Post by emilysi116 on Dec 8, 2012 18:36:43 GMT -5
Emily Sickles
Period 6 English
December 4th
According to the Geneva Conventions ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, Prisoners of War, no matter the circumstance are entitled to basic human rights, free of humiliation or torture, both physiological and physical. Yet the allegations of cruelty and inhumane treatment at Guantanamo Bay suggest a shift in the consensus of ethical treatment post September 11th. Fear after a crisis used as a justification in both situations, the depraved events at Guantanamo Bay parallel the tyranny of consensus in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Morals shift after a crisis, as the focus turns to prevention of whatever the fear is, rather than fair treatment, inhumane ethics are often adapted for the sake of protection, though it is for the false betterment of the entire society, rather than the innocent victims of the tyranny. This is extremely true in both cases, as both societies speak the rhetoric of consensus in order to achieve a false sense of peace, and out of the fear of the escalation of their crisis. In The Crucible, Salem adopts a new sense of morality after the threat of witchcraft is posed, the thought of Betty potentially being a witch cultivating a fear amongst the entire town. The fear, in the minds of the citizens of Salem, justifies the accusations and eventual killings of townspeople. The citizens of Salem will do anything for a sense of protection, disregarding whether or not the accused are actually guilty out of selfishness and fear creating a tyranny. This is prevalent in the case of Guantanamo Bay as well, as the general climate of fear after September 11th allowed for the reported cruelty to continue. Because the detention camp held prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan, people felt threatened by association, using safety as the explanation of the cruelty.
Characters like Hale and Hawthorne genuinely believed that what was going on was fair, as did the government officials responsible for the detention camp. In the play, those who disagreed were shunned by society, as Proctor and Giles Corey are pushed to the outside of what has become the consensus. This is the case with Guantanamo Bay as well, as the fact that the detention camp was established in 2002 without being discovered until 2009 shows the tyranny of consensus within all those with knowledge of the obvious torture.
Fear after a crisis is the justification in both situations, in both the Salem Witch Trials and the Controversy at the Guantanamo Bay, a general sense of fear allow the tyranny of consensus to occur after a crisis. The parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and The Guantanamo Bay Controversy prove how a tyranny of consensus is not specific to an era. Rather it extends through time periods, as fear after a crisis is prevalent in society, as well as the way it was and is acted upon.
Period 6 English
December 4th
According to the Geneva Conventions ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, Prisoners of War, no matter the circumstance are entitled to basic human rights, free of humiliation or torture, both physiological and physical. Yet the allegations of cruelty and inhumane treatment at Guantanamo Bay suggest a shift in the consensus of ethical treatment post September 11th. Fear after a crisis used as a justification in both situations, the depraved events at Guantanamo Bay parallel the tyranny of consensus in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Morals shift after a crisis, as the focus turns to prevention of whatever the fear is, rather than fair treatment, inhumane ethics are often adapted for the sake of protection, though it is for the false betterment of the entire society, rather than the innocent victims of the tyranny. This is extremely true in both cases, as both societies speak the rhetoric of consensus in order to achieve a false sense of peace, and out of the fear of the escalation of their crisis. In The Crucible, Salem adopts a new sense of morality after the threat of witchcraft is posed, the thought of Betty potentially being a witch cultivating a fear amongst the entire town. The fear, in the minds of the citizens of Salem, justifies the accusations and eventual killings of townspeople. The citizens of Salem will do anything for a sense of protection, disregarding whether or not the accused are actually guilty out of selfishness and fear creating a tyranny. This is prevalent in the case of Guantanamo Bay as well, as the general climate of fear after September 11th allowed for the reported cruelty to continue. Because the detention camp held prisoners from Iraq and Afghanistan, people felt threatened by association, using safety as the explanation of the cruelty.
Characters like Hale and Hawthorne genuinely believed that what was going on was fair, as did the government officials responsible for the detention camp. In the play, those who disagreed were shunned by society, as Proctor and Giles Corey are pushed to the outside of what has become the consensus. This is the case with Guantanamo Bay as well, as the fact that the detention camp was established in 2002 without being discovered until 2009 shows the tyranny of consensus within all those with knowledge of the obvious torture.
Fear after a crisis is the justification in both situations, in both the Salem Witch Trials and the Controversy at the Guantanamo Bay, a general sense of fear allow the tyranny of consensus to occur after a crisis. The parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and The Guantanamo Bay Controversy prove how a tyranny of consensus is not specific to an era. Rather it extends through time periods, as fear after a crisis is prevalent in society, as well as the way it was and is acted upon.