Political affiliations

III. Employment shall.be based solely on competence and ability to perform assigned responsibilities without regard to factors of age, race, religion, political affiliation, or sex. 

S. Fred Singer is a retired university professor and the president of a nonprofit policy research organization. In the final chapter in this volume, he describes an attempt by a politically affiliated scientist to silence him, by an attack on his honesty. The attack failed, but a court case was necessary to stop it. The chapter also includes a description of a subsequent attempt by Vice President A1 Gore to belittle Singer s reputation because of his accepting funds from industry. A TV newsperson stopped that attempt. 

Honesty Regardless of your political affiliation, a fundamental duty for anyone in this field is to be honest and upfront. History offers abundant examples of politicians who have done extraordinary work to help those they serve—these politicians are remembered with gratitude for decades and even centuries after their deaths. But history also holds examples of shyster-politicians who used lies and fakery to fulfill their selfish desires. Do not have your name go on that latter list. 

Clearly the societal reaction - even that portion of it reflected in the mass media - is not homogeneous. One cannot assume that the inventory images and the themes discussed in this chapter, diffused outwards to be absorbed symmetrically by all of society. Standard research on mass media influences indicates how complicated and uneven this flow is, and basic questions need to be asked about the representativeness of these images and themes and whether significant differences exist in terms of age, sex, social class, region, political affiliation and so on. The already processed images of deviance are further coded and absorbed in terms of a plurality of interests, positions and values. 

From the point of view of international relations, the region is enclosed by the three continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe with the coastal states belonging to different political affiliations, such as the Arab League, European Union, and the Organisation of African Unity. The economic status of these states is also quite heterogenous, some being developed while others are developing or in transition. 

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