Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism has many components to it. Post World War I, he moved away from his usual liberal/pacifist way of thinking after seeing that the war was based on power control and economical concerns, and this was something he did not want to support. He wanted to follow a more proactive way of doing things instead of just waiting for something to happen. Liberal’s pacifist way of thinking utilizing non-intervention ways to deal with evil in the world was naive and could not be used anymore. By doing nothing would allow evil to continue to control everything. According to Niebuhr, humans in this world are self-glorifying, sinful in nature, and will never be equal to God, but should strive through God to be just and do what is moral. …show more content…
Larger groups hold a selfish and egoistical nature and do not care about others. “Societies, he argues, effectively gather up only individuals’ selfish impulses, not their capacities for unselfish consideration toward others.” (Imsong,1999, “Reinhold”, para. 9) Niebuhr helped King gain a better understand of how groups of people behaved, their motives, and that there is a connection between power and morality. In King’s Letters from Birmingham Jail he references Niebuhr stating, “Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals” (King, 1963, “Letters to”, para 10). Here King is trying to show the clergymen that a group it is hard for them to see their wrongdoing or selfishness. As Niebuhr says, groups are selfish in nature and will never just willingly give up their power, something must be done to stand against them. This point is proved when the clergymen tell King he should have waited and say this
Argumentation has followed humans from the dawn of time as a way for us to express our ideas and for our ideas to be heard. People naturally obtain the knowledge to persuade others, either backing their opinions by fact or touching others emotionally, from growing up and through their own experiences in life. We can be persuaded by a numerous amounts of different factors pertaining to the argument. There are four different types of strategies in which an argument can be presented and make the argument effective. Martin Luther King is a key example of the utilization of the strategies as he wrote, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Nicholas Carr also portrays the strategies with his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Both authors perfectly
The letter from Birmingham jail by Dr. Marin Luther King was written as a response of King to nine criticisms made against the Southern Christian leaders and King’s participation in demonstration in Birmingham. King handled many rhetorical devices to convince his opponents such as the white clergymen with his rights to protest, create tension for direct action and to achieve the racial justice. The devices fluctuate between Logos, Pathos and Ethos in a clever way to appeal to his audience and criticize them at the same time. King provided logical supports such as biblical figures, historical and philosophical references. In addition, he used verities of metaphors, allergy and poetic language. In my essay, I will point out some of the rhetorical devices and
"It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am
Ashley Sanchez 29659103 Analysis Essay Oppression is defined by the act of subjugating a people and state through means of force- a universal theme explored in both Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse and Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr (Webster). How can one achieve what they term as the ‘good life’ under oppression and is it necessarily worth the consequences that can result from said search? Hobson’s Choice explores the difficulty of finding a good life under the oppression of a father, and how that quest can result in a happier life. Letter from Birmingham Jail tackles a more defined term of subjugation and the danger of finding a ‘good life’ compared to safety and unhappiness under oppression. Ultimately, the search for a good life is derived from the struggle of rising above one’s oppressor, with the personal satisfaction of searching for the good life outweighing the consequences that may arise.
The world is divided up into numerous things: Countries, states, cities, communities, etc. However, when looking at the big scope of things, one can group the vast amount of people into a society. This society is where the majority lie in the scheme of things - in other words, the common people. Individuals do exist in this society, but they are scarce in a world of conformism. Society’s standards demands an individual to conform, and if the individual refuses they are pushed down by society.
The influence that the behaviors of groups have is one of the most important factors that help shape and contribute to a functional society. With their works, William Edward Burghardt
Letter from a Birmingham Jail Is an individual morally justified in breaking a law? The answer to this question is yes,. There are several reasons that have made me believe that it is morally justifiable in breaking the law; however, the most convincing comes from Dr. Martin Luther King in his letter from the Birmingham Jail. " We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." (Classic Arguments 668 -.
Directions: Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is the document in which he most clearly articulates his nonviolent direct action strategy.
The Letter from a Birmingham Jail is written by Dr. Martin Luther King who addresses the clergyman who criticized him and the decision to protest in Birmingham. I found it a little surprising that he started the letter with “ My dear Fellow Clergymen.” I figured that King should at least be offended or upset that the clergymen questions and criticizes his decisions. However, he addresses them in a formal and polite manner by simply explaining his decisions.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letters From Birmingham Jail” while he was in jail for going against the law enforcements and holding meetings, marches, and sit-ins. MLK states in the beginning of his letter how he is like the Apostle Paul from the bible. “Just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ… I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom…”(King) MLK knew he was suppose to make a change and he was not going to let anyone stand in his way.
Although, ‘modern’ age unsubtly supports swaggering egoistic behavior in the competitive arena such as international politics, commerce, and sport in another ‘traditional’ areas of the prideful selfishness showing off, to considerable extent discourages visible disobedience from the prevalent moral codes. In some cases, the open pro-egoist position, as was, per example, the ‘contextual’ interpretation of selfishness by famous German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, can be described as ‘grotesque anomaly’. He, probably through unconscious inner drive, effectively equalized two essentially opposite meanings in the following sentence segment “egoistic or LIFE-AFFIRMING behavior”!? (Helmut Schoeck, Quote from, ‘Der Neid’. Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft or in English, ‘Envy’. A Theory of Social Behavior, 1966, 1st English ed.
Thus, man is no longer a free man when he thinks of the group's interest above his own. It is fine for someone to be compassionate, but it is foolish to place the happiness of anyone else in front of your own. When men choose to follow groupthink, they forfeit their identities, and the end result is a world without freedom or creativity.
Dr.King recognizes Rosa Parks,Abraham Lincoln, and Jesus Christ for their actions in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr.King considers those people as heroes, because they meet his standard for heroism. The standard to be a hero to Dr.King is believe in themself, if they fall and get back up,and care for others.
In Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," his thoughts and ideas are directly stated, well expressed, explained, and illustrated. King's style of writing gives the reader a clear glimpse into the world with which he struggled and allows his letter to be powerfully effective.
According to Coleman & James (1961) ‘cohesion tends to be weaker and moral tends to be lower in a larger group than in a smaller one.’ The reason they state this happens is because, in the majority of cases there is a lack of intimacy within the group and in extremely large groups the members are almost strangers to one another.