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, …show more content…
Sartwell focuses on the evil of genocide and his own humanity as evidence to corroborate his claims. Szegedy-Maszak on the contrary focuses on research performed by psychologists to corroborate her claim. Sartwell’s evidence consists of traits that he and people who are inherently evil share, such as: having respect for authority, having a desire to find a place in society, categorizing others based on their traits, and making compromises to protect the ones they love (118). All of these traits are qualities all humans possess, Sartwell blatantly accepts these traits along with his humanity claiming “I am not profoundly different than these people, and if you think you are, then you are either a moral hero or you are profoundly self- deluded” (118). This cynical approach in his article causes one to reevaluate their mindset; knowing that nobody is morally perfect makes us as people accept the humanity we all possess. While Sartwell focuses on the traits that made people genocidal killers, Szegedy- Maszak focuses on what made them sadistic torturers. According to Szegedy- Maszak traits that are necessary for torture are “authorization, routinization, and dehumanization” (76). These traits differ from Sartwell’s traits because they involve removing oneself from the traits that make us human. Szegedy- Maszak includes a testimony from one of the psychologists that says that these traits “ seem to tantalize someone’s moral compass, making it possible to do things that might be personally distasteful ” (77). Sartwell’s approach uses the truth within human traits as a way of supporting his claim without actual evidence. Sartwell goes for a more rhetorical approach, which means there would be no need to present research to support his claim because the one reading would acknowledge the truth within their own humanity. Because Sartwell presents to his readers that these
According to Canadian philosopher Bernard Lonergan, these three mental abilities define the human spirit. Thus, the Nazis brutally challenged the very humanity of the Holocaust writers.
I would say that the song was rhetorically effective for many reasons. First, the song was very successful in all the worldwide charts and especially in the United States. Second, the song received a lot of good critical reviews such as “”Man in the Mirror” was described as Jackson going “a step further” and offering “a straightforward homily of personal commitment”, which can be seen in the lyrics” (Davitt Sigerson from The Rolling Stones Magazine). Third, the awards it received and the Grammy
Because people have good and bad qualities, they also have the ability to act on either quality depending on the situation. Seemingly good people can be “seduced” (Zimbardo, 2007, p.211) into acting against their nature. Under the right situational stress, people can act cruelly even if their personality is not
For many years, there has been a lot of controversy centering on the rate at which crime and violence is happening in society. Steven Pinker, the author of “Violence Vanquished” states, “We believe our world is riddled with terror and war, but we may be living in the most peaceable era in the human existence.” This quote from the article proves to many people that our world isn’t as bad as it is made out to be. In the article “Violence Vanquished” Pinker uses Logos, and an argument of fact to support the article 's central message which stands to prove violence is at an all-time low in today’s society.
Johnnie Cochran's closing argument during the O.J Simpson uses all three rhetorical appeals to try and convince the jury of O.J Simpson's innocence. To begin with, he uses Ethos by bring up a quote by Frederick Douglas that discusses the equality of all men and implying that if they vote O.J Simpson guilty it would be unethical because of his race. Next he appeals to pathos by using the statement "We haven't reached this goal yet, but certainly in this great county of ours, we're trying" to give a sense of both disappointment and pride first by showing that we haven't overcome discrimination yet but then that we still live in a great place that is striving.
While analyzing “The Torture Myth” and “The Case for Torture”, it is very clear to see the type of rhetorical appeals used to persuade the audience. Anne Applebaum, the writer of “The Torture Myth” --in context of the decision of electing a new Attorney General--would argue that torture is very seldomly effective, violates a person’s rights, and should be outlawed due to the irrational need upon which physical torture is used. On the other hand, Michael Levin strongly argues that physical torture is crucial to solving every imminent danger to civilians. Levin claims that if you don’t physically torture someone, you are being weak and want to allow innocent people to die over something that could have been simply done.
Another speaker I would consider compelling, though I do not support the man in any form, would be Adolf Hitler. Hitler, although a monster, was able to capture a broken Germany through nationalism after its defeat in World War I, and rallied the country to vote him into a position of immeasurable power, which allowed him to mobilize the country to war and overtake nearly all of Europe. Hitler spoke exactly what he believed to be right in his mind, and used careful speech writing and his nationalistic charisma to bring Germany to his side, creating one of the most notorious political movements in history. We can learn a lot from Hitler by not repeating his ways, but we can also learn from his speeches how to capture an audience by addressing
In the novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, he uses pathos, diction and tone to characterize the killers. He characterizes Dick Hickock as the main character and Perry Smith as a tag-along. Capote mainly shows sympathy towards Perry because of Perry’s messed up past and his mental instability. Capote creates this sympathy through syntax and his elaborate sentence structure with the use of specific punctuation. He also has a very unique writing style with an interesting character development.
Sydney Apter 8-06-15 Summer Work Mrs. Cassel John Proctor from the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller was the protagonist. John Proctor cheats on his wife, Elizabeth. He can't remember the 10 commandments even though he always goes to Church. He is stubborn, angry and has self repeat and loyal. He had three sons, a wife, and he was a farmer just like the average man during the witchcraft time period in Salem.
The nature of evil is a central point within the texts Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg, The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, by Ursula Le Guin, and The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. These four texts pose the question whether or not being passive in the face of an evil that one could do something against is as evil as the original act, or how it sizes up to the original act of evil. These four texts all have examples of passivity in the face of evil, such as the Allies in WWII ignoring the Holocaust, or The Village going along with the tradition of stoning people for good crops, along with several more. All four texts show us how humans can “stick their heads in the sand” just to avoid culpability in exchange for human beings’ quality of life. In Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg, the act of passivity against a preventable evil that spielberg portrays the Allies, and general populace, ignoring the fact that the Holocaust was happening.
Hi Conchita Your statement about the outward appearance of a person does not match the inward emptiness of a person's spirituality is on point. The first step toward salvation is acknowledgment. This decision is a made up mind to exchange our will to the will of God. I agree with Michael Jackson's song, The Man in The Mirror, and I have shared those lyrics with the church members and the women's ministry.
In Michael Levin's The Case for Torture, Levin provides an argument in which he discusses the significance of inflicting torture to perpetrators as a way of punishment. In his argument, he dispenses a critical approach into what he believes justifies torture in certain situations. Torture is assumed to be banned in our culture and the thought of it takes society back to the brutal ages. He argues that societies that are enlightened reject torture and the authoritative figure that engage in its application risk the displeasure of the United States. In his perspective, he provides instances in which wrongdoers put the lives of innocent people at risk and discusses the aspect of death and idealism.
The Monitor on Psychology article “What makes good people do bad things?” by Melissa Dittmann analyzes the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Stanford psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo in 1971 and discusses what the experiment can tell us about human nature and what causes humans to be evil. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” the author William Golding discusses the effects of the theories mentioned in the article by creating his own fictional experiment with children stranded on an island during a nuclear war. Throughout his novel Golding explores the focus of Dittmann’s article; that environments and situations can bring out the evil that is inside all of us. People can act good or bad depending on their environment, and these actions are not entirely their fault because when people are not held accountable for their actions their more violent natures are revealed.
Firstly, man is born evil because society shows him to be evil. An example of this is how parents must raise their child to be good. A parent never has to raise their child to do bad things. A young child might draw on the wall and believe that it is art, however the parent will stop the child and tell them that drawing on the wall is a bad thing to do.
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.