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The effect of fear on society
The effect of fear on society
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In the novel The President, Miguel Asturias shows that fear controls personal identity in a totalitarian government. He explains that the fear of death and punishment controls a society and alters the unique way of life. Personal identity is the unique set of emotions, experiences, and lifestyles that make up an individuals life. Religious devotion and Christian resignation becomes apparent in a life dominated by fear and paranoia. True feelings and emotions can be hidden by fear. Fear and paranoia of the surrounding environment can cause a person to live an isolated life.
Fear causes people to pray for salvation and have Christian resignation because of the hope they gain from it. Christian resignation refers to the submission of a person's life to Christian ideology of salvation and life everlasting. The Christian idea of life everlasting provides an excellent escape from the present life of fear and paranoia. It blinds people from the true desperation present to them in their life. The idea of fear causing Christian resignation becomes evident in the novel when the sacristan tries to remove himself and others from the fear of the government through prayer. "The sacristan's voice spread Christian resignation throughout the prison cell"(202) in order to provide hope from the state of fear they are currently living in. Another example at the end of the novel is when the student's mother is seen praying to God for the people who are dying and "[suffering] persecution of the law"(287) resulting from the president's rule. She says "Kyrie eleison" which is a petition to God ask for him to grant mercy. Her praying for relief from her current sate of fear and paranoia immediately gratifies her with the prospect of liv...
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... towards the enemies of the government helps fear remain an effective governing force. An example today of a totalitarian regime that uses fear to control is Iraq. The leader Saddam Hussein gained his power and maintains his regime by performing brutal acts to his enemies to instill fear in his population. The fear and oppression he places on his people make thousands of them support religious ideals. During his presidential election Saddam received a hundred percent of the population votes in his favor. The majority of the Iraqis that voted for Saddam would vote against him if they did not fear Saddam's secret police. Lastly in Iraq people are paranoid to speak out against the government because of fear of punishment and death by the secret police. Since Iraq is a totalitarian government run by fear the people will only become more untrustworthy and isolated.
Destruction of individuality is an idea both authors explore to expose the broad social wrong of an oppressive society. Both Orwell and Niccol use their protagonists to demonstrate how dictatorial governments that destroy any semblance of individuality are inherently wrong. Orwell uses third person narration, which directly follows his protagonist as he fights to maintain his individuality in a society driven to eliminate the capability of “love, or friendship, or joy of living” by making him “hollow”. By employing the use third person narration Orwell portrays to the reader that even an individual with powerful intent to remain different can be broken down and made to believe that “2+2 = 5”. Similarly, Niccol uses extreme close up shots focusing on Vincent’s cleaning process and the motif of constant DNA checks to reinforce how authoritarian societies can demolish all sense of individuality. Vincent, an “in-valid” must take extreme measures to overcome the prejudices of soc...
Historically, fear has been used to control populations. For example, asearly as the 1700s, white men controlled black slaves through the fear of being killed. During slave days, in the South, the ratio was nine blacks to every white person (Nash and Graves 213). When Nat Turner, a black slave, finally revolted, the United States government responded by sending the army with tanks and guns to resist the black men. The reaction of the whites imbedded the fearof revolts within the slaves. The blacks could have successfully revolted, but were controlled by the fear of the powerful white man. The white man held the power and con...
Fear is a powerful tool. Throughout history, tyrants have used fear to pursue their ruthless ambitions as men fear death most of all. They threaten subjects with imprisonment, torture or being put to death. In order to eradicate any means of secondary thought, challenging their oppressive regimes violence is a tool and dictators are well equipped and not afraid to use it. History has shown this repeatedly. From Benito Mussolini to Adolf Hitler who killed and tortured countless thousands in World War 2, individuals were imprisoned without charge beaten at will cruelty became these dictators ruthless commodity.
It was very alarming when you read the statistics about Americans view toward the government. A shocking 82 percent fear the government and 49 percent view the government has an immediate threat to their rights. This was very surprising to me. Although I do not necessarily trust the government, I do not fear the government. In “Dangerous Anti-Government Revolutionaries”, Milo Nickels shed light as to why many people have an anti-government sentiment. He had a very fascinating interpretation of the government; he believed that government was not created to be trusted. “They [our founding fathers] expected people to rise up against the government whenever that happens. Indeed, our government was founded on the expectation that it couldn’t be trusted”. This quote challenged everything I had previously believed about the role of the government. I had always believed that the government was created to be liked. I assumed we were supposed to love our government and appreciate all it does. It was strange to hear the government was created to be
“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” -Thomas Jefferson
There are a few different methods that can be used by a ruler to control his people, fear and love being the primary means of maintaining power as defined by Machiavelli. While both fear and love have their strengths and weaknesses, there is one of the two that is more effective: fear. Of course, there are examples of both in history and literature alike, such as Julius Caesar, whose people adored him for his brave acts in war, though betrayed by his fellow politicians and beloved friend for fear of his growing power.
“Identity cannot be found or fabricated but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go.” (by Doug Cooper.) Some people assume the identity of a person could be changed by the surrounding conflicts. Others think identities may never change. Whatever the truth is, identities are masks with a person’s thoughts and personalities put into them. Sometimes, identities can be lost or redefined. War of the Wall by Toni Cade Bambara and Names/Nombres by Julia Alvarez shows how identities are portrayed in the real world. Both texts involve the loss or redefinition of one’s identity.
In addition, the Cold War is what brought this fear. Elaine Tyler May says that it has become an obsession to gain security. She says that because of fear, movements, such as feminism and black equality, prevented these individuals from being fully accepted into society as equals. I believe that fear has only distracted America from these movements of becoming fully successful. The article also refers to America being less of a democracy by citizens refusing to have faith in their government and refusing to trust one another. Reputedly, fear is what shaped America the way it is
...d with fears and those fears rule us. They can make us confess to things that are not true or can make us accuse other to take blame off ourselves. The fear incited by others and our governments is a dangerous thing that we should be aware about.
The book Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes shows you the story of Estrella and her family and the struggles they face as migrant workers. Among all the symbolism in the book the one that stand out the most is Petra’s statue of Christ, which symbolizes the failure of religion and the oppressive nature of the Christian religion especially in minorities. Throughout the book, Estrella’s mother, Petra relies on superstitions and religion to get her through the hardships in life. In tough times, she turns to the statue and prays for guidance. Her thirteen-year-old daughter Estrella is the first of her family to realize that she needs to stop relying on religion and take control of her life. This brings in a wave of self-empowerment, not only for Estrella but eventually for all the characters as well. In the book, you’re able to see how religion exemplifies the failures of religion in minorities and how it hinders the growth of the characters while helping some of them.
There are two main themes connected with identity formation that are discussed in the novel. There is the opposition and the fight between the creation and the creator in this text.
Fear is used to control society by making people scared to break laws because they do not know what would happen to them if they did. An example of this is the war that is going on against Eastasia. ”Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.
As a ruler, generating fear amongst followers is better than having subjects that follow a ruler because of love. This is true because fear induces loyalty from people, and it also prevents followers from breaking the law. Fear does a better job of producing this kind of effect than love. Making subjects fear a ruler is the only way to maintain a steady group of followers. The great Niccolo Machiavelli once wrote in his legendary book The Prince, “fear preserved you by a dread of punishment … never fails” (Machiavelli). Machiavelli says that showing that consequences will be harsh will always prevent subjects from betraying a ruler. Not only this, subjects that fear their ruler will break laws less often. Again, if they fear the punishment,
The term totalitarianism describes a government that takes total, centralized, state control over every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian leaders appear to provide a sense of security and to give a direction for the future. In the 20th century, the widespread use of mass communication made it possible to reach into all aspects of citizens’ lives. A dynamic leader who can build support for his policies and justify his actions heads most totalitarian governments. Often the leader utilizes secret police to crush opposition and create a sense of fear among the people. Totalitarianism challenges the highest values prized by Western democracies about reason, freedom, human dignity, and the worth of the individual. All totalitarian states share basic characteristics. To dominate an entire nation, totalitarian leaders devised methods of control and persuasion like the use of terror, indoctrination, propaganda, censorship, and religious or ethnic persecution.