Skip to main content

Live by it, die by it // Ian Blair

     Call me crazy, but I would conjecture that those who use fear as a tool to achieve their goals are never actually satisfied with their work because they spend all their time being afraid of someone using their own tactics on them. Socrates in Book IX details the Tyrant's power struggle and how the tyrannical man never forges alliances or friendships due to always being weary of anyone he has not payed off to guard him and his possessions. It reminds me of when the Bible addresses that those who live by the sword will die by the sword, which basically translates to you get what you give. If someone oppresses others, then who is really the winner in that scenario? Spoiler alert, it's nobody at all!

    I remember a moment from a television series that can really put the Tyrant's struggle in perspective, and how tyranny will inevitably undo itself. Within the masterful storytelling of the third season of Transformers Prime, Megatron himself has spent the majority of a year being nothing more than a vessel host for a greater evil in the story. After he breaks his connection with the evil and retakes control of what remains of his tattered form, he has a bit of a stand-off with Optimus where he delivers a powerful punchline that really speaks volumes to the wisdom he learns over the season, "No! . . . There will be no further conflict, no further energon shed upon this rock, the Decepticons are abolished from this moment forth! . . . Because I now know the true meaning of oppression, and have thus lost my lust for inflicting it..." In the tyrant's case, he uses fear and oppression as necessary tools to rise to power, only to find that once in power there is no incentive to keep climbing. Power is not something that is a necessary evil, but rather something to is to be used in the kindness and service to others who are not fortunate enough to gain power in the first place. What do you think about the qualities of a tyrant? Is there anything that you would add?

Comments

  1. Lily CaswellOctober 15, 2020 at 7:40 AM

    “You reap what you sow” is a very applicable statement to the tyrant. I think that sometimes people become tyrants somewhat unwillingly; they get control of power and then their ambition to get more power overtakes them. I really like how you said that power is not necessarily evil. I think that because the tyrant is always stepping on other peoples toes to get what he wants, he’s constantly paranoid that someone will step on his toes (e.g. overthrowing/killing him).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more