When the Individual Has a Different View

Topic:’ When the individual has a different view from those is power Conflict arises.’ Conflict can be defined when an individual has a different view from those in power. It is often said that power comes from those who are higher up on the hierarchy. For example the government, body of authority, Queen and so on. One can see that an individual being in conflict can result in fear from those in power. Conflict is tested to determine who is powerful and who is powerless. Conflict emerges when the opinions or beliefs of two parties clash, and this is especially so when this occurs between the individual and those in power. This happens mainly because, on one hand the powerful feels and fears that its authority has been challenged, and it needs to try its best to safeguard his position in the community; on the other hand, the individual believes that he has the right to express his thoughts and satisfy the urge to pursue what he wants.

Reviewing the conflict history in Australia, one of the most common conflicts happened in Sydney. It is The Cronulla Riots that brings conflict between different cultures. Although the suburb of Cronulla in Sydney was a great place for tourist to hang out and enjoy the surf. It was when two of the Middle Eastern youth went and attack the two Cronulla Australian Lifesavers, the Cronulla Riots started. It started by the clash of cultures in Cronulla when the Australian born Australian doesn’t feel that they belong here. It was with all these perpetrators that the Australian didn’t feel that Cronulla was a safe place. Through this one can see that there are different views from those in power and the individuals. It is shown that the power of this cultural conflict is the Australians that demand to have their beach back and that Middle Eastern tourist shouldn’t be long here. On the other hand the individual is shown by the Middle Eastern tourist who wants a day of relaxation at the beach without any conflict between Middle Eastern and Australian.

The different views that Middle Eastern would have from those in power would be what kind of clothes the Australian would wear and what activity they would do at the beach and that it is distracting the Middle Eastern at the beach. (I feel that this is not a good social parallel – not for the prompt) It is a common practice for the powerful to exercise their power to subdue those individuals who hold different views from them. In extreme cases, those in power would resort to the use of violence to ensure that those who dare to oppose them will be punished, not only to intimidate them but also to warn others not to do the same. An obvious example is the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl on her way home on a school bus by the Taliban in October 2012. Malala was targeted by the Pakistani Taliban because for the past three years she has spoken out for the rights of all girls to become educated.

In 2007, the Taliban gained control of Swat, the Pakistan province where Malala lives. The Taliban believe that women are not allowed to work or attend school. Their religious police patrolled the streets, and beat women who might venture out alone, who were not dressed “properly” or who dared to laugh out loud. During its time in power, the Taliban closed and destroyed girls’ school. At age 11, to protest what was happening in her homeland, Malala began to write about her experiences through a blog for BBC and continued going to school. Even though the Taliban was largely pushed out of the region in 2009 by a Pakistan military offensive, they were still intent on exercising their influence on other Islamic countries. The Taliban shot Malala mainly because they felt that Malala had challenged their interpretation of Islamic law and needed to be silenced. This incident demonstrates that when the individual disagrees with the authority, conflict arises.

Even though Culture Conflict can result in the individual verse power also can Science and Religion. In Bertolt Brecht’s play ‘Life of Galileo’ it is about the disagreement of Galileo Galilei’s hypothesis of the Copernican theory and the Church’s Ptolmeiac Theory results in a conflict between Science and Religion. It was when the philosopher who questioned if the invention of the telescope by Galileo Gelilei is correct ‘ Shows something which cannot be an entirely reliable tube’ (p.39) The philosopher in this case don’t believed what the telescope showed and in this case questioned if this tube, the telescope can be reliable. At this point also the mathematician refuses about Galileo’s Telescope. On the other when Galileo went to the church to announce his hypothesis about the sun is the center of the universe however the church community refuses as because their hypothesis was that the earth was the middle of the universe and believed that the god created the earth not the sun. It was then that the church community dismissed the Copernicus theory ‘ absurd, heretical and contrary to our faith’ This is saying that this hypothesis can’t be trusted and that Galileo should stop researching about it.

One can see that back then Religion and Church was a big part of the Renaissance Italy and that the church cannot maintain anything without God and Heaven when Cardinal Barbarini expressed that ‘If god didn’t exist, we should have to invent him’ (pg.61) Through this one can see that the Church Religion is in power and that the Individual is Galileo Galilei himself. From this one can see that the different views between Religion and science is that if the Sun is in the center of the universe or is it the earth that is in the center of the universe can result in conflict through the disagreement from these to hypothesis. When religion and government combine, it becomes more difficult for individuals to voice any ideas or concepts different from those of the theocracy.

History is full of examples of the Church functioning as authority. As Bertolt Brecht comments in his notes to his play Life of Galileo, “The church, however, is mainly treated here as a secular establishment. Its specific ideology is being looked at in the light of its function as a prop to practical rule”. The Church in Italy in the time of Galileo had a vested interest in the status quo because any questioning of the religious framework that kept the peasants, if not contented, at least docile in their labour, would affect the privileges of the Church. Brecht presents the Church as a power structure, the ideological arm of the ruling class.

It would strive to maintain this power by shielding the peasants and oppressed from any controversial theories otherwise. Therefore when Galileo tried to provide evidence for a heliocentric universe, which violated the traditional Ptolemaic view, the Church brought in the Inquisition and pressured Galileo to recant, triggering a series of external, interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts. Conflict not only occurs between Galileo and the authority, but also between him and his family and student, and within himself. The conflict that is most difficult to fathom is Galileo’s struggle between recanting to save his life (and possibly to finish his book the Discorsi), and standing firm for the pursuit of truth. It is evident that when individual differs from the authority in views, clash occurs.

On the other hand, the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was one of the most realized case of conflict between African American and Whites. It all began when the Montgomery bus divided the African American and Whites up. They divide them by making the white sit throughout the front half of the bus and the African American at the rear half. It all started when Rosa Park was making her way home and she sat in the front half of the bus when the white bus driver asked her to make her way to the rear seats because she was an African American. She refuses at that point and was arrested with Ten dollar and had four dollar court fee. As one can see through this case of conflict that the individual of this conflict situation is the African American and that the Whites was the one in power. At the point when Rosa Parks who was an African American refuses to give up her seat for the white this was a sign that the individual, The African American, thinks that the white is racist towards the African American.

From this The African American elected Martin Luther King Jnr to end the Civil War and end and harmonise racial conflict when he stated ‘True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice’ Conflict also arises when the concept of rights differ between the individual and the ones in power. This mostly happens in countries where there is racial segregation. Civil Rights activist Rosa Park refused to give up her seat to a white standing passenger while travelling on a Montgomery Bus in Alabama, believing that the state law for African-Americans to surrender their seats to the whites was discriminatory. She was arrested and put in jail. However, this incident had led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, paving the way for the law to be changed. This type of conflict is also demonstrated by Nelson Mandella’s conflict with the white South Africa government. ……..

The reason that when individual has a different view from those in power is because different people have different views. It is when and individual get expose to fear from those in power. It is when argument gets bigger and bigger and it just gets worse. So remember if one ‘Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win’ (Jonathan Kozol) which means be careful how you pick your argument because if it’s big it’s harder to win. Very often it is the powerful who instigates the conflict when he finds that the individual is challenging his view. In order to maintain his authority, he will use whatever means to subdue those who dare to defy him. As Herbert Butterfield says, “ The greatest menace to our civilisation today is the conflict between giant organised systems of self-righteousness”.