When people talk about the “5 Steps to Tyranny” concept, they usually associate it with war. The five steps are, “us and them”, “obey orders”, “do them harm”, “stand up or stand by”, and annihilation.When we think about these different steps and come up with examples for them, we think about the Holocaust and other forms of genocide like Rwanda. It comes natural to us to think that these steps have to do with war and they do make a lot of sense when examples are used to describe the different steps. However, it appears that these steps could be used to describe how conflict occurs in other aspects of life.
It is true that some of the steps cannot literally be used to describe certain everyday situations that lead to conflict.What we can do instead is use alternate meanings of the steps to describe situations, such as friendship or divorce between couples that lead to conflict. When we say, “do them harm”, instead of doing physical harm to someone, we may mean that we do harm to someone emotionally. Some people may believe that the “5 Steps to Tyranny” concept should only be associated with war and genocide, but I believe that this concept goes deeper than that.It is pretty easy to find examples from the Holocaust that coincide with the different steps from this concept, but it is very challenging to do the same and use an example, such as friendship to describe how different steps can lead to conflict.
I believe that there are other aspects of life that we can apply the “5 Steps to Tyranny” concept to. In order to show how other aspects of life apply to the “5 Steps to Tyranny” concept, it is very important to show how different aspects of war apply to the different steps of this theory.The first step towards conflict is called, “Us and Them. The television program “5 Steps to Tyranny” described this first step by saying, “From childhood on, we create out-groups as opposed to our own in-group. We class certain others as underdogs, this can result in prejudice.
” (Step One) An example of this was how the Nazis segregated the Jews by pointing out certain physical attributes that made them different and not as good as the Germans. The second step towards conflict is called, “Obey Orders. ” In the program, “5 Steps to Tyranny”, it talks about how people are taught to obey orders and do the right thing.People say that they don’t always do as they are told, when in fact, “we often do obey without little questioning. ” (Step 2) An example this step was how people in Germany did whatever Hitler wanted them to do without thinking about the consequences. They did not want to disappoint their authority figure, so they bought into all of the propaganda used against the Jews.
The third step towards conflict is called, “Do Them Harm. ” In the program, “5 Steps to Tyranny”, it describes how authority figures can make us harm others even if we think we couldn’t. Step 3) An example of this was how Hitler was able to manipulate and make Nazi soldiers and other people in Europe commit terrible crimes against Jews. The fourth step towards conflict is called, “Stand Up or Stand By.
”The television program, “5 Steps to Tyranny”, describes how people fall into to two different categories; the bystander or the dissenter. (Step 4) An example of this was how the people of Germany who did not agree with Hitler’s views did not speak out due to fear. If these people had indeed spoke out against Hitler, his power could have been diminished. The final step towards conflict is “Annihilation. This is pretty self-explanatory, but an example of how this was used in war was how the Nazis killed so many Jews during the Holocaust. Conflict does not take place just on the battlefield, but also in our very own households.
One way that we can describe how the “5 Steps to Tyranny” take place in our everyday lives is through domestic violence that takes place in peoples’ homes. Domestic violence is defined as conflict in a home.This definition helps me make my point that you can use the “5 Steps to Tyranny” to describe how these steps can be associated with situations in he household. When we talk about the first step, “US and Them” in domestic violence, we are dealing with the powerful individual and the powerless individual. The “Us” group in this case is the powerful and the “Them” group is the powerless.
The abuser has the power and makes the victim feel weak and powerless resulting in “us and them. ” It is important to distinct that no physical abuse has actually taken place, but the couple has already been divided into the one with power and the one without power.When we talk about “Obeying Orders” in domestic violence, we are not only discussing how the powerless person in the relationship obeys orders from the powerful person in the relationship, but also how the powerful isolate the powerless. When the powerful person in the relationship isolates his or her “target” it is more probable that the powerless person will obey orders. When we discuss the third step, “Do Them Harm”, we are not talking about constant physical abuse, but rather the first physical altercation between the abuser and victim.
The first slap that takes in domestic violence has a very powerful meaning. It gives the aggressor control of the victim and hurts the victim both physically and emotionally, bringing her morale and confidence way down. The next step, “Stand Up or Stand By”, is one of the most important steps that takes place during this process. The victim can either “stand up”, have an intervention, not allow this abuse to happen anymore or they can say and do nothing and allow it to continue to happen.If the victim stands up for him or herself then step five of this process will not occur, however, if they do nothing then step five, “Annihilation”, will take place.
When we talk about the final step of this concept, “Annihilation” in domestic violence, we do not mean killing the victim, but rather that the abuser has total control of the victim. For men and women who have allowed step five to take place, domestic violence takes place for the rest of the time that they are with the abuser. It is very disturbing to think that a five-step process can be created to describe the various stages of domestic violence.Domestic violence is taking place more and more in our society and it is sad to think how so many victims are allowing it to happen. Relationships are one of the most important to elements to life in our society.
We have both good and bad relationships and both can lead to conflict. Marriage is one of the most interesting relationships in our society. Spouses can have a relationship between one another and all of a sudden it can turn sour very quickly. The process of divorce between spouses is the next aspect of everyday life that can describe how the “5 Steps to Tyranny” takes place in our everyday lives.
The Social Psychology of Everyday Life” describes how “ the cause of conflict is that as two people get to know each other better, and do more things together, more differences emerge. ” (Argyle 56) This is how the first step of the concept, “Us and Them”, is used in divorce. The couple does not see each other as one and instead see that they are different. The next step, “Obey Orders” is more of each individual spouse listening and taking advice from friends, family, or any outside source of the relationship.Each spouse values the advice given to them from these people and may not obey these “orders”, but will definitely take them into consideration. The third step, “Do Them Harm”, relates to the first serious argument or altercation between the couple.
They may or may not be physically harming each other, but their emotions are taking a huge toll from it. Like domestic violence and all other aspects of life, the fourth step, “Stand Up or Stand By”, is the most important and crucial part of the process. It will either save the relationship or destroy it.The couple can either work out their problems by talking to each other about them or even going to therapy or they can do nothing, which will lead to more fighting and probably step five, “Annihilation”, also known as divorce. It is also important to know that both individuals in the relationship need to “stand up” and do something.
It cannot just be one individual in the relationship, it has to be both. If the couple “stand by” and don’t do anything then eventually it will lead to step five, “Annihilation”, or divorce.If a couple fights all the time and don’t do anything to try and work things, divorce is really the only option. It sad to think about, but it is reality. It really is interesting to see how these steps do in fact describe and show how conflict and sometimes divorce can occur in a marriage.
Once again, there are other aspects of life that we can apply the “5 Steps to Tyranny” concept to and many of these situations take place everyday in our lives. You can use the five-step process that I have described and used earlier in this paper to explain conflict that occurs in all sorts of relationships, such as friendship.The steps that I used in divorce can be used to explain conflict in a work relationship, friendship, and even a family member relationship. It is a model that can be used to explain conflict in all kinds of relationships and not just war. It is very important in life to look at things in different ways and not just think that one idea is the only idea, but also instead think about how so many ideas can pertain to just one simple concept or aspect of life. Our social ideas and theories are like math problems.
There are many ways to figure out the solution of problem, but the result is always the same.
