During the treatment of the American colonies by British testament in the late 1700s, Edmund Burke, an Irish statesman, strongly asserts that “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”As it is with many things in life, there can always be too much of something; therefore, there is a certain degree of power a person or a group of people can obtain. Abuse of power is the most critical issue facing many cultures today because it leads to instability in a society and the genocide of a group. The discerning issue, abuse of power, in present day is implied through instability in a society. One example is Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “Beyond Vietnam” on the aimless and selfish U.S. war efforts regarding Vietnam’s inner strife with …show more content…
Similar to this topic, genocide of a group is brought on by the abuse of power. Such as, the white settler’s decision to wipe out a group of Native Americans for their own benefit in expanding their territory. Due to this circumstance, Chief Joseph, a member of this Native American tribe, gives a speech in “Surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, stating “My people… have no blankets and no food”(Joseph).The selfish desires of the white settler’s to secure their high status through new territory and resources drives them to push out their “obstacles”. Hence, they chose genocide for a more effective solution to the problem, leaving the tribe members helpless to overcome survival. However, while some may argue that the genocide of Native American’s shaped America’s history and future, it tore the Native American’s own home down through violence in the process, laying the foundation for more acts of unnecessary uses of power to come. Given these points, it can be concluded that both instability in a society and the genocide of a group will create abuse of power, which is the most critical issue faced by cultures today. This abuse of power is seen through the control over “inferior” people; abusers are in pursuit of their own needs instead of the welfare of all the people. This problem has impacted many aspects of every society in the world, negatively affecting the individuals who are caught between this relinquishing power and the struggle to overcome the barrier to a peaceful
Power is a great privilege to have and a person can take advantage of the power if they have it. Getting the privilege of power can be abused and misused depending on the person it is given to. Sometimes if the power lands in the wrong person’s hands they can use it to benefit themselves. In the novel called Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, the power of the law is being abused in the situations occurring throughout the book. Having power and privileges can make a great impact on your life and other people’s lives and give you a variety of advantages.
In the fourth chapter titled “Native Reactions to the invasion of America” in the book, “Beyond 1492: Encounters in Colonial North America, the author James Axtell shares with us an essay he wrote and shared at a conference at Vanderbilt University. Historical accounts are followed beginning at the arrival of explorers and settlers until the 1700’s with various Native tribes in North America. Axtell’s goal is to educate us on the multitude of ways Native Americas reacted during various periods of colonization, and the various methods that the Native Americans perished. Axtell also educates us in his essay on the ways that Native Americans tried to ultimately prevent their extinction at any cost. Overall, the authors intent is to educate us
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
All people have power, some people are just more powerful than others. Having power is the ability to create change. Examples of power being used wrongly is during the French revolution, and the residential school crisis. During the French revolution, two examples were shown of people abusing their power. King Louie XVI raised taxes so that he could buy things that he and his wife Marie Antoinette wanted, and took away rights from the third estate. In the residential schools crisis, the teachers, priests and nuns had power over the students and abused the students in different ways. Superior people take away the rights from those who are below them, but they end up corrupt.
Known as one of the most influential senators in American history, William J. Fulbright served as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1959 through 1974, and at his death in 1995, he was the group’s longest serving reader. During this time, he authored “On the Arrogance of Power, 1966”, in which discussed the tendency of countries to equate power as proof of superiority. In fact, he Fulbright refers to “the arrogance of power – as a psychological need that nations seem to have in order to prove that they are bigger, better, or stronger than other nations” (1). Using a combination of pathos, ethos, and logos appeals, he presents support for his argument. Because power corrupts how people and
There are several significant, as well as less significant, themes that are put forth by the author. Some themes that are not as meticulously elaborated on, but still contribute to the book, include the idea that war can corrupt the government and it’s actions, police brutality was part of the norm of the 1960s, and the word “power” had more than one meaning during the civil rights era. All these themes are important to take into consideration upon reading this book; however th...
The American version of history blames the Native people for their ‘savage ' nature, for their failure to adhere to the ‘civilized norms ' of property ownership and individual rights that Christian people hold, and for their ‘brutality ' in defending themselves against the onslaught of non-Indian settlers. The message to Native people is simple: "If only you had been more like us, things might have been different for you.”
The whites took the Native American children with the purpose to assimilate the children to the white culture. They would force all the native children to choose white names, cut their hair like a white man or woman, and gave them a strict schedule to follow along, they were also not allowed to speak their native language or else they would be punished heavily. Even though this action was for a good purpose, the white people ended up killing many of the Native children, which broke the promise they had made to the children’s parents back at the reservation. These events had occurred because the whites had the power to control the children to do, and follow the ways of the whites.
Native American’s place in United States history is not as simple as the story of innocent peace loving people forced off their lands by racist white Americans in a never-ending quest to quench their thirst for more land. Accordingly, attempts to simplify the indigenous experience to nothing more than victims of white aggression during the colonial period, and beyond, does an injustice to Native American history. As a result, historians hoping to shed light on the true history of native people during this period have brought new perceptive to the role Indians played in their own history. Consequently, the theme of power and whom controlled it over the course of Native American/European contact is being presented in new ways. Examining the evolving
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
This sense of difference provides a motive or rationale for using our power advantage to threaten the ethnoracial Other in ways that we would regard as cruel or unjust if applied to members of our own group. The possible consequences of this nexus of attitude. and action range from unofficial but pervasive social discrimination at one end. of the spectrum to genocide at the other. . .
Paradigms of Genocide: The Holocaust, The Armenian genocide, and Contemporary Mass Destructions, 156-168. Sage Publications Inc., 1996. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1048550
As shown in literature, corruption and the abuse of power is an ongoing discussion. When it comes down to the point where people are being used and abused physically and psychologically, it creates a hostile environment for both the subjects and the abuser. As represented in the two similar texts Lord Of the Flies and “I Only Came to use the Phone”, corrupted authority and abuse of power usually end up leading to the collapse of a society or a world of chaos and violence.
They are not only its inert or consenting target; they are always also the elements of its articulation” (Foucault, “Two Lectures” 34). Power may take various forms, all of which are employed and exercised by individualsand unto individuals in the institutions of society. In all institutions, there is political and judicial power, as certain individuals claim the right to give orders, establish rules, and so forth as well as the right to punish and award. For example, in school, the professor not only teaches, but also dictates, evaluates, as well as punishes and rewards.
Some theorists believe that ‘power is everywhere: not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere… power is not an institution, nor a structure, nor possession. It is the name we give to a complex strategic situation in a particular society. (Foucault, 1990: 93) This is because power is present in each individual and in every relationship. It is defined as the ability of a group to get another group to take some form of desired action, usually by consensual power and sometimes by force. (Holmes, Hughes &Julian, 2007) There have been a number of differing views on ‘power over’ the many years in which it has been studied. Theorist such as Anthony Gidden in his works on structuration theory attempts to integrate basic structural analyses and agency-centred traditions. According to this, people are free to act, but they must also use and replicate fundamental structures of power by and through their own actions. Power is wielded and maintained by how one ‘makes a difference’ and based on their decisions and actions, if one fails to exercise power, that is to ‘make a difference’ then power is lost. (Giddens: 1984: 14) However, more recent theorists have revisited older conceptions including the power one has over another and within the decision-making processes, and power, as the ability to set specific, wanted agendas. To put it simply, power is the ability to get others to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. In the political arena, therefore, power is the ability to make or influence decisions that other people are bound by.