Friedrich Nietzsche's On The Feeling Of Power

In 1844, Friedrich Nietzsche was born in a small village in present day Germany. Nevertheless, he would grow up to become one of the most recognized philosophers. One of his revolutionary ideas spoke of the feeling of power. It was referred to as “On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power”. I agree with Nietzsche’s ideas on power written about in “On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power”.
I agree with Nietzsche’s philosophy on power: to benefit or to hurt others is a way to exercises one’s power. I believe power can corrupt the mind; it corrupts the allowance of the urge to hold power to consume your morals. The author of “The House of the Scorpion” writes, “‘Well, Matt. Do you have any personal shortcomings you’d like to share?’ ‘No,’ said
Matt… the man hurled himself across the room and struck him with a force that almost made him pass out with pain.” (Farmer 301-303). In the story, “The House of the Scorpion”, a man in a position of power brutally assaulted a child because he stole something. Moments later, the same man attacked another child, because after experiencing the rush of power, he had been corrupted. Therefore, the compulsion to wield this new power had consumed the man’s morals. Also, in a different article, Nietzsche writes, “Whether… even if we stake our lives, as martyrs do for their church, it is a sacrifice made for power or for the preservation of feeling our power.” (On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power, Nietzsche, 1882). In this section, Nietzsche compares a megalomaniac to a martyr. Moreover, a martyr, as defined in the paper, is one a person who sacrifices something of great value, often their lives. Therefore, he uses this analogy to manifest the consequences of power corruption. Not only does Nietzsche’s philosophy correspond with the man beating Matt, but also correspond with other characters from the book.
I detect the connections from the article to the book through Rosa and Matt’s actions. The text states, “‘I could kill you,’ Rosa said quietly. ‘I could bury your body under the floor-and I might do it.’...’Or I might not. You’ll never know until it’s too late. But one thing you’d better understand: I’m your master now, and if you make me angry-watch out!’” (Farmer 39-40). Rosa uses pain, in this case mental pain, “to make her power perceptible” (On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power, Nietzsche, 1882). She uses pain to gain power from the one who was threatened. Because Nietzsche believes people hurt others to exhibit their power, this aligns with his philosophy. Further into the story, the author writes about Matt and El Patron’s birthday party, “‘Get it now,’ said Matt in the same cold, deadly voice… ‘One more thing,’ Matt said. ‘I demand a birthday kiss.’... ‘It’s my party too,’ said Matt, ‘and I can have anything I want…’” (Farmer 109). This is the only day Matt can utilize power, and once he does, he becomes caught up in the feeling of being in power. Consequently, because no one grants him respect, he uses this newfound power on everyone, excluding El Patron. This correlates with the article. Not only does Nietzsche’s philosophy accord with “The House of the Scorpion”, but also accord with real life.
I perceive current examples of Nietzsche’s idea of power consumption through the actions of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump was born into a family with great wealth and class; therefore, he never had to “hurt those that he had to make his power perceptible” (On the Doctrine of the Feeling of Power, Nietzsche, 1882). Instead, he turned to more pleasurable tactics to prolongate this feeling of power his father had granted him. In the case of Donald Trump, more pleasurable tactics include spending a large sum of money. To elaborate, an article on Donald Trump reads, “In 1988 he acquired the Plaza Hotel for $407 million and spent $50 million refurbishing it.” Like Nietzsche philosophized, people can use pleasure to obtain or retain the feeling of power and will sacrifice a great amount of things, in this example, money. However, money would not always convince people to side with Donald Trump. One of the most famous examples of this has been Donald Trump’s belief that President Obama was not born in the United States. Consequently, some people believed this defamation of our President; meanwhile, others did not. His purpose in doing this was to gain political power which would aid him in his presidential campaign. Donald Trump used the pain that comes hand in hand with poor publicity to try to gain power in politics. However, relations to the House of the Scorpion include the similarities between Tom and Donald Trump. Similar to Donald Trump, Tom can be two faced. Farmer writes, “Tom. For a moment all Matt could see was his lying face. What you saw was not what you got with him. Underneath that angelic exterior was the boy who’d shot a helpless child with a peashooter…” (Farmer 213). Because he lies about so many things, Donald Trump is also
deceitful.
In the year 1900, Friedrich Nietzsche passed away in Germany. Nevertheless, he became an inspiration for a multitude of philosophers, such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, two founders of psychiatry. As aforementioned, I agree with Nietzsche’s philosophy on power and power corruption. Because of the connections to “The House of the Scorpion” and the real world, I understand how Nietzsche developed his ideas on power. Nietzsche’s philosophy on power was revolutionary and thought provoking.