Essay: Culture of Justifying

Tomoya Hagiwara
Sylvan Payne
ARW Section AC
12 November, 2007

Culture of Justifying

A term of culture is used in many senses in many places. It can be used in a situation that people would like to explain to their friends who are not from their country that what they do is common behavior in their country, which was not common behavior in their friends’ country. Also, it can be substituted for or equal to moral. When people do things in a way, which is neither legal nor illegal, but is not good, they justify their behavior because they know they have to be moral persons. Justification of moral wrongs is universal, but differs from culture to culture.
It is important to first define culture. Kroeber et al. stated that Tylor first defined the word “culture” as a modern meaning in 1871. Tylor said in his book Primitive Culture that “Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
It is a common misconception that culture can be substituted for or equaled to custom. However, especially in sociology, culture is used in many more places. One example is in morals. Morals are standards of behavior (Oxford Dictionary of English). As stated above, people’s behavior is sometimes in a morally gray area although they know they have to be moral persons. They justify their behavior in order to bridge the gap between their own moral standard and their sub-moral behavior.
One example of justifying behavior is seen in a problem of illegal downloads. It is the problem that music titles, movie titles, comics, and so on (we call them illegal files) are downloaded illegally for free through web sites or P2P (peer to peer) software application such as Winny, WinMX or Share. It is not clear why people use them and download illegal files. Everybody, including those people above who download illegal files, knows that it is illegal to download such files for free and that they have to obey the law.
However, we sometimes stretch the law in our favor selfishly to justify our behavior. Actually, some web pages say that uploading illegal files is illegal but only downloading them is not illegal in Japan. Using this interpretation, we can download them legally although downloading illegal files is not good from a moral point of view. That is how downloaders justify their action. Actually, in some countries such as Holland, it is legal to share and download music files for private use, (p2pnet.net). Hence, they justify their action, using it as a reason that downloading music files is legal in some other countries.
We can also justify using our own interpretation or experience. In the problem, we can use this that regular price is very expensive. Although we want to buy regular product, we do not want to pay lots of money. For example, if we buy an album CD in Japan, we pay about 3,600 yen. In contrast, if in America, we pay about 1,500 yen. Obviously, this is a very big difference. Illegal downloaders use this excuse to justify their action, claiming that the high price is somehow unfair.
This problem that illegal files are downloaded for free through web sites or P2P software applications is a very serious problem not only in Japan but also other countries. In Europe, stated by Jupiter Research, 43% of European between 15 and 24 years old who use the Internet to consume music would rather copy illegal files than buy CDs. In addition, 46% consider that the CD is becoming continuously more irrelevant. This indicates that they do not need any CDs, so that they download music files individually.
Another example of a country in which file sharing is controversial is Canada. In Canada, according to Pollara, people between 12 and 24 years old amount to 78% of illegal music downloading in the country, even though they are only 21% of the population (Canadian Press). The research shows that most of the young people above strongly agree that “artists are too rich already so downloading won't hurt them.” In addition to this, the fundamental cause of “if it's there, it's free” thinking is also their justification.
In conclusion, iustification of moral wrongs is seen in a number of countries, but differs from culture to culture. People always justify their behavior so as to bridge the gap between their own moral standard and their sub-moral behavior.



Work Cited
A. L, Kroeber, and Clyde Kluckhohn. Culture. New York: A Division of Random House, 1963.
“European music industry faces a demographic time bomb warns Jupiterreserch” Jupitermedia 28 Oct. 2007.
Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford UP, 2003.
Pedwell, Terry. “What's with them young whippersnappers?” Canadian Press 29 Sep. 29. 2005. 28 Oct. 2007.
Tylor, Edward B. The Origins of Culture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.
“Weedshare and DRM” p2pnet.net 10 Nov. 2007 .

ARP: Why do people use Winny?

Tomoya Hagiwara
Sylvan Payne
ARW Section AC
October 26th, 2007

Why do people use Winny?

Summary
Kroeber et al. stated that Tylor first defined the word “culture” as a modern meaning in 1871. Tylor said in his book Primitive Culture that “Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” And this definition has been cited a number of times. Therefore it is well-known and famous definition in sociology.

Discussion
It is a common misconception that culture can be substituted for or equaled to custom. However, especially in sociology, culture is used in many more places. One example is morals. Morals are standards of behavior (Oxford Dictionary of English). We sometimes do things not in a legal or illegal way, but in not good way although we know we have to be moral persons. The reason why we sometimes can’t be moral persons is that own ways of thinking have certain reasons. For example, there is a problem that music titles, movie titles, comics, and so on (we call them illegal files) are downloaded illegally for free through web sites or P2P (peer to peer) software application such as Winny, WinMX or Share. It is not clear why people use them and download illegal files. Everybody, including those people above who download illegal files, knows that it is illegal to download such files for free and that we have to obey the law. However, we sometimes stretch the law in our favor selfishly because we have own ways of thinking. Actually, some web pages say that uploading illegal files is illegal but only downloading them is not illegal. Like this, we can download them legally although downloading illegal files is not good from a moral point of view. There is another reason, which is much stronger reason. That is, to be briefly, regular price is very expensive. Although we want to buy regular product, we don’t want to pay lots of money. For example, if we buy an album CD in Japan, we pay about 3,600 yen. In contrast, if in America, we pay about 1,500 yen. Obviously, this is very big difference. If we can get an album CD for about 1,000 yen, we would rather buy it than download it illegally. To sum up, we often justify some stealing. In the problem that illegal files are downloaded, we justified downloading illegal files using with two good reasons, which may just sound good reasons. To solve the problem, sellers have to cooperate with us consumer and to have conferences.

Work Cited
Tylor, Edward B. The Origins of Culture. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958.
A. L, Kroeber, and Clyde Kluckhohn. Culture. New York: A Division of Random House, 1963.
Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press, 2003

Meiland essay: Final draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
14 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Final draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she suggests that your future job probably does not exit yet. He/she also suggests that half of knowledge that students study in the first year in college will have gone out of date by your third year. Therefore college education seems to be fairly useless. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact although until high school, they are not told to pay special attention to the fact. Let me give an example of importance that they have to study how deal with the fact. If they undoubtedly believe something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (Meiland 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility of false in all what we call “fact” and that we must have evidence to believe it.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that a college education seems to be fairly useless is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Here is a famous incident that “Aruaru-daiziten”, the TV program, broadcasted untrue information. One of what they broadcasted untruly is that “it is good for our health to eat natto for every meals.” After this broadcasting day, there are no nattos in every supermarket because they watched the program and believe the content. But later the content was found out to be false. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students and has to be learned in college education.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because according to the slideshows, many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where they study latest technology or knowledge. And there are many fats that they have to memorize as Meiland says “The method of study most commonly used in memorization.” (6) Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

(655Words)

Work Cited

Fisch, Karl. Shift Happens
Meiland, Jack W. College Thinking: How to Get the Best Out of College. New York: New American Library, 1981. (The ELP Reader, 2007. 3-23).

Meiland essay: second draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
8 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: second draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she says that your job probably doesn’t exit. He/she also says that half of knowledge that students study in college will be useless in two years. Therefore college education seems to be fairly useless. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact although until high school, they are not told to pay special attention to the fact. Let me give an example of importance that they have to study how dealing with the fact. If they believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (THE ELP READER line 5, page 8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because according to the slideshows, many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where they study latest technology or knowledge. And there are many fats that they have to memorize as Meiland says “The method of study most commonly used in memorization.” (THE ELP READER line 37, page 6) Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

Meiland essay first draft

Hagiwara1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
6 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay first draft

Is college education really useless? I felt this question in slideshows of “Shift Happens” - Karl Fisch on the internet. In the slideshows, he/she says that your job probably doesn’t exit. He/she also says that half of knowledge that students study in college will be useless in two years. But I don’t think college education is useless. Therefore I would like to argue that college education is useful.
First, in college, students study the way they should deal with the fact. Let me give an example. If they believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief they believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore students learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.
And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. The reason why I disagree with this idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is that in college students study not only current studies but also “how to think.” I believe it is important to think critically not only in higher education but also in daily life. For example, there is a lot of untrue information these days. Consequently we have to examine it and to choose information which is relevant. And Meiland says in the same text “the college student must perform another sort of intellectual work on the material, namely critical examination and evaluation” (THE ELP READER line 5, page 8). Therefore critical examination is required to college students.
However, of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” is partly true, because many parts of what students learn in college would be out of date. I think college is also the place where we study latest technology or knowledge. Therefore if what they learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.
Having said three things in order to explain my ideas in the paragraph of two to four, I don’t think college education is useless. To make the long story short, college students study not only the latest technology or knowledge but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically, although I have to admit a college education is partly useless. Therefore college students have to study not only the latest things that would be out of date but also learn how to deal with the fact and how to think critically. Finally college students have to continue to study their specialty from book, journal, web site on the internet, and so on even after they graduate from college in order to solve the problem that half of what they learn in college will be useless.

(511Words)

*I know this is short. I’m so sorry but I’ll develop and write more about 200 words by June 11th.

Meiland essay: Paragraph 3

Hagiwara 1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
3 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Paragraph 3

Of course I have to admit that idea that “a college education seems to be fairly useless” in some part. Because many parts of what we learn in college would be out of date. I think college is the place where we study latest technology or knowledge. Therefore if what we learn in college would be out of date, I can’t deny that idea i.e. I have to admit it.

Meiland essay: Paragraph 2

Hagiwara 1

Tomoya Hagiwara
Mr. James
ARW Section AC
1 Jun, 2007

Meiland essay: Paragraph 2

And second reason is a little bit similar to the first reason I stated above. In college, we also study the way we should deal with the fact. Let me give an example. If we believe undoubtedly something without evidence (just like feeling), it might turn out to completely be false. This suggests that a belief we believe without confirmation have a possibility of fault. Meiland says in “College Thinking” “it is rational to believe something only if one has a basis for that belief. One basis is what we call evidence” (THE ELP READER line 19, page 9). Therefore we learn that there is the possibility and that we must have evidence.