Humanities paper Excerpt.
Keep in mind I'm relating to a painting and culture of today's society. This is an excerpt from a post that i had to do for homework. Read it all the way through!! The direct event I can link this to is the case of the United States Army vs. Bowie Bergdahl. Desertion according to the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) Is punishable up to and including death. Bergdahl abandoned his post, and in today's world when we are at war, there is a stigma about what deserters are doing and or not doing. Being a deserter is seen as being weak in the societal ranks, and in the hierarchy desertion is the lowest of the low type of crime. I believe that fear is what drives desertion, and in the words of my favorite television character, Captain Kathryn Janeway of Star Trek Voyager, "You know as well as I do, fear only exists for one purpose, to be conquered."
We now live in a society where fear is the norm, and the punishment for Bergdahl was severely less than what he could have gotten. His desertion can be seen as some sort of catalyst for some type of subculture in our society, and seen as a form of rebellion. To quote another Star Trek character, this time Ro Laren of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The thing worse than rebellion, is the thing that causes rebellion." If fear can rule a culture, it can easily rule the world.
