8 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2024
    1. Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time or war where every man isenemy to every man, the same is consequent to the time wherein men livewithout other security than what their own strength and their own invention shallfurnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because thefruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigationnor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodiousbuilding, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require muchforce, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, noletters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violentdeath, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

      I wonder how many people feel like they are living with this state of mind now ?

    2. Hereby it is manifest that, during the time men live without a common power tokeep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war, and such awar as is of every man against every man

      From reading this line I gathered that as long as men do not agree with the person in power, there will always be some degree of war.

    3. For such is the nature of men that, howsoever theymay acknowledge many others to be more witty or more eloquent or morelearned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves

      In my opinion, this statement means that men have a hard time finding other men wiser than them. They believe that even if they are lacking in other areas they will still be wiser.

    1. W hy do class distinctions persist betweenthe wealthy, who own the means of production, and the mass of people, whowork for them? The theory of exploitation answers this question.

      I chose this statement because I think it answers the question asked within the passage. It talks about the wealthy versus the people who work for them and that is exactly why class distinctions persist. As long as there is a large gap between the wealthy and the poor , classes will always be distinct.

    2. Members of a grouphave a specific affinity with one another because of their similar experienceor way of life, which prompts them to associate with one another more thanwith those not identified with the group, or in a different way.

      I think this statement is also related to ethnicities as well because people of the same ethnicity tend to be comfortable associating with each other. I think it feels more natural to associate with people who look like you because it eliminates barriers.

  2. Jan 2024
    1. But I shall avoid thetemptation of entering upon a critique of American civilization; I do not wish to give an impression ofwanting myself to employ American methods.

      I chose this sentence to annotate because I do not fully understand it. I am most confused on the author's use of the word employ. Upon reading I assume it means that the usher does not want to agree/use American methods when it comes to civilization.

    2. What is the use of reducing infantile mortalitywhen it is precisely that reduction which imposes the greatest restraint on us in the begetting ofchildren, so that, taken all round, we nevertheless rear no more children than in the days before thereign of hygiene, while at the same time we have created difficult conditions for our sexual life inmarriage, and have probably worked against the beneficial effects of natural selection? And, finally,what good to us is a long life if it is difficult and barren of joys, and if it is so full of misery that we canonly welcome death as a delive

      I found this entire section compelling. I honestly never thought about infant mortality in this wy. I think this perspective is pessimistic and also coming from a realist. I would like to know more about what the author meant when they said "against the beneficial effects of natural selection". I would like to understand which specific "beneficial " effects they were referring to.

    1. Racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, some social movements asserted,are distinct forms of oppression with their own dynamics apart from the dynamics of class, even though they may interact with class oppression

      I like how the author touches on homophobia because this not a new topic but one that is more prevalent in society now. I also liked that the author suggested that the different types of oppression are not the same nor do they have the same outcomes. I enjoyed the variety of oppression definitions within this excerpt.