Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Business Ethics - Essay Example The act of going to church is often the singular religious activity within the week for the modern person. Rather than a daily practice, going to church gives a mere nod to a history of religiosity within a family, connecting to others in fellowship, but not providing the central space within a person’s framework of understanding his place within the world. The tenets of the Bible are often looked at as quaint and out of touch with the realities of life, thus creating a division between what is believed and how one acts. The nature of business becomes one of those areas where a diversion from the tenets of the Bible can be observed. In trying to run a business, decisions must be made that support the continued success of that business, but the nature of those decisions are rarely made in line with the generosity of human spirit that comes from a life that is truly lived by the teachings of Christ. This reduces the nature of religious practice to its basic rites, the motions be ing undertaken without the informative meaning having value in daily life. The nature of life that is lived through secular means, and without the infusion of religious spirit, becomes centered on the self without the consideration of others at the core of the decisions that are made on a daily basis. Life is merely ‘flavored’ with religious practice and intention, rather than informed, the difference being that where the clergy held the center space for informing the public, it is now science, technology, and the consumer culture that informs people on behavior and thought. Religious leaders have had to adapt. Miller states that â€Å"When these wide-ranging appropriations are considered in terms of establishing identities and worldviews in a changing society, we can begin to see how many respected spiritual authors function precisely as new cultural intermediaries†¦They introduce a literate, popular audience to venerable religious and spiritual traditions in a m anner that is easily detached from traditional, institutional and communal infrastructures† (104). Cultural philosophies are framed through its interactions with television and the internet rather than through its interaction with the Bible, thus to compete religious leaders have had to turn away from convention and towards technological and literary advantages, but this has not been fully successful in diverting culture from its focus on consumerist philosophies. In the abstraction of religion, then, is the substitution of consumerism to fill in the spaces. Miller states that â€Å"the form of religion we have been discussing - abstracted sentiment divorced from practice - is ideally suited to this world. It supplies the veneer of meaning and conviction of which modern existence so often deprives us, without disrupting the underlying form of our lives - our obligation to consume† (88). As members of the culture see the need to participate in consumption, identity and t he formation of cultural belief becomes tied to the consumer culture. Section 2.3 Thought has become informed by the media, the infusion of materialism and the nature of consumerism becoming the central focus on how life is lived. The nature of culture has been designed by consumerism, what is needed in life and the way that it is used created

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - Essay Example Satrapi's focus is on her life from when she was eight to fourteen, covering this time period with the historical concepts in the background. She begins with a powerful idea; a school photo, and this photograph demonstrates many young girls in their veils. These girls would usually remove these holy veils to play on play breaks (Book Review). The author is finally able to leave the mess of the war, with her parents seeing her off at an airport, so that she can head to the safety of a school in Austria. However, the war did affect her for the rest of her life, and through adulthood we see the scars that are attributed to this experience. From the beginning to the end of her experience in Iran, the author's young life is veiled with the feelings of the oppressive, war-like life in Iran. (Book Review). It becomes quite apparent that like her own parents, many of the young children of this time were encouraged to leave the country in order to find safety. The country was in such an uphea val that even young, promising children of the next generation were not safe. Therefore, this had a profound effect on the author's life, and this effect would change her life forever. Growing up with a war at her doorstep, the author had to consider on a day to day basis how to survive, and had to also worry about her parents' survival. The emotional descriptions present in the book leave readers with a very strong sense of emotion in themselves. For example, I was quite affected by the knowledge that such a young child had to quickly grow up in order to understand the issues around her. Many of the terrible things Satrapi witnessed should never have to be witnessed by a young child. As a reader, I experienced a strong sense of a lost innocence, destroyed because of a war that the child did not necessarily understand. This certainly makes me, as a reader, feel sympathy and sadness toward the author, and this feeling continues for the narrator throughout the novel. The emotions are continually conjured up in the readers as the novel progresses. The book is presented in a very simple way, as small details are introduced to reflect on powerful concepts of emotion in the novel. By doing this, Satrapi shows how much the little things can matter, and how the slightest action can demonstrate a type of emotion (Book Review). The emotions present in all the characters, as they are all affected by the war going on in the background, is very obvious throughout the book. However, it takes some skill to be able to learn to read these small, simple, signs; as for many of us in secure western countries, we do not always see this kind of response in the individuals that surround us. Satrapi herself, as a young child during this time, often depicts the emotions of astonishment and confusion. She is chronically bewildered at having to wear a veil at only ten years old. She also becomes confused upon seeing the picture with her Uncle's former wife's head defam ed (Book Review). She is further confused by the notions of justice and God (Book Review). Because the war was going on for so long in the background of her life, it must have seemed to her that God was unjust, and this would have greatly confused a young girl. She has to deal with the change all around her demonstrated in politics, and it was noticeably difficult for a young girl to understand the