I enjoyed Andrew Sullivan's article on hate a great deal and agreed with much of what he said until I came to this passage towards the end:
"For hate is only foiled not when the haters are punished but when the hated are immune to the bigot's power. A hater cannot psychologically wound if a victim cannot psychologically be wounded. And that immunity to hurt can never be given; it can merely be achieved."
What frustrated me about this statement was its seeming disregard for the physical effects of hate. Yes, someone can disarm a hater by choosing not to listen to their words or let those words effect them, but how does one ignore a bullet to the brain? How is the one who is hate supposed to take Sullivan's advice then? He presented complicated arguments but ended in what I would consider to be a simplistic conclusion to such a complicated topic.
I would have loved to read his thoughts on how an individual and a culture should respond to the physical acts of hate. Or, if he had no answers to give, to freely admit that. Most of the time in life there are no simple answers.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Week 6
Greetings! My name is Sarah and this is my new blog. In my old blog I wrote about whimsical things such as fortune cookies and overwhelmed dog walkers. This blog, however, will most likely take a more serious tone. Maybe.
First up: Apology Unit!
I chose to center my apology around a minor subplot in the Harry Potter series. You may have heard of them. In these books, there are some magical but ultimately pitiful creatures known as house elves. These elves have been enslaved for centuries by the witches and wizards of Harry Potter’s world. While Harry does free one grateful elf named Dobby, and Hermione repeatedly attempts to free the house elves at Hogwarts, there is never a real resolution to the issue of house elf slavery. So, based on a few clues given by the series and knowing the motivations behind some of the characters, I decided it was high time to free the little buggers.
Interestingly, what began to stand out to me as I researched and then wrote the apology, was that I was writing an apology to a group of people who didn’t feel the apology was necessary. In fact, house elves feared the idea of freedom. This led me down a bit of a dark path as I thought about the abuse and psychological torment that would birth a fear of freedom and choice in an individual. So, ultimately I did finish the apology, but it took me down a darker path than I had planned upon. But that’s life. Funny how house elves contributed to a further understanding of it.
Pasted below is a link to my analysis and apology. Hope it works.
http://vista.bellevuecollege.edu/webct/urw/tp49776219531061.lc49776219511061/newMessageThread.dowebct?discussionaction=viewMessage&messageid=50017903605021&topicid=49837596199071&refreshPage=false&sourcePage=
Greetings! My name is Sarah and this is my new blog. In my old blog I wrote about whimsical things such as fortune cookies and overwhelmed dog walkers. This blog, however, will most likely take a more serious tone. Maybe.
First up: Apology Unit!
I chose to center my apology around a minor subplot in the Harry Potter series. You may have heard of them. In these books, there are some magical but ultimately pitiful creatures known as house elves. These elves have been enslaved for centuries by the witches and wizards of Harry Potter’s world. While Harry does free one grateful elf named Dobby, and Hermione repeatedly attempts to free the house elves at Hogwarts, there is never a real resolution to the issue of house elf slavery. So, based on a few clues given by the series and knowing the motivations behind some of the characters, I decided it was high time to free the little buggers.
Interestingly, what began to stand out to me as I researched and then wrote the apology, was that I was writing an apology to a group of people who didn’t feel the apology was necessary. In fact, house elves feared the idea of freedom. This led me down a bit of a dark path as I thought about the abuse and psychological torment that would birth a fear of freedom and choice in an individual. So, ultimately I did finish the apology, but it took me down a darker path than I had planned upon. But that’s life. Funny how house elves contributed to a further understanding of it.
Pasted below is a link to my analysis and apology. Hope it works.
http://vista.bellevuecollege.edu/webct/urw/tp49776219531061.lc49776219511061/newMessageThread.dowebct?discussionaction=viewMessage&messageid=50017903605021&topicid=49837596199071&refreshPage=false&sourcePage=
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