Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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I was sitting at home looking over my copy of The Prince on Martin Luther King
day. This passage struck me, "Those who are thus injured form but a small part
of the community, and remaining scattered and poor can never become dangerous."
I think that for the most part this statement is true. Our own government
continues to do this kind of thing all of the time. They play the weaker
minority groups against each other, so that they will have less chance of
uniting and becoming powerful.
However, there is always an exception to the rule. The black people of this
country banded together to fight for their own Civil Rights and they achieved
their goal. Of course there is still prejudice in the world but things are
definitely much better than they were then. How is it that such an oppressed
and poor group of people were able to unite under Dr. King and make such a
profound difference in our society? It makes me so happy that they were able to
beat the odds and fight for a common cause.
This brings me to the quote which followed that first one. "All others being
left unmolested, are in consequence easily quieted, and at the same time afraid
to make a false move, lest they share the fate of those who have been deprived
of their possessions." Isn't that the truth as well? Those of us who are in
the more priviledged group often don't do anything to help those who need it.
The rest of us have the power to change conditions of those less fortunate.
Aren't we then responsible to make the world a better place for everybody and
not just those who are priviledged?
Reading Machiavelli is a humbling experience because of his stark realistic view
of humanity. However, he was too pessimistic to believe in the potential
strength of human beings. I was glad that Machiavelli was proved wrong in at
lea