Does Power Corrupt?

Does Power Corrupt? How or How Not? Why or Why Not?

By: Jake Wade

            Power is something that everyone wants and wants this for the reason that they want to be in control. So yes, Power does corrupt. Power corrupts people in ways that they don’t even know existed. It can damage ones personality or it could change your mind into one that needs power to thrive and survive. But when you are corrupted by power then you will know what it is like to be overthrown by your own selfish demands and needs.

            When one has too much power they begin to take advantage of the fact that they can take control of the lives of others. A dictator is a ruler (e.g. absolutist or autocratic) who assumes sole and absolute power (sometimes but not always with military control) but, without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarchy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator). Dictators rule with fear and they make everything look good when they first take power. Most of the time a dictator is a great person until power takes over their lives and they can no longer think or speak for themselves. Power has corrupted the minds of many dictators and has given them a reason to take control of everything and tear it apart. Adolf Hitler was a Dictator that is probably the most known for his mass murders of races. His administration was notable for the genocide of Jewish, Romani, and other people known as the Holocaust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler). He was voted Time Magazines Man of the Year in 1938 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year). This Example shows how power can turn even the greatest of men into a man who will be hated forever. Many people suffered and died thanks to what Hitler did as a dictator. Everyone will remember this tragic moment in history. When the war ended Hitler had been fully compromised and many of his commanding officers were put to death as a result of what they had done at all of the concentration camps. Hitler was positioned underground so that no one would find him but if someone were to find him he would kill himself. He ended up killing His wife and child and then committed suicide. The power corrupted the way he lived his life and through this the greatest genocide of all time happened. Power is something that has to be controlled and distributed through government officials and senators like how a democracy is. Distributing power this way is the only way that it can be controlled. The people have the right to vote and make decisions for them and the nation derived around justice and freedom. This is not something that Hitler gave as a leader.

            Power is something that has to monitored and put into the right hands or else it could end up destroying what is left of the civilization. When power is put into the wrong hands, well Hitler showed us how this can be done. The distribution of Power and how someone uses it is up to them but when it comes to who is elected leader and who can make the final decision for a country, well hat is up to the people. A democracy is a political government either carried out directly by the people (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people (Representative democracy) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy). This is what the United States is and that is why we are one of the most prosperous countries in the world. When power corrupts the one who possesses it then only bad things can happen from there, but when that person is trustworthy and able to make their own decisions can power really have a good effect. 

Prezi on the Greek God Hermes

The Great Olympian God Herme on Prezi

Was Athens really a democracy?

Yes they were actually a democracy but they were a democracy with restrictions. They only allowed men who had gone through military training to vote in Athens. This is much like how our democracy evolved in the United States. We only allowed men to vote then we gradually came to the idea of woman voting. Finally we allowed other races to vote, but only if they are an American citizen.

Why do people write a record of their past?

People write a record of their past so that they can keep track of what has happened in history. Written records help us keep track of when and where something could have happened. The records that have been written could be of anything that has happened in the past. This could be important or not. Writing things down is an easy way to keep a organized system of recording the past.

The process of becoming a mummy(comic)

In this comic a person is going through the process of becoming a mummy. Step 1, getting put onto the table to be cut open and have your vital organs removed. Step 2, Have all of your vital organs placed into a jar to be kept with your body in the tomb. Step 4, you are lied to rest in your tomb in the afterlife.

What is "Important"

The word important can be taken in many ways but when you look at the word, the definition sounds like it should. The definition is- of much or great significance or consequence (Dictionary.com). An important thing is usually remembered or would be written down somewhere that it would never be lost in. The word important has a greater meaning than the one that I just gave and that is that importance will never be forgotten but the level of importance can be measured differently by each individual. Everyone can look at an event differently, or like something more than another person does. Everyone has different interests and that’s what makes us unique from each other. For instance, there a lot of people that only watch the super-bowl for the commercials and don’t even watch the game. But on the other hand there are those that could care less about what is being advertised and are die hard football fans. The importance of something is going to be different from every human-being on this planet because of the fact that no one person is made alike.

            Importance, as I have said before is not something that every sees but it is something that each person will decide for themselves the level of importance that the “important” event has. For me I think that everything that I do is important to my life but if someone else was to look at it they would say that life is much more important than mine. Everyone has a say in their own life. Here are some things that people might debate on whether they are important or not. Hen Obama was elected he was the first black president and he made history for that. To me it shouldn’t matter about the race of our leader but whether he has the right ideas to correct was has been done in our country. So far our economy has plummeted and a lot of people are losing their jobs. Another thing that people might debate on is whether helping out Haiti is important or not. Obviously we need to help out those who don’t have as much as we do and we need to help out those who need our help. After the earthquake in Haiti it had a drastic effect on the lives of everyone around the world. This happened to a small island and we are doing everything to help those in need. Because of the people that are willing to help Haiti, we have raised the relief efforts and have done all that we can to help those that are starving and perishing in Haiti. The high level of importance that we get everyone in that country food and 

clean water helped us spread the awareness much faster. The next example is the importance of helping those with AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa get the treatment they need. Every country in Africa has people with AIDS and they can’t help it. They have not been educated about the importance of being safe in sexual activity or knowing that AIDS can be transferred through blood. But if they were to be told then I think that it would make a huge change in their lives. All of these events were important to some and not important to others. Which one of these events do you think were important?

The level of importance something has can also be determined by the outcome of the event, such as a discovery or an invention. When a caveman discovered fire or a bow and arrow; that revolutionized the way that they lived their lives. They could hunt and they could cook but what they built out of these discoveries and inventions had both good and bad consequences. The good consequences as I said before were the ability to hunt and cook. This led to a new era in lifestyle that was probably as big as the industrial revolution. But on the other hand the development of weapons gave some areas power over others and caused war as time went on. The more we fought the less important their inventions came. But to some people that was not entirely true. Some people think that war is good and others could find millions of ways to disagree. Look at the weapons and technology that has come from the simplest things in life. Without fire we could not make steel and other metals to mold into cars or planes. Without the basic bow and arrow we would have never of understood the basics of weaponry. But through the bow and arrow we have learned how to kill and sometimes kill others through hate and violence. Sometimes when you have a good idea that might be put down in history some day you have to look at it and weigh the outcome before you follow through with your actions. So through the simplest things come greater more important things. Important things can come from other important things as we look deeper into the importance of them and learn how to prosper from our breakthroughs.

In conclusion, importance is not just the things that are written down in history or put into safe that will keep them interlocked forever. Importance is coming to know how to interpret the level of something’s value and learning how to prosper off what we have as human beings. Without knowing what is important in this world, we would not be able to understand why we were chosen to be the dominant species over all. Not only is there an important thing being done by every person in this world as I write this but the importance of it will be of greater value to the one who is doing it. Through importance we have come to understand why we are who we are and what our lives have been set out to do through a lifetime of make choices and deciding between right and wrong. Normally the correct choice is the one that is most important to you.

Dictionary.com-http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/important

War is a form of technology, Agree or disagree?

I do not agree with war being a form of technology because of the fact that all humans have the instinct to dominate anything and anyone around them. War is a natural instinct and it is not a form of technology. But there is technology that goes into war. There are weapons, vehicles and the battle tactics that go into war but the actual war itself has no technological aspects of how it has come to be.

Pyramid and megalith conspiracy theories.

I believe that there are so many theories around these buildings are around because of the fact that the are so old and no one would think that humans could build those without the technology that we have today. When the pyramids and megaliths were made, they were made by hand and using hand tools. Now we have machines that can help us do our work without our own physical labor. So i believe that people think that aliens or what not made the pyramids and megaliths is because of the fact that we cannot except the fact of that we were evolved enough to create such magnificent and mysterious buildings.

What is the oldest created human artifact that matters to you?

To me the oldest man-made artifact that matters to me is the spark. The spark was used to create a man-made fire and not a fire created by nature. With fire we have discovered how to weld and boil food. This artifact was a huge breakthrough in the human evolution that has helped us make most of our artifacts to come after it.