Martin Luther King. Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail Essay

Martin Luther King. Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail - Essay Example The Letter from Birmingham Jail, written by Martin Luther King, Jr. from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, was a response letter to a dictating statement made by eight Clergymen belonging to the majority white sections. Even while responding to each and every charge of the clergyman, King tries to persuade both the Clergymen as well as the moderate sections of the White population to understand the African-American point of view. From earlier times, the social activists in order to actualize and promote social justice will normally use rhetorical and at the same time persuasive strategies to persuade theirs’ opponents. On those same lines, King in his letter tries to persuade certain sections of the population by adopting Aristotle’s rhetoric devices or three modes of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Martin Luther King exhibits clear and at the same high sense of Ethos in the letter, starting from the first paragraph itself. Ethos in a written or spoken content is related to the characteristics including the morality of the person. He/she would always take moral and fair decisions, without compromising ethics. Although, he states that he and his secretaries may not read and reply to all the criticism letters, he had made attempt to give a reply to this letter by the Clergymen, whom he views as good people and also as he wants to answer in a patient and reasonable mindset. â€Å"I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.† (King 1). Through these words, King gives importance to the Clergymen, and this valuing will surely make these Clergymen favourably consider King’s response letter. The other aspect of Ethos is to represent himself/herself as an equivalent to their counterparts and importantly to prove that he/she has the power to handle the affairs and the authority to represent his /her people. King puts forward this aspect by stating how he has served as the President of the Southern Christian Leadership conference, and how that tenure proves that he has apt authority to represent the African-Americans in any level of talks. (King 2). Furthermore, King likens him as a prophet of freedom like Paul, who has been given the authority by his people to represent and talk for them. â€Å"Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.† (King 3). This elevation of himself, again shows that he is better endowed and understanding person, who can exhibit the mindset and views of the African Americans effectively. To further impress upon the Clergymen and also the moderate sections about their suppression and plight, and how they have to be understood and treated fairly, King uses Pathos. King tries to evoke Pathos by pointing out in vivid details how the daily lives of the African Americans is becoming living hell due to the brutalities, carr ied out by the majority sections. â€Å"But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim.† (King 14). By pointing out how even a small child has not remained unaffected by the oppression carried out by the Whites, he further evokes sympathy. â€Å"†¦when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your sex-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television† (King 14). Through these lines, King wants to showcase to the Clergymen, who criticised him, how his fellow men and woman are struggling to live a life with respect. Pathos was again used as a mode of persuasion in the latter part of the letter, when he talks about how the Police gravely assaulted and repressed the harmless African-Americans. â€Å"†¦if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes†¦i f you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys†

Nursing Staff Attitudes towards the Elderly Essay

Nursing Staff Attitudes towards the Elderly - Essay Example When older patients are perceived as being cantankerous and complaining by nurses, the consequence would most likely that the quality of care delivered and the recovery of patients is affected (Courtney, 2000).   Aging of the Australian population has occurred rapidly in recent years. The greatest increases in number have been indicated among the very old or those aged 80 years or over. The aged population from 65 and older has been predicted to reach 22% or 5 million by the year 2051, doubling that of 1991 or 11% at 1.9 million according to Clare (1994).   Likewise, it was said that gerontological nursing is still an unpopular specialty and nursing student's interest in pursuing it as a career decrease during their education (Slevin, 1991). The health-care system has been heavily influenced by social developments and ageist stereotypes, combined with increases in the aged population (Palmer, 1994). In as much as older people are perceived by policy makers and society in general as problems requiring considerable attention and resources (Palmer, 1994), it had also been indicated that increases in the Australian health-care costs have been attributed to the increases in the aged population. Nevertheless, Palmer (1994) found that these increases are more closely linked to social and political changes than a physiologically aging population. Accordingly, changes in the health-care system were influenced by the major political parties' social and economic policies, the need to contain hospital operating costs and the promotion of commun ity care for the chronically ill, disabled and frail aged (Courtney, 1997). But it has to be noted that many family members are no longer able to care for their older relatives due to social factors such as increases in divorce and participation of women in the workforce. This has dramatically decreased the availability of informal community support systems for future generations of older people upon which the government has relied heavily since the 1985 de-institutionalization of aged care to a hostel and home-based care (Gibson, 1998).   Nurse Attitude   Several studies have identified factors, such as an area of practice, age, gender and years in clinical practice, as affecting nurses' attitude strength (Lookinland, 1991). Soderhamn and colleagues found younger and male nurses possessing more negative attitudes in comparison with older and female nurses. Soderhamn's (2001) research also demonstrates that higher education, gerontology courses and more years of clinical experience were found to be associated with less negative attitudes. Another influence is the area of clinical practice influencing attitude strength (Soderhamn, 2001). Cited as the example was that nurses working in acute settings were found to use more negative stereotypical labeling to describe their older patients to student nurses than those working in elder-care settings (McLafferty, 2004).