Will Savino, Chan Song Yoon
Period 4
October 25, 2011
Blankenship
The
Necessity of Dissent in Protecting People from Authority
“I
think I'm a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's
authority that I respect” - Tupac Shakur. In order to organize
and run a society efficiently, it is necessary to place certain people into
positions of authority. These figures of authority are expected to wield power
responsibly and make decisions for the good of the people. As the quote from
Tupac states, it is important for people to respect these figures of authority.
However, if that authority does something to lose the respect of the people, it
is important for them to stand up instead of bow down. While many perform their
duties justly, there have been cases where those in positions of authority have
overlooked or even oppressed those they are supposed to serve. Due to the fact
that throughout history, those in positions of authority have been known to
ignore the needs of a group of people, dissention is necessary for the people
to make their voices heard.
All
humans have a basic need to be recognized. Whether the circumstances are big or
small, people want to feel as if they matter. Derived from this basic need is
the belief that people have the right to have their concerns heard, especially
if they feel they have been wronged. The recent protests on Wall Street provide
a perfect example of an oppressed people exercising this right. Starting on
September 17, 2011, now known as the “Day of Rage”, roughly five thousand disgruntled
Americans have swept into Lower Manhattan like a tidal wave, flooding every
street and alley with their signs, demonstrations, and contempt (Moynihan). The
demonstrators have gathered to protest the inequitable separation of wealth
between the very few rich and the very many poor. Calling themselves the “99%”
of Americans, they feel as if the government has overlooked the millions of
Americans who have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet, while
supporting the “1%” of Americans who control most of the wealth (Occupy Wall
Street). Police have responded forcibly to the protestors, arresting close to
one hundred for disturbing the peace and holding a demonstration without a
permit, along with other charges (Protesters Arrested).
While
they have broken many laws and have disrupted the lives of many New Yorkers, the
protestors’ seemingly excessive display of anger and frustration is neither
unjustified nor unnecessary. The protestors feel that their government is
purposely ignoring their hardships, and the only way for their concerns to be
recognized is through dissent in the form of a city-wide protest. The protest
has been successful at achieving just that; all the major news stations and
newspapers have been covering the protests, spreading the protestors’ message
to virtually every American. Due to the fact that the American government has
ignored their concerns, the protestors’ dissent is necessary for their voices
to be heard.
Another
example of the necessity of dissent is my own personal experience during sixth
grade recess. When I was in the sixth grade, all of the boys in my grade level
would come together at recess to play a sport. The demigods of the grade, or
the “popular” kids as we mortals would call them, would always decide what
sport we would play, and they almost always choose football. My friends and I
absolutely despised the game of football; we always wanted to play soccer. But
no matter how much we complained, our voices were always drowned out by the
pre-pubescent mob willing to conform to whatever the popular kids said. So, we
would just suffer through boring recess after boring recess in silence,
thinking our cause was hopeless.
After
a few months of nothing but football, we had had enough. My friends and I
decided we would not play any game until we all would switch from football to
soccer. In essence, we boycotted the popular kids’ game. At first, the boycott
was disastrous. The popular kids kept playing their game without us, taking the
rest of the boys with them. We were left to sit on the blacktop, even more
bored then before. As the days went on, however, more and more kids began
leaving the football game to join us on the blacktop. After only a few weeks, we
had more than enough kids to start a full soccer game, and began to play every
recess. Soon, even the popular kids joined our games, and from that point on we
began to switch sports at the will of the entire group, not just the popular
kids’. When we first tried to express our concerns, they were ignored by the
kids who had power over the entire group. Only after dissenting in the form of
a boycott were we able to get our message across to all of the boys, and
eventually get what we wanted.
America’s well known document, the Declaration of Independence was written
by an American revolutionary leader, Thomas Jefferson to dissent against King
George. The Declaration of Independence was written in order to
dissent against unequal human rights and to protect against ignorant authority. The Declaration of Independence states that King George has not been an
authority who cares on people’s
rights and freedom. In the Declaration
of Independence, Jefferson wrote, “He has plundered our
seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.” Because King George did not
care about American people, dissention was essential for the Americans to separate from their authority. Because dissention was necessary, Americans needed a
well-written document to dissent and persuade against the authority;
and to express their opinions that every human being has rights which are: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. From this
dissention, the Declaration
of Independence played a key
role for American people
to have their voices heard and to gain more freedom from the authorities.
North Korea’s
absolute authority, Kim Jong Il, is a
modern example of King George. If Thomas Jefferson never bothered to dissent
against King George, Americans might still live in under King George’s generation and live under his power,
like how North Korean people are
still struggling to live under power of Kim Jong Il’s generation. Ever since Kim
Il Sung, father of Kim Jong Il, was known to brutally dictate North Korea with
harsh rules, Kim Il Sung’s generation has been ruling North Korea without
dissenters riot over Kim’s authority. It is Necessary for North Koreans to
stand up and dissent in order to separate from Kim Jong Il’s generation of
power. Because Kim Jong Il lives in a self centered life style like King George,
he does not care about what North Korean people commonly deserve and desire.
Bradly Babson, who is specialized in North Korea’s economy said, “An internal political breakdown that could be triggered by a coup, social
unrest, or unforeseen incapacitation of Kim Jong-il’s leadership.” (Washington Times) Because of Kim Jong Il’s lack of leadership, about 2
millions of North Koreans are died from hunger and food shortage during the
three years of famine.(NNDB) Event
though, North Korea is staggeringly poor, Kim Jong Il spends tremendous amount
of money in making a nuclear weapons as to threat other Nations. Kim Jong Il spends money to make a nuclear
bomb to kill people, rather than to spend the same or even less amount of money
to save the hungry North Korean people. What is ironic about this is that Kim
Jong Il is basically spending money on to kill people who he believes are opponents
or enemies, but he does not spend the money to save his own people, from hunger.
Surprisingly, North Korean people adore Kim Jong Il and never take any step to
dissent. Because Kim Jong Il controls the media and focus on how Kim Jong Il is
a great leader of North Korea, North Korean people call him a ‘our dear leader’.
If North Korean people do not realize
the necessity to dissent, Kim Jong Il will assume that people are satisfied
with the lives that governments have made. Starvation, hunger, false media
information all results in North Korean people to suffer and die from famine.
The lives of North Korean people will not change nor improve if North Koreans
do not dissent. Perhaps the problem in North Korea is not only Kim Jong Il, but
the citizens of North Korean who never spoke out to cry out their needs for a
change. Dissention is absolutely necessary if North Koreans want to claim their needs in order to not live in a world
that is created by selfish political authority.
Dissention is a shield to protect people’s natural rights and a sword to fight for our voices to be
heard from the authorities who has covered their eyes and ears from people who
are crying out for their needs. Because there are authorities who are known to take no notice or pay
any close attention to people’s demands, dissention is a strong way to protest and respond
back to the authorities for a change. If people never give the opportunity for authorities to hear their strong
voices through dissentions, authorities will never take an action nor care to
listen to the needs of peoole.
Chan Song Yoon
Ap Language and composition
Blankenship
30 May 2010
Remembering my childhood on the continent of Africa
Remembering my childhood on the continent of Africa by David Sedaris mainly argues life with money, fancy, and adventurous life seems important, however, having a family love and place for you to stay with warmth is more important for people. The author starts the story talking about Hugh going to field trip to the slaughterhouse. The author shows feeling of jealousy toward Hugh because Sedaris thinks Hugh has all the luck and money to have a wealthy and a happy life. Sedaris directly shows his feelings of being jealous by saying, "When I’m told such stories, it’s all I can do to hold back my feelings of jealousy." Sedaris starts to compare and contrast between him and Hugh and shows how much he envied Hugh. Sedaris's tone in this writing is often sad because he mentions about how he can never win the prize because Hugh's life is way more fancy and awesome. Throughout the story, Sedaris's way of viewing Hugh’s life has changed. Sedaris realized that Hugh had to go through seeing dead people hanging on the telephone pole and moving many times without a permanent house to stay. Sedaris also mentions how Hugh never celebrated his birthday because no one asked when his birthday was.
When I was reading this argument, I agreed with the writer from the start to the end of the story because I felt like I was Hugh. I can relate myself to my life and Hugh'S life. I came to America like without my father to study art and go to good art major college in America. I can say I have a fancy life like Hugh and have much expediency that other people may envy. However Because my dad owns a company in Korea and that he has to take care of it, he only visit me during the break for few weeks. I did not have a dad with me to celebrate my birthday together for more than 6 years. When my dad sent me present from Korea with little note saying 'happy birthday' I went shopping and bought bunch of stuff from the money he gave me to fill my heart that was curved out by loneliness. People called me spoiled in front of my face because they saw my materials and out looks. However, my mind and heart is starving from my daddy's love and care. When I tell them that I live without my dad People are often very surprised because they expect me to have everything in my life and surprise to hear that I am missing the most important thing in my life. I was really depressed when my dad could not come to my middle school graduation. I felt so lonely and left the school without attending the family friend after party. When people compare and contrast their life with mine, they think I have everything that a teenage girl should have, but deep inside my heart, I have an untold story of sadness.
Based in my experience I agree with the writer Sedaris that everyone should be happy about what they have. People live in an unsatisfied life but in order to live happy, we should always look in the bright side of our life.
(Remembering
my childhood)
This Argumentative essay was written in
the very beginning of the year by comparing and contrasting the author’s experience with my own personal
experience. This paper is excellent because I could find a similarity between
what the author pursuits in his life and my own life my by expressing the
similar emotions and feelings showed in the argument. I also used pathos to
evoke pity in the argument in order to make connection between the author’s argument of the
materialism caused by the loneliness and the detachment from the parents.
(dissention essay)
This partner dissent essay is excellent because the
paper has a strong voice and a style of how dissention should be made. The
paper includes many historical facts which support the argument with accurate
and concrete evidence. The paper compares and contrasts the modern example
absolute leader and the historical example of absolute leader to make the
argument more cohesive and strong. The paper uses varieties of tones which are
cynical, accusatory, and didactic. The
paper has ethos and logos to prove the argument with good argumentative evidence.
The conclusion includes a very nice metaphor which compares the people’s rights
with the soldier’s weapon to show the clearer concept in the needs of
dissention. The conclusion makes a strong last statement which ties all back to
the thesis and suggests a change in the society.
Over the years, my writing
has improved because I learned how to make the readers to engage in my writing
and argument through providing high quality evidence and thought provoking arguments.
At the end of the year, my arguments have more perspectives and viewpoints
which make the argument stronger and accurate.
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