Ben Franklin Quote - Your feedback please

August 14, 2003

[MeekOneGOP]

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

-- Benjamin Franklin

[MeekOneGOP]

Please comment on the above quote attributed to Ben Franklin.

Note: The above quote was sent to me by the daughter of my friend. With the quote was an explanation:

I have an essay assignment due Monday morning. I'm supposed to interview people and get their thoughts on this quote. Mom has loaned me her email address book which is full of smart people. Can you help me? What does this quote mean to you? Do you agree with it? Or disagree with it?

Please provide your feedback/opinion and I will make sure the daughter gets them.

Thank you Good Freepers !!

[Pontiac]

BUMP for further thought and response later.

[CGASMIA68]

continue to trash the public school system,as we are,the later will come to be.......

[MeekOneGOP]

Can you give me your opinion ? Thanks in advance !


Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Brooklyn_Park_MD]

That is good quote!! Where did you find it?? Freerepublic has solid resources. Where did they find all those resources.

[Bluntpoint]

I heard Ben Franklin was impeached for breaking into some Watering-gate.

I want my MTV!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

There is another book that mentions, "People die for lack of knowledge." I'm not sure she could mention that book: Proverbs. There was another quote in the movie, Excalibur, which most likely originated from Shakespear. Not sure the words are exact: "It is the bane of men that they forget."

This is a powerful and important quote. When people forget the importance of free speech and gun rights, when they forget the driving motivation of property ownership, then the results can easilly be predicted by historians. Look at England's rise in crime. Look at how easilly the nazis herded the disarmed Jews to concentration camps. Look all over the world, and see how dictators rise to power because the people are unarmed, and then the dictators stay in power because the people are unable to communicate with each other legally.

Freedom is the exception. Tyranny is the norm. That is because free speech is the exception, and gun control is the norm.

But when free speech and the right to bear arms is abused, the one breaking the law threatens that right. If 10% of the people woke up tomorrow, and that 10% began slandering others and shooting others with guns, we might lose our freedom.

[ovrtaxt]

In the context of the American slave trade, this truth is clearly observed. The Gospel took hold among the black population. Over time, the revelation of freedom which comes only from God, crushed the bondage of their masters. Ironically, it was their masters who encouraged the preaching of the Gospel, as they thought it would make them more compliant to their authority. But the truth became rooted and grew into a quiet but immovable belief in the intrinsic nobility of every man.

Communism (state worship) and all forms of false idolatry shall wither before the same force.

[ovrtaxt]

Freedom is the exception. Tyranny is the norm. That is because free speech is the exception, and gun control is the norm.

And the income tax is the economic equivalent of gun control.

--Chris Ovrtaxt! Bernardo :p

[tomakaze]

that quote points out the best reason for keeping the rulers (ie, the government) out of the business of education.

[G.Mason]

"What does this quote mean to you? Do you agree with it? Or disagree with it?"

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

Rather straight forward.

Men who know and value freedom strive to keep that freedom.

Those that do not care, or are indifferent about that most basic of human rights, and others, become enslaved.

I couldn't agree more.

[BushCountry]

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

This qoute should be the tale of two continents, Africa and North America, because the description couldn't be more apt. One promotes tyranny through ignorance and voilence and the other freedom.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

This quatation explains why the left is dumbing down the schools and misleading the population, so that tyranny may reign, with them as the tyrants.

[MeekOneGOP]

By golly, I think you've nailed it !!

[CDHart]

A wonderful quotation! And as usual, Ben Franklin hits the nail on the head. He also said (paraphrased) that those who would give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither liberty nor security.

Carolyn

[PGalt]

Information and the ability to question the person providing it. Without it we are intellectual slaves. The masters of misinformation have had free reign until recently.

The greatness of life is supported by the concept of freedom whose foundation is truth.

[anglian]

There are people in some regions of the world that have never known the freedoms we cherish. Some are born into this world and die without ever knowing such freedoms due to the restrictions that were placed upon them from birth.It depends where you are born as well as many other factors. Some people live their lives in countries who's rulers enslave them and forbid them from having many individual choices and freedoms,(Iraq/Saddam). If the desire is there for such freedom, once it is tasted, then people will rise up, demand it, fight for and be willing to die to obtain it. (It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.)I'm tired right now!

[laredo44]

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

My take is this. Tragically, it is those who falsely, either deliberately or out of their own ignorance, claimed to speak for God or be God's representative on earth who were, until communism, the tyrannies. Men's limited knowledge of nature allowed others to manipulate and enslave them. "Hey guys, I just found out the gods will be angry and there will be no spring if we don't..."

Later, when more was known, they employed a "When you control a person's death, you control their life," strategy. If you don't act this way and behave like the King wants, you won't be attending any harp soirees in heaven.

[laredo44]

"A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

My take is this. Tragically, it is those who falsely, either deliberately or out of their own ignorance, claimed to speak for God or be God's representative on earth who were, until communism, the tyrannies. Men's limited knowledge of nature allowed others to manipulate and enslave them. "Hey guys, I just found out the gods will be angry and there will be no spring if we don't..."

Later, when more was known, they employed a "When you control a person's death, you control their life," strategy. If you don't act this way and behave like the King wants, you won't be attending any harp soirees in heaven.

[.30Carbine]

The question worded by the teacher for the education of this student, which the student is now asking us, ought not be, "What does this quote mean to you?" but rather, what does this quote MEAN period.

It should be an exercise in research - other Franklin and Founder quotes to back up the premise of the statement, a definition of terms, with historical references to the times - and an exercise in logic.

The survey the student is required to make is meaningless: "Do you agree with it? Or disagree with it?" This is not a scientifically conducted survey, so the answers she receives, i.e., "I am for it!" or "I am against it!" are meaningless even to the discussion of the statement's popular approval. The question is not even relevant to the statement's truth or falsity, but simply a matter of opinion. If the teacher were issuing an assignment in how to conduct a survey, the survey perameters/survey methodologies ought to be scientific.

My assignment would read like this:

Premise: "A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins."

Define the following in keeping with the time period in which Franklin lived:

nation
well-informed
taught
the rights which God has given
enslaved
the region of ignorance
tyranny

Defend or refute his premise with solid evidence, quotations from his peers, and use of the rules of logic:
Sample One
Sample Two