Reflection paper 2

Nandi Lewis

Class: Politics 166

Professor: Barry Murdaco

Lehman College

                                           Reflection Paper

                      What I Saw In America

                        By G. K. Chesterton

   ‘A man is perfectly entitled to laugh at a thing because he happens to find it incomprehensible. What he has no right to do is to laugh at it as incomprehensible, and then criticize it as if he comprehended it. The very fact of its unfamiliarity and mystery ought to set him thinking about the deeper causes that make people so different from himself, and that without merely assuming that they must be inferior to himself”( Chesterton pg.5).

    In this specific passage by Chesterton I believe that he is highlighting the process of which one should be aware of national differences. Chesterton explains that there is nothing wrong with acknowledging one nation as different from one’s own. But to implement and define someone based on their differences and categorizing them in such a manner is false. He explains there is nothing wrong with laughing at something that seems odd; however it is best that amusement be used to find out why they are or why they go about things in such matter. In this example of Chesterton finding of the American nation, I concluded that differences are usually not understood to why they are different and that with those differences it allow people to set superiority and inferiority.

     The reason I have chosen this passage because it opened up my understanding to not be so judgmental. In the past I have found myself laughing at certain things  in life and viewing it in one way only to justify myself in what I was doing. It allow me to see that many concepts in America and to wonder if this country is really favors diversity, or is it used for free labor and oppression. Having an attitude something should not be is refusing how it became in existence which is truly what need to go further into our future. I believe this passage signifies how ignorant a person can be in disqualifying one’s self in knowledge in which is needed to create equality.

             

Response to Two Faces in Power

Nandi Lewis

Class: Politics 166

Professor: Barry Murdaco

Lehman College

       

                                                           Reflection Paper 

                                     Two Faces of Power 

                         By Peter Bachrach and Morton S. Baratz

   “Of course power is exercised when A participates in the making of decisions that affect B. But power is also exercised when A devotes his energies to creating or reinforcing social and political values and institutional practices that limit the scope of the political process to public consideration of only those issues which are comparatively innocuous to A. To the extent that A succeeds in doing this, B is prevented, for all practical purposes, from bringing to the fore any issues that might in their resolution be seriously detrimental to A’s set of preferences?”

     In this particular part of the passage it has revealed to me that power is exercised in many forms in which can be disguised in order to not be seen as powerful. Bachrach and Baratz emphasize on how decisions make up the majority effects of the political system. In this case, A participates knowingly work together with B, exercising ways in order to get what is fulfilling to their needs. The needs of which executes one way of thinking undermining B participants acknowledgements of political ideas. The political process is hindered and resolutions towards better outcomes are in the hand of one group because of the fear of losing the attention to its own appetite, therefore causing limitations to discussions. I believe that it goes in comparison with the elitist because they are usually very expressive and orderly based off of a structure of which they stratify. Participants of group B would be pluralist because they feel that one person does not run the community but it takes many. Overall this certain part of the passage has clearly stated how power in political views build and misuse each other in order to establish each own power.

    The reason I choose this particular part of the passage is because its example allowed me to understand more of how power is exercised in one groups perspective. I understand that I don’t have to say that I am in power, but it is what I do with it. Do I make decisions based off myself and people that share similar desires as me? Or do I go after what is best for the whole community? There seems to never be a right or wrong answer but the approach in the political world you take can possibly affect individuals having them to feel as if they aren’t being heard. In conclusion, it seems the way one examines and uses power ultimately keeps the cycle of individuals never being satisfied.