who is a modern gadfly?

It is quite evident that a relatively “modern” Gadfly(s) would consist of two people, Mohandas Gandhi, and Kanye West.  If you didn’t know, Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader in India during the Indian independence movement.  Gandhi was best known for his countless acts of civil-disobedience.  He first showed civil disobedience when he was a lawyer in South Africa (during the countries struggle for civil rights).  He started writing articles for Indian newspapers about black people that were somewhat racist.  He also organized a lot of protest by peasants, farmers, and people who worked in the big cities about the extreme land tax and the discrimination.  These protests went against the laws of the country so this made Gandhi look foolish.  Gandhi (like Socrates) always questioned the authority of the state.  Consequently, causing some people in the state to despise them and label them as trouble makers.  Even though Gandhi (as well as Socrates) did a lot for our society that benefited all people, there were some aspects of their legacy that at times questioned their initiative.

Some people might also say that Kanye West is a modern Gadfly.  It’s kind of ironic that he mentioned him being a gadfly in one of his songs.  The line goes “I’m a modern Socrates but my skin more chocolaty.”  Even if you disregarded that line in his sound, Kanye West, throughout his career, has displayed some Socrates-like aspects in his personality.  Kanye loves to question higher political figures, such as George Bush, on whether or not their policies and morals are sane.  At times its not even political figures, he questions EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind (no matter how crazy it might be).  Weather its talking to the media, on a state (Taylor Swift incident), to his lyrics; Kanye West loves to let the world know what he’s thinking.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s BY FAR one the best lyricist in the game, but at times he needs to learn how to hold his tongue.

the unexamined life is not worth living

One of the greatest Philosophers’, Socrates, had one main principle in his teachings.  This principle was, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”  In modern terms, this principle means that life has no value if you never question your existence in the world.  Some people have different views on this principle on whether or not this statement is necessarily correct.  I believe that in order for an individual to attain greater and more profound knowledge about him or herself, they have to be able to self-evaluate both themselves and the people and things around them. In Socrates’ teachings, he once stated that to be completely human, each man and woman must subject his or her life and convictions to the test of critical self-examination.   This makes perfect sense because you can never know what u need to work on to be a better person unless u self-examine yourself and constantly ask yourself questions.  People who don’t question themselves limit themselves from certain accomplishments.  An individual should never question their existence on earth because most negative questioning turns into unhappiness and the meaning of life is to be happy at all times.  For example, if you’re an athlete, you should always question your reasoning of playing the particular sport or questioning what you need to work on.  If you fail to do such acts, you won’t be happy playing the sport you play and you’ll never get better because u don’t leave room for improvement.  So I think Socrates was right about his main principle that the unexamined life is not worth living.

Eulogy

There are a lot of things that Tyrone Hughes should be remembered by now that he is deceased. There are also some things that some people didn’t know about Hughes. He was a hard working individual; he always did things to the most of his capabilities. He was also a musician. Hughes loved all aspects of music and it was a very important part of his life. Either he was listening to an iPod, watching something music related on TV, reading an article on music, or he was reading his sheet music. He was a percussionist so he played multiple instruments. Hughes was also quite the comedian; he always kept people laughing. He believed that everybody should be happy at all times so one of his goals in life was to ensure happiness in everyone’s hearts by amusement. One thing that a lot of people didn’t know about Hughes was that he was a prolific poet. He loved writing about poetry of any genre. He thought that poetry was his getaway and he can let any of his emotions out on the paper in pen. Hughes also believed that poetry was his way of relieving stress and it worked really well for him. Hughes was a big basketball person. Either he was playing it, watching it, or reading about it. Most of his best friends are the people he met through basketball. Tyrone Hughes left a good mark in our society’s history because of his warm heart, versatile hobbies, and his personality.