Reflection 3

Let’s talk about right and wrong.

In Tuesday's class we divided ourselves into two groups, the objective of the simulation was easy: to defend or reject Machiavelli's theories seen in "The Prince". At the end of the debate we were asked who we thought had won.

Of course it's natural for a group of hard-headed teenagers to assume they were right. The majority of each group insisting that they had won the argument and that the other never even stood a chance. Personally, I thought that neither group had won or lost. In debates of theory neither side can truly win; one may be better than another at arguing their point, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are right. World politics, like many issues is relative.

This weekend some members of our class attended a protest sponsored by the answer coalition. Before the main event took place there were a number of speakers, one of them being an 8 year old girl named Autumn Ashante. She has been called a prodigy and has had her praises sung by a large number of the black community (being a strong advocate of black supremacy). However, to many, this sort of behavior coming from one so young is simply disturbing. As with political theories, the correctness of her speech is an issue of opinion and thus there is no right or wrong answer.

With all the people in the world and all the different opinions mulling around with them it is no wonder that the field of world politics is so complicated. There are no right answers, and "sophisticated" adults, much like teenagers, are often far too stubborn to come to a consensus.