Appearance plays a role….
Posted by playhard214 on February 24, 2008
Benjamin Burns
Araina Paliobagis
English 121
2/25/08
Response 3
Why do people give up freedoms? The answer to the questions is the same as the answer to another question, being “Why do people give up anything?” The answer to these questions is simple, the only reason people give anything up is to gain something in another area. Take one step backward to gain two steps forward. No one will ever intentionally give up anything without getting something out of it. For example, our government makes certain laws that infringe on our freedom, but these laws allow us to function as a society. In the essay “In Quest for Democracy”, Aung San Suu Kyi states “The people of Burma have had much experience of despotic rule and possess a great awareness of the unhappy gap that can exist between the theory and practice of government” (193). This means to me that she is basically giving up some of her freedoms because she knows that everybody has to give a little to gain anything. If someone wants to live a civilized lifestyle, some freedoms are going to have to be taken away due to abusers.
In class, we discussed how a society should choose a leader or how a country should elect a president. We discussed whether or not looks should be important in electing a leader, if the basis of election should be solely on ideas and not on appearance. Most people in the class agreed that it should have nothing to do with looks and only on ideas, but I completely disagree. I think appearance plays a huge role in electing a leader and should rightfully so. In the Agganna Sutta, the way that they chose a leader was “who was the handsomest, the best favored, the most attractive, and the most capable” (Aggana Sutta 102). This may seem initially incorrect to the ignorant, but if one was to further analyze and think about why they choose leaders in this fashion, they would see that this is a proper way to do so. One argument we discussed was that if a bum had good ideas and values, but was still a bum, should this person be elected president? Most people answered yes, but I answered no. I think that if a person is a bum, then obviously this person can’t control his/her life so what makes someone think that this person can control a country. Somebody’s rebuttal was that “some people choose that kind of lifestyle and choose to live like a bum.” My response to this was “obviously if a person is choosing to live the lifestyle of a rancid, haggard bum; then obviously there is something wrong with this individual. There is something not quite right in the head of this person, so why would you want someone like that running a country? The point is that believe it or not, looks plays a huge role in electing a leader and rightfully so. Dressing well shows character and devotion.
