Judge Paul Heath Till Summary

I have been raised in the culture of Southern hospitality. In the South, manners are taught and expected. I find that I assume that others will mind their manners and I am offended if they choose not to do so. It makes sense that my ethical lens vice is becoming judgmental and legalistic. The female nature is to be the caregiver and nurturer of the family. I fall into this behavior and try to meet the needs of others before I take care of myself. My crisis, according to the ethical lens inventory, is becoming exhausted.

Politeness is able to show a person’s feelings towards others and awareness of a social custom. There are many purposes of politeness including: creating a public self image, creating solidarity, threatening people to send a negative message, not threatening people or upsetting them, indicating social relationship, showing awareness of social context, and power dynamics. The value of polite speech in a culture has the purpose of creating solidarity. Polite speech in a specific culture is very important and should be practiced as much as possible.

Have you ever wondered why we hold the doors for those behind us? How about the reason we use utensils when we eat? What about why we always stand facing the doors in the elevator? These are all examples of what are known as social norms. According to Dr. Ward social norms are “basic rules of society that help people know what is and is not appropriate to do in any situation.” These basic rules of society are usually unwritten and unspoken and many of us pick up on them over time. Although, some social norms are very common throughout many cultures, there is a lot of them that vary depending on which culture you are apart of. For example, here in America, a major social norm that we have is when eating, the polite thing to do is to use spoons and forks, instead of digging in with your hands. For instance, we would not eat spaghetti with our hands but we would use a fork. In some Thiland cultures it is considered rude to put most foods in your mouth with a fork. Then there is also some cultures such as Chile in which it is impolite to use your hands for anything, even foods such as french fries, they use forks while eating.

Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.

In the State of Texas, we have a rather odd way of selecting which judges will and will not be able to have a job in the State of Texas. The way we select them is the same way that we decide who is going to be the governor of the State of Texas, we elected them. There are many flaws with choosing election as the way of picking who will be judges. Some of the flaws are that there will possibly be a lack of minority chosen, voters tend to know little to none information about the local election let alone the candidates up for judges, and finally people contributing to campaigns. While few people know that this how we elected judges in Texas, but even fewer realize the consequences the will continue to pile up if we do not do something to put an end to this ludicrous way of choosing an influential position of office.

It shows respect to other people and a lack of manners is often interpreted as a lack of respect. Manners will influence on children’s behaviour therefore practitioners will need to be good role models.

When selecting judges in Texas many first get their start when they are initially appointed by the Texas governor. Though this usually happens to fill up any vacancies that there may be on the bench (Champagne and Harpham 257). Aside from being appointed by the governor, most judges in Texas get selected to serve by Texas voters. These elections are known as partisan elections, meaning that the judicial candidates’ political affiliation is listed on the ballot. Party affiliation is one of the most important factors in judicial elections. Before 1978, most judges were Democrats due to the state being largely Democratic. In addition, the governor of the state was usually a Democrat and would usually end up appointing Democratic judges (Champagne

The principles in the early South almost never changed until the Civil war, and ideals from the creation of colonies became law, never to be changed. In this way, the South walled itself from those who tried to settle there only to find themselves turned away from society and shunned. Such people would be mixed children, those who were not Christian, and Africans. Tolerance found in the north soon dwindled moving down to the south, a devoutly Christian region until around the mid 1700’s. Lack of communication and commerce with other nations as previously mentioned left the south at a weak point, finding themselves turning others away, while being alone in themselves. A key reason for the intense sense of culture in the modern South is this isolation found early in the history of these colonies, where a sense of pride for these Southern values becomes all-encompassing. A bold similarity between the two regions stands out, a core set of values, whether for the North and South. The Northern colonies had a focus on the sciences, and advancement of civilization, while the South wanted nothing more than to live on their precious land, and focus on the plantation life they had come to develop, not eager to branch out into any other

traditions calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.

The following paper is an analysis of different societal conditions that impact the individual’s manners and the civility of the interaction between members of the society. The studies that were reviewed in the following paper cover many variables and scenarios that may affect the way a person interacts with another member of society.

Throughout life, in any society we develop a sense to conform and adjust to our surroundings but why? Our values in our society determines our norms and why we do the things we do. I recently sought out to break these social conformities that violated the values, and norms we hold as a society. Every society is different and, in every society there are different and similar values, norms, sanctions folkways, and mores. Breaking them up and analyzing them we began to understand why these terms and values are so important to us.

The two sons of Judge Atlee, wanted to move out as soon as possible to get away from Clanton, their childhood town. Ray is the eldest and favorite child while Forrest is the “black sheep” of the family due to his drug and alcohol addictions. Years after the sons move out, the father calls the sons saying they must come to see him immediately. They head back to Clanton which they had hoped to never return to. Forrest shares with his brother that this is his first trip back in 9 years. Upon arriving, Ray finds their father dead, killed by cancer and an overdose of medicine. After Ray searches through his father’s home he finds something unexpected, a large amount of hidden cash. Judge Atlee was a workaholic and a very lonely man, but Ray was

Manners are knows as the appropriate ways of behaving, speaking, and dressing in a culture. Manners are something that could ruin a business meeting if they are not practiced in the right way according to the foreign country’s guidelines. Customs are habits or ways of behaving in specific circumstances are passed down generations (Wild). Examples from the book are: sharing foods gifts during the holy month of Ramadan, as is the Japanese tradition of throwing special parties for youth women and men who turn age 20.

In this era, one has to set a standard where respect is earned in all things. When you raise your demeanor, E. Goffman termed it as status, according to him there are three types of status and these are the following: Ascribed status (One that you are assigned based on biological factors such as race, sex, or age.) Achieved status (One that is earned through an individual’s own effort.) Master status (Status that has priority over all other statuses and generally determines a person’s overall position in society. The most common master statuses are those based on gender and race.) According to Goffman, we use various mechanisms, called sign vehicles, to present ourselves to others. The most commonly employed sign vehicles are the following: Social setting, appearance, the manner of interacting. The social setting is the physical place where interaction occurs. It could be a doctor’s examination room, a hallway, someone’s home, or a professor’s office. How we arrange our spaces, and what we put in them, conveys a lot of information about us. A person who lives in a large home with security guards, attack dogs, and motion detectors conveys the message that he or she is very important, wealthy, and powerful, and probably that uninvited visitors should stay away. On the other hand, the owner of a house with no fence, lots of lights, and a welcome mat would seem much more inviting

What may have been the norm for one may not be the norm to another, especially when it comes to the cultures of foreign lands.   Cultural norms often are so strongly ingrained in an individual's daily life that the individual may be unaware of certain behaviors. Until these behaviors are seen in the context of a different culture with different values and beliefs, the