#4: Left Authoritarian Explained

In my understanding of left authoritarian, a leader guides followers to success through strict rules and harsh punishment. On the economic side government controls most of the economy and regulates business practices.  Authoritarian is characterized by highly centralized power that controls government completely. I'm not completely left authoritarian; I feel that the government should have some control over business regulations to keep things fair. Authoritarians believe in a higher power. There has to be a leader, or like a head of the household. Submission to authority is common among authoritarians. They think highly of punishment for crime and children who disobey their parents should be physically punished.  Authoritarians emphasize arbitrary law rather than rule of law. They base laws of individual’s discretion. Most communist would be considered hard left authoritarian. Communist governments completely control their people’s government. Communists create a classless society where all of its people are of the same wealth, no matter what your profession. Adolf Hitler was one of the very extreme authoritarian people. He instructed the population to take what he said as absolute law and any one would failed to respect his authority could get the death sentence. Hitler loved control; he was the alpha male of his society. This is just one of many extreme authoritarians. Joseph Stalin was an extreme left authoritarian. Stalin created a highly centralized control economy in the Soviet Union. Modern views of Stalin explain him as a tyrant. Authoritarian could be looked at as a bad form of government, if taken in extreme measures. I agree with most of authoritarian beliefs but not to the point of complete control. I do believe there should be a leader who guides us, and I feel we should be punished for the things we do wrong. I feel a leader can help keep order, but he should have a set of rules to follow.

#2: Advertisements Steal Our Thoughts

In the article "They Say" he talks about how greatly we are influenced by society. They bring up the example of when we go into a mall there are so many people pushing you or influencing you to buy their product. The author asked the question, Have you even went to the store to buy shoes but end up buying an entire outfit. Advertising is a big part of our society. It’s everywhere; even when we are at home it raids our TV. Have you ever watched a commercial for a certain product or service and thought that you really needed it? People are constantly creating new ideas to bring in customers. Advertisers love children. They think it’s their easiest target to get, although it doesn’t affect the kid, it affects the parent with the money. Think of McDonalds, they offer a toy with every happy meal and the kids will beg their parents to buy it because they want the toy. Anyways money isn’t the only thing advertising consumes. Advertisements can even change the way we think about things. Elections are coming soon, and there is a mass of advertising for that. They strive to get voters to vote for their candidate by telling them they will do this for society. Some candidates may even change people’s thoughts on a topic with advertising bringing that vote to them. The author also brought up the point about computer hackers these days stealing our information through the internet. We support those who say they will bring a stop to it. The internet is yet another medium for advertisements. Most websites that are offered for free make their money through advertisements being shown on the site.  The advertisers pay big money to be on social media sites like Facebook because they know millions of people will see it and be influenced by it. Advertisements can influence our lives in so many ways. It can be good or bad, we just need to control our urge to give in to it.

#1: Terrorism All Over

In the book An Introduction To Criticism, Michael Ryan talks about terrorism and people associated with it. People stereotype specific groups, for example: when people think terrorism, they automatically think of Muslim or Islamic groups. If an American went somewhere and shot a bunch of people no one would think of him as a terrorist (even though he is), they just think of him as another psycho killer you see on the news every day. We spend most of our time worrying about the terrorism in other countries when we could do more to fix the terrorism here. He is also talking about how certain behaviors are accepted in certain cultures because they are part of the culture, such as teaching young boys to become killers. These are practices common to Islamic and Muslim culture, but Americans would be outraged.  Americans see as terrorists, Muslims see them as freedom fighters. He also gives the example of Germans witnessing Jews forced into concentration camps and turning a blind eye to these atrocities.  That was because those behaviors were socially accepted in that culture. Muslims think that America is an evil culture. They think our behavior is unacceptable. Every culture has their customs and traditions. What’s weird to one person may be totally acceptable to another. The author brings up many points in his article about criticism. He talks about a point of capitalism. He says that the majority of people work while the minority of people benefits from it. He talks about wealth being conformed about what people value certain items. In example a bill with a 10 wrote on it is worth less than a bill with a 100 wrote on it. Although it is the same material . We just assign a value to it and say that’s what it is worth. All paper money is worthless. The paper itself is worthless but the gold that backs the paper is what gives it value. All paper money is backed by gold. Otherwise our bills would just be a pile of paper lying around.