ipl-logo

H. L. Mencken: Safe Or Free?

763 Words4 Pages

H.L Mencken states that the average man will choose to be safe rather than being free. His opinion is relevant to society since many people choose to follow the norm and take the safest path to ensure their future. However, depending on their situation, people will choose either their safety or their freedom to fit their needs and wants. People start choosing their safety over their freedom as early as high school. Many kids start to actively think about their future plans during high school and most will choose the safe option of college. College has been engrained into our society as an insurance policy to having a safe future in the long run. We are taught from an early age that we should go to college first, and then obtain a steady job. Then we can get married and start a family, where we will then …show more content…

The refugees flee their country to find a safer life that offers freedom. They venture out into dangerous journeys to find a country that is able to accept and provide for them. Their decision to leave causes them to choose their freedom over what little safety they had so that they can find a safer place to live. They wanted to live in a safer country that also offered more freedom to them. By casting their safety aside and using their freedom to escape they’re able to find a better safety. The Ukraine refugees chose their freedom over their safety so that they could find a safer area to live. The refugees lived with a mix of fear and desperation for them to make the decision to seek out a better life. The fear caused them to want a better life and the desperation gave them the push they need to go out and find it. Mencken was only partially right when he made his statement about people choosing the safe option over freedom. There is many times where the situation changes a person’s priorities to either safety or

Show More
Related
169 Words | 1 Pages

In the article, "Desperation at sea" by Rebecca Zissou discusses how refugee 's are having to flee their homes because of war. First, the refugee 's are all going from Syria, Gambia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan to Libya because of war, disease, poverty, etc. Also they have to cross the harsh heat and terrain of the Sahara desert just to get to Libya. After that, the refugee 's have to pay people to get them over to Europe for safety but they could get a very bad deal from sometimes very untrustworthy people. In addition, the so called smugglers might abandon them on the boat with little to no food, water, fuel, and in most conditions the refugee 's don 't know their way to Europe.

Read More
1291 Words | 6 Pages

Have you ever considered which type of life you would consider? A life where you take risks or a life where you are taking it safe? Many people pursue security and attempt to live a typical life without succeeding or failing. In the novel, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls did not want to take it on the safe side, she wanted to explore and take risks. Walls did not care about living a harmless life, her main goal was to do something extraordinary and live a wild and crazy life where she is able to make her own choices.

Read More
819 Words | 4 Pages

The phrase, “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”, by H.L. Mencken, an American essayist and social critic, is an accurate and agreeable statement. What Mencken is trying to say here is that people in this society don’t really look for freedom to do whatever they want, instead they look for the feeling of safety because without safety you can’t live life to the fullest. What is freedom if you don’t feel safe? Mencken’s quote emphasizes the true meaning of safety and gets you thinking about what it would be life if we didn’t have that.

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

(AGG) Refugee have been fleeing their homes in hope of safety, just like Najmah and the people in her villages leaving their homes in a time of danger. (BS-1) In the book Under the Persimmon tree when Najmah left her home for Peshawar to find her family she became a refugee when she left her home . (BS-2) Similarly, the difficulties refugees encounter on their journeys are similar to the ones Najmah experiences as a refugee. (BS-3)

Read More
1555 Words | 7 Pages

In her article, “The Refugee King of Greece”, Ashley Gilbertson discusses the refugee crisis that is currently plaguing Greece. Gilbertson utilizes an array of interviews and quotes from various refugees with backgrounds of all kinds in order to allow the reader to more accurately visualize the epidemic of human rights violations that are presently taking place in Greece. Refugees from Syria and Nigeria have come from their war-torn countries in search of salvation, however, what they come to find is a land of limbo. Determined to flee their countries for a better life, many come to Greece as the halfway point before entering other parts of Europe or Germany. Sadly, this practice has ended recently after the European and German governments

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

Millions of refugees are forced to flee their homes every year. They leave everything behind. Have you heard of the escapees on the news before? These are people who are forced to flee their homes for many reasons. Mostly, it is due to war or natural disasters.

Read More
118 Words | 1 Pages

The Refugees journey is often unsafe and dangerous compared to Immigrants whose journey is much more relaxed and luxurious. Immigrants and Refugees share many things in common but the life of the Refugees is much harder.

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

The refugees risk the journey to the neighboring countries, knowing that they would not be granted residency. The residents of cities in northern Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia have relatively easy access to Turkey, while the journey for those who live in the country’s center or south is more dangerous. Syrians traveling out of Damascus must cross dozens of active battle lines and navigate hundreds of government and armed opposition checkpoints before they reach the Turkish border, which is one of the havens for the refugees. (The Unknown Journey of Syria’s Refugees) Moreover, the refugees have to go across Aegean Sea or the Red sea.

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

When forced to flee their homes, refugees are faced with having everything to having nothing. Making friends is hard, especially if you are a refugee. People might think that you 're different and treat you unfairly. If refugees are able to make new friends they can try to forget the past and have the normal life they want to live. Refugees have to up and leave everything from their homes and come to a new country.

Read More
860 Words | 4 Pages

The increased refugee and migration crisis in recent time has elicited numerous opinions, which can be identified in public debates across the globe. On one side of the debate, sociologists and socialist societies assert that each individual, nation and the international society must play its role in reducing or eliminating the suffering of refugees and humans. In other words, governments and international organisations such as the EU and the UN must play their roles in protecting human rights by providing food, medicine and shelter to refugees and other immigrants. Socialists in the debate also

Read More
508 Words | 3 Pages

Continued war and political upheavals in the world today has contributed greatly to the increase in number of movements of refugees from one country to another. Many of the refugees experience intense loss and demoralizing events that in turn impact their development and long-standing functioning. The journey from their motherland to counties of refuge is oftentimes characterized by violence and uncertainty, with extreme lack of primary human rudimentary needs. Such elementary human wants for example shelter, food, and security among other needs are in deficit if not completely lacking. Refugee is a reality in the world today.

Read More
621 Words | 3 Pages

Preconceived College Before entering college, many students hold certain assumptions about “college life.” The majority of the time, the things people assume about college tend to be false or not what they were expecting. For many students, this could be a large let down, seeing as how they might have been expecting to constantly party. However, for some it could be a sigh of relief due to the pressure of trying to fit in might be overwhelming.

Read More
456 Words | 2 Pages

FB: After fleeing, some refugees feel like they have a better chance at survival going back home than staying where they fled to. ES1: Being a refugee can be very hard, and at times teens feel like they are hindering their family and that they will be able to make money other ways back in their native country “Teenage girls are sometimes lured into prostitution and teenage boys are lured back

Read More
496 Words | 2 Pages

H.L Mencken uses contemporary society to explain that “the average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe”. I feel the average person should be both free and safe. After thinking about the question nobody is able to be safe unless they are able to have the freedom that is needed. Some countries are not safe because they don’t have the freedom that is needed to keep themselves plus their families safe.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

Leaders and governments around the world have labelled refugees as being a burden on their country either directly or indirectly. These leaders only see them as people who are trying to get into their country to escape the civil war, but fail to see that the refugees are also risking their lives in the process. At present, there are approximately 54.5 million refugees that are displaced, the largest refugee crisis the world has ever seen and they have nowhere to go. The question of doing the right thing and taking them in has been squashed due to various reasons and it appears to be that each country has adopted the ‘each man for himself’ policy by stating that it is their duty to only look after its citizens and no one else.

Read More

More about H. L. Mencken: Safe Or Free?

Open Document