Advertising

Hey, so I know this is kinda late for our whole advertising ideal. But heres a montage of false advertising I came across on the internet. It shows the wrapper of the food item and then what it really looks like. I'm pretty sure we had a conversation about this kinda stuff in class. Except this is a way better example than the oversized cookie.

Anyways here's the link:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1808754

-Dan

Anti-Kant Campaign

This wont start a discussion, but it's related to the course so check it out.
Anti-Kant Campaign
Enjoy

Man held for German 'cannibal killing'

A man has confessed to murdering and eating another man who allegedly volunteered to be killed, in a case that has shocked Germany.

The 41-year-old - who was remanded in custody on Wednesday - videotaped the murder, prosecutors said.

The victim, also in his 40s, was chopped into pieces at the killer's home in the central German town of Rotenburg, near Kassel.

Prosecutors in Kassel said the accused and the victim were apparently homosexuals who shared cannibalistic tendencies.The German daily Bild reports that the victim, from Berlin, had seen an advertisement on the internet which said: "Seeking young, well-built men aged 18 to 30 to slaughter."

The victim, a computer engineer, then sold all his possessions including a car before disappearing, the paper reports.

The state prosecutor's office in Kassel said the man died from deep cuts to the neck. The killer then chopped up the body and kept the parts in his fridge.

Police believe the murder occurred in spring 2000.

They found deep-frozen human flesh, skeleton parts and video recordings at the scene.

Neighbour Joerg Paulusen, speaking to Reuters TV, said of the killer: "It was sort of clear to us that he had a different perspective on life than we did, but he was a normal person, to speak to him, drink a glass of beer with him - just like you and me."

The last alleged case of cannibalism in Germany was when a 33-year-old man on trial for robbery and murder in March 1995 claimed to have eaten his victim's innards, although his claim was never proven, the AFP news agency reports.



If, according to cultural relativism, we shouldn't judge someone's actions if their culture dictates it to be morally acceptable, should we be able to judge a German man who maybe agrees with those set of cultural morals, but happens to live in a society that doesn't share his views?

Birth of a New Tourism And Its Growing Pains

November 01, 2007
Shauna Rempel
Toronto Star

Name: Penny Dowedoff

Age: 34

Program: PhD student in sociology at York University

Research: Reproductive tourism

The Issue: Reproductive tourism, wherein women and couples go outside their home country in order to receive fertility treatments, is a growing industry that brings with it the same ethical, legal and medical concerns as other types of medical tourism.

The pitch: Online ads for fertility clinics in Barbados or other reproductive tourism hot spots promise a chance to get pregnant in a vacation-like setting.

"It's linking medicine with tourism," Dowedoff says of the advertisements, which may appeal to couples who are sensitive to the social stigma of infertility.

"It's easier to say you're going on holiday than to say you're getting fertility treatments."

The money factor: As with any type of medical tourism, the practice can lead to a two-tier system with those who can afford the treatments effectively jumping the queue or circumventing the laws of their home country.

The individuals: Dowedoff is interviewing people who leave Canada to receive treatments such as in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination.

She's also looking at individuals who sell their own reproductive material such as sperm or eggs, which is illegal in Canada but legal in the United States and other jurisdictions.

"I'm not trying to portray them as villains or victims," says Dowedoff of Canadians who go outside the country for treatments that are illegal, expensive or impractical to receive here. "I'm just trying to understand their experiences and tease out these complex relationships."
Reproductive tourism has an impact not only on Canadian society, but also abroad.

In India, for example, doctors and nurses are lured to the lucrative clinics, which affects health care for locals.

There is also the potential for exploitation of surrogate mothers from developing countries, Dowedoff says.

The future: So far, although the often-controversial topic has gotten coverage in the media, not a lot of academic research has been done on reproductive tourism, Dowedoff says.

But that's sure to change: As more advances are made in reproductive technology, reproductive tourism will likely grow along with it.




Is it ethical for people with a lot of money to get these treatments, when people without money cannot?

Also, is it ethical for Canadians and Americans to take the attention of the best doctors in Barbados, India, and other places offering these services, if they are taking the medical attention away from the locals?

Deception and Self Interest

Deception and Self Interest

The local “News and Observer” recently featured an article on lying (“Liar, Liar, Where’s the Fire?”, Jan 29). Faculty of UNC and others working and living in the wider community weighed in on the topic, and a number of themes related to lying were explored. These included evolutionary explanations of lying, lying to spare the feelings of others, ways of teaching children not to lie, and lying in advertising and real estate. Much of this was interesting, but when the question of why a person shouldn’t lie was raised the answer was usually given in terms of self-interest. The reasoning was basically that, in the long run, it is in the individual’s (or the organization’s) best interest to tell the truth. Otherwise one might earn a reputation for lying, which is something that can be harmful in a number of ways. Who would buy a product from an organization with a reputation for deception? Or who would be friends with a person known for his or her dishonesty? And so on.

Arguments that appeal to self-interest in this way to ground moral obligation are interesting, and can help build the case for telling the truth. But they are probably not enough. Missing are reasons to be honest that have nothing to do with self-interest. To be fair, in the article it is never claimed that the only reasons to tell the truth are self-interested in nature, and “unselfish” reasons to be moral are gestured at. But one would understandably get the impression from the article that there are not many compelling reasons to tell the truth apart from those stemming from self-interest. This would be an unfortunate and maybe dangerous way to think of our obligations around truth-telling.
Plato is maybe the first philosopher, at least that we know of, to have addressed the problematic relationship between self-interest and morality. It seemed to Plato that if self-interest provided the only reasons to be moral, then it would very often make sense to be immoral. Why he thought this is simple, and can be applied to the specific case of lying: though telling the truth can give you a good reputation that can be advantageous, sometimes, if you’re sneaky enough, you can lie without harming your reputation. Then you would have a good reputation and whatever else you have gained through deception. This would be the best of both worlds from the standpoint of self-interest!

It would be nice if it never made sense to lie from the standpoint of self-interest, but to think this is to overlook the unfortunate fact that very often skillful deception, for an individual or a corporation, can advance the deceiver’s selfish interests. To shore up the case for truth-telling, then, other, unselfish considerations must be given. Reasons must be given to show why lying is immoral even when lying makes sense from the standpoint of self-interest. What these other reasons might be is of course a matter of dispute. One appealing thought is that lying is, by its very nature, disrespectful of the person being lied to, a way of treating them as not fully human but instead as a kind of tool for something they haven’t consented to. It is in any case fairly clear that considerations of self-interest are insufficient by themselves to provide sufficiently stable and comprehensive grounds for telling the truth.

Why Be Jewish?

This article is written by Aron Moss.

Question:

I am teaching a high school class about threats to Judaism in the modern world. What do you see as the biggest threat to Jewish survival--assimilation or anti-Semitism?

Answer:

The biggest threat to Jewish survival is confused Jewish identity. Sadly, today in many Jewish schools and families, Jewish identity is built through teaching Holocaust awareness and a fear of marrying out. The Jewish community's preoccupation with assimilation and anti-Semitism is not the solution, it is the problem.

A pessimistic and negative presentation of being Jewish turns off young Jews more than anything else. When we obsess about anti-Semitism we paint ourselves as perpetual victims. When we over-emphasize the threat of assimilation, it makes us feel like an endangered species. The Jews are alongside the hump-back whale and the giant panda in the list of helpless and pitiful communities disappearing from the planet. Is it so surprising that young Jews are opting out of Judaism? Who wants to be a victim?

We have to stop defining ourselves by the way others perceive us. Assimilation is when non-Jews love us so much they want to marry us. Anti-Semitism is when non-Jews hate us so much they want to kill us. They both just happen to us; but what do we think of ourselves?

We need a clear and positive reason to stay Jewish. Failing that, why should Judaism survive? Is there a good argument for not assimilating into the welcoming societies surrounding us? Is there a compelling reason to stay proudly Jewish in the face of anti-Semitism?

I think there is.

Judaism is the most powerful idea that the world has ever seen. Jews should survive because we have a message that the world needs to hear.

The Jewish way of life is a revolutionary force that can transform ordinary lives into lives of meaning. A family that keeps Shabbat is always reminded of what is really important--that there is more to life than accumulating wealth. The kosher laws teach us that we are not mere animals that must feed our every urge and desire, and that eating itself can be holy. A mezuzah on the door tells the world that this home is built for a higher purpose.

Judaism teaches lessons that the world urgently needs to learn--that every individual person is created in the image of G-d, and is therefore unique and valuable; that morality is not relative but absolute; that humans are partners with G-d in creation, with a mission to create heaven on earth.

These bold Jewish ideas are more relevant now than ever. But bold Jewish ideas need bold Jewish people to perpetuate them. The world can only be elevated if individuals first elevate themselves. We can only make the world into a divine home if we start with our own home. This is Judaism's formula to change the world for better. This is why we must stay Jewish.

The biggest threat to Judaism is not external pressure but rather internal confusion. When we lose sight of our mission, we lose the strength and stamina to survive. The Jewish feeling we need to develop in ourselves and our children is not fear of anti-Semitism, or guilt about assimilation. It is a humble pride in the greatness of the Jewish mission and confident resolve to fulfill it. When we are clear about our identity, no threat in the world can shake us.

What do you think? What is our identity as Jews?

Feral Children

http://www.feralchildren.com/en/index.php
A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior. These feral children are generally found living in forests living alongside a pack of animals. Feral children can be used as very important proof against philosophers such as Plato, who believe that people are born with an innate intuition of what morality is, and a tendency towards morality. After studying a feral child, it is concluded that they feel no empathy for others, do not know how to behave socially and cannot decipher between right and wrong.
What is your perspective on this issue? How does the fact that some social scientists argue that these children cannot be classified as homo-sapiens allow for Plato’s perspective on morality?