Assertion Analysis : John Winthorp

          Puritans, those who believed that everyone and everything had to live according to the scriptures and only the scriptures. Anyone who wasn't a puritan was doomed to burn eternally in hell. It was made up of members in a group who were English Protestants, it initiated in the late 16th and 17th centuries. They sought to reform the Churches and wanted to simplify and regulate forms of worship. John Winthorp, who was an English Puritan lawyer, clarified the importance of sustaining purity in their faith to other puritans through fear on their way to America. 
           
            In this sermon Winthorp explains how those who follow the Puritan belief are looked upon, since they are "pure" and follow the word of God.  Since they are seen by everyone if their belief system is contradicted or not followed they will be executed and doomed eternally. It would be the worst crime of all to make the slightest mistake making their beliefs unworthy of God. Destroying their world. 

            John Winthorp inflicted tremendous amount of fear into others to spread his word. He uses syntax in his entire sermon because it is just one sentence. Using just one sentence implies that there is no opening for the opinions of others. Inflicting fear with no opening to question, forces a greater deal of fear. He also uses a biblical allusion as to say they were a "City upon a Hill". He directs this claim to those who are already informed of the belief. Inflicting fear and using the reference that they are superior, not letting his followers think for themselves and just agree to his words give him more power implying that his Puritan belief stay alive. 
        
               The tactic of fear that John Winthorp used has become the most common concept to gain power in the modern world. Individuals whom are not strong born leaders fall back on inflicting fear upon the civilians by creating bigger problems then stating they are the only solution. Insinuating that the one in power is the only solution, creates trust. Empowering them even more. Although this tactic has resulted in being successful, it has given power to the wrong people molding the creation of destruction.

Socratic Seminar : Question #1

         Black Elk shared a religious ceremony, his right of passage, the path where a boy now becomes a man. The ceremonies that are traditionally passed are supposed to be confined between those who are within the tribe. American Indians whom have shared their past, their cultural stories in which have been either carried through generations or explained only within their circle, with "outsiders" are criticized for doing so. Once he shared his story with a white man, letting him publish it, outraging the American Indians and was frowned upon because it's the European ethnicity that ripped away the Indians cultural background and destroyed their world. Elk was just trying to endure his tribal cultures, and bring up the hope for his tribe to once again be superior letting the "outsiders", who believe in a superior power like God, know that his tribe is superior. He was trying to get the word out, expanding the knowledge of his tribes existence with the world.