Many of us have abilities and traits that separate us from everyone else. As much as we don’t see it, we are all unique. Everyone’s DNA is different and therefore despite the fact of millions and billions of human beings, no one will ever be completely identical when it comes to personality. We are all condemned to be our own being and our personality is what makes us into who we are. However, many believe because they have advantages in certain areas they are higher status and makes them better than the rest.
In the 1400 hundreds when the Spaniard conquistadors came into the Americas, they were seeking to find gold, and to conquer the land. They believe they were superior and were by far much better than the natives (Incas). This was due to the fact that they had much better resources and more advance equipment and claimed to be more knowledgeable. In our current society people believe that because they have certain skills and are more knowledgeable than others it makes them superior. The one with the better job, better car, and more money, is usually the one with higher status and looked highly and respected by everyone else. Is this really true? Is one an infidel if one lacks knowledge, experience, and is not economically wealthy than others? Most of us came assume that yes indeed it makes one worth less if someone is more intelligent than them. In Plato’s Allegory of the cave the prisoner who comes out of the cave and has seen the real world, now is considered to be superior. He looks down to everyone still in the cave and feels pity for them. He contemplates how he was ever so dumb to have been stuck inside the cave. One can conclude that this prisoner is by far more intelligent and knowledgeable than his former peers in the cave. He is now a superior individual because he is aware that they are living an illusion and he is no longer part of it.
However, those still living in the cave might think their superior and will assume that the prisoner who came out of the cave is crazy and therefore inferior to them and their reality inside the cave. They will feel also in power thinking that coming out of the cave is ridiculous and damaging. That is brainwashing and now the prisoner who came out will be laugh at and ridiculed because he is seem like an infidel to them. The truth however is that the enlightened one is the one who is right. He is the one who has more knowledge and has seen the light. Therefore, making him truly superior to those in the cave. We all have skills that make us better than others, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the capacity to gain such skills and knowledge as well.
I personally often think because I have had many Philosophical encounters and know many theories that many are not aware of; it makes me better and superior. Does it really? I think we can say in a way it does. I cannot get angry though because those people are not aware of it, because if they were I’m pretty sure they would have the same capacity and knowledge I now possess. Being better doesn’t necessarily mean you truly are, maybe you’re just ahead of the game but everyone else has a similar ability if they only were aware. We are humans and we always strive to be better and superior, often looking for something that separates us from everyone else. Truth is, is an ever going war when it comes to comparing ourselves with “the other”. We always will think that we have something that makes us into someone better and superior.
Good use of the conquistadors example Luis. However Plato does not really fit here in discussing "the other." You will need some different examples besides the allegory of the cave
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