就作者而言，尽管战争已经结束，许多人的思想仍受战争时期的学说的作用。当前，英语论文，许多人坚信，只要能为自己的利益服务，英语论文，或者是对国家有益的，就可以了。政治家们通过宣布法学是由普通公民来为他们的行为辩护的。然而，由于他们不是普通公民，他们没有遵守法学，不杀人。宪法明确指出，所有的人的生命都是平等的，没有人会把他们的生命放在另一个人的生命中。不幸的是，人类的观念已经不被许多政客所接受。 I have chosen an article Shall We Choose Death from Bertrand Russell. In this article, the author Bertrand Russell had mentioned at the beginning that there are multiple and various conflicts in the world such as the conflicts between Indians and Pakistanis and the conflicts between white men and black men. However, the biggest conflict that has led to endless arm race is the conflict between Communism and non-Communism. Eventually, it led to nations racing to make hydrogen bombs. However, the damage that a hydrogen bomb can do cannot be underestimated. It is mentioned by Bertrand Russell that “one hydrogen bomb could obliterate the largest cities such as London, New York, and Moscow”.(Bertrand Russell, 3) In fact, hydrogen bombs can gradually spread destruction over a much wider area than had been supposed. In Shall We Choose Death, a cold hearted and ruthless truth was revealed: even though human knows the danger of wars and conflicts, they still want to xpand the wars and continue the race because “The abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of national sovereignty.” (Bertrand Russell, 2）In the end, a profound question has been raised. It is about whether people can forget and forgive their quarrels to think about lives and death as a simple human being.
I think Bertrand Russell has made a fair point about humanity. It is estimated that during World War Two, the period when human beings in every nation was having conflicts with people from other nations, terrible destruction had been made.
During the war time, there is this tangled meshing of crimes against humanity and human right. (Theodor Meron, 221) The worst part of it is that these crimes are justified and people who committed cruel wrongs get away with it. They did it by justifying that all the wrongs are done for the love of their country.
In the end, Bertrand Russell has made an appeal which appeals to every human heart:”remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, nothing lies before you but universal death.” (Bertrand Russell, 5) It is a sad fact that almost every progress throughout the historical tide was made by sacrificing human lives. When the British army colonized and discovered the land of America, they murdered a lot of natives on the land in order to build up their sovereignty; when the United States of America decided to save China from the evil hands of Japanese army during World War Two, they did it by dropping a destructive bomb on the land of Japan, killing thousands of innocent individuals; when the developed countries were revolutionized themselves by making trains, planes and ships, millions of mine workers and factory workers died from overworking so that the rich and powerful and declaim to the world that they have made an incredible discovery.
A famous author Ernest Gellner had mentioned that the industrial age is based on economic growth. However, it was also aided by reason, man and culture. (Emmanuel C. Eze, 15）As a Chinese myself, although I am proud of my nation’s most renounced virtue—humanity, however, it does not mean that throughout Chinese history, the rulers can act with this virtue. Our oriental culture is deeply influenced by Confucius. In fact, Confucius has mentioned a lot of doctrines about humanity. For example, “A person with honeyed words and pious gestures is seldom a man of humanity”, “In practicing the virtue of humanity, one should not defer even to one’s teacher.” (Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 20) Confucius also mentioned that, “the man of wisdom takes pleasure in water; the man of humanity delights in the mountains. The man of wisdom desires action; the man of humanity wishes for quietude. The man of wisdom looks for happiness but the man of humanity wishes for long life. ” (Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 20) It is obvious that it is not easy to actually become the man of humanity because of all the restrictions that Confucius has set. However, the basic characteristic of a man of humanity is that he or she is able to respect another person, not only his life, but his human right and the choice he made.
As far as I am concerned, it is a terrible fact that although the war is over, many people’s thoughts are still affected by the doctrines from the war time. Currently, many people firmly believe that it is alright to take away another person’s life as long as it serves his own advantage or it is beneficial for the nation. Politicians justify their actions by declaring that laws are made to be obeyed by ordinary citizens. However, due to the fact that they are not ordinary citizens, they do not have to obey the law by not killing people. Constitutions had made it clear that all human lives are equal and no one shall ever put their lives over another human being’s life. Unfortunately, the notions of humanity have not been well accepted by many politicians, who still get stuck up with the notion that some men are meant to dominate others’ lives in the peace time. That is why there are secret competitions of nuclear bombs race among many countries. I think the efforts that Bertrand Russell made have been working but most rich and powerful individuals still need to get better educated with the importance of respecting human lives and human right.
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