7 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2022
  2. learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com
    LaBoétie 2
    7
    1. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      Here is such a field for our French poetry, now not merely honored but, it seems to me, reborn through our Rosnard, our Ba'if, our Bellay. These poets are defending our language so well that I dare to believe that very soon neither the Greeks nor the Latins will in this respect have any advantage over us except possibly that of seniority

      Art and literature are also ways that people have "refused to obey" authority. These poets wrote in the French language when Latin was commonly viewed as the language of art and literature, making their work more accessible to the masses. It's interesting to look at this in relation to la Boétie's earlier points, in that there are many ways people seek freedom. which can come in the form of art.

    2. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      y these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so successfully lulled their subjects under the yoke, that the stupefied peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before their eyes, learned subservience as naively, but not so creditab

      yes, but power is also enticing. these same rulers were "enticed" by the promise of a larger kingdom, more subjects to rule over, and more riches than they already had, which prompted them to conquer more land.

    3. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      We should exonerate and forgive them, since they have not seen even the shadow of liberty, and, being quite unaware of it, cannot perceive the evil endured through their own slavery.

      This is interesting, but a bold claim to say that people who know nothing but oppressive conditions can't fathom their own oppression. In many cases, they can, which is why people protest or join movements.

    4. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      This is why men born under the yoke and then nourished and reared in slavery are content

      This suggests that when people are oppressed all their lives, they're less likely to see their own oppression and rise up against it. I think it's worth considering an epistemological argument here too—is it that people just don't know better, or is their inability to examine their own condition as a result of the source of their knowledge? When knowledge is produced by the oppressor, one's knowledge of their own condition is only as good as what they're permitted to know about it.

    5. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      since none can be held in slavery without being wronged,and in a world governed by a nature, which is reasonable, there isnothing so contrary as an injustice.

      okay, so it might be true that we're not "equal" in a literal sense, but this inequality is contrary to what nature intended?

    6. abigailsimard 19 Jan 2022
      it is the fact that nature, handmaiden of God, governess of men, has cast us all in the same mold in order that we may behold in one another companions, or rather brothers.

      The "all men are created equal" argument may be true in theory, but not if we look at the course of human history. Colonization, slavery, and even monarchs who come into power by "divine right" all depend on the idea that we are not, in fact, equals. I think it's important to look at the practical context here.

    7. abigailsimard 18 Jan 2022
      What monstrous vice, then, is this which does not even deserve to be called cowardice, a vice for which no term can be found vile enough, which nature herself disavows and our tongues refuse to name?

      I don't think this can be answered without defining what level of resistance we're talking about here. In cases of extreme oppression (i.e. slavery), people often engaged in everyday resistance because overthrowing the system that enslaved them with any success was highly unlikely. Is a refusal to give up your life rather than be oppressed really that unimaginable?

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