Miller :: essays research papers

Throughout history people have enjoyed a democracy which basically puts the way that society runs in the hands of the people who live in it. In the essay â€Å"Severing the Human Connection† by H. Bruce Miller there is a valid argument that our society has turned for the worse. In the past our society has expected everyone to behave in a manner which benefits everyone in it, everyone should respect and cherish the freedom and therefore the freedom should stay. But as we all see and experience every day there is a strong fear of detection and punishment which becomes the only deterrent of crime. Pre-paid gas stations, burglar alarms in every house, guards everywhere, anti-shoplifting tags etc. People tend to behave pretty much the way others expect them to behave. And, as stated in the essay, if the prevailing assumption is that people are crooks more and more of them will be crooks. Because our society treats everyone like a criminal our society has become harsh, unfeeling, pa ranoid, and punitive. The human connection has been severed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A society, which assumes its members are honest, tends to be more human and comfortable for the people who live in it. As we drive down the streets of our respected cities we have to worry about certain things like; Is my seatbelt on? Does my license plate show 100%? Am I driving within the five mile per hour cushion of the speed limit? Etc. And as we wonder about all these things we pass cops left and right who are just waiting for someone to mess up or be suspected of DWI or car theft or something even worse. Is it just me or is it annoying to see a selected few criminals who do break the laws ruin it for the rest of us who don’t. Now we have to worry about making small mistakes, which is very uncomfortable to most of us, and sometimes can lead to bigger problems. â€Å"Society can and does execute its own mandates; and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself.