Oliver Cromwell
In TOK class, we were looking at the study of History. In particular, we talked about the Statue of Liberty and the history behind the Statue has changed due to Trump being president. History is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with past events; the formal records or study of past events, especially human affairs,” (Cambridge English Dictionary). I find the erection of statues very fascinating because how does one have the ability to change the history of the statue or remove it after many years of the statue being there. For this blog post, I will be discussing the erection of Oliver Cromwell Statue. Statues symbolize many things within our society. Besides power, statues, and significance, status solidifies the values between individuals by strengthening both collective and national identities.
The Oliver Cromwell statues is located outside the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in Westminster, London. The Cromwell statue was designed by Hamo Thornycroft in 1899. Hamo Thornycroft was an English Sculptor famous for some of the most important statues in London. Thornycroft was one of the leading exponents of the New Sculpture, a movement in British sculpture reacting against the neo-classicism of mid-Victorian sculpture. Before the Cromwell Statue was erected the Cromwell statue was believed to be a source of controversy, “the Irish Nationalists voted against its installation because of the ghastly activities of Cromwell’s troops on innocent folk during the invasion of Ireland in AD 1649.” The removal of the statue had a huge discussion since “the iconoclasm of the English civil wars was neither ordered or carried out by Cromwell,” said Mr. Goldsmith. Many of the royalists thought that Oliver Cromwell was a traitor for overthrowing the monarchy. The Irish believed that Cromwell was a murder.
Oliver Cromwell was a fanatical puritan who enforced the abolition of Christmas. Cromwell is considered to be one of the most significant figures in British History, therefore he deserves to be remembered even if it is negative or positive. Many historians say that Cromwell should be commemorated outside the parliament, however the values which both symbolize differently. The parliament is referred to Britons as the beacon of both democracy and equality, however, Cromwell was seen as a controversial figure in Ireland due to his legacy. Oliver Cromwell is considered to be one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles. However, Cromwell was a notable historic figure who deserved the statue outside Westminster. The removal of this statue was outrageous because there are other statues that should have been erected, such as Lord Protector because he upset many however not the Irish. The Cromwell statue shouldn’t have been erected because now a part of history is lost because the future generations won’t understand what’s happening with the statue.
The changing historiography of Cromwell also contributes to his statue’s merit. The fact that controversy surrounding the statue is not a recent issue. The statue was shown in 1899 and received a lot from the house of lords. The whole point of having a statue is not to strengthen a status, however, it is up to the public. I think Cromwell's statue shouldn’t have been erected because he was uniting public opinion.
The Statue of Oliver Cromwell is holding a bible in his left arm. In his right hand, Cromwell is holding a sword. The Cromwell statue was dressed in his military office, without his hat.
There are clearly ethical issues with the creation of a situation such as The Truman Show. Discuss the ethics of The Truman Show (as the TV show, not the movie). Relate your discussion to TOK and any relevant areas of knowledge. Be sure to consider alternative perspectives and to use specific examples from the film to support your answer.
,’ which showcases his entire life on television. However, Truman is ignorant of the show and the many different cameras show‘The Truman ’ is an American comedy-drama directed in 1998 by Peter Weir. The character in the movie is Truman who is the star of the ‘Truman hidden around him to capture every single moment of his life. Due to the many hidden cameras capturing his life, many ethnic issues arise throughout ‘The Truman Show.’show
Most of the population think that ‘The Truman Show,’ as an unethical and immoral show due to many different reasons. Every human being deserves the right of their own privacy, but Truman was given no privacy throughout his life. Every single moment of Truman's life was broadcasted across the entire world. Therefore, invasion of privacy is shown as unethical due to the fact ‘The Truman show’ controlled Truman's entire life. All opportunities that were given to Truman to live a normal life was all controlled, for example, Truman wanted to be an explorer and discover new places however the teachers manipulated his brain, when he only wished to learn. Truman wanted to leave his home and escape aboard, his dreams were resisted, for example, when he wanted to take a flight to Fiji, there were no available flights for a month, which was extremely unusual. The show kept harming Truman psychologically, for example, the death of his father affected him extremely which introduced a fear of water. Thus, ‘The Truman Show’ is shown as immoral and unethical in different ways.
However, many people may reject the idea of ‘The Truman Show’ considered to be unethical and thought it was an proper show with no harms intended. During most of the show, Truman’s world was to a place that was safe and free from all the world issues. Truman was under protection by Christoff. The show didn’t cause any physical harm to Truman himself, therefore the show was considered to be ethical. Furthermore, the world of Truman was shown very normal for him, and that’s why he wasn’t affected psychologically because the show wasn’t against his will. This is related to the Sense Perception concept of “Ways of Knowing” in TOK. Every single thing Truman smelt, heard, saw, and felt were all recognized as normal because Truman didn’t have anything to compare it to. The Truman Show was quite similar to the Allegory of the Cave because everything the people in the cave sensed wasn’t real to them and once they were shown reality, the people in the cave didn’t accept it. Therefore, due to the world being an illusion for Truman and due to his perception, the show is considered to be ethical.
Overall, the Truman Show raised many ethical and morality issues. Truman wasn’t given any right to privacy and freedom because making the show unethical. On the other hand, Truman was protected from the issues of world and was in the illusion of his perception, which caused him no mental and physical harm, which made the show unethical. The ethical parts of the Truman Show was that Truman received perceptions and therefore it made the show agurable.