Monday, August 20, 2007
" The mother of revolution and crime is poverty."(Aristotle)
Do you agree?
Aristotle, a greek philosopher(384BC-322BC), established the quote "The mother of revolution and crime is poverty." Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, whereby one does not have the basic necessities for survival. Half the world- nearly three billion people- live on less than $2 a day. Imagine the life that these poor people have to lead, where many are deprived of a proper shelter, food, sanitation etc. However, is it true that poverty has the power to drive someone to commit crimes or to a larger extent,to stage a revolution? Is the statement made by Aristotle valid?
"Money is the root of all evils." This phrase may sound cliche but we can never deny that in many situtations, people fight and kill each other for money. When one is poverty-stricken, he will come to a stage whereby the desparation for money can make him cast aside everything to fight for his own survival. The helplessness in them brings them to an unstable mental state where they are not able to differentiate right from wrong. Money is their only belief and only with it, they will then be able to get out of the poverty cycle. And yes, at this point of time, poverty is the source that causes someone to commit a crime.
In the age of globalisation, people strive for equality in all aspects. The disparity of income level in a country may lead to the dissatisfaction of the lower income group. One example is the Indonesian riot that took place in May 1998. The domination of ethnic Chinese minority in the retail economy has resulted in the discontentment of the Indonesian natives and violence against the Indonesian Chinese has erupted across the country. The natives are trying to raise the awareness of the government in hope that they will help to narrow down the gap between the rich and the poor. In such scenario, the poor may feel that the only way to voice out their unhappiness and to get the attention of the society is through a revolution.
On the other hand, poverty may not be the sole reason that cause crimes and revolution. By saying mother of revolution and crime is poverty, we are stereotyping against the poor and this is a practice of class discrimination. Who says only the poor violates the law? Rich people,too, commit crimes. Greed is one of the eight deadly sin that human commits and it is tough for one to suppress greed. When one is given something, he or she will want more of it. One typical example is Mr T T Durai, the former CEO of NKF, who was charged for corruption. Though he was highly respected as the head of an extremely successful fundraising organisation, his greed has led him to bankruptcy. He has ruined his beautiful future with his own hands.
Crime is an action that is deemed injurious to the public welfare. Crime is a broad category in which there are many different crimes such as theft, burglary, kidnap, rape, murder etc. Looking at the list of crimes, theft, burglary and kidnap may be one that people will commit due to poverty. But what about people who commit a rape,molest or even murder? Poverty is definately not the cause for them to breach the law.
Historically, politics and power played by elitle leaders and rulers have increased poverty. The most typical example is the 1911 revolution that took place in China. At that time, almost 90% of the population were peasants. They were often bullied by the landlords and the corrupted government, where landlords pushed up rents whenever they want and the government wanted them to pay taxes 20 years in advance ! Life was miserable and gradually, opposition parties start to rise in attempt to overthrow the inefficient Manchu government. The leaders of the opposition parties are mostly educated in the west and are of reputable families. They wanted to introduce the governing system from the West into China to help solve the problems that existed at that time.
In conclusion, I agree to a small extent that poverty is the root of crimes and revolutions. There are many other factors that attribute to one to commit crimes and thus it is unfair to brand the poor as criminals.
RESEARCH
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
http://hrw.org/english/docs/1998/02/18/indone1062_txt.htm
p.s. mdm loh, sry for my super late work.=x
the world will turn WILD.
6:03 AM
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Sunday, August 5, 2007
LOOKISMDEFINITION: lookism is discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearanceLINK:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20031208/ai_n12530889http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={6141A41C-FA23-43F9-B7F6-05A1930FE619}
http://starbulletin.com/96/07/16/features/story1.htmlAGEISMDEFINITION:Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age.LINK:DISABLISMDEFINITION:It is used to describe inherent discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled.LINK:XENOPHOBIADEFINITION:Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangersLINK:
the world will turn WILD.
10:57 PM
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