Whether working with a co-worker, learning with a classmate or hanging out with a friend, the thought of any of them having the potential to be evil does not cross the mind. Everyday people are not typically evil beings, but if people are not evil beings then why do they commit actions like torture, killing and genocide? Could it be that the certain people committing the acts are just monsters deep inside, or could the actions be mere products of circumstance? In his article "The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror", Crispin Sartwell, a journalist and philosopher, advises his audience to take a look at the heinous acts people have committed throughout history as a way to show us how anyone could commit evil acts, including ourselves. Marianne Szegedy-Maszak,
For example in the book The Columbian Exchange Crosby says “The growth of the sugar industry was painfully slow until Charles V intervened, ordering that sugar masters and mill technicians be recruited from the Canaries, and authorizing loans to build sugar mills on Espanola.” (Pg. 68/ The Columbian Exchange) King Charles V saw the economic promise in sugar and invested money and time into the expansion of the
Exploration to the New World led to greedy rulers wanting more. There were many new resources and opportunities to make money; for example tobacco, sugar, and even minerals. Because of the demand for these crops, the Europeans needed someone to do the work. With the Native American population drastically declining, the Europeans had to find another source of labor so they turned to the African Americans. This began the slave trade where millions of slaves were taken from Africa to other areas as a source of income.
An example of this is Spain using mercantilism to forced the Creoles to sell their products at low prices and buy what the creoles need at high prices(Doc C). The Creoles felt that the Spain should have control over their own affairs. A drought occurred in 1808-1809, destroying livestock and harvest, increased prices, and unemployment rose(Doc F). This contributes to why the creoles led the fight for independence since Spain used the creoles, the creoles felt they didn’t have support for Spain. In addition, Spain basically stole their money; one way to make someone angry is to take their
Oppression by the oppressors is also used at an economic level as well. For example, African slaves were originally seen as an economic stimulus and not an inferior group when they first arrived in the new world. However, that clearly changed over a short time period. Additionally, businesses take advantage of undocumented workers in order to gain a profit and get an advantage over the competition. In monolithic societies, they have the haves and have-nots and the oppressors oppress based on economic reasons as
Conscience is the feeling inside one 's self that alerts them that something is wrong. This can sometimes be overpowered by stronger external forces such as a powerful authority figure, surrounding circumstances, or the belief that what they did was correct. Through, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt argues that for the first time the world has encountered a different kind of criminal- - one that blindly followed orders from superiors and was made to believe the anti-Semitic ideology, although it could have been any ideology. Similarly, in her work, A Human Being Died That Night, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela claims that the actions of ordinary citizens could be influenced by surrounding practices and drive people
A historical example of this includes slavery, slavery is the act of owning someone as property without their consent. The rich owned slaves to do work, such as tending to crops, housework or other labor. However, document one, show that one group has more rights or power than another group based on their church. According to this primary source, "It was agreed and concluded as a foundamentall order nott to be disputed or questioned hereafter, thatt be admitted to be free burgesses in any of the plantations within this jurisdiction for furture, butt such planters as are members of some or
Imperialism and taking over countries for the imperialists benefit caused war. One of those wars was the Spanish-American war. They fought over cuba treating natives poorly and forced them to work in slave like conditions. Many natives died due to imperialism. In addition, Imperialism endangered the Natives lives as they took advantage of their country.
"The Columbian Exchange has provided economists interested in the long term effects of history on economic development with a rich historical laboratory. "(Latini, 164) This describes the economic growth that colonial America faced which triggered a thought of self-governing even though it wasn't established yet. An example of this is through the House of Burgesses. Additionally the Columbian Exchange triggered a form of enlightenment, which is seen through exchange of goods from one country to another and using those goods that were collected to grow the current economic state.
One more would even be the development of capitalism. The introduction of new species is a big one. Many plants and animals were brought over here and alot were brought over there. A Lot of the things that were exchanged were things that that other country did not have. So when we brought it over or it was brought here some of it gets put into the wild.
Would you believe that a 12 year old girl would indirectly cause the deaths of 20 people? Abigail Williams a young girl who lived in salem she has been labeled as the first accuser in the Salem witch trials. Abigail is an pure evil. She has so much hatred to Elizabeth proctor she actually tries to perform witchcraft in attempt to kill her. Even when things spiral out of control and people start being killed she refuses to fess up in attempt to save people.
One of the biggest examples would be the French Revolution. Observing America’s victory was a huge motivation for the French people to revolt against the French Monarchy, even against a major military power. From this piece of evidence, the American Revolution can be seen as a very influential event. Although the American Revolution had great moments in the history of human freedom, it wasn't without flaws. The Revolution was a fight for “freedom,”, but unfairness towards minorities and women was still very much present after this fight for freedom.
What is the defining moment that classifies something as evil? In A Wrinkle in Time there is a character called “IT”. IT puts people into trances so they live simple lives that are all the same and share the same mind, but is this helping the people or is it forcing them to live lives they don 't want to live? The reader is left to choose if this force is trying to help or is pure evil. IT really is an evil force who doesn’t care about the innocent lives it is affecting.
People are often presented with making a choice of good or bad. These opportunities can define an individual's life. Someone does not turn evil with the flip of a switch. There is always a process whether it is noticed or not. The reason a person does something in the nature of evil is commonly hard for others to understand.
Evil is a simple word that we learn at a young age and that we understand is bad. However, our youth and innocence prevents us from knowing the weight the word holds. As our understanding of evil develops, we begin to see evil all around us. Although we hold common societal definitions of evil, each person is bound to view evil slightly different from others. Someone might consider alcoholism evil, while others consider it normal: someone might believe racism is evil, while others believe it is natural.