Immortality: Essential or Unnecessary?

As time has progressed, humans have made significant improvements in having a longer lifespan. Every day, scientists are one step closer to curing cancer: the major cause of death today. Although this seems amazing for every person to live a 100 years and even more, wouldn't this actually have terrible consequences for human beings? 

Think about it. If everyone lived forever the Earth's population would rise and would probably cause chaos for areas that already have population problems. Gas prices could rise, food shortages, and unemployment would disrupt human society. So would accepting death as a natural process be better than trying to get around it?

In William Cullen Bryant's Thanatopsis, he offers a peaceful view of death, comfort for the living, and no matter what a person's religious beliefs, the poem is still applicable. Thanatopsis views death as part of the return to nature, like death is just another phase of life itself. Thanatopsis also tells the reader that he/she will not go to death alone. Everyone who has ever died will already be there. Everyone who hasn't gone yet will be there eventually. Social class or age does not matter; we all share one thing, and that one thing is death. 

All in all Bryant's poem is moving to human society who wants to get around death. People should accept death and think of it as a positive way. When a generation dies off, a new generation will take its place and continue the great progress of human society. 

Persuasion

Everyone persuades his/her friend to do something everyday. Or in many cases they get influenced very easily. Humans are extremely flawed when it comes to resisting something they really want to do, but unfortunately can't because of a conflict. But at the end they do it anyway! Why? Well here is an example.

1) X: Hey Y, what about going to the gym today?
2) Y: Am afraid I can’t, I have got to study for at least 2 hours today
3) X: why don’t you study right after the gym? , we will finish at 5 Pm, you will still have time, i can study with you too
4) Y: Well, my back hurts a little
5) X: But gym is the best cure for back pain, you will feel great right after we finish
6) Y: but my car is out of fuel and I don’t have money
7) X: I will come and pick you up, get ready in 10 minutes
8) Y: okk!!

So Y was convinced. But how did this happen! Well X did four very important things; He shook Y's belief, undermined his knowledge base, provided proof, and most important spoke confidently.
X was very assertive about going to the gym with Y, and he distracted Y from his plan for the day: STUDY. X told Y that they could study after working out. He made it clear to Y that they had plenty of time left to study. This strong support made Y feel that X knew what he was talking about and everything would be fine. Already X is successful with persuading Y because Y gives another excuse about his back, not anything about studying! Again with proof and confident speaking X gets to Y and convinces him that the gym will actually help his back. A positive for Y.... All in all, the  more clues you can provide to strengthen your argument, the less skeptical the other person will be and so the easier they will be convinced. 

Surprisingly, this strategy of persuading someone is EXACTLY like the American Revolution. For example, although colonists were getting frustrated with Britain, they still were reluctant to fight for independence. The big turning point came with the Boston Massacre. Newspapers depicted this event worse than it actually was! Patriots who desperately wanted independence, like Thomas Paine, took advantage of this and persuaded the colonists easily. Thomas Paine's Common Sense (note the title Common Sense. It makes the reader feel that this is the most logical thing to do and if he/she doesn't do it he/she is not intelligent) used the 4 steps of persuasion above to persuade the colonists to fight for independence. The pamphlet had a very strong and confident tone, it provided proof, made the reader think that "wow Thomas Paine a very important person is saying this. Maybe he is right?" 
It is very interesting to see how the strategy of persuading someone has stayed the same throughout the years and in several different situation. These 4 strategies can work with anyone for whatever reason if it is convincing a person to fight for independence, or to go work out at the gym.

The Dilemma

John Proctor definitely made a tough choice at the end of The Crucible. But was it truly the right one?

 

Sadly, no matter which decision John made, his life was over. He could choose to die with honor or live with shame. If he had chosen to lie in order to live, he really would not have gotten his life back. He surely would have lived every day hating himself for what he had done. His great unhappiness surely would have made life difficult for Elizabeth and the children. Also, since John would have lost his self-respect, he would not have felt himself capable of being a fit parent. He would have felt that he incapable of setting a  moral example for his sons (especially after he cheated on Elizabeth).

So all in all, based on the purposes of this drama, Proctor made the right decision. He was concerned for about the consequences of having his "confession" made public. He was especially afraid that his sons would never respect him and think him a coward for caving into the court. Thus, he died a martyr in order to uphold his own good name---not for himself, but for his family. However, people of Salem were questioning the validity of the entire court. I think most people would have understood his "confession" as a way to be able to support his family and see his sons grow to adulthood. Over the years, people would have forgotten the "confession" and seen the horrible result of their own actions, or non-actions. After all, how many people do we remember who actually "confessed" to being witches? Yeah none....

The Effect of Mass Hysteria

Technically the definition of mass hysteria is a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. However, the term is more commonly used to refer to any mass delusion, in which a group of people become governed by irrational beliefs or moral panic. Jumping on the "bandwagon" can be especially dangerous especially for the people living in the time of the Salem Witch Trials. 

The Puritan way of life actually strengthened the possibility of mass hysteria infecting everyone living in the society. In order for a society like the Puritan's to survive, it must be unified and ordered. It is clear from the beginning of the play that the society is very strictly set. Everyone's mind is already made up about everyone; for example, Giles Corey resents Thomas Putnam because he feels that he is only obsessed about land. The society is so ordered, that outsiders have had a hard time finding their places. Some of the accused are actually people of lower class such as Tituba and Sarah Osbourne. With only one person, (yes one person!) Abigail, driving the hysteria, Salem becomes unsafe. She takes advantages of the Puritan way of life and becomes very believable in the accusations of people committing witchcraft.

In recent times people in a way take the same advantage that Abigail took. Most people usually jump on the "bandwagon" and believe anything that everyone else believes in. When Donald Trump called out Barack Obama for not being born in the United States, many people believed him because of his integrity and popularity. The hysteria of Obama spread around the country in less than a day! Even though Obama proved that he was born in America, this idea had spread so quickly that people ignored his birth certificate and stayed on the bandwagon just because of one person who decided to raise a question to the public. Isn’t that interesting?