Plato's Allegory
With these upcoming elections around the corner, it has come to my attention how knowledgeable the citizens of the United States are about potential leaders and their civilians. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” written in his book, The Republic, he explains in an allegory on how people are blinded by what government leaders (in his era) were actually doing. He uses the allegory of prisoners limited of moving their heads around, forcing them to see that shadows that passed on the cave’s wall. These prisoners sought to shadows to be reality when the truth is that the shadows were a disguise to the reality. When one prisoner was freed from imprisonment, he left the cave and began to see the reality of things; at first he was distraught by
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Plato uses his professor, Socrates, and a companion, Glaucon, to create dialogue to explain his allegory:
“Socrates: And do you see, [Socrates] said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.”
Socrates described the shadows that the prisoners believed to be reality rather than illusion. It can be that in today’s society the shadows represent religious beliefs. These beliefs cannot be physically seen or physically experienced, so they give the illusion of morality. Many conservative politicians/ strongly feel that people should only be married to people opposite to their gender. Many go out to attack homosexuals for going against the word of God. These political leaders blind many civilians from doing the correct thing. By civilians following the words of these political leaders, they blindly discriminate gays and do not realize that they are human as well. Many homosexuals are afraid of exposing themselves amongst others in fear of attacks and unacceptance from civilians. Many people forget to realize that homosexuals are civilians as well, and many commit suicide and are wrongfully criticized for their sexual preferences. People need to realize that the conservative candidates, rather than helping the people, blinds them and makes civilians attack each other because of the technicalities of
Plato uses his professor, Socrates, and a companion, Glaucon, to create dialogue to explain his allegory:
“Socrates: And do you see, [Socrates] said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.”
Socrates described the shadows that the prisoners believed to be reality rather than illusion. It can be that in today’s society the shadows represent religious beliefs. These beliefs cannot be physically seen or physically experienced, so they give the illusion of morality. Many conservative politicians/ strongly feel that people should only be married to people opposite to their gender. Many go out to attack homosexuals for going against the word of God. These political leaders blind many civilians from doing the correct thing. By civilians following the words of these political leaders, they blindly discriminate gays and do not realize that they are human as well. Many homosexuals are afraid of exposing themselves amongst others in fear of attacks and unacceptance from civilians. Many people forget to realize that homosexuals are civilians as well, and many commit suicide and are wrongfully criticized for their sexual preferences. People need to realize that the conservative candidates, rather than helping the people, blinds them and makes civilians attack each other because of the technicalities of