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STRONG SOVEREIGNTY DESTROYS FREE SOCIETY
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STRONG SOVEREIGNTY DESTROYS FREE SOCIETY1. STRONG SOVEREIGNTY RESULTS IN A STATE OF FEAR J.W.N. Watkins, NQA, HOBBE’S SYSTEM OF IDEAS, 1973, p. 126. ‘The good of the sovereign and people, cannot be separated. It is a weak sovereign, that has weak subjects; and a weak people, whose sovereign wanteth power to rule them at his will.’ In time of war this may be approximately true. But in Hobbes’s own psychological principles, one should rather expect a sovereign unconstrained by external exigencies to reduce the people to a paralysed state of fear and insecurity, at least if he enjoys the technological advantages of modem totalitarians. 2. HOBBES’S DEFENSE OF SOVEREIGNTY IS UNSUPPORTED BY FACTS J.W.N. Watkins, NQA, HOBBE’S SYSTEM OF IDEAS, 1973, p. 125. Hobbes did not altogether ignore the possible unintended consequences of his sovereign remedy; but he did not elaborate on them. Instead, he gave the blanket assurance that, however bad they might turn out to be, they would be ‘scarce sensible’ compared with the ‘miseries, and horrible calamities, that accompany a civil war.’
J.W.N. Watkins, NQA, HOBBE’S SYSTEM OF IDEAS, 1973, p. 126. Thus, if his! the sovereign’s] supreme ambition is to make himself as secure as possible and to have, if not all the world, at least all his subjects to fear and obey him, he may prepare to liquidate potential rivals and opposition leaders one by one, until he has effectively destroyed the possibility of organized opposition.
bell hooksbell hooks is the name chosen by Gloria Watkins as her pseudonym. She chooses to use this particular name in honor of her great-grandmother who she sees as a powerful, self-actualized woman who survived harsh racism, sexism and classism. Hooks describes her grandmother as: a sharp-tongued woman, a woman who spoke her mind , a woman who was not afraid to talk back. I claimed this legacy of defiance, of will, of courage, affirming my link to female ancestors who were bold and daring in their speech. (Talking Back 9) bell hooks is a prolific author. In the period from 1980 to 1998 she produced sixteen books as well as numerous articles and speeches. She has been extremely successful in applying her personal experiences in feminism, academia and her southern upbringing to a criticism of society that speaks to readers among a variety of audiences. hooks was born in 1952 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. From the age of ten she was sure she wanted to become a writer. She could often be found curled up on her bed on a mental escape in a good book. This interest in books was not, as it might be today, perceived as a productive activity for a young girl to be engaged in. Her father feared, correctly it turned out, that too much reading would change her life. Growing up hooks was taught that men did not like to be with smart girls and if she ever wanted to marry, which was supposed to be the primary goal in every girl’s mind, she would have to avoid excessive involvement in books. The desire to marry was not something bell hooks chose to focus on. She knew there was something else out there for her. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University where she expected to find a more enlightened view on the role of reading and education in a woman’s life. At the university she found herself further away from individuals expecting girls to seek out married life but the sex discrimination was not gone, it was simply recreated in new ways. In her classes, generally taught by white males, she found a hostile reaction toward discussions of “feminism.” Determined to overcome these notions, hooks continued writing and went on to Yale after graduating. She later returned to California to obtain her Ph.D. from the University of California in Santa Cruz. In her reading hooks found one author who she had a particular connection with, Paulo Friere. Despite the fact the many feminist critics, including hooks, have indicted Friere as "partially blinded by sexism"(Women Writing Culture 106), there are many aspects of his work that have nurturing qualities for hooks and she feels justified in overlooking the sexist tendency. For her, Friere's work has served as a model of critical consciousness. She follows his model because it is participatory and employs the notion of praxis, which allows the author to combine reflex and action. This is accomplished in most of hooks' work through the contribution of her own life experience. She uses her own experience to help others understand the hierarchy that exists in American society, and the destructive effects of sexism, racism and classism. WRITING STYLEbell hooks is a scholar, highly knowledgeable in a variety of areas including literature, politics, race and gender studies but she more often chooses to write from her experiences and to adopt a more narrative style regardless of the type of work she is composing. Though hooks will make reference in her works to scholars who have influenced her work, especially Friere, she does not generally conform to rules of source citation or footnoting. This is part of her attempt to decolonize her mind and the minds of other colonized people. Like everything hooks does, her writing style functions as a critical tool that breaks down accepted notions of proper and improper in academic scholarship. hooks argues that her choice to avoid particular citation formatting of her work is not careless writing but rather a conscious choice to make her writing more accessible. Unfortunately she realizes that it is this choice that often causes her work to be passed over for use in institutions of higher learning. She points out that, Marginalized groups may lack the inclination to engage in certain ways of thinking and writing because we learn early that such work may not be recognized or valued, or we are told by gatekeepers, usually white, often male, that it will be better for us to write and think in a more conventional way. (Yearning 129) Despite this realization hooks continues her practice because she feels the accessibility of her work to those outside of the scholarly community is more important. She often feels free to alter the structure or grammar of her writing depending on the audience. Vernacular is another tool she uses to maintain connection with her roots as well as connections to her audience. Even the smallest elements of bell hooks’ work are purposeful. The letters at the beginning of her first and last name are lower case to how that the person is not as important as the message and in hopes that people would become more connected to her words than simply attaching themselves to a name. The lower case letters were an attempt to avoid the status of icon but the name remains one regardless. hooks has written so much and had such an effect on so many lives that her name is highly noted but she hope that the lower case letters at least cause people to consider what it is they have attached themselves to. hooks deals with issues that are important in the lives of everyday people. She indicts institutions and promotes a multitude of values, which seek to create a more open society free of oppression on the basis of race, sex or class. No matter your debate topic hooks has probably written something that applies, this essay will deal with her general theoretical arguments and the literature on those subjects, after gaining a better understanding of bell hooks’ thoughts on society it would be beneficial for debaters to examine the literature in her books or online dealing with any variety of issues in society from education to politics and medicine. 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