The Realities of Poverty

Instead of a poster, which would have been a good project to do with others, I made a Powerpoint. Since I am doing most of this course online and with the computer, a poster would be a little counterproductive as a solo assignment, because the same text and images can be conveyed with Powerpoint.

The PowerPoint I made can be downloaded here.

The Story Behind The Photo

I think that this photo is about the start of a hot meal program in a particular school system, where low income neighborhoods have been hampering the opportunities of children. The school district would have received a great sum of money to fund in-school kitchens to provide nourishment for the students. In many western countries there are still millions of families that cannot afford to feed their children a well rounded meal for breakfast and/or lunch during the week. This specific initiative is most likely providing a free hot meal during the day for the students, encouraging healthy eating habits and giving them the energy to pay attention and excel in school. This program would costs only a few dollars a day per student and the benefits are exponential. It is only fair for the community to support its youth in any way, and in this case, giving them breakfast and lunch gives them the same opportunities as kids in areas that are more affluent.

It makes a huge difference for the kids whose parents couldn’t afford to pay for their lunches, because now instead of thinking about how hungry they are, they can get the most out of what they are being taught. To have good marks and a successful education is becoming increasingly more important in today’s society as job and post-secondary competition is heating up. It is likely that the school starting such an initiative would be setting an informal precedent as soon as the results began to appear, compared to other systems that are still suffering from the malnourishment of their pupils.

Where do our values and beliefs come from?

1. Our upbringing / childhood which includes parents, mentors, teachers, and peers.

2. Mainstream media and advertising (TV commercials, subliminal placement of messages, political presentations, movies, the radio, music)

3. Life experience as an individual, as in going out and doing stuff on your own, or with a few select friends

4. Provocative literature, newspapers, magazines (Sometimes mainstream media if it is a very hot and controversial topic)

5. The ‘shrinking of the global village’ in recent years, as more and more events are reported around the globe and are represented to have a greater effect upon everyone (Globalization, the struggle over non-renewable resources etc.)

6. The popular ways of local society and culture. Effectively the ‘mob’ mentality (Sometimes people tend to act as their surrounding friends and acquaintances act and feel because it is easier than thinking individually.)

The answers and how they affect my current beliefs in order of relevance:

1, 4, 3, 5, 2, 6

The answers and how they may affect my current beliefs in order of relevance 10 years from now:

3, 5, 4, 1, 2, 6

Women's Ski Jumping at the Olympic Winter Games

Although it has fallen off of the map recently due to the Olympics taking place, the decision by the International Olympic Committee to disallow women to ski jump in Olympic competition angered many and was one of the main causes of pre-Olympic controversy. This is a social justice issue because only men currently compete in ski jumping at the Olympics, and it is one of the only events that is single gender, other than synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics(women only), Nordic combined, and boxing (men only).
In the months leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, a group of female ski jumpers presented a gender-discrimination case to the B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal. It was decided that the International Olympic Committee and the Vancouver Olympic Committee were not breaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with their decision. Their reasoning was that there was not enough interest in the sport yet to warrant Olympic competition, with only 5 countries represented in the case, and the VANOC decision had been made in 2006. There is a greater chance for women to ski jump in Sochi, Russia at the 2014 games, but this case arose too close to the Vancouver games that already had plans established.
In 2006 when VANOC posted their plans for the 2010 Olympics, a women’s ski jumping world cup did not exist yet, and women had only been competing in the FIS Continental Cup, a notch below the world championship for only two years. I think that as a social justice issue, it was reasonable to disallow the event participation because not enough interest and growth had occurred in the sport at the time of the decision. If the court case had been put forth in 2006, during the planning of the 2010 games, a more favorable outcome would have been more likely.
At first glance, the situation does not appear to be fair to women because in 2010 there would have been enough competitors as in the female bobsledding events, but it is still a small number, and trying to change the Olympic schedule 4 years after posted is not fair to the organizers or other athletes that would have to be moved around or strained for quality of accommodation at the Olympics. Now that the Vancouver and International Olympic Committees have spent nearly $100,000 dollars on the case, I imagine the event will probably be included in the Sochi 2014 games. The FIS world cup will have taken place for 5 years, and will have garnered a significant amount of depth at the top level, as requested by the IOC. The expansion of the sport in a few years would begin to make the IOC appear excessively opposed to the event if they did not include it, especially when this large push was just made last year.
It’s unfortunate that the wants of the female ski jumpers could not be met, but to be fair to the Olympic committees, they were given little notice to the apparently very important case until it was too late to schedule it in for the Vancouver games. In future, to rectify the situation, the event just needs to be easily included in the planning of an Olympic games years in advance, not months, and everyone will be happy. I find it hard to believe that anyone one would seriously be prejudiced against letting women compete in ski jumping, even if it is taking a little longer for it to be included that initially hoped.

Ethics and Social Justice

How are ethics and social justice related?

Ethics and social justice are related through the fact that the majority of social justice issues are ethical issues at their core. Whoever is involved in the issues usually claims right over the other party, but then, as Kidder explained that tough choices revolve around right vs right. If these issues were not tough choices to resolve, then they would not be issues. Social justice seeks to create equity and achieve the fairest and 'best' outcome for everyone, and that requires ethical decisions. Weighing choices with unbiased and impersonal conduct will always be a tightrope walk between whoever or whatever is disputed. Using ethical reasoning should allow for less criticism by all and a greater understanding of how and why a decision is made.

What ethical considerations do you think are most important?

I think that the consideration of Truth vs. Loyalty is one of the most important ones, because if used as an explanation, it can most easily offend and bias others. Friendships, employment, and positions of authority for example, can all be infringed upon by the difference of the fairness of the truth versus the alleigance of a judge or mediator to one of the actors. Similar to that, the consideration of Individual vs. Community often rears its head in lawmaking or in court. A judge or government has to choose between making an example of someone regardless of their position or role and perpetuating the status quo they would like to see, and giving a person or organization a break based on the values of whoever is making the decision.

How often do you consider ethics in your own actions and decisions? Is this a conscious or unconscious process?

Most of the time when I am faced with a decision I dont focus on the ethical reasoning for my choice. Consciously at least. Being 17, the majority of the choices I have don't require a challenging ethical conundrum because I am either interacting with my other school age peers, or inanimate objects. Rarely am I asked by anyone to mediate or judge something that is serious enough to warrant an in depth analyzation of an issue, so I don't think I have enough experience or opportunities to do so.

Morals & Values

morals
A set of habits or principles that individuals or groups use to govern or respect the difference between right and wrong.

For example: When faced wtih an ethical decision, the two sides are defined by morals, the limits or hard-wired beliefs of right and wrong.

value

The importance of a physical or abstract object measured as a property.

Example: Something of high value may be considered good or 'better' for living day-to-day life, while something of low value is considered detrimental to living well and with good conduct.

Ethics

A branch of philosophy that deals with conflicts and seeks to answer questions arising from them such as right and wrong, good and bad, and the concepts of justice and virtue.

Illustration: This cartoon is an example of ethical irony, the cheating of the class majority raises the question of whether their actions are right or wrong.

Haitian Justice?

After reading the article on cbcnews.ca, I was surprised to see that Haiti's communications minister wants these 10 to be tried in the U.S. and not Haiti. Why should they be tried for a crime that originated in Haiti, when they are already being detained there? Wouldnt it cost more money to fly these 'kidnappers' over to the U.S. and then have a lengthy and drawn out trial due to the slow pace of western proceedings.

I assume they had knowledge of the consequences when they traveled to the ruined republic, and should have judgement passed on them by it's citizens, not their American peers and colleagues. Maybe what should happen is that the group should be detained UNTIL infrastructure exists for them to be tried. I don't think that the U.S. should try to bring them 'home' when its clear what they have allegedly done (or attempted to do) is a heinous act anywhere in the world.

The mistakes that they made with some of the children even declaring that they were not orphans to the press, completely incriminates the group, because of how open the whole thing was, and the reason why I guess this doesn't happen often. The justice that should be administered to them should not be American justice, it should be Haitian justice. End of story.