Humanities Chapter 7 Flashcard

Humanities Chapter 7

Free Essays on Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely In the early 1840’s, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave. His abhorrence of slavery stemmed from two fronts. The first was the reprehensible treatment and dehumanization of the African-American slave. The second was the corrupting influence the power of slavery had upon the slaveholder. â€Å"But, alas! this kind heart [of his mistress] had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced it’s infernal work† (2). In chapters 6-8, Douglass makes one particular point, among many, quite clear: unjust laws corrupt honorable souls and make criminals of law-abiding people. Douglass relates his experience of learning the alphabet from his mistress and the subsequent cessation of this study by his master. Due to his master’s explanation of why his mistress shouldn’t teach him, a slave, to read, Douglass realizes exactly where white society gets its power to enslave black society. That is â€Å"†¦education and slavery were incompatible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (3 & 6). Upon the heels of this revelation is a second: the pathway from slavery to freedom lies in learning to read (3). The basic injustice of keeping an entire race in mental ignorance for the soul purpose of exploiting them as a work force is one of Douglass’ main criticisms. Douglass conveys to his readers the drastic change that took place in his mistress due to the heady power of having absolute control over another person’s life. She changed from a kind, warm, hard-working soul to a tyrant under slavery’s tutelage (5). Douglass shows his readers just how she went from having â€Å"heavenly qualities† (6) to having the disposition of a tyrant by relating several years of his experiences. His mistress went from teaching him letters to furiously snatching a newspaper out of Douglass’ hand (6), from heavenly smiles to demonic fury (1 ... Free Essays on Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely Free Essays on Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely In the early 1840’s, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave. His abhorrence of slavery stemmed from two fronts. The first was the reprehensible treatment and dehumanization of the African-American slave. The second was the corrupting influence the power of slavery had upon the slaveholder. â€Å"But, alas! this kind heart [of his mistress] had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced it’s infernal work† (2). In chapters 6-8, Douglass makes one particular point, among many, quite clear: unjust laws corrupt honorable souls and make criminals of law-abiding people. Douglass relates his experience of learning the alphabet from his mistress and the subsequent cessation of this study by his master. Due to his master’s explanation of why his mistress shouldn’t teach him, a slave, to read, Douglass realizes exactly where white society gets its power to enslave black society. That is â€Å"†¦education and slavery were incompatible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (3 & 6). Upon the heels of this revelation is a second: the pathway from slavery to freedom lies in learning to read (3). The basic injustice of keeping an entire race in mental ignorance for the soul purpose of exploiting them as a work force is one of Douglass’ main criticisms. Douglass conveys to his readers the drastic change that took place in his mistress due to the heady power of having absolute control over another person’s life. She changed from a kind, warm, hard-working soul to a tyrant under slavery’s tutelage (5). Douglass shows his readers just how she went from having â€Å"heavenly qualities† (6) to having the disposition of a tyrant by relating several years of his experiences. His mistress went from teaching him letters to furiously snatching a newspaper out of Douglass’ hand (6), from heavenly smiles to demonic fury (1 ...

Distrust Towards the West in the Middle East Term Paper

Distrust Towards the West in the Middle East - Term Paper Example The only thing that joins them and serves as a binding force is there negative perception and distrust towards the West in general and the US in particular. The perception of the Western and American people is not very positive as well, they consider most of the Middle Eastern population and countries as uncivilized and uncultured with prevailing tribal traditions. They are considered as the originators and masterminds of the post 9/11 terrorism. The only civilized people are the ones who have benefited from the discovery of oil and this perception is legitimate up to some extent because the perception is based upon what is shown on the media. There is a remarkable difference between people living in the same countries, with urbanization on western patterns in some cities and old tribal traditions and ways of living prevalent in the rural areas of the same country. Religion is the most important binding force but there are two major divisions Shiites and Sunnis which are further divi ded into various different factions. But when it comes to hatred toward the Israeli state or the Jews, the whole Middle Eastern world is united under the same flag and leads the whole Islamic world against Jews and Israel because of the beliefs that they are the eternal enemies of the Muslims. There are several reasons behind this distrust and hatred towards the west the most important of which is the Palestine-Israel issue in which the west have always supported Israel. In the First World War, the Ottoman Empire which consisted mostly of the current Middle Eastern states sided with the German forces and the British and French considered the Ottoman Empire as the weak link in the enemy alliance. With the help of people like Sharif Hussein who sided with the British against the wishes of the Ottoman Empire and Arabian people on condition that the Arabs will be given independence after the end of the war, but the British did not fulfill their promise and when the Ottoman Empire was fi nally defeated in 1918, the British and the French disbanded the Empire and demarcated the boundaries between various regions of the Empire which were formally the provinces of Ottoman Empire and made them into separate states under the French or the British rule. The present picture of the map of the Middle Eastern states though seems very natural but was actually carved out by the French and the British after the First World War to fulfill their own interests. The distrust towards the West was seeded after the First World War and the Middle Eastern states never considered the Western World as its allies because of the treatment they received after the end of the war. United States was not directly involved in the affairs of the Middle East after the First World War but always supported the British decisions and division of the Middle Eastern regions into various states. The majority of the people of the Middle are Muslims and it is a religious belief of the Muslims that wherever t hey live in this whole world, they form one nation and the Muslim majority regions of the world should form one state. Therefore the division of the Ottoman by the British was considered as an effort to weaken the Muslims globally. During the war, the British double crossed for their own interests, they promised the Jews that they will be given a separate state in the Biblical