Blog1: The Cave and I

Blog 1 The cave and I

            My personal opinion is to be confronted early with the truth, rather than being in darkness and just accepting what is in front of me due to not being inquisitive on the subject.  A good example of this is racism and how it was passed down from generation to generation fueled by ignorance and lack of questioning what really makes an African American different from someone who is Caucasian.   Most people during that era where not privy to the knowledge that we really have more similarities than differences in this world.  Now just imagine if everyone from that time period was racially educated on our differences and similarities how different that time period would have been and if there would have been so many more hate crimes, and school burnings. 

            I would like to compare my reasoning to the text of Plato, in which Socrates stated “Human beings living in an underground den; here they have been from childhood, and their legs and necks are chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their necks”.  That alludes to what I was speaking about earlier in the sense of some of those people back then didn’t really have a choice on how to think about, or treat African Americans because those chains of non questioning and ignorance that were being strongly upheld. 

            Don’t get me wrong there were also plenty of Caucasian people who accepted African Americans through time and learning and also the realization that they are not inferior due to skin color even though at the time it was considered to be a very taboo thought.  These people probably came from a family in which persecution based on race was not something that was being preached in the house.  Many of these people were not accepted by the society in which they lived because they were contradicting the whole belief system which was in place at that time. Which is something similar to what Socrates exclaimed “And now look again, and see what would naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen in the shadows’.  In comparison to what I was saying, most people who came around to the fact that slavery was wrong were persecuted just as harshly, if not worse than the African Americans, because they were going against something that was in their culture for so long.

            In conclusion I believe it is always best to be confronted with the knowledge of the subject so that all questions are answered from a fact based source rather than false interpretations and spoon fed knowledge.  No matter what the outcome is no matter how many friends you lose or gain you will always have a great feeling of enlightenment due to the fact that you are fully aware of the world around you.