postpones his income tax liability. For employers, deferred compensation helps to manage payroll costs and can be used as an incentive for better employee performance. Types of Deferred Compensation The most common type of deferred compensation plan is the â€Å"defined contribution plan†: A  portion of the employee’s pay is deducted and invested on his behalf, usually in some form of mutual fund.   These are familiar to workers in the US as the â€Å"401(k)†, named after the section of Internal Revenue Code that pertains to them. The deferment from the employee’s salary is made before income taxes are withheld, which is a benefit to both employees and the employer. Employees do not pay taxes on their investments until they withdraw them sometime in the future, and employers are able to reduce the amount of withheld taxes they must remit to the government. Many employers also match all or part of the employee’s contribution, providing an extra incentive for employees to participate in the program; this helps to reduce the company’s transactions costs for maintaining the investment package. In the US, 401(k) programs have the added security of being protected by law from creditors in case of the company’s bankruptcy, although the value of the employees’ investments can fluctuate; in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, millions of US workers saw the value of their 401(k) savings drop as stock markets plummeted. Other kinds of deferred compensation packages not covered by the same regulations as 401(k) programs are more risky, although they generally offer higher returns. Non-401(k) programs are generally only offered to the highest-earning employees who also pay the highest rates of income tax. The main reason for these kinds of programs is that there are legal limits on the amount of money that can be deferred into a 401(k). The main risk is that there is much less regulation of non-401(k) programs, and they are not protected from bankruptcy. Many workers in the US discovered they had lost their investments in the wake of the financial crisis when their employers declared bankruptcy. Read also:  Financial Rewards  |  Money Makes the World Go Around Stock purchase plans and stock option plans are also common forms of deferred compensation: In a stock purchase plan, the company establishes a trust to receive employee contributions, which are converted to shares of the company’s stock.   Stock purchase plans are regulated in much the same manner as 401(k) programs, the only real difference being that instead of contributions being invested in an array of mutual funds, they are only reinvested in the company. The plan is popular with employers and employees alike; for employers, the stock purchase program is reflected in better cash flow and tax savings and is seen as a useful tool to increase employee productivity. Employees benefit by gaining an ownership stake in the company, and some small degree of control over the growth in value of their investments. Stock option plans differ in that the employee is not actually compensated in the form of stock, but â€Å"earns† options to purchase the company’s stock at a low fixed price in the future.   A stock option plan has most of the same benefits as a stock purchase plan  but allows the company to keep control over its shares for a longer period. Employees in rapidly-growing companies benefit the most from stock option plans; a well-known recent example is Facebook, which launched a highly-publicized – and unintentionally controversial – IPO in 2012. Facebook employees who had exercised their options prior to the IPO were able to profit handsomely from the high price Facebook shares fetched in the market, but their returns were reduced somewhat by a condition that they hold their shares for a time before selling them; Facebook’s share price dropped rapidly after the IPO, so employees who waited too long to sell shares saw very little profit, or even lost money in some cases. Another less well-known version of a stock-based deferred compensation plan is called the â€Å"phantom† stock plan: It provides employees benefits similar to those they would receive from owning company stock, without actually giving stock to the employees.   For example, employees might be compensated in â€Å"stock credits† equivalent to shares of stock, from which they can receive bonus payments based on the stock’s performance or dividends paid. Because phantom stock plans are hard to regulate and do not provide many benefits to employers as conventional purchase or option plans. What Should  Employees Look for in Deferred Compensation Plans? Because deferred compensation programs are based on investments that can lose as well as gain value, employees considering a compensation offer should make sure they understand the details of the deferred compensation package. 401(k) programs are the most highly-regulated and most secure  but vary in the specific funds or investment instruments they contain. In the 2008 financial crisis, many 401(k) holders watched their investments vanish  because a large number of 401(k) funds were heavily invested in popular but ultimately worthless mortgage-backed securities. For stock-based deferred compensation plans, the biggest issue is what part of the employee’s compensation the plan is supposed to represent since it is very difficult to quantify the future value of stock. Employees should ask for details about whether a certain level of returns or other incentives is guaranteed, and what limits are imposed on stock purchases or sales. Compensation is compensation, whether deferred or not, and it is up to an  employee  to decide whether or not what he can expect to earn, in whatever form he will receive it, is a fair exchange for his work.

Human Resource Outsourcing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Outsourcing - Case Study Example However, outsourcing itself has got associated advantages and disadvantages in many of these firms. This paper will look at the human resource outsourcing in the UK's largest and most successful airline, the British Airways. The airline started in 1919 with Houston's airport as its home. On 25th August 1919 the first flight from Le Bourget to Houslow was launched. Afterwards these were the establishment of the Handley page and unstone airlines with older modified bomber applied in them. To counter stiff competition from the French airlines who offered low fares the airlines merged and created an airline that could fly distant place for example Egypt and India, the airline was called Imperial Airways.2 It was after a committee chaired by President Ronald Edwards in 1967 British airways was born in 1976 British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) merged, a thing that left British Airways with big fleets for instance Lockheed Tristar, Boeing 747 among others. These developments saw the British Airways, becoming one of the leading world's cargo airlines. After the September 11th 2001 bomb attack there was an airline crisis and British airways was not an exceptional since it faced severe economic problems which it took some time for it to recover. However, it has now recuperated with increased returns a characteristic of future economic boom. In 24th October 2003 what was the then trademark of the company for the twenty five years, the Concorde made its last flight. To strengthen its global market position the airline is forging alliances with the world's major airlines and has been outsourcing its human resource functions.3 The company's main objectives include; the achievement of greater management effectiveness, application of business - oriented organizational approaches, meeting the organizational goals applications of the critical success factors (CSFs) approach in the management system and overcoming the technological barriers in the company. The company's challenges ahs been its failure to accurately focus on the organizational goals with a feeling that the critical success factors approach might not be appropriate for managers investigations at all levels within the company. Lower level manages has been experiencing problems in the application of the CSF concept.4 British airways human resource outsourced functions include the risk management, temporary staffing, recruitments, employee benefits administrations, pension administration, retirement planning assistance, development programs relating to training and management executive staffing, counselling of the staff members, administration of wage and salary, background checks, incentive plans payroll and training implementation. The main reasons as to why British airways opt to outsource its non -core business operations are as follows: To improve its accuracy. So as it can put more focus on its core business oper

The Complicated roots of modernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Complicated roots of modernity - Essay Example It is also critical to note that with rapid modernization, cultures became fluid and mass migration to urban areas created an atmosphere where people were ready to leave their old cultural values and practices to adapt to the new ways of living. Thus, modernism started to emerge out of the economic and social necessities of the individuals. The fastest growth of the urban areas as well as the rapid industrial progress gave economic power to the nations too. Thus, nationalism emerged as a result of the better economic power and a strong sense of association with the new cultural identity developed as a result of the economic progress. Nationalism, therefore, is another form of a concept which relates people with the origin. Similarly, liberalism as well as socialism also depicts a particular form of philosophical forms which are based upon modern thinking and a perception of the progressive development of the human societies. This paper will discuss and argue that nationalism, liberal ism, and socialism have roots in modern thinking, their connection to the French Revolution and how they expose the dark side of morality. Liberalism, Nationalism, and Socialism The French Revolution proved as a starting point for much of the later development of the modern thinking. ... idered as a step towards nationalism because it clearly made an attempt to reduce the influence of Church on the modern society and gave rise to a new concept of the collective identity to be developed under the banner of nationalism. What is also critical to note that the French Revolution was also a result of the failure of the monarchs to develop a modern and liberal society with the freedom of thought and expression. Liberalism as a philosophy actually opposes any form of oppression, be it from the state or some other entities. It advocates human freedom and suggests that humans and human societies should be free from any oppression or external force which can restrict the freedom. Liberal thought, though is relatively older than the French Revolution, however, culminated into a practical reality with the French Revolution. It is also critical to note that the French revolution brought to an end a restrictive economic system which was run under the control of the government which decided different aspects of economic life of masses. The emergence of nationalism, however, provided a uniform platform for the masses to develop their collective identity based upon different aspects of life. One of the key variables on the basis of which nationalism started to take its roots was the economic power. Nations, however, did not rely upon the economic power as the military power was considered as necessary too. Nations which became successful in amassing economic capital as well as the modern military forces, however, started to develop colonies and, hence, became an oppressive force. The wars between England and France, the occupation of various colonies across the whole globe exposed the darker side of the morality of the nationalism and nationalist thoughts. As Cortes

Effective Leadership in an Organisation. Image Management, Resource Essay

Effective Leadership in an Organisation. Image Management, Resource Deployment And Relationship Development - Essay Example To effectively analyse leadership, it would be critical to decipher its meaning. There has been no standard definition of leadership with Northouse observing that â€Å"there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it† (2004, p.2). The author perceives leadership from a social influence perspective referring to it as a process through which one influences a group of persons, referred to as followers, so as to attain common goals. Keller (2008) defines it as a critical dynamic force which motivates and coordinates an organisation towards accomplishing its objectives. The scholar views it as less of a science but as more of an art which influences by persuasion or example to induce a desired action. Whereas in an organisational setting the term subordinates would be used in place of followers, the term followers indicates that a leader could hold any position or role with bureaucracy not necessarily being implied (Zacca ro & Klimoski 2007). Organisational leadership in particular refers to the management’s ability to acquire and protect the organisation’s benefits by being sensitive to the needs of employees and the targets of the company, bringing them together in a better environment so as to realise common goals (Abbas & Asghar 2010; Sosik, Kahai & Piovoso 2009). Nonetheless, leadership should not be used interchangeably with management. Adopting Kotter’s approach, Packard (2009) and Shapiro and Leigh (2007) noted that management would produce order, consistency and predictability with regard to key results including budgeting, planning, staffing, organizing, problem solving and controlling. On the other hand, leadership would yield change and would encompass establishment of direction through development of a vision, aligning people to the vision and strategies and inspiring and motivating the staff. Leadership encompasses visioning, management of change, development of str ategy, organisation design, management of culture and community collaboration as contrasted to management which includes financial management, program design, human resource management, information systems, project management and program evaluation (Boal & Schulz 2007; Empson 2007; Gill 2006; LePine, Piccolo, Jackson, Mathieu & Saul 2008). For management functions to be executed effectively, leadership would be a key ingredient. Effective leadership According to Keller (2008) and Pearce, Locke and Conger (2007), effective leadership would entail the development of clear objectives, strategies and beliefs and identification of crucial processes and encouraging participation of employees. But various scholars (Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber 2009; DiLiello & Houghton 2006; Yukl 2006) have argued against a particular leadership style considered as effective. Even so, various building blocks to the realisation of effective leadership have been widely accepted. Image management Avolio, Walumbwa and Weber (2009) and Chong and Wolf (2010) appreciate image management for establishment of credibility, borrowing from leadership as a social influence process described by Packard (2009). For leadership to cause any influence, the followers should accept the leader’s persuasion and appropriately respond to it. Followers would be the ones to make the decision as to whether one deserves the leadership status through comparison of the image or characteristics presented by the leader against their assumption of what constitutes a leader. This postulation has been supported by Gregersen

An Overview On World Food Programme English Language Essay

An Overview On World Food Programme English Language Essay One of the most important issues in the world is food crisis which a large number of people are suffering from it. While there are about 1.6 billion of people overweight and 500 million are obese, there are billion people in the world who suffering from hunger (More Food May Not Mean Less Hunger ,2009).there are several reasons for food crisis these days such as ; increase in the population , climate change ,increase prices and natural disaster ( drought , flood and climate change ) .there are responses which have taken to solve these problems many responses which taken such as ; financial aid ,GM food and food aid this essay will discuss how successful is food aid .first, it will present general information about food aid .then , it will show some statistics about food aid . finally, it will discuss the food aid in Bangladesh and Ethiopia . Food aid is a generic term which encompasses a range of instruments and interventions (Christopher. Barrett Daniel Maxwell, 2005)6.As what World Food Programme said ; the aim from Food aid is to give poorest people food which helps them to live (2009) 2 and to fix food problems such as food insecurity and malnutrition around the world during the crisis period and 5 . Shah stats thatThere are three kind of receiving food aid, First is by which is project food aid which gives food aid as result of specific project3 .Second type is relief food aid which is occur in war or other emergency situations 3.the last type is comes from government to government3 (2007).food aid has three ways to be given to people multilateral aid4orand Non Government Organization aid4 , it can be called bilateral aid4(OPPapers ,2008) According to what is written in Global Policy Forum Food aid Global policy said food aid comes countries and charities such as WFP which means World Food Programme 1which work to help 88 million people 1.in addition, World Food Programme receive the donations as money -if that possible or as food1. More than half of global food aid is given by united stats and the other half comes from Canada and Japan1. In 1960s the donations of food aids was five million tonnes and this number increased to 7.4 million tonnes in 2004 1. Most of the countries choose the country which wants it to receive the food aid rather than to be chosen by the World Food Programme1 (2005). There are many developing countries receive food aid ,one of these countries are Bangladesh and Ethiopia .Bangladesh improved the producing food since it started to depend on its self in 19717 (Akhter Shahidur,2006).the rice and wheat which are the main Bangladesh product, their prices increased by 84 percent at that time. 7 (Akhter Shahidur,2006). Coutts argue that Unfortunately, it cannot continue its achievements because of many reasons such as drought while the Bangladesh food product depends on water to grow up and in the other periods there was floodwaters which make Bangladesh lose most of its products8(Coutts, 2004). Moreover, there is increase in food prices and some kinds of food increased by more than 20% in the rice price and the vegetables selling prices increase, too (Coutts, 2004). 8and that number keep growing up until it became 50 % in 200811.As a result of that the number of employee is decrease and many people are suffering from malnutrition8(Coutts, 2004).the hung er project states that it has high number of people living there and the number of population is increased and it consider as the second high population in the world with 150 million people live there 13. In addition ,for about every fifty years the number of rats in Bangladesh increased sharply and that effect the agriculture area which leads it to decease because the crops are damaged by rats which ate 90% of harvest that leads about 130,000 people to suffering from food shortage .all of reasons above cause lack of food in Bangladesh and food insecurity 10and number of people who live under the poor line is about half of its population 13.(n.d) Dhulme Points out that For the above problem it spouse to have some solutions to solve them and that what is happened in Bangladesh12. In the begging the Bangladesh government do not do anything to stop these problems from expanding 12 .until the problems became serious and it need to be solve very fast because it effect people lives there .for that the Bangladesh government take a decision to import food but that was too late because the food pieces increased 12(2008). To solve rate crisis there people invoked to eat rats and this solution is failed to reduce the problem with them10 .Food aid comes to Bangladesh from to programmes for food aid which are UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) 10.the Wold Food Programme gives the basic food to the 25,680 poorest families there while UNICEF take care about children nutrition and gives them the healthy food which protect them from diseases10 .Also , UNICEF Provide food sprinkles to 11,794 children and , 6,003 girls , ,201 pregnant women and 1,028 lactating mothers10.( Seymour,2008) Philippines point that these solutions seems to be successful to solve most of problems in Bangladesh ,as what the statistics said the people becomes heather and the average age for male and female increased in the last thirty years ,in 1997 the women average age was about 58.1 years and for men it was 58.2 years and these number increased in 2001 to 60.9 years for women and 60.1 for men. in generally, the poverty declined in Bangladesh14 .Also, the people who live below the poverty line decrease from 55% in1985 to 44% in 1999.the number of employment in the ready mad garment sector has increased from 582,000 employee between 1991 and 1992 to 1,500,000 employee between 1997 and 199814(2004).according to world food programme , Chakma said The rice and biscuits are very helpful during this lean time(2009). The other country which receive food aid is Ethiopia .Ethiopia is located in Africa it is considered as a poor country .according to Greste in BBC News Ethiopia in the last thirty years is getting the most of aid more than any other country in Africa (2006)15.Although it has fertile land which is able to produce food , there is a famine and the number of hungry people is going up .the food crisis in Ethiopia has happened as a result of high population who need to eat food since 1985 the number of population is doubled to about 80 million 16 (Hampson, 2008).also, there are rain problems there for example there was no rain in 2003 and the dought period length was 18 month16(Hampson, 2008).in some places there is not enough rain for that reason the prices of food are increasing .in adition, the food prices increase until the inflation is more than 75%16(Hampson, 2008) World food programme pointed that the price for cereal in Ethiopia increase by more than 100 %17(n.d).the reasons above leads to food shortage which make many people malnourished. Moreover, animals are affected and dying .in that situation people used to eat false bananas To put an end to that problems Save The Children UK are try to save the children by doing some solutions it gives help to must of poor people .The World Food Programme is helping 11 million poor people in Ethiopia and it the emergency food ration is reduced by one third(World Food Programme ,(n.d) 17. Getachew point out that UNICEF with helping from the European Commissions Office for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) gives food to Ethiopian. ECHO gave 3.3 million euros by this number of money 70,000 got food in 2008 18(2009). Moreover, accourding to Thomas and LaVerle it take help form other charities such as International Development (AID), The World Health Organization (WHO) U.S. .For above responses which taken to help Ethiopia there are many things change there ; even though ,the medical facilities increased slowly19. 80 % of people there who have not access to technique and the number of people who have AIDS increased from 2 in 1986 to 355 in 199019(1991). 11% of people die by tuberculosis and 60 % of death caused by preventable ( Health and welfare , n.d) In general , the food aid is help the two has different result .in Bangladesh the average age for both men and women slightly increased ,the number of poor people decreased and the number of employee increased . in Ethiopia , medical facilities slowly increased m the farms a bit increase on other hand the number of people who do not have clean and safety water in considerably high .To sum up in both two countries food aid is not successful and it does not solve all the problems but in Bangladesh it solve some of problems even more than it in Ethiopia . In conclusion, this essay has focused on how it food aid is successful as a response for food crisis and point out that there are a large number of people who depend on food aid as a main factor .Also , it seems food aid is not solve all the problems in the countries and it do not get the same result in all countries , some of them it was successful and other not which depend on the countries its self and how it react with the food aid .Finally , financial aid is considerably better than food aid because it gives more choices to people to do with it ,they can buy anything by the money but they can only eat the food . References:- How Does Food Aid Works (September 16, 2005) http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217/46186.html World Food Programme http://www.wfp.org/content/nutrition-and-food-aid-lessons-ethiopia Shah(December 03, 2007) Food aid http://www.globalissues.org/article/748/food-aid#Typesoffoodaid Food Aid Benefits Rich Countries As Much As It Does For Poor Countries http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Food-Aid-Benefits-Rich-Countries-Much/169357 Food aid in crises should also aim for longer-term self-reliance ,UN News Centre http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=14769Cr=foodCr1=aid Christopher. B. Barrett, Daniel G. Maxwell, Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role (London: Routledge, 2005), Chapter 1, page 4 Akhter Shahidur Manohar Sajjad (2003) : A Study On Food Aid Leakage In Bangladesh http://www.un.org.bd/pub/unpubs/WFPFood%20Aid%20Leakage,03.pdf Coutts,(2004) : After the floods : Bangladesh faces a food crisis http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/opinion/27iht-edcoutts_ed3_.html McHernry Bird (n.d) : Food Bunle In Bangladesh http://www.foreignpolicy.com/Ning/archive/archive/027/2.PDF Seymour,(2008 ) Rat flood triggers food crisis in Bangladesh http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/rat-flood-triggers-food-crisis-in-bangladesh Advisory: Food and Economic Crisis in Bangladesh (May 14 ,2008): Compassion http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/countrynews/bd/News/advisory-economic-crisis-in-bangladesh.htm Hulme ,(2008) Food Insecurity in Bangladesh: the OtherCrisis : End the World poverty http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/food-insecurity-in-bangladesh-the-other-crisis/ Bangladesh (n.d)http://www.thp.org/where_we_work/south_asia/bangladesh/overview?gclid=CPbZkv-wvZ4CFaBb4wod2ElLmw Manila (2004) BANGLADES Gender, Poverty, and the Millennium Development Goals : the Asian Development Bank available at http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Country-Gender-Assessments/cga-women-bangladesh.pdf Greste (2 February 2006) Ethiopias food aid addiction : BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4671690.stm Hampson, (2008) Ethiopias new famine: A ticking time bomb http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-17-ethiopia_N.htm World Food Programme (n.d) http://www.wfp.org/countries/ethiopia 18- Getachew(23 October 2009) Therapeutic food helps save childrens lives in southern Ethiopia http://www.unicef.org.uk/press/news_detail_full_story.asp?news_id=1402 19-Thomas P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, editors. Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991. http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/75.htm More Food May Not Mean Less Hunger (2009) available at http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/More-Food-May-Not-Mean-Less-Hunger,6825 Kelly, A. ,(2008), The rains have come, the lan is but Ethiopians still go hungry ,The Guadian,1st August 2008

Violence in the School Systems Essay -- Violence Education Crime Essay

Violence within this country has been an ongoing problem throughout history. Due to all the media coverage of more recent violent events in school history, such as Columbine, it is of popular belief that violence in school systems is the worst it has ever been. There are many questions about what type of violence occurs most often, what gender and what ethnicity violence is most affecting in schools. Violence can be defined by any deliberate act, serving no legitimate purpose, which causes injury or which could reasonably be expected to cause injury to another person. To be considered reportable, the conduct should be either intentional or reckless in nature. (Basic Education Circular on Safe Schools, 1996) School violence can also be defined as any school related activity that produces a victim. The first table was a chart that was drawn up in conclusion to a survey that was conducted in 1999. It was asking children in grades 9-12 different question about feeling threatened and carrying or seeing weapons in school. The chart was broken down into different grades, along with various ethnicities, and gender. (www.nces.ed.gov/crime2001/tables) Out of all the questions asked in the survey, the highest positive response to a question of illegal drugs on school property. An average of 30.2% of the children responded that they had been offered, sold or given illegal drugs at school. Leading the category was Hispanic males with 36.9% of them having engaged in some form of drug distribution or some one offering them drugs. The next question with a high response was if these children have ever engaged in a physical fight on school property. A total of 14.2% answered yes to the question. In the same category Hispanic ... ... help the students set goals and come to appreciate the relationship between responsible good behavior and achieving goals. In this program they will earn privileges for good attendance, work accomplishments and goal achievements. This program will be evaluated to determine if similar programs are to be set up in the future throughout the state. (www.msde.state.md.us/juvenilejustice alt.html) Although violence in the United States is a problem that needs a lot of attention, the amount of episodes is and hopefully will remain declining over the years. Teachers, parents and peers all have an impact on each and every child that goes through school systems. As long as they keep teaching violence prevention programs, the numbers will keep dropping. Although this problem will never fully go away, the percentage of violence in schools will be constantly dropping.

Analyses on TED Talks

Yet in terms of effectiveness and persuasiveness, Bale's is better than Whodunit in addressing the problem behind the Issue. Bales performs superior than Wooden as he Introduces the problem clearly and directly, which is more effective for audience to understand the topic. In the introduction part, both of them share their personal experiences to form a hook to draw audience's attention. Bales uses his personal experience for introduction. In his first sentence he says, â€Å"The Interest in contemporary forms of slavery started with leaflet that I picked up In London. Instead of directly stating the thesis of his speech, Bales draws the audience's attention by telling when his â€Å"interest in contemporary forms of slavery started. † Meanwhile, Wooden starts off with â€Å"The global challenge that I want to talk to you about today rarely makes the front pages. † She continues by showing her family group photo in front of Attainment and connects it with an example th at happened in China. As an audience, I immediately know â€Å"slavery' will be the main topic throughout the speech of Bales and the question he raised – the possibility of having millions of slaves.His move induces my personal feeling towards the Issue. When I am well informed of what I am going to analyze, I will be more attentive to listen to the speaker, so do other audience. On the other hand, Whodunit's introduction of saying the photo was taken two weeks ago in fact is amusing, but its correlation with her topic is not as strong as Bale's did. When Wooden Is showing her photograph, It takes time for the audience to find out the main topic of this performance, which is vague when audiences are watching live elk.Furthermore, when we are comparing the two headings, â€Å"How to combat modern slavery† and â€Å"Our Century's greatest injustice†, it simply shows the difference in terms of clearness and directness on the two topics. Therefore, I am persuaded by Bale's style as he has a better Introduction. Besides the Introduction, regarding whose skills on explaining claims and showing examples are more enhanced and convincing, Bale's do as he has structuralizes and clear organizations. The body paragraphs are the utmost important parts for an article, a speech, or a critique.It is cause through the development of body paragraphs, we can decide whether an argument is persuasive or not. Although the content of the two issues are different from one another, we may compare the speeches by their claims, examples and evidences. Truly, both of the orators enrich their ideas with impressive examples, but am more Inclined to those presented by Bales. Bales claims that â€Å"slavery is an economic crime and people are doing it to gain profits. Bales tries to prove that by saying, â€Å"slavery would be recognized throughout all of human history. Hence, Bales 1 OFF re enslaved in 2010 and the average price for one of them nowadays is Just abou t $90 dollars in average around the world. Steps by steps, he explains the situation of slavery and provides suggestion for solving the problem. Thus, audiences are convinced by his speech and acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. For Whodunit's speech, she is trying to raise people's awareness about the unfair situation on female, hence showing that the status of women should be upraised as it will benefit the whole global society by presenting how four girls â€Å"moved out of a vicious cycle and into a virtuous cycle.In order words, there are four examples are explaining women are capable of acting the important roles in the society. Wooden does a great Job in explaining her thesis with the support of the examples, however I am not sure if she is objective enough. She does not mention the cases for male and the reasons behind why male are most likely showing upper status than female. In fact, taking about hegemonic masculinity may explain the condition in which men are dom inant and privileged (Connell). If she can include such information, audience may have more opportunities to Judge the problem.After comparing, I prefer how Bale does his speech, which is more detailed and persuasive. After raising people's awareness, both Bale and Wooden succeed in asking audience to call to action. All the hard works of the two speakers are to raise people's awareness towards the social issues. It is flog on dead horse if there's no further follow up – call to action. Bales narrates the story of a woman in Nepal which shows that we, people who got intellectual power, are the only hope to mitigate with slavery. Thus, he leaves audience the question, â€Å"Are we truly free?Meanwhile, Wooden reflects it is more blessed for us if we can help others as well by quoting researches, which shows there are few things can elevate our level of happiness and one of them is to contribute a cause larger than ourselves. She demonstrates that it is a great opportunity for audience not to hesitate but to Join the movement. She also leaves a question for the audience to nibble at: â€Å"How do we discharge that responsibility? † Both of the two orators starts their speech by taking the personal experience as the hook, then adding examples and claims to strengthen their ideas.At last, asking audience to show sympathy for the needy people. I believe from this act, audiences can be more motivated as knowing how the people are treated unfairly. In these two 220 minutes' talk shows, the audience is deeply engaged with these two global issues. Bales and Whodunit's sophisticated presentation skills raise our interest to further investigate the problems and the solutions. Dignity and rights of all members of human are the groundwork of freedom, Justice and peace in the world (Structure of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2).We are the lucky ones in his planet neither because of the ability to buy the latest tablet, nor enjoying a decent meal. We are lucky as we have the chance to study, have the chance to live in a safety place, and have the chance to not to be dead due to slavery or born in places with discrimination. Bale ends his speech, â€Å"Are we truly free if we are not thinking about these issues and help the needed ones? † We should constantly remind ourselves that we, as a responsible individual of this global community, should always take the initiatives to bail those who are underprivileged out from their predicaments.

Discussion of Literature Set in Dystopian Societies Essay

This paper takes a look at three renowned dystopian authors; George Orwell, Anthony Burgess and Aldous Huxley and compares the dystopian societies that are described in their respective novels 1984, A Clockwork Orange and Brave New World. The ways in which the rights and freedoms of the citizens in each of their novels are suppressed and controlled is described with particular reference to the use of propaganda, language, sexual relationships and violence. The paper will progress to consider the ways in which the protagonists attempt to rebel from their situation and overcome cruel and unfair laws in order to escape the society. In discussing the ability of characters to overcome the unjust constraints of their society, it is worthwhile considering in some detail what a dystopian society is and how it is manifested. The concept of dystopia is inextricably related to the idea of Utopia, a theory that was developed originally by Plato in Republic and further explored by St Thomas More in Utopia. Whereas Utopia is envisaged as a perfect society where subjects live peacefully side-by-side, dystopia is the antithesis of this; â€Å"dystopia was invented to denote a bad place. Utopia expresses desire, dystopia fear† (Aldridge, 53). Quite often a dystopian society is one that is believed to have formed as a direct result of unsavory actions that were taken in order to achieve a utopian society; the methods used to solve problems and assert control lead to undesirable outcomes. In literature a dystopian society often has a number of distinct characteristics. One of which is the manipulation of one group of people by another. A Clockwork Orange, 1984 and Brave New World (BNW) are all examples of novels that depict such a society. In all three novels a minority group of people have acquired the power to control the citizens and they utilize this to command and dictate every element of their subject’s lives. Psychological oppression is in evidence in all three novels and the characters are limited in their thoughts and expressions. In both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the dystopian society is represented by violent and disturbing images. Fear and hate is utilized as a means of controlling the population and, as described by O’Brien in 1984, a strong correlation is formed between mental and physical being, â€Å"We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull† (Orwell, 331). The prime emotion that is encouraged in the population is that of fear and the threat of brutality and torture the protagonists face entail that they are able to suspend even their own thoughts in order to evade punishment. Winston permits himself to think only of those subjects and issues that he has permission to think of, whereas Alex specifically avoids thoughts of violence in order to eliminate the chance he will become violently ill as a result of the side effects of the Ludivico he experienced at the government’s hands. In both cases the protagonists are no longer able to freely express themselves, their fear psychologically controls them and their entire mental thought processes altered as a direct result of this. Whilst A Brave New World, also describes a society where people’s thought processes and actions are controlled, this control is achieved in a very different way; through drugs and sex. Immediately form birth, the citizens are physically, chemically and psychologically encouraged to be happy and content. Where, in 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, the characters are punished for rebelling against the constraints of the society in which they are placed, in A Brave New World the people are provided with rewards for following the doctrines of their leaders. In this novel the subjects are conditioned from an early age to accept the values of the ten world leaders and they are indoctrinated to a value system that is based on superficial pleasures. The leaders thus control their society by limiting their aspirations and desires; the people accept simple things and are thus unlikely to rebel against their leaders. In all three novels, the ways in which the dystopian society is controlled is physically and visually represented by the use of propaganda. In 1984 the government literature, videos and advertisements are aimed at enforcing the state of fear that they have created. Reality is purposely altered in order to inspire feelings in the nation, feelings that can ultimately be used by the government to assert control and prevent rebellion. Clearly the propaganda utilized in 1984 is very effective and stirs strong emotions in Winston and the people in his social group and he describes the effects as they watch a film and experience, â€Å"a desire to kill, to smash faces in with a sledgehammer seemed to flow through the whole group of people,† (Orwell, 16). In A Clockwork Orange propaganda is also of immense significance and is utilized to control the feelings and emotions of the subjects. In this novel, two main forms of propaganda exist. The Ludivico Technique represents an outright propaganda, where the subject takes drugs and observes negative images in order to form associations with such images. In Alex’s case watching the repetition of violent images causes him to feel physical pain at the thought of violence and thus the propaganda serves to stem his aggression. Mass media is also utilized, as in 1984, and subliminal messages are utilized to encourage the populace to obey the state. Propaganda is observed in the posters in Alex’s home and the effectiveness of this is evidenced by impact that the images have upon him both prior to, and post, his Ludivico treatment at the state’s hands. Prior to his experience he seems unable to associate with the graffiti ridden images in the poster and he cannot recognize the significance of the visuals. However, after his treatment the poster appears clean and renewed and is able to fully recognize their message. A Brave New World also features the use of propaganda as a means of controlling the emotions and free will of the citizens. Fordisms are used to assert the supremacy of their leader and the inhabitants of society are fed subliminal messages as they sleep. They have no free will and thus become dehumanized. A further means by which the dystopian society engendered and controlled within the three novels in through the encouragement, or discouragement, of social interaction. In 1984 the subjects of society are sexually repressed and sex is permitted for procreation purposes only, â€Å"to beget children for the service of the Party† (Orwell, 69). Sex is no longer associated as being pleasurable and natural but instead becomes an unemotional procedure. In A Clockwork Orange Alex is unable to accommodate thoughts of sexual pleasure as his treatment entails that he now associates this with violence and thus experiences pain at the thought of partaking in a sexual act. His inability to behave as a normal man transpose him into the â€Å"clockwork orange† (Burgess, 96), he is a machine incapable of experiencing and fulfilling his natural urges. In both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange the mechanical, unemotional feelings attributed to sex and lust serve to dehumanize the characters and thus prevent them from feelings and emotions that could place the rule of the governments at risk. In Brave New World the government openly encourages sex as it is recognized as a means by which sexual desire can conquer and eliminate all other emotions. In this novel babies are artificially created in laboratories and sex therefore serves the purpose of pleasure alone. Family units cannot be formed as babies are without parents and thus the subjects do not form bonds and have become promiscuous. Although the use of sex as a control mechanism is different, like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange the intention is the same, to remove emotions from the subjects. A crucial characteristic of the regimes in place within the dystopian societies concerns language and communication. Language, as a means of communicating and forming relationships with others in society, is suppressed and with it is the extent of human interaction. The limit on language in all three books serves to limit free thought. In 1984 Newspeak is utilized as a means of brainwashing members of society and forcing them to think in a predetermined manner. In both Brave New World and 1984 the government’s intention to diminish the vocabulary reflects their plans to further diminish the thoughts of their public; without the words to communicate they are unable the commit thought crime, â€Å"In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible (†¦) there will be no words in which to express it†. (Orwell, 200-201). In A Clockwork Orange Alex’s use of language acts as a means by which he can rebel from society. Nadsat allows him to communicate with the members of his gang and thus achieve the human interaction that the government attempts to suppress. In addition to this it serves as a means by which the unwelcome behaviors exhibited by Alex can be separated from the rest of the society, who, as with 1984, do not have a vocabulary capable of expressing such words. A further commonality between all three novels is that of rebellion, with the main characters in all three books actively rebelling against the system into which they have been indoctrinated. Winston, Alex and John all begin to question the merits of their society and, in all three cases they utilize a past reference as a means against which they can assess their current situation. For Winston this is his diary (which allows him to record the past and therefore have a term of reference), for Alex it is his meeting with Pete and for John it is Shakespeare’s Othello that acts as a significant prompt. Winston’s rebellion is manifested in three main ways. He commits the crime of keeping a diary, he partakes in a sexual affair and he joins a brotherhood. His actions reveal that he has realized the ills of the society and is trying to actively prevent himself from being fully indoctrinated. However, his efforts are not entirely successful. Through his capture and punishment in room 101 he is ultimately forced to love Big Brother and he rejoins the society as a fully integrated member. John too is not entirely successful in his rebellion against the repressive society in which he has been born. He attempts to rebel by refusing to partake in sexual contact, discourages the use of the drug soma and eventually causes a riot. The violence his actions engender causes a frenzied orgy which he himself takes part in. Such an orgy is a manifestation of the very society against which he is trying to rebel and he takes the only action that he feels remains, he kills himself. Finally, in the case of Alex, the effects of his treatment entail that he is forever changed and his attempts at violent behavior and rebellion are put to an immediate halt. However, unlike Winston, there are indications at the end of the novel that he is beginning to free himself and his ability to think and behave as an individual is being renewed. His reaction to the appearance of his friend Pete alert Alex to the changes he needs to make in his own life. However, his use of the Nadsat when speaking of his hope for the future, â€Å"Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and the turning vonny earth and the stars and the old Luna up there† (Burgess 191), indicates that he is beginning to break from his control. Whilst rebellion against doctrine is present in all three of these novels, so is the reality that the rebellion has failed. In every case there is no real evidence that the dystopian society has been changed as a result of the protagonist’s actions and the characters appear to have been largely isolated in their ability to recognize the ill merits of the way in which they are being ruled. The efforts to overcome the cruel society are short-lived and the message portrayed is that members of a society cannot overturn their conditions alone; to truly escape the unfair laws citizens need to act as a collective whole. Works Referenced: Aldridge, Alan. Consumption (Key Concepts). University Park, PA: Polity, 2003. Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. More, Thomas. Utopia (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2003. Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Plume, 2003. Plato. Plato: The Republic (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.