Frederick Douglass And TED?
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
-Frederick Douglass
What are you thinking about the listed Frederick Douglass quotations in conjunction with the Briles TED Talk video that watched in class? Reflect, critique, argue, or explain. This blog response is due by 3:40p.m. on Wednesday, March 13th.
posted by Greg T at Wednesday, March 06, 2019
26 Comments:
Both of these quotes tie closely into the TED talk for many reasons. when He says, "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." The whole idea of that is that there is beauty in the struggle. It is not always about the end goal with anything, but rather, half the accomplishment is going through the struggle and dealing with that adversity, as that is what molds you. The other quote has a similar meANING, as it says, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." This quote says, without a demand, or something that is a force to work for, power could never surrender to that. For example, without the slaves, which are the demand, there would be no power. To have power they need the slaves, as a car would need an engine. This is why these slaves are treated so unfairly, because they are the engine for power, the society, etc.
The quote: "If there is no struggle, there is no progress". I believe represents the idea that you can't learn and grow without making and learning from the mistakes you make along the way. The more you grow and learn between the difference of good and bad you are progressing and growing with more information. "Power concedes nothing without demand, it never did and it never will", This quote represents the idea of you have to have a purpose or a drive or need for power and you need a trigger to demand power and have a need and desire for it. Demand of power can also be based upon fear not desire or drive people gain power of the demand of fear and weakness. To gain power slave owners pin pointed weaknesses and fear and used them to make themselves seem and feel more powerful. Even in our modern day we still have slaves and these quotes both represent the idea of how slavery has impacted the past and the present.
After watching the ted talk and looking at Fredrick Douglas's quote, I have a strong reaction to the fact that this all starts after one sentence today. "do you want a job?" Of course some people are born into slavery, however this is very shocking. when you think about the power of this sentence, you think about what is the persons back story behind why they need that job. Some people may need money for food, or medicine, or something else that they can offer. the saddest part is that some people need to turn to this in order to survive which is so shocking relating to this quote and video.
After watching the ted talk and looking at Fredrick Douglas's quote, I have a strong reaction to the fact that this all starts after one sentence today. "do you want a job?" Of course some people are born into slavery, however this is very shocking. when you think about the power of this sentence, you think about what is the persons back story behind why they need that job. Some people may need money for food, or medicine, or something else that they can offer. the saddest part is that some people need to turn to this in order to survive which is so shocking relating to this quote and video.
Slaves are forced to work without pay and have no option to walk away. Both Frederick and the Ted Talk, talk about the hardship of being a slave and talk about how unfair it is. Most continents even today have some form of slavery today. Slaves do not know the rule of law that protects the poor and if they do not have it people can take advantage of people. People today get asked and said do you want a job? and manipulated these innocent people so they go off with the person and never sees their families again. I think that the quote "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." Meaning that without challenges and trying to get away from the bad there is no chance of you getting free. Life is hard, but if you do the challenges it will be better. The second quote is saying that if there is no demand there is no power and that is a very strong saying. The Ted Talk really made me think about my life because there is slavery today and without the will of people wanting it to change it never will.
Both of these quotes have very similar ideas as talked about in the TED talk. When Douglass says "If there is no struggle, there is no progress". This relates to the video because there are slaves struggling everywhere in the world being forced to work with no pay. These people are struggles now will save others later because when attention is brought to this problem changes can be made so their struggle brings progress. Douglass also says "Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never will", this says that power never gives up anything without asking for something in return. This is seen in the video when he talks about the men coming to poor villages and offering jobs to the villagers in return for work. The men use their power over the villagers to trick them into becoming slaves because of their need for money.
After watching the TED Talk and reading Frederick Douglass's quote, it seems like the people in the video and Frederick Douglass do not really know what a "better" life would be like because they have been born into slavery and they have lived the life stuck in slavery. It surprises me that the people live this way and put up with it. The people that are born into slavery are having to pay off some sort of debt. The quote from Frederick Douglass is very impactful because to have progress, there is always a struggle. For example; in school students struggle and they have progress and slavery is the same situation. The hard work is grueling and painful, yet they have to make progress in order to try to get out of slavery. People live this way just so they can eat one meal a day and have somewhere to sleep so they can survive.
Both quotes tie very close with the TED talk. When he says "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." To me this quote means that you can't move forward or succeed without some difficulties. But when I think about this quote in terms of the TED talk and slaves, I think it means that without challenging your life and trying to escape the bad then there no chance of you ever getting free and living a better life. By looking at this quote it makes me realize how much the TED talk relates to Fredrick's story. Both Fredrick and the TED talk discuss how hard it is to be a slave and all of the struggles they have had to overcome just to survive. The second quote from Frederick "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." shows that without demand there is not power. If the products made by slaves were never in demand then the slave owners wouldn't have enough power to hold all of the slaves. Both the quotes and the TED talk have really made me think about my life today. I knew slavery still existed but not to this extent.
After reading the Fredrick Douglass quotes and watching the TED talk on modern slavery, I see that they can relate to each other very closely. The quote says; "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." This makes me think about the slaves in the TED talk, in that they don't know what life is outside the bonds of slavery. Which means that they don't know that there is a way out. They are still struggling as slaves, however, their efforts are not going to free them. Fredrick at least knew there was something better out there for him, while the modern slaves know nothing else but slavery. I personally didn't know that there was still slavery at such a large scale in the world today.
Both quotes show the difficulty it is to change the situation as it is. "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." There has to be something that is fighting against it to prove. If there aren't enough people that are fighting against slavery, enough people that have some power fighting against it, then people will continue to have slaves. "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." Meaning, that you will have to fight to keep things moving in the right direction. The TED Talk showed how this was true. How they are trying to liberate people, not buy their freedom because that is buying into a system. It is hard to get these people free and living their own life but if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be working.
Both quotes and the TED talk show how challenging the situation is. The quote, "if there is no struggle, there is no progress." That means that if you struggle or having trouble, then you won't get too far. It makes me think about the TED talk and the struggles that slaves have and how it is hard to move forward. "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." I think people need to be aware of slavery and fight against it or else the slave population will increase over time. Overall, both the quotes and the TED talk made me think about slavery and what they go through every day. It also makes think about how we are fortunate we are today.
The quote "Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and never will." and the TED talk we watched in class show the side of slavery that for what is really is. A business, a very demanding business. The people they in slave have only on purpose which is to create the supply for the growing demand. Both the TED talk and the quote show that slavery was to has this overall purpose. And the quote and talk shed light on the human aspect of this growing 'business' known as slavery. The people are born into slavery still and the people still serve the same purpose which is to produce the product for the growing demand for goods.
Both the quote as well as the TED talk correlate directly to each other. One major way that these relate is both portray the theme of how several struggles come with success. Being successful and having a good life is something that doesn't come easily and comes with a lot of challenges that must be conquered. They relate back to growth in humans and how it's essential to struggle and overcome hardships in life to succeed. This theme corresponds to slavery due to the fact that people living in slavery have to work hard and although there quality of life is extremely low the hope of it becoming better is what keeps them going. The film and the quote directly as they work to show the struggles of real life and how overcoming them will create a successful good quality life.
Both quotes fro Douglass have very similar ideas as the TED talk. Douglass says "If there is no struggle, there is no progress," which portrays that one must go through failure to be successful. The TedTalk shows slaves struggling and being forced to work without pay. Slaves are going through struggles but eventually, it will lead to progress. There is hope that one day all slavery will end. By continuing to struggle it raises awareness for slavery. When people are aware of slavery it will eventually lead to progress. Additionally, Douglass states "Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never will", this illustrates that power never ends without a strong desire for that power to end and power never ends without something being taken in return. This is also illustrated in the TedTalk when there are men coming to poor villages and offering jobs to the villagers in return for work. The men are being manipulative because they are misusing their power to lure in innocent people. The workers are being tricked into slavery. Both quotes and the TedTak relate to power and how it is often misused and also is gained through struggle.
After watching the TED Talk and reading Frederick Douglass's quote, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will," over time the cost of humans compared to the 1800s has gone from $15,000 to $5-10 today. There are still 27,000,000 slaves today and the quote basically says as long as there is a demand for it, that the power of slavery will exist. Slavery is something that can definitely be reduced in modern times, but with human nature, there will probably always be slaves on earth, whether it is as streamlined and legal as it was in the 1800s or be more covert but definitely still prevalent in today's modern world.
After watching the Ted Talk, I thought it was very interesting with how the beginning of slavery goes with Frederick Douglass’s quote. The way slaves are brought into slavery, when they are struggling and the struggle for food, medicine, and healthy children makes them take these heartbreaking “jobs.” This, therefore, makes progress for the slave keepers and the work being done.
Regarding the quotes in the "Fredrick Douglas" novel I think it is an overlooked saying. It is something so true and real that can connect to anyones hardships. "If there is no struggle, there is no progress" I have personally connected to this quote as I recently have got cut from something I love doing. This made me question a lot. What do I do from here? Am I good at anything else but soccer? As i'm in the midst of it all this is the struggle part for sure. As I am trying to bounce back and find something else to do with my life. But I know from here I am going to progress, as I am at the bottom and I can only go up from here. I think the quote definitely relates to this and many other peoples problems as well.
To learn is to struggle, to stumble, and to fall. But it’s called learning -not simple failure- because we get back up afterwards. Since human history is a collection of society-scale learning experiences, the same mentality can be applied on a broader scale. If there is no problem, we will not make a solution; if there isn’t an enemy, we won’t fight; and etc. But unfortunately, we do have problems to solve and enemies to wage war against; we create them through the collective cycle of learning and experiencing failure. It’s just cause and effect, but we’ve had to painstakingly learn how it works, time and time again.
Those who manage to learn things of value gain power to use for their own benefits and ambitions. This “power” greatly varies depending on the subject matter; it could be something as simple and innocent as a child discovering their parent’s phone passcode in order to play silly mobile games, or something as extreme and vile as slave owners realizing they could forcefully exploit others for immense financial gain. Whatever the scenario, power isn’t given up without an apparent need. It’s a luxury that makes life more pleasant for the user. If they aren’t presented with an understandable reason for doing so, why would anyone ever surrender a convenience?
The quote "If there is no struggle, there is no progress" is something I can relate to deeply. For me I have daily struggles and it allows me to fail and learn from my mistakes. It makes me think how much our society works towards perfection rather than learning and growing. There is no gray area there is always a black and white stance on life. Because there is no gray are when making decisions or learning, slavery still exists simply because we are not learning from mistakes, there is still a demand for slavery even though we all know it slavery is morally wrong.
As Michael Jordan once said, "I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." In order to better yourself, you must learn from mistakes and struggle. Douglass had the same point of view in terms of the fight for freedom. Adversity makes you realize how much you really want something, and when you want something, it is in human nature to work extremely hard to achieve it. The people who realize this, tend to be the most successful people in the world, it installs a certain grit within the mind and will allow you to work as hard as you possibly can.
After watching the TED talk These two quotes are very powerful and can mean a lot of different things. The first quote basically means that you will not make progress without failing or making mistakes. We all make many mistakes, but it's how you get back up and deal with them that will make a big difference. The second "Power concedes nothing without a demand". It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
After watching ted talk, it is quite obvious he had to fight for freedom, but he never gave up, a lot of people who play in the NBA etc, went through trials and tribulations but thats why they are where they are. It paid off through mistakes its about how you bounce back. the second quote is saying that power is not consistent without demand, if people know you have power, it doesn't really mean a lot to people but if you have a demand it will catch more attention.
After watching the TED talk and looking at the quotes, I realized that they have one thing in common. They both talk about struggle and trials. The first quote made me think about how everyone makes mistakes but we must learn from those mistakes. We have to accept the things that have happened and move past these things and accomplish the things that have never been accomplished. The first quote taught and showed me that without trials, no one will reach their goals. Without the heartbreak of defeat and downfall, a person will never strive for better than the original. The second quote taught me that power only belongs in the world because people have found the demand for it. Without that demand, it would never be there and it would never have a place in the world.
In the ted talk, they talk a lot about mistakes, and how we should get better from them. He had to fight to do what his passion is. Most successful people had many bumps along their journey to success, but they handled and bounced back correctly to end up where they are today. Power comes with demand.
I think these quotes connect to the ted talk by almost empowering their meaning. I usually think that making mistakes is wrong and flaws me. But truly its not the mistakes, but quitting because its about the encouragement to get back up and to do it again until its correct. Just like the quotes, if there is no struggle, there is no progress. or how power wont yield until demanded. Sometimes when someone tells you to move, you have to plant yourself like a tree, and tell the world to move. The same way we abolished slavery and gave civil rights to minorities.
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." This quote holds a lot of power. I think it means that you can´t become successful or the type of person you want to be without making mistakes on the way. In this Ted Talk, there is a lot of talk about mistakes and how you can fix them so you can better yourself. The quotes give the Ted Talk a bigger meaning and that is very important.
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