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  • Essay / Breaking free from the Enlightenment and connecting to modern times

    Freedom is something that should be present in every country in the world, but it often is not. Two of the greatest events in history; The Enlightenment and imperialism shaped political, economic, social and cultural freedom around the world. Enlightenment views and ideas have shaped many modern governments and societies. An example of this is the Declaration of Rights and Citizenship which reflects Enlightenment philosophies and ideologies on government. On the other hand, imperialism has caused massive injustice in freedom and caused the collapse of many developing societies. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling is a poem that reflects imperialist ideas and thinking while the film Hotel Rwanda shows how the imperialist powers in Europe suppressed freedom. and caused genocide in Africa. Currently, our world is freer than the imperialist era but not as free as the Age of Enlightenment. Although many imperialist powers have since fallen and embraced more freedom. But according to FreedomHouse. org in 2018, democracy fell into a crisis, where freedom declined in more countries than where freedom increased. The impact of political power on the freedom of the people during the French Revolution was significant. Political power in France was mainly controlled by the Church and the 1st and 2nd powers. The 3rd Estate of France (which represented 98% of the population) had little or no control over government actions and law-making. This caused most people (the 3rd Estate) in France to have no freedom and little to no control over their rights, while the upper class was able to control the rights of everyone else. The resolution of the French Revolution caused the ideas of the Enlightenment to spread, which also caused a huge change in governmental power from a monarchy to a government ruled by the people. A similar situation occurred in Latin America when the French overthrew an oppressive government. Latin America borrowed the idea/concept and this is how many South American countries gained their independence. Most French people (3rd estate) had little or no economic freedom. Before the French Revolution and the creation of the Citizen's Declaration of the Rights of Man, taxes were required for the 3rd estate while the higher estates did not have to pay any taxes. Due to these high taxes, many French people became very poor while other classes became rich. The Third Power challenged the government with the influence of Enlightenment ideas. Which later led the French Revolution to question the intentions of the upper classes. The resolution was the creation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This made taxation equal and greatly reduced the burden of taxes on the third estate. This allowed them to have economic freedom, meaning they were able to keep more of their money instead of taxing it. Inequality and segregation were the norm in French society before the French Revolution. In France, at that time, the 1st and 2nd class were the main leaders of the company. They were much more superior than 3rd class people. Due to these unequal social classes, the classes did not get along and there was unrest between the lower and upper classes. The 3rd power did not likethis inequality on the part of the upper classes and the government. They then challenged their power. The Declaration of the Rights of the Citizen said that the government should preserve the rights of man and that society was equal, meaning that the people controlled the government and no person was superior to another. The culture of the French people has completely changed. a little about the French Revolutionary War and the ideas of the Enlightenment. Before the French Revolution, people were segregated and many of them did not have any basic rights such as the right to religion, expression and speech. People's attitude also changed after the French Revolution . Enlightenment ideas began to be more accepted and adopted, people began to be open-minded, and individualism began to be celebrated. This was all because the Church had less power in the dissemination of information and in the control of religion and culture. This lack of power also caused the Scientific Revolution to be more widely adopted and widespread, which changed the way people viewed the world. Imperialism Political power has had a great influence on freedom. When nations were colonized, local government would immediately be wiped out. Following this event, the colonizers would establish their government and create laws and governmental standards. When this happened, they took the form of strict laws. These laws came in the form of European ideals that granted few or no rights to the ordinary citizen. This government's impact on freedom resulted in limited freedom and very strict control of the colonies, which were controlled by a distant government that did not care about the people. In the poem "The White Man's Burden" we see that the author (who is a white man) believes that it is the task of white people to colonize and change nations to make them civilized and influenced by the Europeans. Money and economics had a major impact on freedom in imperialized colonies. New age imperialism is the one practiced by many countries. To do this, they would go to a weak country with developing societies and begin controlling the land and government. Once established, they would use this country to benefit their economy. For example, they would use the area's natural resources and local labor to create goods to sell. In this process, freedom was lost because the colonized country now had no control over its economy, what it produced and how to spend its natural resources. In “The White Man's Burden,” he argues that imperialist powers should aim to transform colonized countries into a more economical, colonial-style nation. Socially imperialist powers had a tremendous impact on the freedom of a colonized nation. Imperialist powers typically colonized, then complicated and often destroyed the social structure of a society. An example of this can be seen in the movie “Hotel Rwanda” when Belgium colonized Rwanda, they influenced and changed the society, then they divided the population into two groups. . They were called Hutus and Tutsis. The split caused people who were no different from each other to hate each other. Social freedom does not exist in a colonized imperialist society. Due to strict rules, European norms and ideals generally did not adapt to the society of other nations. This meant that many freedoms that were once socially available became unavailable due to the changing social structure of the nation. Culture is one of the