The use of social media to boost event attendance Essay

The use of social media to boost event attendance - Essay Example Traditional method of advertising events was through posting mail cards, distributing fliers and making individual calls to invite the targeted audience. These methods are expensive in terms of the financial resources used and the time incurred in reaching the audience. Embracing social media in the marketing activities has greatly reduced these expenses since very little cost is involved in advertising an event over the social platform. One needs to only have access to internet and have the relevant accounts to reach millions of people globally. Furthermore the communication is instant since no time is wasted in passing the information and hence an effective mode of communication. The reduced marketing cost implies that the organizers of the events can channel those funds to improving the outlook of the event and hence attract more guests. The little expenses incurred can also prompt lowering of the fee charged for the event and therefore encourage many people to participate (Havald ar, 2010). Almost every cultured person living in this dispensation of advanced technology participates in online social activities such as Twitter and face book. This large audience is translated to a large attendance when the respective planners harness and utilize the potential of the network to the maximum (Wale, Robinson & Dickson, 2010). Many organizations have set a team of online marketers whose mandate is to publicize the event and educate the public on the strategies to adopt. The strategies include creating relevant groups in the Face book and hash tags in twitter and then inviting people to join the groups and twit under the given hash tags. The promoters are always influential people with a large number of followers in the social media so that they can affect a large population. An effective mobilization and awareness creation is always a

Media industry in Covering Islam by Edward W Said Essay

Media industry in Covering Islam by Edward W Said - Essay Example The book was first published in 1981. It primarily focused on the issue of Iran, cold war and war. â€Å"Covering Islam† is full of examples of the work of various media groups and journalists. The views and ideas have been appropriately supported by the facts and examples. Chomsky (2002) has raised various issues on the way media has represented various issues of war, trade union issues and terrorism. The issues ranged are from the presentation of these events by media and control of powerful groups over these mediums to control thought process of mass. Said’s work â€Å"Covering Islam† is another effort which seeks attention of readers towards the biased representation of Islam and Islamic community by mainstream media. In the words of Christopher Lehmann-Haupt for The New York Times Book Review for the same book:â€Å"[He] skilfully traces the origins of American misinformation about Islam to the way that Orientalist scholarship is financed and organized in t his country. And finally he pleads eloquently for the instrumentality of all historical knowledge and the needs of all scholars to be aware of their objectives. This plea amounts to a prescription for cultural self-awareness that will be wasted on none of us†Various studies and theories have been developed to study the development of the concept of Islamophobia. This is very clear from the previous studies and views of Chomsky, Said and others about portrayal of the Islam, Muslim and Muslim countries unfavourable from the past.

The Zero Based Budgeting Accounting Essay

The Zero Based Budgeting Accounting Essay Zero-based budgeting avails a better approach to dealing with the drawbacks associated with incremental budgeting. Unlike in incremental budgeting, zero-based approach does not necessarily start from the previous years budget level; instead, the existing operations are evaluated and continuance of the operation or activity ought to be justified on the basis of its utility and its need to the company. Zero-based budgeting pursues to justify resource allocation within individual budget scheme, irrespective of prior period budgets. The budget in this case is initially allocated as zero unless the manager responsible makes the case for resource allocation. Every plan in this case is justified as per the total cost and the total benefits and past performance is not in any way referred as a building block. The goal of zero-based budgeting is to re-evaluate and re-examine all programs and expenditures for each budgeting cycle by computing workload and effectiveness appraisals so as to verif y substitute levels of financing for each program or expenditure. Zero-based budgeting approach avails some distinctive advantages compared to traditional incremental budgeting such as: it allocates financial resources based on planning requirements and results; and, in order to attain efficiency, zero-based approach encourages managers to search for alternative operation plans. However, despite the outlined advantages, zero-based approach also manifest some disadvantages; first, since the budgeting process is sophisticated, the process can consume a lot of managerial time and may appear to be too drastic a solution for the task at hand; second, short-term benefits may take precedence and obscure long-term planning as the latter is less dominant within the planning process; and, third, since the new budget is launched every year, there may be annual conflicts over budget allocation. In order to circumvent these drawbacks, especially concerning the managerial time required, one alternative may be to conduct a rolling budget every year and carry out zero-based budgeting perhaps three to five years, or in cases where a considerable modification that occurs within operations. This compromise may aid to weed out waste and inefficiency, especially within a period of intense competition and reengineering that is characteristic of the mobile phone industry. Indeed, zero-based budgeting is an effective means of controlling for unnecessary costs since the departments and divisions in Pear Ltd do not automatically receive a distinctive sum every year, each amount of money apportioned to each unit bear a purpose, which keeps waste and discretionary spending to a minimum. Zero-based budgeting minimizes the entitlement mentality with respect to cost increases, and bears the potential to render budget discussions to be more meaningful. Activity Based Budgeting Activity-based budgeting awards financial resources to activities that see the highest return in the form of enhanced revenues for the company. Thus, the organization can be able to translate its vision into a strategy with definable objectives so as to create value. The benefit of adoption of activity-based budgeting is that Pear Ltd can be to accurately link revenues to strategic objectives, which, in turn, may enhance revenue moving forward. Nevertheless, the implementation of an activity-based model demands investment of substantial time and resources, which may not be immediately feasible for Pear Ltd. The most effective performance budgets manifest how the invested resources fund day-to-day tasks and activities, and how the activities are anticipated to generate certain outputs and the outcomes that should be the result. If Pear Ltd adopts a performance-based budget, the company will have a good idea of how money is anticipated to translate into results. One of the drawbacks to this approach is that the budget process must incorporate the review of performance measures and time for discussions of performance against expectations. Performance-based budgeting Performance-based budgeting (PBB) process is a continuum that incorporates the accessibility and utilization of performance grounded in information at each of the varied phases of the budget process. Performance budgets mainly seek to contain information of a number of elements, namely: inputs, outputs, efficiency, and effectiveness. PBB mainly start at begin policy level in which the organization develop goals and explicit policy objectives. Decisions are mainly taken to link budget allocations to the set goals, objectives, and measures. Priority-based budgeting This approach represents an adjustment of zero-based budgeting method whose focal point centers on highlighting corporate priorities and apportioning growth accordingly. This demands a thorough ongoing review of departmental services. Based on the analysis for every unit the elements of spending could be classified as highly desirable or beneficial. Such decisions are supplied to the decision makers. Priority-driven-budgeting is a powerful tool that aids entities to: better manage the expectations of constituents; address present or anticipated fiscal constraints; highlight on the revenues at hand and utilize them in the most productive ways possible; spend within the entities means; and, attain the best results for the invested resources. Flexible budgeting can be employed by Pear Ltd management in planning by indicating what costs will be at diverse levels of activity. In so doing, flexible budgeting can be employed to solve the problem that emanate from employing static budgets for performance evaluation. Whereas the traditional incremental budgeting may not be necessarily flawed, the adoption of flexible budgets can award managers some feel for the impact of both fixed and variable costs. Pear Ltds management could shift from traditional incremental budgeting to zero-based budgeting. The adoption of zero-based budgeting suits the Pear Ltd, especially since in the mobile phone industry competition is rife. This is informed by the fact that it allows every managerial activity to be properly identified and then assessed by analyzing alternative levels of operation for a particular activity. The highlighted alternatives may be ranked and relative priorities laid for attaining effectiveness and efficiency. Alternatives to traditional incremental budgeting offer Pear Ltds management the most ideal characteristics of a budgeting system such as flexibility, responsiveness, and coordination. A move towards a decentralized structure can be critical to easing the drawbacks associated with traditional budgeting process. Critically evaluate alternative methods of product costing and the role of such methods in supporting such areas as the evaluation of strategy and cost control. Costing systems differ along three dimensions, namely: the components being measured; what is included in product cost; and, the manner in which the cost are accumulated. The differences in costs emanate from the urge to incorporate or exclude certain forms of information in product costs. The differentials manifested between the approaches stem from the timing of the cost recognition whereby the core issue centres on when the fixed production costs become expenses. Eventually, both methods produce the same merged appraisal of total profit; nevertheless, there may be differences in short-term phase profit measures and stock valuations. Basic approach to product costing normally incorporates assigning direct costs to products and allocating manufacturing overhead costs to products. The core product costing methods in this category include job costing and process costing. Job costing encompasses the transfer of outlays to a certain manufacturing job and may include contract costing and batch costing. Overhead is allocated to jobs and the approach is utilized when individual lots of products are distinctive, especially when the entities are billed directly to customers. Process costing infers the accumulation of labor, material, and overheads outlays across whole divisions or entities whereby the entire production cost being allocated to individual units. Process costing incorporates aspects such as operation costing, unit costing/output costing, service costing, and multiple/composite costing. Alternative Product Costing There is an overall concurrence as to the accounting treatment of key aspects such as product costs and of period costs; however, there is constantly a debate centering on what item costs should be billed as product costs. This is largely a case of designation of absorption costing (AC) and variable costing (VC)/ marginal costing) that embodies diverse approaches to product cost description and dimension, and consequently profit measurement. Absorption costing embodies the traditional approach that deems all production costs to be product costs. The accounting treatment of fixed production costs varies as per each approach. Hence, all the approaches deliver varied periodic stock valuation whereby in absorption costing, stocks remain valued at full cost of production while under VC; the stocks remain valued at variable production cost. Similarly, the methods may also yield to diverse periodic profit measurements. Variable costing system incorporate direct material, direct labour, and the variable constituent of overhead within product cost. Fixed overhead, in this case, is treated as a period cost. Absorption costing system incorporates direct material, direct labour, and both the inconsistent and rigid elements of overhead in product cost. Factory overhead, in this case, is absorbed into the product cost. Job order costing Job order costing explores and establishes the outlay of individual jobs/batches. The direct material employed and the direct labour hours are accumulated for each job whereby manufacturing overhead is mainly applied as per the direct labour hours. One of the advantages of employing this approach is that the outlays of every job can be independently analyzed. If the actual cost was extremely high, the manager is at liberty of reviewing the actual material and labour costs to establish the reason for the surge. While job order costing can be an effective tool for some companies, it can create additional work tracking costs that may not necessarily add value. Activity-based costing Activity-based costing represents a managerial accounting method that approximates the outlay of products and services by apportioning overhead costs to direct costs. Activity based costing system represents a modified absorption costing system whereby the indirect outlays are outlined to their cost pools to reflect resource exploitation of indirect reserves by the cost object. Activity-based costing (ABC) represents a two-stage product costing method that first allocates costs to activities and then allots them to products based on the products consumption of activities. Activity-based costing mainly incorporates four steps: first, identifying the activities that consume resources and assign cost to them; second, outlining the cost drivers connected with every action; third, computing a cost rate per cost driver unit/transaction (each activity should possess multiple cost drivers); fourth, establishment of output metrics and conveying outlays to products in multiplying the outlay dr iver fee by the quantity of outlay driver units registered in the manufacturing of the product. Since product mix has grown more diverse, activity based costing has evolved to become a useful tool. Activity-based costing allows managers to arrive at decisions by employing product outlay constituent that only covers those actions that add to the manufacturing of the product. Nevertheless, ABC demands more detailed analysis of the activities within the plant that require additional resources from the company. The key benefit of this approach is the potential to approximate the outlay of entity products and services precisely. ABC helps to underline wasteful or non-profitable ventures that impact on the productivity of the production processes. Marginal costing Marginal costing is an approach that employs variable costs. Variable costs, in this case, embody those outlays that stay the identical per unit, but vary in sum as per the overall quantity of units manufactured. Fixed costs essentially remain the same in total irrespective of the number of units produced. Since variable costs are mainly controlled costs, marginal costing enables mangers to make decisions devoid of being swayed by uninhibited statistics such as fixed outlays. Marginal costing also embodies a valuable device to utilize when the entity business environment is extremely competitive. The product pricing can be engineered to recover the changeable outlays of the products. However, disregarding fixed outlays may modify the proceeds to recover overall outlays of the business. The Role of Alternative Methods of Product Costing in Supporting Evaluation of Strategy and Cost Control Alternative methods of product costing are critical to the evaluation of company strategy and overall cost control. In the contemporary competitive business environment accurate product costing is essential to a business survival. Such methods are critical in supporting such areas as the evaluation of strategy and cost control. The approaches are critical in shaping precise divisional and product outlays as a foundation for estimating the cost effectiveness of divisions and the productivity of diverse products. Cost allocation plays a strategic role in shaping competitiveness, especially in informing the effectiveness of the decision-making. Alternative methods of transfer pricing The rapid advances in technology, communication, and transportation have yielded to a large number of multinational enterprises that bear the flexibility to place their enterprises and activities anywhere in the world. The main rationale of transfer pricing is to render most favourable decision making within a decentralized organization so as to maximize the profit of the organization. A transfer price integrates the cost one sub-entity of a corporation charges for a given product or service supplied to the next sub-entity within the same corporation. The sub-entities may be profit centres, cost centres, or investment centres. Pear Ltd central managements adoption of alternative transfer prices may possess significant impact on aspects such as motivation, performance indication and autonomy across the range of Pear Ltds responsibility centres. Motivation in this case combines goal congruence and effort and includes the aspiration to achieve a given goal outlined by the management merged with the search of those goals. Ideally, alternative transfer prices should possess properties such as promoting goal congruence, motivating management effort, useful in evaluating subunit performance, and preserving an enhanced level of subunit autonomy in decision making. The advantages of transfer pricing across Pear Ltds range of responsibility centres include better, timely decisions owing to the managers proximity to local conditions; the managers are not diverted by regular, restricted decision difficulties; managers motivation increases since they have better control over results; and enhanced decision making that avails better training for mangers for enhanced level positions within the future. Some of the disadvantages that can be cited include lack of goal congruence among mangers within diverse parts of the organization; inadequate information available to top management; and, lack of coordination among managers in diverse parts of the organization. Alternative methods of transfer pricing Market-based transfer pricing Market-based transfer pricing details when the outside market for the product is well-defined, competitive, and stable, organizations frequently tend to institute the market price as a benchmark for the transfer price. This approach, however, attracts some concerns, especially when the outside company is neither competitive nor stable. This may distort internal decision making for relying on market-based transfer prices that mirror distress prices or a variety of special pricing strategies. Market-based pricing overall leads to finest decisions, especially when: a) the marketplace is perfectly competitive; b) there is low interdependencies of sub-divisions; and, c) there is lack of extra costs or gains to the association in its entirety from buying or selling within the external market rather than transacting internally. Using market prices for transfers in certain conditions leads to goal congruence. Division managers will be acting in their own best interests to arrive at decisions that may be within the best interests of the organization as a whole. Nevertheless, one can argue that computing transfer prices grounded in cost will most probably make Pear Ltd to pay little attention to mitigating outlays since all expenditures incurred amid production will be recovered. Negotiated transfer pricing This approach features a firm identifying regulations for the computation of transfer prices. Divisional managers, in this case, are persuaded to settle or jointly agreeable transfer prices. The exact transfer price in this case hinges on the negotiating powers of the divisions. The bargained transfer price manifests a number of properties: attainment of goal congruence; critical for evaluating division performance since the transfer derives from express bargaining between the set divisions; motivating administration endeavour given that once bargained, the transfer price is autonomous of real costs of the subunit (the subunits in this case manifest every reason to direct the organization resourcefully to increase profits; and, safeguarding subunit independence since the transfer pricing flows from express negotiations between the two subunits. Cost-based transfer pricing In the lack of perfectly developed market-price, majority of the companies base their pricing on the manufacturing cost of the supplying sub-entity. The most prominent methods employed include: full cost, cost-plus, variable cost plus lump sum charge, dual transfer prices, variable cost plus opportunity cost. One possible restraint of full-cost-based transfer prices derives from the fact that they can yield to suboptimal conclusions for the organization as a whole. Transferring products internally at incremental cost possess the following properties: attains goal congruence; not useful for evaluating subunit performance since transfer price fails to exceed full costs. Transferring products internally at incremental cost fails to preserve subunit autonomy since it is rule-based and some divisions have no say in and, thus, no capability to set the transfer price. However, transferring products internally at incremental cost will motivate management effort if based on budgeted costs (actual costs are comparable to budgeted costs). If, however, the transfers are grounded are based on actual costs, Pear Ltd possess little incentive to control costs. Although, neither approach can be cited to be perfect, negotiated transfer pricing possesses more favourable properties compared to the cost-based transfer pricing. Both transfer-pricing approaches attain goal congruence; however, bargained transfer pricing assists in the estimation of subunit performance, stimulates management action, and conserves subunit autonomy, while the transfer price remain based on incremental costs fails to attain these objectives. The benefits of utilization of alternative methods of transfer pricing between responsibility centres is that the operating managers possess the incentives to closely weigh and conduct cost-benefit analysis prior to requesting groups services or products. Similarly, the operating managers possess an inducement to pursue the job and the development undertaken by the responsibility centres. Decentralization would encourage plant managers to enhance output so as to achieve the highest profitability, and inspire plant managers to track cost cutting measures that would increase margins. Manufacturing managers would be equally motivated to design their operations as per the criteria that satisfy the marketing managers approval, hence enhancing cooperation between the responsibility centres. The problem that emanate from adoption of alternative transfer pricing by Pear Ltds central management is that the contract may necessitate extensive internal negotiations with regard to cost, time, and technical specification. Similarly, Pear Ltds divisions need to consistently sell their services or products to the operating division and this could possibly result in loss of morale. To the degree that the focal point of the responsibility centres is on short-term schemes stipulated by the operating divisions, the current arrangement would lead to goal congruence and motivation. Goal congruence is attained since both the central management (operating divisions) and the responsibility centres are motivated to work the organizational goals such as enhancing the environment. The operating divisions would be highly motivated to utilize the services of the responsibility centres so as to attain the objectives outlined for them by the administration.

Dylan Marlais Thomas :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that’s the record.†(Quoted by John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America). One of the most renowned authors of the twentieth century, Dylan Thomas is as well known for his philosophical poetry, critical writings, and essays. Often focusing on themes as birth, death, love, and religion, Thomas's works remain distinctly personal through a blend of rich language, detailed imagery, and psychological issues. Thomas is a poet known greatly for his indulgence in his love for poetry and literature. Parallel to this is the unique way Thomas was able to write his works about ideas and themes outside the environment he was contained to live within. His strict childhood and middle age life, which was largely filled with drinking, and wondering slums played some part in shaping his work, but can be overlooked if studied correctly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in the Welsh seaport of Swansea. Both his parents held respectable jobs and he lived under a middleclass household. His mother, in particular lead Dylan from an early age to be a serious reader and writer of poetry. Dylan’s interest in poetry and literature was sparked at an early age, and by high school Dylan was editing for his school newspaper. Aside from editing, Dylan also published his own works which frequently appeared in other publications.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It is particularly clear from his early poems, where Marc Alyn has observed, all of his originality is already on view, that he was occupied with introspections that lie outside of time and place, and that his style owes comparatively little to tradition and experience.†(Dylan Thomas) Unlike many writers, Dylan was able to explore with ideas that he frequently could not compare his own life with. Dylan’s early poetry was greatly influenced by his friend Daniel Jones. The two friends often wrote plays, and developed poems by drawing lines out of a hat and piecing them together. These were the beginnings of Dylan’s career as a writer and poet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before long he was reporting and writing feature articles for the paper and its weekly supplement, The Herald of Wales. Thomas began to spend much of his time exploring the streets, pubs, and alleys of the depression-ridden seaport town in which he lived. Even though, well off himself, Thomas found it much more interesting to study and write about these areas (The Life of Dylan Thomas, Constantine Fitzgibbion). Dylan Marlais Thomas :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies. I think that’s the record.†(Quoted by John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America). One of the most renowned authors of the twentieth century, Dylan Thomas is as well known for his philosophical poetry, critical writings, and essays. Often focusing on themes as birth, death, love, and religion, Thomas's works remain distinctly personal through a blend of rich language, detailed imagery, and psychological issues. Thomas is a poet known greatly for his indulgence in his love for poetry and literature. Parallel to this is the unique way Thomas was able to write his works about ideas and themes outside the environment he was contained to live within. His strict childhood and middle age life, which was largely filled with drinking, and wondering slums played some part in shaping his work, but can be overlooked if studied correctly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in the Welsh seaport of Swansea. Both his parents held respectable jobs and he lived under a middleclass household. His mother, in particular lead Dylan from an early age to be a serious reader and writer of poetry. Dylan’s interest in poetry and literature was sparked at an early age, and by high school Dylan was editing for his school newspaper. Aside from editing, Dylan also published his own works which frequently appeared in other publications.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It is particularly clear from his early poems, where Marc Alyn has observed, all of his originality is already on view, that he was occupied with introspections that lie outside of time and place, and that his style owes comparatively little to tradition and experience.†(Dylan Thomas) Unlike many writers, Dylan was able to explore with ideas that he frequently could not compare his own life with. Dylan’s early poetry was greatly influenced by his friend Daniel Jones. The two friends often wrote plays, and developed poems by drawing lines out of a hat and piecing them together. These were the beginnings of Dylan’s career as a writer and poet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before long he was reporting and writing feature articles for the paper and its weekly supplement, The Herald of Wales. Thomas began to spend much of his time exploring the streets, pubs, and alleys of the depression-ridden seaport town in which he lived. Even though, well off himself, Thomas found it much more interesting to study and write about these areas (The Life of Dylan Thomas, Constantine Fitzgibbion).

Obesity and Motor Skills

There are 3 areas of Physical development. |Gross Motor Skills |The use of large muscles in the body and can include things like walking or riding a | | |bike. | |Fine Motor Skills |The use of smaller muscles in the body and including using building blocks or juggling,| | |also activities that involve hand-eye coordination. | |Fine Manipulative skills |The use of the arm, hand and wrists muscles and include activities like using a pen. | Both fine motor skills and fine manipulative skills are also the use of hands and fingers. This form of development also has a holistic element as it links into the other areas of development; Social, Emotional, Intellectual/Cognitive, Communication/Language and Creative. When looking at physical development it clearly shows that a child’s development begins at the head, then it continues down the body. To aid with physical development, children need to be physically active. This can help prevent the harmful effects on health and wellbeing in both the long and short term. In the short term, physical activity can boost energy and help children to get rid of any excess stress or anxiety. It also shows that children are more physically active, have better eating and sleeping habits. They are also less likely to get illnesses like cold and flu bugs. In the long term, physical activity helps with the issue of obesity in children. This can also help with preventing other health problems like heart disease and stage 2 diabetes. It has also been shown to reduce the risk of some forms of cancer. Physically active children also have improved psychological wellbeing. They can gain self confidence and higher self esteem. It is important for children to have lots of space and access to outdoor activities as this can benefit all areas of development. Children follow a sequence of development. Gross and fine motor skills are the starting points and lead into other areas. Locomotion uses the large movements and the ability to move around under ones â€Å"own steam†. This begins with a baby learning to first crawl or bum shuffle, and then develop the ability to walk. There is also balance which is the fist of the senses to develop. This is crucial to a child’s posture, movement and proprioception. Proprioception is the sense that starts to inform a baby of the areas of the body that are mobile. An example of this is when a young child rolls backwards and forwards on the floor with no goal insight, they are getting balance ready for sitting, standing and walking. As physical development is linked to the other areas of development, each affect and are affected by the others. Emotional Development; if and when a baby masters the ability to crawl, they are then free to explore their environment alone. This makes the child more independent and confident and more likely to cope with separation from familiar adults. Cognitive Development; hand-eye coordination help with the ability to reach and grasp at objects, this develops at around 6 months of age and often results in a surprised reaction at first. As babies are interested in edges they soon learn where one object ends and another begins, this area of development is important. Language Development; movement activities help children by giving them plenty of opportunities to talk and use new vocabulary that is related to the activity. Social Development; learning social skills are achieved when playing with other children. They also learn to appreciate others and help them gain confidence.

Religion and discrimination Essay

One might take the view that society should be tolerant to any religion so long as it conforms to our laws and written constitution. At first glance, this statement seems as fit an answer as possible to the question of societal limits to religious tolerance. Unofrtunately, if one were to consider the matter with more caution, one would eventually see that the statement could only be part of a greater answer. It is without a consideration of some of the elements which constitute cults, as well as other factors, that one would falter in devising a definitive answer to the question. Certain followings or ‘faiths’ which claim to be religions that are prevalent today are, in actuality, forms of cults. Although most of the practices and elements common to cults are legal, they are, at best, suspect. The following should constitute the line of telerance society should not cross. Firstly, what distinguishes cults from religions is the manner in which they operate. Cults are designed with a view of insulating the individual from the rest of society. Once a member of a cult, in most cases, the individual is removed of most (if not all) of their personal autonomy. Most decisions are made by the cult leader, access to the outside world is often denied, and all information about the outside world is distorted by the leader. These types of operations should be intolerable by society. Second, there should be no tolerance for ‘religions’ that espouse any form of sacrifice, be it human or animal. Although historically, these practices were more or less prevalent and accepted, there certainly is no place for them in modern times. Lastly, there should be a limit of religious tolerance with regards to the manner in which some display their beliefs. Individuals in society should not be subject toa ny violence or restriction of freedom as a consequence of someone else’s beliefs. There have been numerous illustrations of this in the past. Individuals have blocked abotion clinics, have participated in violent demonstrations concerning one issue or another, ad infinitum. These types of religiously-fuelled practices have no place in, and should not be  tolerated, in present day society. For some, the state has been seen to usurp the place of God on occasion. The fervent belief held by Jehovah’s Witnesses, in assence, acts as the basis of their religious dissent. There have been certain areas of the law, which historically, have given rise to the conflict between the Canadian legal system and Jahovah’s Witnesses. As a result of this conflict, a myriad of implications have arisen. On one extreme, has been state persecutions of Witnesses. On the other extreme, has been instances of law reform. A consideration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ bases of dissent will follow. To begin, the First and Second World Wars saw the Witnesses as refusing to be drafted into military service. This area of dissent arose out of their pacifist doctirne. They refused to be involved in military service, or in anything that could be tied in with the war effort. Next, Witnesses reject all practices which allude to idolation. Their firm belief that only Jehovah be worshipped ahs led them to refuse singing the national anthem and saluting the Canadian Flag. Anything to do with pledging allegiance to anything or anyone other than Jehovah is strictly intolerable. As well, Witnesses have had objections to education. They believe that only parents have the right to teach faith to their children. Moreover, the Witnesses have had the view that religious education does nothing but serve to indoctrinate children into the RomanCatholic faith. These beliefs have led them to oppose religious education in schools, and the celebration of such Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter. Lastly, their literal stance towards to Bible has contributed to the Witnesses’ opposition of such modern medical procedures as blood transfusions. Although their position is based solely upon two verses in the Bible, it does nothing to detract them from their adamant views on the subject. As can be demonstrated, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rigid stance on certain  legal issues has allowed them to continue on as ‘conscientious objectors’. Many of their theological beliefs have contributed to numerous areas of dissent between themselves and the Canadian legal system.