Power and Intellect: Synonyms? (pg. 16

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Power and Intellect: Synonyms? By: Diego Cardenas

“A book lying on a shelf is wasted ammunition” - Henry Miller. Nowadays society revolves around knowledge, power, fame and money. That is a sad reality humans have to afrond... Like Henry Miller said, “an unread book is wasted ammunition”. It is a metaphor referring to all the mastery in the world that some people can't get for external reasons (like cash). It's Fair that in order to get knowledge you need to have capital? Isn't education something that everyone should receive? Actually, every kid right now has the right to go to school and acquire skills so they can be somebody in the future. Unfortunately this wasn't real years ago, in the past the government didn't give the proper education to kids so they can't have ideals and they wouldnt contradict the crown. Taking this into account, there are three important points that need to be clarified about the importance of intellect in society: the first one is the novel “Animal Farm”, (which demonstrates the influence and power knowledge represents) the contrast this book has with the real world and history, and the last point the importance of proficiency nowadays, that are going to be compared like was described before with the novel “Animal Farm'' written by George Orwell.

Animal Farm is a novel written by George Orwell which makes an analogy to society in the early 19th when dictatorship was common among europe. It tells the story of a farm in which the animals were inconform about their lives and how the farm was being manage so they decided to make a rebelion, the rebellion was made and they started a new government with the pigs at the head, it was supposed to be a fair society, but the pigs took bad decisions and different atrocities take place like the death of some animals and destruction of their own territory. Now, why are the pigs the leaders? There are horses that are strong, dogs that are intimidant, and cows that are great producers of capital. Then why? Intellect, knowledge. The pigs knew how to read, write, and have

speech, while the other ones in the farm aren't educated so all they got to do is obey the ones who know.

Those factors like education and knowledge are principles to take power, it would be impossible for the pigs to make a dictatorship if the other animals had ideals, everyone looks for their own good, but the ones who gain most are the ones who have the most intellect like the pigs. It was clever for their part to say to the animals lies so they can live better, an example is the milk, they said to the cows and the other animals that the pigs recollect all the milk because they need it for good health. Do the animals know if this is true? They don't so all they have to do is trust.

The book is just a reference to real life, throughout history we have seen dictatorships of every kind, but something they have in common is that they didn't have opposition and if they have it they destroy it. But you know who is always the leader? The one who has education and his intellect is above the others, but why are they always at the top? Because they have the principles to make ideals, they have the capacity to overcome problems and create opportunities. Like it is stated in the book in chapter 2, the pigs saw a problem which was Mr. Jones and the way to solve that problem was to make a revolution, and they also saw the opportunity, what was the opportunity? Hunger, the animals were hungry, the pigs saw it and took the initiative. Thanks to the pigs they took the farm. This is not the only example, also the way they manage the farm as humans is also a characteristic of their knowledge.

To maintain a society is a very hard job, the people think different and misunderstandings occur all the time, in the book animal farm this was different, the knowledge of some animals are the reason others like the pigs don't need to put much effort in controlling everything, the clear example is the horse boxer which was kind hearted and always did his best, but he didn't have enough intellect to reproach the decisions of the ones above him.

And in the modern society it is needed, the political, and social system we have nowadays is based on knowledge, democracy needs people with great intellect, from both parts the ones who vote and the candidates. Think of it this way, the people of today are all educated in schools which means they know what they are doing and who they are voting for, and the candidates need to be intelligent and able to do what he plans in order to have the approval of the voters. But what happens if there isn't education and the people don't know who to vote for, the candidates just lie to the people and they would get doomed. Knowledge is important everywhere and anywhere.

After analyzing the book, social and political situation of the world we can say that knowledge is the most important attribute someone should have, like Henry Miller said “A book lying on a shelf is wasted ammunition”. Animal farm is a book that demonstrates the reality of the importance of intellect and the benefits of using it well.