Paine used Common Sense as a great tool to let the commoners and less educated to gain some insight on the role and purpose of government. Firstly, Paine makes a distinction between government and society. Paine states: “Society is everything constructive and good that people join together to accomplish. Government, on the other hand, is an institution whose sole purpose is to protect us from our own vices. Government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best.” He goes on to say that “government's sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.” Basically, Paine is stating to the common people that they have the opportunity to form their own representation of government and do it in a way that truly represents their wants and needs.
Melissa Raboczkay Thursday 19:00-21:55 Is Equality Going Too Far? “Equality…is the result of human organization. We are not born equal.” (Quotation Details) This quote, stated by social philosopher Hannah Arendt, bares truth to the message that Vonnegut is portraying in “Harrison Bergeron”. We, as human beings, are not born equal or rather we do not all possess the same characteristics and qualities as others; some excel at different aspects and by making the outcome equal it hinders our own unique capabilities. Vonnegut not only satirizes the mistaken of equality in the American culture but rather he may also be satirizing the misunderstanding of what leveling and equality could ultimately entail.
He uses figurative language to show how migrants do not respect their land and are “people who root themselves in ideas rather than places.” By this he means that people, who migrate, only migrate for the ideas and stereotypes of a country and not its beauty. In addition, Sanders also uses antithesis to point out that he disagrees with Rushdie. Sanders wrote, “ the belief that movement is inherently good, staying put is bad; that uprooting brings tolerance, while rootedness breeds intolerance.” He antithesizes to point out Rushdie’s belief and compare it with his and by doing so he shows how Rushdie is wrong. Lastly, Sanders uses parallelism to show how migration has brought us to a corrupt and a malevolent society. He first writes in line 3, “From the beginning, our heroes have been sailors, explorers, cowboys, prospectors…” This exhibits that since the beginning our “suppose” heroes are the people who have done other people wrong.
Zakia Dixon September 9th, 2010 6th period “The Sneetches” “ The Sneetches” portrays Seuss’s intent to influence young readers views on discrimination and exploration; sues uses the star bellies the plain bellies and Mr. Mc monkey Mc Bean to clearly illustrate his message on the importance of equality and the pitfalls of hate in society. Mc Monkey Mc Bean symbolizes the type of people who exploits discrimination. Mc Bean persuades the star-bellied Sneetches that he can take their stars off so they won’t be like the plain bellied Sneetches, but he will only do it for money. He does the same thing to the plain bellied Sneetches and says he can put stars on their bellies so they can be like the plain bellied Sneetches and charges them money. So, each of them took their stars off and paying Mc Bean so he exploits them.
According to the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal”. This statement may refer to the equality of the American people but it only applies unalienable rights to a certain group of citizens rather than the entire nation. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Fredrick Douglass, famous opposers of this document, strongly criticize the hypocrisy of the government and the socalled American Dream. However, each individual had their own reasoning in why they don’t favor and agree with the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Sentiments was an inspiring and powerful speech written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton where she argues about the inequality of women and the lack of rights given to them, regardless of them being poor, wealthy or a different race.
Moral vs Influence: Huck's journey “How can a society that debases human lives on a mass scale consider itself civilized?” This comes from an article, Twain in 85 by Shelly Fishkin, that articulated the irony of the morals of civil society as a whole. It directly criticizes racism which was not “allowed” because slavery was considered justifiable. Mark Twain, originally named Samuel Clemens, was one of the few who questioned the morals and ideas of society because he believed that they weren't right. He used Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to characterize the irony he saw in societies clashing standards that decided slavery as right but thought that every human had inalienable rights such liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Huck's moral and the development of that moral is advanced through Jim's search for freedom where it can be seen him growing as a person by accepting Jim, a slave, and the stages of his development: absence of morality and clashes of societies standards with his own.
I can make the connection between this chapter and chapter twenty-nine in that, both chapters discuss the issues with human beings repulsive activities and behaviors. For instance, chapter twenty-nine states, the more people who try to embrace life, will end up losing it. This correlates to chapter nine-teen in that this chapter is saying that people should give up righteousness and give up wisdom, because it will only result in failure. It also states that people should embrace simplicity…and make few desires for themselves (19). Both of these chapters sound like they believe in communism, where everyone is treated equally and viewed on equal social
Both King and Thoreau discuss civil disobedience and when it is just to break unfair laws. Another topic they discussed is the merit of authority, and how they were disappointed by the action the majority takes towards certain issues. Henry Thoreau mostly emphasizes on how civil disobedience is important because he believes that governments should consider everybody's opinions. Both have the same common logic, but they express their views in a completely different manner. King uses better emotional appeals so that his audience feels compelled to his cause, King also uses figurative language to create a powerful tone that provides his essay with a meaningful effect; while Thoreau uses more ethos and common logic.
Erich Fromm Critique Essay In discussing obedience, people usually will think that obedience is the right thing to do, and disobedience is in the wrong. In Erich Fromm’s essay, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”, he states that around different places, people all believe that the world we live in came about as an act of disobedience. In his argument, he states multiple examples taken from the Greek myth of Prometheus, and of Adam and Eve, with the Original Sin. Erich even assumes that the beginning of our race starts through disobedience: “[our] intellectual development was dependent on the capacity for being disobedient..”(Fromm 684) With this statement, Erich Fromm strongly argues his view that “human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience.”(Fromm 683) In his article, Fromm discusses his reasoning for believing that history began with disobedience, and will end in obedience. Erich Fromm talks about the different kinds of obedience, and how they can help one’s society, or even destroy it.
Sarah Wolf Veritas Symposium Rosato 15 September 2014 Brave New World and Values in Human Life Aldous Huxley uses Brave New World to emphasize the importance of individualism in human life. Individualism is when a single person puts his own needs above the needs of the group. In a dystopian society that believes “every one belongs to everyone else (Huxley 43)”, standing out and being one’s own person are considered taboo. The society’s organized sexual promiscuity helps discourage monogamous relationships because “It’s such horribly bad form to go on and on like this with one man (Huxley 41).” Ideals such as monogamy or solidarity are so outrageous to this society that a person risks punishment for feeling the need for or wanting “alone time”, as Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson were sent to an island for expressing their differences from the society. Having freedom of choice is not a necessity to the Brave New World “world state”.