Need help with essay?

Question

I need to write an essay on the title, 'Is the majority always right?' can someone give me some pointers? tnx

Answer 1

- How shall the public opinion be constructed? Who affects? Newspapers? TV? Your neighbourhood?
- why is it so easy to follow public opinion and not to build up one of one's own?
- why are many people afraid to express their own opinions?
- what is "the majority"? Is it really a majority or does some person claim that it really is (referring her/his opinion)?

Answer 2

I would look at history. Human history is full of wrong majorities.

For a modern example look at the Palestinian Elections. The vast majority of the Palestinians when you do a poll (something like 70% )SUPPPORT terrorist attacks on Israel.

09/07/2006 article by By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent

Poll: Majority of Palestinians back kidnappings, Qassam fire

A sizable majority of Palestinians support the continued kidnappings of Israelis as well as persistent Qassam rocket fire as a means to pressure Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, according to a new poll commissioned by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, the results of which were released Sunday.

Of the 1,197 respondents from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 66.8 percent expressed support for further kidnappings of Israeli civilians while 77.2 percent backed the Kerem Shalom tunnel operation and subsequent kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit."

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 27, 2006; Page A01

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 — The radical Islamic movement Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, according to official election results announced Thursday, trouncing the governing Fatah party in a contest that could dramatically reshape the Palestinians’ relations with Israel and the rest of the world.

In Wednesday’s voting, Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party at war with Israel the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah.

Fatah, which has dominated the legislature since the previous elections a decade ago and the Palestinian cause for far longer, won 43 seats. A collection of nationalist, leftist and independent parties claimed the rest.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia. . ..(said). . . “This is the choice of the people,” Qureia, a member of the party’s discredited old guard who did not run for reelection, told reporters here. “It should be respected.”

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By my math that means that out of 132 Parlementary Seats, a minimum of 119 went to parties that support and/or engage in terrorisim.

If I did the math right, that’s a little over 90% of the seats. 57% support the unapologetic Hamas Islamic terrorists, (who support suicide bombings, launch rockets into neighborhoods, etc.) and 33% support the “reformed” more secular (ex-communist) Fatah terrorists of the PLO (who did the 1972 Munich Murders of the Israeli Olympic Team, for one etc.)

So if you look at how they voted, something like 9 out of 10 Palestinians seem to share the single opinion that terrorisim (at least when directed against Jews) is a pretty good thing.

So here you have a majority, a very strong majority, that think that things like this is a GOOD thing....(as long as it happens to Jews.)

Suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem
August 9, 2001

Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem after suicide bombing

15 people were killed, including 7 children, and about 130 were injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem. Concealing the explosives in a guitar case which he had carried with him into Jerusalem, the terrorist entered the restaurant just before 2 PM and detonated the bomb. The 5 kg.-10 kg. bomb, which was packed with nails, screws, and bolts to ensure maximum damage, completely gutted the restaurant, which was full of lunchtime diners.

8-year-old Haya Schijveschuurder, was wounded in the Sbarro bombing, in which five members of her family, including her two year old sister and both parents, were killed.

And between 70 and 90 % of the Palestinians SUPPORT this.

So, do you think the majority is always right?

Answer 3

Take a stance, then explain why. Your first paragraph will be the introduction in which you will tell about your stance, and give a fewf reasons why. Your next three paragraphs will be the body in which you will break down each reason with supporting details. Your fifth, and last paragraph will conclude what you have discussed, and repeat your stance.