Uncivilized? I thought this was America. We are civilized, we were civilized, but maybe we were not. This was a shocking statement for me to read, but I never thought about that era as uncivilized. That was the era of "Southern Gentlemen" and "Southern Bells." Society was all about impressions, but to the slaves, these men and women were brutish and mean. They would push the slaves until the point of death and then let them crawl back to their huts to regain enough life to be pushed again. What kind of society was this? We comment on the cruelty of the Nazis in WWII or the abominations in the Sudan, but have we ever stopped to think about what we have done? I haven't. Honestly, I really just ignored the cruelty and just accepted that slavery was wrong. Humanity was never meant to be this way, and it makes me wonder what drove these men and women to do these things. What do you guys think? What drives someone to be so cruel to other humans? Is it the sport of it? Is it the brute's own shortcomings or insecurities?
What makes a society uncivilized? Is it their economy or their governmental system? I believe that Jacobs is saying it is the way that humans treat each other. If humans are kind to their own--no matter the race--then that is "civilized." And, if that is the case, is America even civilized now? Are we even close?
I think what makes a society uncivilized is the lack of character among the people in that society. They way people treat each other says alot about what kind of world they live in. For example, imagine what life might have been like if we all lived in the Stone Age. In all seriousness, if I had to hunt for my food during the winter when all I had to wear was buffalo skin, I'd be pretty aggressive towards my peers jsut so I could survive. In my opinion, it all has to do with competition. We all tend to be more friendly with people when they don't seem a threat to us. But once a person is a threat to our power, value, or well-being, there automatically arises a tension between the two of us. Our own insecurities are what cause us to act out negatively with other people. It doesn't have to involve whipping or beating them to death.
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