Assignment 5 Paper

Both freedom and equality are political issues that have yet to be fully resolved and understood despite our nation being founded on both. Although we as a society have glamorized our country as being the “Land of the Free” and where “Everyone is created equal,” there are still social issues that give reason to believe that we as citizens of the United States aren’t so equal and not exactly all that free. In the Dialogue readings, I have selected four of which I feel could be strongly applied to the political beliefs of both freedom and equality. In the “Self and Society” book complied of different readings and philosophical authors, I have chosen Albert Camus, B.F. Skinner, Horace Miner, and C. Wright Mills as comparisons to the ideas on freedom and equality. In Camus’ reading entitled “The Guest,” the schoolmaster named Daru is visited by a horseman, Balducci. Alongside Balducci is his captive prisoner, an Arab who remains nameless throughout the reading. Balducci instructs Camus to take the prisoner to police headquarters to face accusations against a supposed crime he had committed. Throughout the story, Daru is seen living well in his furnished and heated home that looks over an impoverished, cold and often corrupt land. This demonstrates quite obviously that not everyone is considered equal, as the rest of the land is cold and freezing while Daru is kept warm. Daru, who goes against Balducci’s orders, and remains true to his own personal freedoms of being able to make his own decisions, eventually sets the Arab free. In B.F. Skinner’s “The Evolution of a Culture,” he claims that we as individuals are not defined by our past, but by our behaviors (293 Skinner). If our behaviors are what define who we are, then this must define our freedoms as a culture, since we are being judged solely on our behaviors, making us unequal. Miner on the other hand, goes by not judging one another at all. In his reading “Body Ritual of the Nacirema,” Miner makes a satirical analysis on what and how we view other cultures and behaviors as, yet other cultures may see us in a different manner, as well. He states that it is almost hard to understand how a culture as vain as our own has managed to survive for so long (308 Miner). If we weren’t to judge others, we would therefore better be able to understand ourselves, and therefore not focus on the inequalities of each of us but rather treat and respect one another as equals. In “The Promise,” written by C. Wright Mills, the overall idea is that in order to impact our freedoms, our changes and our society, we must intervene and individually make all of our personal issues our society’s issues (267 Mills). In this way, wouldn’t this unite us rather than force a divide in between one another? If we are able to see that we have much more in common with one another, we are therefore more likely to treat one another as an equal. My personal political ideology has always ran more conservative than liberal, coming from a strong line of strong willed Republicans with equally strong opinions. However, over the course of these readings, my ideology has somewhat changed. Given that I am more conservative when it comes to economic issues and finances, I have learned through the readings of all four authors mentioned previously before that if money is the most important thing, does that create equality and freedom? Can someone who is homeless afford to attend a four-year private educational institution? Surely they cannot, which means we aren’t all equal and that we don’t have as much ‘freedom’ as we may think we have. In the beginning of Camus reading of “The Guest,” Daru asked Balducci if the Arab is “against them” (282 Camus). Balducci says no, although they can never be too sure. Furthermore, Daru first judges the prisoner only to eventually set him free in the mountains. This to me symbolized that we cannot judge others before we allow ourselves to get to know them, as we do not know their entire ‘story.’ By letting the prisoner go, Daru was giving him the same amount of freedom that he had. My political ideology was also altered to a more liberal view after reading B.F. Skinner’s “The Evolution of a Culture.” Skinner believes, as most behaviorists do, that we aren’t defined by our past experiences but by our current behaviors. Skinner states that man doesn’t act “because he feels concern for the survival of his culture” (295 Skinner). Instead, we are then judged for the things we do, which may sounds rather selfish, but not so much. Skinner’s reading influenced me to realize that if we judge others constantly by what they do only, we are dismissing the idea of equality itself. Not that I entirely disagree with him, however judging others never seems to solve anything regardless of how it is done. Although my original political ideology was much more conservative in the beginning of the year, it has definitely changed and shifted to a cross between still somewhat conservative, but very much so more liberal, especially in the sense of economic issues. Unfortunately, these readings also allowed me to rethink our nation and our rights as citizens. Our nation and even our society that we live in today doesn’t have the freedom or equality that we think we may have. Despites equality being an American’s right, do we really have it?

“Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” –Honore de Balzac (French novelist and playwright)

References

Camus, Albert, and Stuart Gilbert. The Guest,. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1946. Print. Mills, C. Wright. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959. Print.

Miner, Horace. Body Ritual among the Nacirema. New York, N.Y.: Irvington, 19601956. Print. Skinner, B. F.. Beyond Freedom & Dignity. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub., 2002. Print.