Pranav Sreejayan Week 9: "Power: A versatile word"
Pranav Sreejayan
Ms Benedetti
APENG 11
Power: A versatile word
Coming back from a much needed vacation, I was greeted by Infinite Campus with my ever-awaited email about what we’d be doing in APENG this week. A little skim through it showed me that this time, the blogging topic would be ‘power’. That got me thinking; what exactly is power? Using my incredible deductive reasoning abilities, I arrived at the conclusion that I would not be forced to write blogs about my electrical appliances and instead about the concept of power itself: power over others, power over myself, power over my surroundings etc.
A quick look at Merriam Webster gives one dozens of definitions of power. Everything, from power in physics, to math, to its geo-political connotations, all show up. But one stands out: that power is simply the “ability to act or produce an effect.” In the end once you think of it, that’s all power really is. The ability to do something. My parents have the power to produce an effect of obedience in me, and that makes me do my chores. I have the power to inspire fear in my brother (Machiavelli my beloved), and that makes him do my chores. The government has the power of controlling your freedom, and so you pay taxes, follow the law and otherwise stay a good citizen. Once you begin thinking of everything in terms of power structures, it completely changes the way you perceive the people around you and their actions. Everything from the chokehold of religion on some societies to the dynamics in abusive relationships can be explained by the power of people and organizations to get their fellow man to simply do things by virtue of fear, ignorance or love.
Works cited:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/power
Picture:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/fist-up-hand-symbol-power-sign-3627608/
(Sorry about the formatting problem, I am posting the blog in the comments so you can read it)
ReplyDeleteComing back from a much needed vacation, I was greeted by Infinite Campus with my ever-awaited email about what we’d be doing in APENG this week. A little skim through it showed me that this time, the blogging topic would be ‘power’. That got me thinking; what exactly is power? Using my incredible deductive reasoning abilities, I arrived at the conclusion that I would not be forced to write blogs about my electrical appliances and instead about the concept of power itself: power over others, power over myself, power over my surroundings etc.
A quick look at Merriam Webster gives one dozens of definitions of power. Everything, from power in physics, to math, to its geo-political connotations, all show up. But one stands out: that power is simply the “ability to act or produce an effect.” In the end once you think of it, that’s all power really is. The ability to do something. My parents have the power to produce an effect of obedience in me, and that makes me do my chores. I have the power to inspire fear in my brother (Machiavelli my beloved), and that makes him do my chores. The government has the power of controlling your freedom, and so you pay taxes, follow the law and otherwise stay a good citizen. Once you begin thinking of everything in terms of power structures, it completely changes the way you perceive the people around you and their actions. Everything from the chokehold of religion on some societies to the dynamics in abusive relationships can be explained by the power of people and organizations to get their fellow man to simply do things by virtue of fear, ignorance or love.
Works cited:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/power
Picture:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/fist-up-hand-symbol-power-sign-3627608/
Hey Pranav. Truly, the versatility of power is something you can spend countless hours inquiring about. In your definition, power is stated as the “ability to act or produce an effect.” There are limitless sceneries in which such ability can be inflicted. The versatility of power, similar to your examples, ranges from the easiest task of your power to make someone else smile to the extreme of starting a world war (hi Hitler). No matter the severity of one’s power though, in the end, it still is simply defined as the “ability to act or produce an effect.” From simply looking at this example, our English definition of “power” really seems very broad and limited, and there seems to be much room for improvement and creating somewhat more definite terms for just the vastness of power.
ReplyDeleteHey Pranav! Power is really a powerful tool, and a lot of power gives one a lot of influence. This principle has been both celebrated and abused. An uneven balance in power has always been guaranteed to administer destruction, which is why we have so many laws and institutions set in place. However, as you said, nothing is really safe from the reach of power and its effects. We are surrounded by power and its influence. Everything, down to writing this blogger comment, is an effect of someone exercising their power on me. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, I thought your blog was really interesting and after reading it, I felt a sense of realization in the definition of power. I used to think power had to be something that could affect or control a large group of people or land. Thinking back to simpler times, before there were territories or rulers of land, families had power over their own plots of land and lived amongst others whilst doing whatever they pleased, however, in today’s society, even though we do have control over our property, it is not entirely ours since we are restricted and controlled by the government. This is the result of growing power in certain individuals and the decrease of others and it makes me wonder how different the balance of power will be in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, power is like a double edged sword. With much power, you are able to get virtually whatever you desire; however, too much power can lead to its misuse and corrupt you with greed. Being powerless is something people dislike, so people strive to get power, for better or worse. In a way, power contradicts freedom. Power enables control over others, forcing a desired outcome to occur with the influence that comes with power, which emphasizes the importance of being mindful of how you use it.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! I think that for many people, "power" tends to have negative connotations. Thinking about power brings to mind brute force and aggression, but it is interesting to think that our society is composed of many different power structures. A disproportionate amount of power almost always will have dire consequences. I also never thought of power playing a part in religion, but that definitely changes my perspective on what the "meaning" of power actually is. Based on Merriam Webster's definition, having an influence on something (however small) can mean that you actually have power. Power is often thought of as some grand, significant concept, but it actually also exists in our everyday lives, such as within our relationships with people.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav! When I first read the blogging topic of “power” I was also slightly conflicted and wondered if the topic meant electricity, strength, or influence. I had no idea there are so many different forms of power, ranging from math to physics. It was fascinating how you were able to break power down into its simplest form as the ability to do stuff. There are so many different power dynamics in every aspect of our lives. Looking at things from the perspective of power really changes the way we view the world around us. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeletePower is such an interesting concept, the dynamics of power is such an incredibly diverse and layered outcome. There is power over ourselves, over others, from the government over us; this is such a nuanced word because power, such a (pardon the irony) powerful word although the major connotations are negative and fear driven. Linguistic connotations are so interesting and the concept of power(?!?) is such a highly coveted yet incredibly feared variety.
ReplyDeletePranav, this was a great way to start our blogging unit on Power and Language. Power is, for lack of a better word, powerful. Throughout history we have seen countries fall and rise due to shifts in power, societies collapse or fightback power, and many more events. Power holds us accountable but also can destroy us. It is a heavy word and idea that controls the lives of thousands of people directly and indirectly. You put the dictionary definition of power in your blog but like you said the word power is so versatile and takes on many forms, too many to put into words. This was a great blog to read and realize how the idea of power controls our daily lives and that there is no real definition for power.
ReplyDeleteHi Pranav, like you said, power has multiple different meanings. In the context of APENG, it is normally referring to the control that someone has to do something. I typically associate this with leaders or the wealthy, but your examples of your parents having power over you and you having power over your brother made me realize that power does not always have to be on a large scale. There's power involved in a lot of day-to-day interactions, whether it be at home or school, and everyone can have power in one way or another.
ReplyDelete