Wednesday, September 12, 2007
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Douglass spends time saying that the many of the obvious points of life like man is entitled to liberty and slaves are human need not be described in further detail because all people know of these rights, or do they? He says that they don't need to be mentioned because all should know that we are all God's people, put here for a reason, and should be treated and respected as equal people. He has to go into detail with these points because despite the fact that many people know of these rights, they do not put them into practice. If all humans know of these rights and respect them then why was there slaves? Douglass is trying to instill in the readers' minds that we are all God's people and we should all be treated with the dignity and respect we are guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence. There is a big difference between knowing what is right and doing what is right. Many people have the right morals but when it comes time to put them into practice, they tend to follow the crowd and do the thing they know is wrong.
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3 comments:
I think that you have a good point in saying that people don't necessarily do what they know is right. I think that people can be very hypocritical when it comes to social issues, especially back in the times of the slave trade. But, I think that sometimes people don't mean to be hypocritical. I think that the way people think is based on the morals that they were raised with and the morals of their environment. Sometimes, thinking of a different point of view never occurs to them.
I think that you made some really good points in your comment about the speech. people often forget what is right, and that they should do what the feel is right, and not just what everyone else is doing. people have a hard time standing up for what they believe in, and you really made some good points about why people should not forget about what they believe in.
I agree with your statement that even though most people do believe these ideals, they do not put them into practice. People do not realize that if they believe these things, then they should apply to all people, even slaves.
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