"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty" (Aristotle)
Do you agree?
Read two articles on class discriminaton (given out by our beloved GP tutor) and consolidate the information in response to the question above.
Read two articles on class discriminaton (given out by our beloved GP tutor) and consolidate the information in response to the question above.
It is ironical that i fully understand every part of the quote but don't know who Aristotle truly is :P
This prompts me to search for this guy by the name of "Aristotle" in Wiki and this is what i got:
Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
WOW +)
It seems like Aristotle is someone who is quite respectable by all and poor little me is so ill-informed to the extent that i have never heard of any of his sayings before!!!
Jean, enough of side tracking...
Personally, i agree to a large extent that Poverty is the root of human's evils such as illegal crimes and many socio-political revolutions. However, it is not the only reason that such acts are resulted as other explanations for revolutions and crimes include: Unhappiness with the government, discriminations of races and religions, lack of education and family upbringing.
For instance, the pressing need to feed its huge peasant population was a leading cause of the French Revolution in the 18th century.1 It is due to the fact that people are starving and lacking of basic necessities, ie; food and water, clothes and shelter that cause groups of citizens to uprise and challenge the current government that wasn't helping them (enough). At the plight of one's own survival at stake, he/she will stand up to go against the political group of their country; in hope to get rid of the horrible situation and have a much better life then. This is where they take part in strikes and demonstration to out rule the present government.
Similarly, when one is unable to support himself and his loved ones (refering to immediate family members), the dark side of humans run by the 'devils' will surface; in which, illegal acts will be committed. For example, a man in the G21 countries2 may resort to cheating or robbing others to obtain the next meal for the empty tummies of his starving members... i believe, in those cases, individuals of the developing nations were really left with no choice but to carry out those unintended crimes. All thanks to "Mr Poverty" that have mercilessly deprived them of the (most)basic necessities-- FOOD.
However, other factors that give rise to various revolutions are Unhappiness with the government and discriminations of race and religion. Revoluions may not be always linked to Poverty or other monetary issues. The demand for a change of the ruling party may also be due to the incapabilty of the present government. Certain policies introduced may not be welcomed by the citizens thus creating dissatisfaction amongst them and the idea of out throwing the government may then become significant. In addition, the racial tensions or even the religious clashes within the country will cause social unrest as well as politcial revolutions. Quoting the classic example religious discrimination between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland3 (major topic that all of us learnt in our Secondary social studies syllabus :)
As for crimes, the lack of education and family upbringing of individuals play a vital role. In a way, the poorer countries tend to experience more cases of theft and looting. This is not commonly seen in devleoped countries as people are aware of the consequences of committing a crime and will not attempt to get themselves into trouble with the court. Since young, we are educated be morally upright citizens by our parents as well as schooling. So, naturally, those without proper educationwill not know the seriousness of violating the Law and do such crimes that lack Moral integrity!
Nevertheless, Poverty is still the under-lying factor that cause many to be trapped in the vicious cycle. As such, it is true that desperation drives the human soul into commiting harmful and despicable acts of crime which contradicts human nature and values immensely. It does not make sense when ultra-poor individuals just sit there and wait for money to drop from the sky (more than a times, they will just starve to death!) It's human nature to do something to continue our existence in this world; even if it means to steal, rob, snatch or fight...I find this similar to the theory of "Survival of the Fittest" whereby in desperate times, one will have go around using desperate means (*_*)
It is cruel but that's the fact of Life :X
Refer to links in Footnote for the sites where extra research were taken from:
1. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/lect/mod10.html
2. G21 ctries=Developing ctries http://www.anarchogeek.com/archives/000207.html
2. G21 ctries=Developing ctries http://www.anarchogeek.com/archives/000207.html
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A thoughtfully-written piece showing a fair grasp of the thesis statement. Good work, jean!Grade: B+
Posted by Guest-mdml @ 14 Aug 2007, 12:53:55 PM
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