In Walter Mosley 's essay, “Get Happy” the author repeats the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence. This technique serves not only as an introduction and a preview of the forthcoming message but also establishes context and reminds the reader of what the phrase actually says. So many people think that our Declaration of Independence ensures Americans of life, liberty and happiness, but in face it is the pursuit of happiness. Mosley believes that in comparison to life and liberty, “our potential for happiness has lagged far behind.” But we are not guaranteed happiness. We are, in fact, guaranteed the ability to pursue happiness in whatever form we choose to find it. If what makes a person happy is giving up the comfortable
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These points include when humans changed from hunter gatherers to agricultural civilization, when Europe became more civilized and less “medieval,” when governments and churches ceased maintaining order by using “cruel and unusual punishment,” when the great powers of the world quit declaring war on each other every two or three years and lastly, what the author calls “the New Peace” in which “wars in the world as a whole” have caused less casualities. One of the earliest lifestyle changes came when governments began to be formed, and people ceased to be hunters and gatherers and began to be farmers. Kings were able to keep his subjects from making war on each other, as raiding and feuding was detrimental to extracting taxes and was a waste of man power. Pinker seems to focus on man 's inhumanity to man from the very beginning of time. He points out skeletons found in ancient sites seemed to have died violently – “bashed-in skulls, decapitations, arrowheads imbedded in bones” – all indications of a violent lifestyle and death. He also cites historical records that show how “between the late Middle Ages and the 20th century, European countries saw a 10- to 50-fold decline in their rates of homicide.” To further cement his stance, he also details more modern history in which the list of capitol crimes went from amounting …show more content…
In addition to the grimly countless gun deaths, domestic violence and violence against women is still problematic for a large number of people, and reports of child abuse are rampant. Every day we hear the news from a major city and the reports are filled with stories about the atrocities against children, or indeed, the weak. Perhaps the anger stems from people believing that we are supposed to be a civilized society and when we hear about another child found in deplorable conditions, a woman beaten beyond recognition, a Black teen shot because he was wearing a hoodie, a gunman opening fire in a movie theater, or another country ravaged by war and genocide, it is hard to believe violence is waning. Somehow it is not comforting to think that at least we 're less violent than the people living in the Middle
These points include when humans changed from hunter gatherers to agricultural civilization, when Europe became more civilized and less “medieval,” when governments and churches ceased maintaining order by using “cruel and unusual punishment,” when the great powers of the world quit declaring war on each other every two or three years and lastly, what the author calls “the New Peace” in which “wars in the world as a whole” have caused less casualities. One of the earliest lifestyle changes came when governments began to be formed, and people ceased to be hunters and gatherers and began to be farmers. Kings were able to keep his subjects from making war on each other, as raiding and feuding was detrimental to extracting taxes and was a waste of man power. Pinker seems to focus on man 's inhumanity to man from the very beginning of time. He points out skeletons found in ancient sites seemed to have died violently – “bashed-in skulls, decapitations, arrowheads imbedded in bones” – all indications of a violent lifestyle and death. He also cites historical records that show how “between the late Middle Ages and the 20th century, European countries saw a 10- to 50-fold decline in their rates of homicide.” To further cement his stance, he also details more modern history in which the list of capitol crimes went from amounting …show more content…
In addition to the grimly countless gun deaths, domestic violence and violence against women is still problematic for a large number of people, and reports of child abuse are rampant. Every day we hear the news from a major city and the reports are filled with stories about the atrocities against children, or indeed, the weak. Perhaps the anger stems from people believing that we are supposed to be a civilized society and when we hear about another child found in deplorable conditions, a woman beaten beyond recognition, a Black teen shot because he was wearing a hoodie, a gunman opening fire in a movie theater, or another country ravaged by war and genocide, it is hard to believe violence is waning. Somehow it is not comforting to think that at least we 're less violent than the people living in the Middle