A Matter Of Opinion

Growing up as a child most people were taught basic morals from their parents; don't steal, always tell the truth, be kind to others, etc. We were also taught to respect peoples opinions and realize that not everyone felt the same about everything, and that was okay. But what they didn't teach us was that these two can overlap, that sometimes it is okay to lie or to kill, it all just depends on where you are and how you view it. The basis of many of our morals are all dependent on the society that we live in, and can change from place to place. This leads to a large confusion when two different moral codes confront each, neither one is right (or wrong) but each thinks that they are.

In his article The Challenge of Cultural Relativism James Rachels uses a number of examples to help to explain this to his readers. His first is the example of two different cultures of people, the Greeks and Callatians, who had two different rituals with deceased people, cremation and cannibalism. His point was basically that each of these cultures had reasons for how they treated the dead, and were appalled by how the other culture acted. Neither one is particularly correct in the manner, it is the tradition and moral code they were raised with that makes is correct for them. Rachels also shows this with Eskimos and their infanticide, how for their society it is necessary and acceptable to do what we have deemed to be terrible and immoral. However, just because people disagree does not mean they are both correct, Rachels states. The previous examples were opinionated subjects, but if someone say that a fruit is an apple and someone else says it is not, both cannot be correct. Often today people struggle to realize the difference between their societal morals and traditions, and what are actually facts.

In Things Fall Apart these cultural differences are shown in many ways because of the background from which the story comes. The first is the ultimatum given stating that a young man and a virgin must be given up or the two tribes will go to war. Today we look at this with disgust, trading people and forcibly taking them is cruel and inhuman. But in reality our culture does it just the same. We bargain for resources and land; materials we can use to fuel our economy and keep our nation going. These tribes are no different, men are useful as workers, farmers, warriors, and hunters; a valuable commodity. Women are the sole source of reproduction, you cant expand as a society without people in that society. Then in the end of the novel the kinsmen refuse to touch the body of a man who committed suicide. Although we may view this as disrespectful and silly, they are justified in their reasoning. Just as we would not dig up the body of anyone already buried they wont touch the body of someone who has shamed himself and his kin in such a profound way.

Personally I believe that there are many things that we view as a society as a fact or universal moral that in reality is just an influence of our past traditions. These rules and codes of conduct that we have are very malleable and should not be accepted as facts, because they are not. However, as we travel around the world we should take into consideration  the society we are in and how their culture is different from our own. Just because we are from another culture does not give us the right to blatantly bash and spit upon another one we are not familiar with. As long as someone actions have a proper and valid motivation, they cannot be seen as evil or incorrect. After all, we have many laws and moral codes stating that murder is injust and wrong, but we have millions and millions of people trained and ready whose sole job is to fight and killed when they are called upon to do so.

The Heros of Our Time

Often times when someone mentions a hero people today think of the Marvel superheros or the big brawny men who can lift cars and fight bad guys. But how did this perception come to be, when they were so different back in Greek and Roman times? The evolution of a hero comes with a changing society and the evolution of the technology of the day.
The definition of a hero and their heroic deeds has greatly changed, and is most easily seen through the different cultures of time periods. In Greek and Roman times a hero was someone who was of godly decent, they fought monsters and won prizes. People like Hercules and Achilles who performed great deeds and saved their nations from catastrophic events caused by jealous and angry Gods. Then as time went on the Renaissance came to be and the definition of a hero changed once again. Instead of demigods fighting monsters it turned to nobles, rising horses, acting as knights in shining armor. They would lead their individual armies on raids of enemy castles, they would win riches for their kings, and they would save damsels in distress. Every now and then they would go and fight dragons, which shows the influence of past cultures on the heroes of the time.
Now, in modern times we have our comic book and movie superheroes. Crime-fighting, building jumping, supernatural people with special powers. However, when we look to real life heroes we look at our teachers, military, doctors, and policemen. One woman who was considered a hero was Kaci Hickox, who went to Sierra Leone to treat Ebola patients. She was revered and idolized for her noble acts of risking her own safety and health to help these underprivileged people. In many people's minds she was a modern day Mother Theresa and a hero in our eyes.  But when she returned home she was put into a quarantine by the state of New Jersey, for safety precautions. Our hero was outraged, trash talking the state in the news as she was forced to stay away from people for 21 days. Now the people could see the true insides of our hero, was she rightly outraged, or was she overreacting? After all it is a deadly disease that society should be protected from, but she was tested negative for the disease twice already. 
Then there are the heroes of way before the Romans and Greeks, back in the time of the Celts and Geats. The story of Beowulf depicts a hero and is conquest over a number of monsters. The hero of his time was supposed to be superhuman strong and boast about all of his achievements, as Beowulf himself was very much so. This old English literature is commonly referred to as a base or beginning of heroic tales and the archetype of heroes. Beowulf went out, fighting monsters and dragons, which may have influenced the future generations in their need to have an unrealistic monster or Gillian that can only be defeated by these superhuman heroes. Then as the ages went on the heroes evolved and as did their foes. The hubris of the Geat hero turned into a fatal flaw for the future heroes, and is no longer a part of modern days culture. 
After reading this book  and the article I have decided that modern day heroes have evolved gradually and slowly with the times, going through phases to reach where we are from the old heroes like Beowulf. As culture changed and technology evolved, the stories and heroes adapted to change with them, keeping tales of old alive. I think that before the heroes were more a comforting tale to tell people to reassure them, but as times went on the tales became more realistic and some people were able to actually fulfill these deeds. And now in modern day we consider people heroes as many every day people who do these things we admire. They are more now idols than heroes, but maybe these idols are the heroes we truly need in today's society. 

Prison Guard Brutality

Guard and police brutality has always been a touchy subject to discuss. There are many points and factors to take into account when trying to prove a point or make a discussion about this topic. It is in their job description as enforcers of the law to stop people from commuting crimes and to protect society as whole, even if it means using force to disable the criminal. However there comes a point where the officer is no longer protecting society, but is taking advantage of a helpless man or woman. 

One insight on the reality of the situation in prisons was the interview done with Jelpi Picou, an inmate at Orleans Parish Prison. He stated that the prison was in no way up to the legal standards set by the sate for such containment facilities. The guards there ran a drug ring, they encouraged fights, and they took every opportunity they had to inflict harm the prisoners. While the first offense is completely illegal, and the second is the opposite of what they are there to do, the third is what brings up the most controversy. These guards treat the inmates as the scum of the earth, and take the little power they have and blow it out or proportion. They will beat down and inflict bodily harm upon the inmates our of the realm of reason, way beyond the person stopping resisting. Although they are permitted to use force to qualm quarrels, there becomes a point where they are no longer protecting themselves and society, but instead they have become the criminals themselves, beating on a helpless citizen.

This relates to the book the Power of One as to the multiple scenes in the jail where Peekay learns to box. The most obvious connection between this jail and a real life one is when Lieutenant Borman boxes with Geel Piet and kills him. Much like in real life this "incident" goes unnoticed and unreported. These kinds of crimes are, in my opinion, as bad as any crime that can get you into these prisons and jails. This obvious abuse of power is disgusting and should be punished with jail time itself.

Police brutality is another topic that is along the same line of guard brutality, which brings up the current topic of the Micheal Brown in Ferguson. When the police shot the unarmed boy in cold blood, people began to riot in the streets. The injustice of it all, the poor boy was unarmed, he didn't even do anything to offend the officer. But the officer says that the boy was resisting and he needed to use force to protect himself. Doesn't this situation sound just a little familiar? The problem is when it happens behind bars to already convicted criminals it doesn't matter, but if the exact same thing happens to a "free innocent man" then it is the end of the world. 

The difference between these two acts is negligible, and they are both a serious crime that needs to be reprimanded. If the nation were to get together and stand behind fighting guard brutality and abuse like they do for cases like Micheal Brown's, this problem could be solved.