Bell Hooks Love As The Practice Of Freedom Analysis

Love is a simple phrase that has existed throughout human history. Since the beginning of time, we have been taught to love one another through works of kindness and compassion. Despite this, we as a greedy, shallow culture tend to resort to conflict to solve our issues. From wars to segregation, humans have fought numerous battles in the name of a better world, yet, all they have accomplished is insurmountable conflict. Although this epidemic floods our history, there are times where the tenderness of people has broken through and achieved substantial gains for the world populous. To name a few: Jesus was crucified as a perfect, loving lamb in order to cleanse the grime of sin, Martin Luther King Jr. was praised for rooting his arguments in
Throughout her piece “Love as the Practice of Freedom”, bell hooks uses rhetorical strategies in order to signify the mendacity of solving problems through conflict, by insinuating that a self-loving mentality is needed to progress against domination culture.
People are more likely to be attentive when individuals that they have confidence in are used as a basis for intellectual thought. Anecdotes and authority figures are pivotal in persuading people to revise their stances on controversial topics. Hooks utilizes figures such as King and Malcolm X to create a sense of trust in her audience. For example, when hooks asserts “that King had the prophetic insight to recognize that a revolution built on any other foundation other than love would fail”, she directly establishes her first audience in the African American population. This is confounded later when hooks attest that, “King testified that he had decided to love because he believed deeply that if we are seeking the highest good we find it through love". This ultimately allows her to build upon his authority as the moving figure in the civil