Truth

Most definitions of philosophy have been fairly controversial partly because what has been called philosophy has changed drastically in the course of history. What used to be a part of the philosophical inquiries detached themselves from it. This is why most academic subject began as some aspect as philosophy and branched off into knowledge and became specialized. The word philosophy originated from Greek words philia (love) and sophia (wisdom) carrying the meaning love of wisdom. The essential part of being a good philosopher is the faculty of wonder.

Philosophy searches for the truth and questioning the unquestionable. Intrinsically it satisfies, or seeks to satisfy, the intellectual desire for comprehensive knowledge and understanding. Philosophers need to be open-minded and never closing door. They have to be accepting and be able to accept changes. A philosopher is curious, reflective and critical. Big philosophical questions like Who is god? , Where does the world come from? , What is life? has remained unanswered. Questions of this genre are asked in every culture, every religion and through every period of time.

The quest of philosophy is to answer these questions. Philosophy makes people doubt their beliefs. They make people query their cultural norms and what they have been putting faith into and brought up believing. People who are easily influence might think twice about their beliefs and those who hold true faith in what they already belief think philosophy is a load of rubbish and immature. They ignore the big questions and are too occupied searching for material things. They ignore the fact that these questions are yet to be answered but opt to remaine oblivious to it.

By philosophizing, people reflect and criticize their most deeply held conceptions and beliefs. Essentially, the sole purpose of a normal life is to perpetuate and thrive to expand and fill the world galaxy with it. When we humans have gotten past a certain level or mark and into higher sentience. Then comes the aesthetic values, that we currently enjoy. however, the modern day society prevents most from doing so because the earth is overcrowded, and there’s the fight for resources. Philosophy attempts to search the evidence of all beliefs.

It takes a second look at cultural norms. They attempt to think through a variety of life problems. It leads the mind to a critical evaluation of things, but critical evaluations often differ from person to person for their personal expierences, cultural background may vary widely. In this changing universe, some people are responsive to it and some are not. Some cling on to old tradtions passed down decads ago and declare that they are final. Often those who are unresponsive to it are old, narrow minded, stubborn people. Philosophy tries to relate reality to belief.

It tries to find evidence and speculates the truth behind our daily assumptions. Due to this, some people think philosophy is dangerous. Socrates was accused for corrupting the mind of the youth in Athens. In this epoch, people think philosophy is nonsense and too corrupts the youth. It deters the youth from their original beliefs and confuses them even more that they already are. By philosophizing, people ask questions. They ask questions to get closer to the truth. But in fact, most of the time, they do not get closer to the truth but end up with even more unanswerable questions.

Babies and young kids have this faculty of wonder. They ask adults a lot of questions Why is the sky so high? and many adults cannot answer that question because they themselves can t answer those questions. Shallowness, incompleteness, poor reasoning, and assertions with flimsy foundations prevent a truly enlightened person. When a person comes up with a philosophy or theory of his own, he persuades other people and influences them. Orators sways minds and hearts and thereby wage wars, gain control and seduce an unsuspecting public.

To illustrate this point, lets say a nobody comes out and questions the government and influences the rest of the public to do so, with enough questioning citizens the government will be overpowered by the overwhelming demand of inquiries and thus cause chaos in a country… Those who advocate total control or even economists philosophy like Carl Marx and his views on social reform can change the whole values of society, which means every single unit of society (us) will be affected even if we resist the next generation will grow up already brainwashed and in their minds that this is good, that is bad.

This is why some people say philosophy is dangerous Philosophy can also change a way a person thinks. It can change peoples mind set especially those who are fickle and are not sure about their own true identities. These people change as they get influenced and cannot decide which is right and which is wrong. In our age of confusion and uncertainty, we need a sense of identity. Unaware of the complexities of an issue, unfamiliarity of certain issues, and unable to distinguish valid and invalid reasoning, these disoriented people might give in to authoritarian approaches to sacrifice their lives for certain values and ideas.

And if people start philosopizing about things that are dangerous, it might baffle a person of their till then perception of things. People then turn to religion for a sense of direction. But once they start questioning the veracity of the religion, they are then deterred away again from their search of identity. Leaving them profound and doubtful. Philosophy is dangerous because it threatens to change or lives. But then again, because philosophy precedes the faculty of wonder, many things that were assumed have been justified. The world is not all sleight of hand and deception.

A lot of old age enigmas have now been explained by science. What the dark side of the moon look likes was once shrouded in mystery but now we know exactly how it looks like. Philosophy leads to evolution. Because of that people improve. If it weren t because of the curiousness of scientists, we wouldn t have new inventions of machinery, of mathematical formulae, and wouldn t have the technology we now have in our lives. We would still be living in the dark, not knowing where to turn to. With this use, we cannot entirely say that philosophy is dangerous since it brings us so many advantages.

Humanity has acquired a great new power in science and technology. We obtain numerous techniques for gaining greater security and comforts have been developed. Philosophy, in conjunction with other disciplines, plays a central in guiding us toward new desires and aspirations. It guides us to a clearer more assuring road into life. Philosophizing leads us to seek more knowledge and thus making a person wiser. It guides us to make more knowledgeable and wiser choices in life. The exploration of the possible, reasonable solution clarifies the options open to thoughtful persons.

The usefulness of choosing from the reasoned, researched alternatives rather than from bigoted, impulsive, and unclear claims is apparent inn all dimension of our lives. Ideally, the study of philosophy nurtures our capacity for making informed choices. Ultimately, there isn t really a definite answer to the question whether philosophy is dangerous. This is due to the fact that philosophy brought humanity to evolve and improve yet making people feel anxious and insecure because they are uncertain about the meaning of life and which direction they should take life in.

Statistics are dangerously convincing because of their ability to associate information with patterns and shapes, allowing the viewer to simplify and visually compare and contrast on the information given. Statistics provide simple mathematical patterns and visual comparisons on the information, triggering emotional and perceptional understanding upon viewers. Statistics however make generalizations, and is usually formed for a purpose whether it is to support one side of an argument or just to present useful data.

This makes them inaccurate. Statistics can contain many biased opinions and generalization errors that are done unintentionally and intentionally to influence the viewer’s understanding of a subject. If viewers do not approach statistics with skepticism and critical thinking, it is easy to become persuaded by biased opinions of the creator. We must ask ourselves some basic critical questions in order to determine whether or not the statistical evidence given to us is factually accurate. Statistics are helpful in providing powerful interpretations of a truth, however statistics can also provide convincing illusions distant from the truth that can be used to distort our understanding.

Statistics are never able present the absolute truth because they are generalizing the information they attain. The population of a country for example, changes every moment due to deaths, births, and immigration. We cannot present the actual total population of a country; therefore we must learn how to make accurate assumptions when creating statistics on a country’s population. This is also known as Demography. In Geography, I learned that the methods for demography might include finding the average number of people in one household; then manipulating that estimated number to find a country’s population.

Since the foundations of our calculations are based on estimates of the absolute truth, the errors of our assumptions will magnify when this information is being manipulated. These errors are always apparent because all measurements cannot be absolutely accurate; therefore we often display “error bars” in our calculations and graphs whether the range of error is one nanometer from the absolute truth, or 5000 people from the absolute truth. Although Statistics cannot provide us with the absolute truth, they are still useful and correct if they are close to the absolute truth. Statistics become untrue and misleading often when the error bars are too big, which causes inaccuracy.

Statistics however often help provide powerful interpretations when it comes to generalizing information because they are able to allow the viewer to see shapes and patterns by using graphs that may not be apparent when interpreted just as numbers. I personally for example would have little or no reaction whatsoever if someone was to tell me that China has a population of 1.3 billion1. But if someone were to tell me that, China’s population is 43 times greater than that of Canada, then I would be amazed by the astonishing comparison. These statistics help bring awareness to the reality of China’s population crisis to the world and the urgency to implement the one child per family rule.

Statistics are also used to help bring awareness to local issues such as drunk driving. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for example often uses statistics to provide emotional messages to stop drunk driving. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2003, 17,013 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes. These deaths constituted approximately 40 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities.2 This shocking information helps limit and control drink and driving accidents due to its horrific statistics on the number of fatalities to its viewers.

Upon close examination however, we can conclude that the information given by the NHTSA is apparently inaccurate. The high percentage of 40 percent of all traffic fatalities refers to accidents in which there was “believed” to have been some alcohol consumed by anyone associated with the accident. For example, an accident is still alcohol-related if a person who was believed to have consumed any alcohol is stopped at a red light and is rear-ended by a sober driver. The NHTSA converts these “alcohol-related” fatalities into reports of drunk driving deaths by changing “alcohol-related” in to “fatalities due to drunk driving.”3 This change of wording creates factually incorrect statistics for NHSTA to use as powerful propaganda to its audiences. Organizations often use language to confuse and distort our understanding of a subject. NHSTA uses this method purposely to distort our understanding of drunk driving because their goal is to acquire statistics that bring about awareness to the dangers of drunk driving. An organization’s strong belief in one side of an issue can cause them to use various methods to distort our understanding of the subject.

It is often easy and tempting for organizations such as MADD to use biased methods to collect data. I learned in history that due to previous beliefs in white supremacist and social Darwinism, many researchers in the past have tried to prove that Caucasians were racially superior by measuring the size of people’s heads. They were very biased and racist in their methods of collecting statistics because they often discarded the measurements of those who had bigger heads and that were not Caucasian because it contradicted their hypothesis. This forms biased statistics that use improper methods to acquire data on an issue to distort our understanding.

Statistics however are often very useful when it comes to business and real estate. Statistics are often helpful in providing insight when purchasing homes, or investing in real estate. Stocks often provide accurate information on a company’s quarterly or annual profit. Statistics in business also help owners or executive shareholders of a business to analyze their company’s situation, and helps allow for improvement in consumer products by analyzing statistics in consumer reactions.

Statistical distortion however can still exist. The famous Enron scandal is a perfect example of statistical distortion in business. In October 2001, Enron announced to the public that its company was actually worth $1.2 billion less than reported previously. The Securities and Exchange Commission did further investigation on Enron and discovered that Enron’s provided incorrect statistics and lied about their company’s value to conceal the company’s financial situation and its debts to shareholders.4 Producing false statistics is dangerous to an organization, however it is effective if the audience trusts the organization and does not approach the statistics with skepticism.

Many branches of science can be Involved and applied In our dally life, even the broad study of logic also are included to our everyday living, it is a reasoning of life circulation to improve and explore. Basically, human being is the most powerful creature on earth that controls deferent physical, mental physiological, psychological and intellectual preferences. A proven capability of a person to make his environment change according to what he/she plans, or we can say to Innovate and evolve feasible things to make work, to grow, to process and to develop.

Considering that present events, evaluations, and information are connected to which everyday composure or situation to our environment gets affected. Living in a world full of challenges is a broad act of adapting and adjusting to various conditions of how to live, suffer survive and conquer preparation for death, start of a new beginning, hopes of those hopeless, being strong from weak, living and dying In many reasons, sharing life to others, counting blessings you have, and making advantage and achievements, are just examples of how we deal to keep us alive.

As individual hanger, the world also gone changes from its form, structure and growth. It is Just a matter of becoming pessimistic or optimistic. There are different levels of understanding how people change or maybe how the world change. Some answer, that history repeats itself, a part of the new generation, acquisition of powerful mankind, making choices for a better living. Well… Being able to ‘predict’ how systems and people (which are much the same really) will act in certain conditions and situations is a very useful skill to have.

In ancient times image you are finding your way through a landscape and you come to a did no way round (in sight) well from the logical standpoint you look at it like this 1 how deep Is the void 2 how far can I Jump 3 will I make the Jump based on that measurement/experience? If you didn’t have logic then you would Just jump and hope for the best.Welch Is the mentality an awful lot of people seem to employ when making decisions now. Look at the supreme crisis! Of course having too much Logic is the flip side.

Imagine not leaving your house because statistics tell you that % of people get run over, shot, stabbed, attacked, abducted, struck by lightning, killed by flying debris Etc… , well logic would tell you Don’t leave the house It safer in here! So logic Is Like theory and then there is in practice which is usually slightly different. In essence you don’t want to be too logical, or too creative, which Is why most people have a proportion of both. Nature intended it that way for a very good reason.

Logic: thought processes are clarified, the use of logic enables consideration of all available options for opinion and action, and decreases the persuasive power of popular opinion; Because available options have been fairly considered, the use of logic increases the likelihood that subsequent opinions and actions will adhere most closely to the truth. Adherence to the truth, while sometimes painful, is the human condition more likely to lead to satisfactory outcomes in most situations. Therefore, logic’s relevance to everyday life is that its use improves the likelihood of satisfactory outcomes in the day-to-day decisions each person makes. Russian’s Logic is the ability of reasoning your choices, to examine the consequence of every available action and then choose the best one. It has been proven that a simple rat has basic logic, Scientists created a machine that would create two types of sounds: a long beep and a short beep.

They also gave the rat three small levers to pull, Lever 1 and lever 2 and lever 3. When the scientists played a long sound or short sound, the rat would get fed a large amount of good food if it pulled the correct corresponding lever to the sound played, left lever for long beep, right lever for short beep, if the rat pulled the middle lever, it would get fed some food, but not as much, no matter what sound was played. If the at pulled the incorrect lever, it would not get fed anything for a while.

The rat eventually caught on that if it pulled the correct lever it would get much better food, so it started pulling the correct levers. One day, to test the rats logic abilities, the scientists decided to play many different sounds, long short short long long short, to see what the rat would do. The rat was able to think about his choices, he chose to pull the middle lever, and he took the small amount of food because he knew it was the best choice.

The rat would rather not take a chance at missing out on his food. Without logic, everybody would act instantly on their emotions, thus making many many radical choices, without logic there would be more criminals, for example: you catch your girlfriend or boyfriend cheating on you, you have tons of choices you can make at this point A. Some people Just end the relationship and walk away B. Some people might try to talk about it C. Omen people might even do something bad like attack somebody Without logic, most people would probably Just attack somebody at this point because they didn’t think about which choice was best, obviously either A or B is a deter choice than C, but because you were angry, you didn’t use logic, and Just chose. Imagine if everybody chose option C for all of their choices? Life would be a lot worse than it is now.

Without logic, life would be chaos, without logic, the rat would starve ANN. Answer Logic, is a deductive reasoning that results when the human brain calculates the most rational and acceptable outcome of any given situation and recognizes that answer as the most constructive, and consequently the most two groups; rational or irrational, instinctual or improve, emotional or logical. Emotional responses tend to be the strongest desire in the moment, when followed outcomes like crimes of passion or moments of extreme passion.

I tend to think that acting on an emotional paradigm feels better, and tends to be more rewarding but it also tends to precede more danger. Logical responses happen when the individual looks at a situation from a third party and recognizes the moral obligation or larger demographic of opinion that would rationally decide the correct decision. Why logic is so relevant to everyday life is a difficult question. I believe it stems from a natural unman desire to help support a social group and thus keep everyone content.

You should be very proud of yourself. Prepare o immerse yourself in the great story that is U. S. History. As Mark Twain once wrote, “Truth Is stranger than fiction, but It Is because fiction Is obliged to suck to possibilities; Truth isn’t. Unfortunately, this class will only meet one period a day. Therefore, you are required to do readings and preparation over the summer (see below). Feel free to email me over the summer with any questions or concerns (l will be going away to Europe and Florida so be patient for a reply).

Summer Assignment: You will need a copy of Howard Zion’s, A People’s History of the united States: 1492 – present Directions: 1 . Due on the first day of class: You are required to answer the questions for the assigned chapters. 2. Your response must be typed. 3. This Is an individual assignment. 4. Your answers should be as detailed as the question requires AND you must cite the pages from which you draw your response. Chapter 1 – “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress” 1. According to Zion, what Is his mall purpose for writing A People’s History of the United States? . Write down he five most important things Zion says about Columbus and the two most important things Zion says about the writing of history. Chapter 2 – “Drawing the Color Line” 1. Why were Africans considered “better” slaves than Indians In Valhalla? 2. How did slavery in Africa differ from slavery in Europe and the Americas? 3. Why did slave 1 OFF poor whites and slaves in a rebellion? Chapter 4 – “Tyranny is Tyranny’ 1. After reading the entire chapter, describe Zion’s purpose for the chapter. 2. What myth, associated with “Common Sense,” has come down from 1776?

To what extent is the myth true? (include evidence) 3. Explain the statement: “Tyranny is Tyranny let it come from whom it may. ” Chapter 11 – “Robber Barons and Rebels” FYI: Chapter 4 and 11 are similar in the description of power and a class struggle. Pages 253 – 262 or the reading before the description of schools 1 . Horopito Alger wrote of “rags to riches” stories and the opportunity for anyone to make a fortune. To what extent did Lager’s stories represent fact or to what extent did Lager’s stories represent myth? Cite specific evidence to support your position.

Pages 262 forward or the reading beginning with the description of schools 2. What do you believe is the purpose of education in today’s world? How is your opinion similar to or different from the purpose of education in the years between 1860 and 1900? Cite specific evidence to support your position. 3. Describe the factors (1860- 1900) that led the farmer, the “backbone of the US economy’, to organize against capitalists (industrialists) and government. 4. Explain specific ways that the Farmer’s Alliance movement addressed he factors that led to organization.

Chapter 17 – “Or Does It Explode? ” 1. What is Zion’s thesis for this chapter? 2. Describe the mood of the poems that Zion includes in the chapter. 3. Who represented the African American sentiment the most and WHY? Dry. Martin Luther King, Jar. , Malcolm X, or Hue Newton and the Black Panthers. Chapter 18 – “The Impossible Victory: Vietnam” 1 . Who was responsible for ending the war in Vietnam? The President of the US, the Military, or the war protesters? WHY? Support your answer with evidence!!!

“The accounting profit figure is simply a measure of the true profit of an organisation.” Discuss.

In order to assess whether the accounting profit is a measure of the true profit it must first be shown that there is such a thing as true profit. If we decide there is, we then need to know what it is exactly, in order to assess the extent to which the accounting profit reflects this true profit figure. Before studying this module I believed that the true profit was essentially the accounting profit calculated correctly. I saw profit as being a simple calculation that would always return the same figure.

As I didn’t realise the extent to which professional judgement is involved in reaching the profit figure I couldn’t identify the real issues surrounding the idea of the true profit. Instead I pointed out flaws in the concept of profit itself, for example that profit doesn’t consider cash flow. However as these flaws apply to true profit as much as accounting profit (they apply to the notion of profit itself), they’re not really relevant to the question.

I first learned that accounting profit and true profit could not be the same thing early in the module. Accounting profit draws directly on data from the accounts. The way these accounts are held is the outcome of applying various accounting rules and conventions, and at times relies on the professional judgement of individual accountants. Deegan and Unerman add that “As these rules change (as they frequently do), the same series of transactions will lead to different measures of ‘profits’ and net assets.”1 The accounting profit also varies from country to country.

Even amongst countries that have adopted IFRS there are systematic differences in how accounts (and therefore the profit figure) are calculated (Kvaal and Nobes, 2010)2. If accounting practices can vary so much over time and between countries then the accounting profit and true profit cannot be the same thing. For a number to be described as “true” it must surely be a solid, objective figure which doesn’t change – once you are at the truth you can’t change your mind or perceive it differently. Therefore whatever true profit is, it is not the accounting profit, as I believed before.

1

Deegan & Unerman, Financial Accounting Theory, McGraw-Hill Education, 2011 Kvaal & Nobes, International Differences in IFRS Policy Choice (September 2, 2009). Accounting and Business Research, Forthcoming 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1466693 2

I soon began to doubt that there even is such a thing as true profit. In the Hines article from the first seminar Hines shows how accountants create reality when they describe it. In accounts objects only exist once they are realised by the accountant3. Hines uses the example of revenue: “We recognise revenue when it is realised. By naming it ‘revenue’, it becomes revenue.. Just like the black holes.” Concepts like revenue and profit are the creations of accountants. What they are depends on how you define them. With real life objects (e.g. a chair), definitions may vary, however they are all based on the existence of the same underlying object.

With a concept like profit there is no object until it’s fully defined. Once I fully considered this the idea of true profit seemed strange. Profit was created as an accounting concept and accountants decide what it is. Profit doesn’t exist in reality outside accounting – there is no such thing as true profit. This idea was soon challenged in later seminars. Wagner argues that there is objectivity in accounting4. He defines objectivity as “a relative absence of perceptual defects in the exercise of professional judgement is the general meaning of objectivity in accounting.”

If you perceive something objectively you are seeing it as it truly is. Therefore true profit could be defined as the profit figure obtained using perfect objectivity and neutrality. Although it only exists in theory it would be possible to observe when a profit figure is getting closer to true profit as practices improve, or farther away from true profit as bias is introduced. If true profit is lack of bias and perfect neutrality we can see how close accounting profit is to true profit by analysing how neutral and objective practices are in the accounting profession.

There are two ways bias could be introduced into accounts. Firstly through the standards that accountants follow. It is possible that these standards themselves aren’t neutral. Secondly when creating company accounts managers and accountants may not do so in a neutral and objective manner. It is likely that bias is introduced into the standards where it is deemed appropriate to consider economic and social consequences when setting standards.

If the negative implications of introducing a standard are significant, that standard could be dropped. Zeff states “What is abundantly clear is that we have entered an era in which economic and social consequences may no longer be ignored as a substantive issue in the setting of account standards.”

5 Although it is beneficial that standard setters consider these implications, it does weaken the neutrality of the standards. This serves to increase the distance between the accounting profit and true profit. There are several other clear examples of where neutrality is compromised in accounting. These factors contribute to the conclusion that there is a significant difference between accounting profit and true profit.

5

Zeff, S. (1978). The Rise of Economic Consequences, The Journal of Accountancy (December 1978)

A Summary of “How Urban Legends Work” Have you ever heard of the urban legend “Bloody Mary”, where you stand in the bathroom with the lights off and the room completely dark and chant “Bloody Mary” 13 times in the mirror a woman will appear and kill you. In the article of “How Urban Legends Work” by Tom Harris, Mr. Harris gives us various examples of different urban legends. Exactly what is an Urban Legend? Urban legends are popular stories that are alleged to be true and are passed from person to person by word of mouth or written communication.

In the article “How Does Urban Legends work” by Tom Harris, he states that an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person. Are urban legends true or false? Tom Harris stated in his article that most urban legends are not real. In the article Tom Harris gives us examples of different urban legends that have no moral relation to them but they are told and written for amusement.

Urban legends are believed by a lot of people only because they don’t take the time to look into things themselves. What makes them so real? Tom Harris stated in his article that some details in an urban legend can really make them seem real and make you believe them. Urban legends have been around for decades but within the last 10 years they have taken the internet by storm. I receive forwards daily from different people that have my email address and some of them always say to forward them on.

I never forward because either it’s an urban legend or a chain letter. If I not sure about it I always go back and do the research on it myself. Urban legends come in different forms it’s simply up to you to decide whether they are real or fake. Telling urban legends are just like playing the game telephone, the more you pass it on the story is going to get twisted up somewhere. A few things will be added and some will be taken away from the story. It’s up to you to dissect the story and research it for yourself.

Simplifying the actions for both sides in relation to ideology, the inferior’s actions are placed on a spectrum of accepting that ideology to rebelling against it and the superior on a spectrum of the action of imposing his own ideology to the lack of imposition. As stated earlier, due to there being a lack of action the superior is then able to potentially see the wrongs in his actions while the inferior is constantly stuck in a place of action without ability to reflect a victim’s complex.

The short story “An Outpost of Progress,” written by Joseph Conrad, speaks about the Individual and the crowd: “the courage, the composure, the confidence; the emotions and the principles; every great and every Insignificant thought belongs not to the Individual but to the crowd: to the crowd that believes blindly In the Irresistible Orca of Its Institutions and of its morals, In the power of Its police and of Its opinion” . The idea Conrad gives that an individual is only capable of thinking and/or believing what his environment suggests is meant to refer specifically to the colonizers (European) ideology.

French essayist Albert Mermen would disagree with Concord’s ideas about the crowd and the individual, however (similar to Conrad) his text The Colonizer and The Colonized places its focus on the flaws of the colonizers ideology rather than ideology in general. Though the intention f both texts is to give an outlook on a specific ideology and the way it should be questioned by colonized and colonizer alike, it is also a gateway to think deeper about and question Ideology one’s own and others in general.

Looking only at religion and the evident religious aspects In the story and the act of colonization In general, both the colonized and the colonizers are subject to the Ideology of religion. Asserts and Carrier, the colonist characters, are Christian: Make or “Henry Price”l a native, believes in “dark spirits. ” The way the story ends can be interpreted two ways if the bat: the colonists give up (realizing defeat) or they realize the wrongs in their Christian European ideology and the act of forcing it upon others, even indirectly.

Putting the focus on religion, one could say that the dark spirits Make believes in brought about the two men’s downfall. Ignoring the idea of the dark spirits, Asserts and Carrier more likely had reflected upon their actions and realized the Christian faith and the corresponding ideology is not universal truth. Asserts and Carrier are how Mermen describes the colonist’s eye or assumptions toward the colonized: Nothing could better Justify the colonizers privileged position than his Industry, and nothing could better Justify the colonized destitution than his Indolence.

The mythical portrait of the colonized therefore Includes an unbelievable laziness, and that of the colonizer, a virtuous taste for action” (Mimi 123). The two men are said Mimi explains the colonist view point: “The point is that the colonized means little to the colonizer. Far from wanting to understand him as he really is, the colonizer is preoccupied with making him undergo this urgent change” (Mimi 127).

For Illinois to see Make as the opposite of what a native is supposed to be according to what they had been taught would be a shock of reality; being put into a new situation makes it so prior assumptions can be replaced with real life observations. Based on observations made, the concept of forcing now actual people into slavery appears different. The initial ‘progress’ for the colonist characters, in general, is to successfully colonize the new land, potentially halting progress for the colonized and their society.

Mimi says, “What is clear is that colonization weakens the colonized ND that all those weaknesses contribute to one another” (Mimi 159). The progress changes meaning for colonizers and becomes more so a sense of awakening for the colonizer and carries a darker literal message: “Progress was calling to Asserts from the river. Progress and civilization and all the virtues. Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be Judged, to be condemned; it called him to return to that rubbish heap from which he had wandered away, so that Justice could be done” (Conrad 16).

Asserts had failed his session, but due to his realization and not due to a lack of ability to succeed. The two men died by acknowledging the fact that they were both “slave dealers,” to them a dirty thing to be which, once put out there, caused Asserts to kill his assistant and then commit suicide himself. The symbolism in Asserts’ death relating to the crucifix is powerful and makes his intentions clear; Asserts realized the Christian religion and his European ideology were not the only way and that his people, himself inclusive, were forcing the native people into something that was not correct.