Comparing Hitchens And Emerson's Views On Society

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Hitchens and Emerson Emerson was a very interesting figure who had many different viewpoints on so many subjects that have to deal with society and how people should act in society. He is a strong believer in individualism and thinks that this is the way that every person should live. He gives his views on charity, consistency, religion, friendship, character building, honesty, and so many more subjects. He tends to be anti-religious throughout his piece “Self-Reliance” and talks down to anyone who is a conformist to society within this piece. He starts off by mentioning about famous philosophers like Plato and Milton, and how society praises them and tries to be like them. Emerson thinks this is ridiculous and that all men should be true…show more content…
Many in society would view being consistent as a very good trait and something that everyone should do. When someone is always changing their mind it is usually looked down upon in society. People who are firm in their beliefs and don’t change their mind are looked as great people and are great for sticking what they believe in. If a public figure had a strong viewpoint on something, but changed their viewpoint they would receive great criticism and lose lots of fans. Emerson’s view on consistency is, once again, completely different form the average view from society. He sees consistency as a bad trait and something that everyone should shy away from. I myself believe that Emerson is right in believing consistency isn’t such a great thing. I believe people should be inconsistent and change their mind if they are given a certain amount of proof to change their mind. This is how Emerson sees consistency; he is very much against it and looks down upon those who do not change their minds. Honesty has a lot to do with the consistency part of Emerson’s piece. Many people may be afraid to be inconsistent because they fear others will fear they are being dishonest. They have an opinion on something one day, and then the next it is changed. Some can see this as being dishonest and many people in society fear this. Emerson says, “With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to…show more content…
He had many more points that just charity and consistency, and they were all very important, but I thought these two were the most interesting and most controversial within today’s society. Emerson’s view on anti-religion is also a strong subject that is viewed down upon by most people. Emerson felt the Christian religion dampened the spirit rather than bringing it up. Although Emerson was against religion in some ways, he still mentions God and a “higher power” throughout his essay, so it shows that he does believe in some form of higher power. Hitchens is very anti-religious and is a well-known atheist. This is something that they differ in, I believe that Emerson doesn’t think there is a higher power but isn’t sure what, while Hitchens is anti-religious completely. They did differ in their views on charity for the most part, since Hitchens still believed there should be some, but it isn’t the duty of himself, it was the duty of the government. Emerson for the most part would have like Christopher Hitchens for his views on religion and consistency alone. Hitchens tended to be inconsistent on his view of war And the Bush administration making him a person who changed his mind based on what he though was right, which is what Emerson thought was

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