The discussion on Thursday was impactful and fruitful for me. Even though I did not speak up at all, listening to my classmates' thoughts and opinions was truly exciting. So now I will try to write my thoughts about The Prince after the discussion.
Originally (from Blog #4), my stance about whether Machiavelli was right or wrong, was neutral. I thought his points are valid, but he failed to consider all the uniqueness and complexities of the human beings. I still do not change my stance after the discussion, however, I think we were able to connect a lot of Machiavelli's point to the real world events that are happening today.
Especially about "goodwill and hatred", when we were relating to the US presidents in the discussion, I thought it was absolutely relatable. Throwing in an internationa perspective (as a representation of Japan), I can assure that President Trump is more feared from the Japanese people compared to the former President Obama. Although I might not be fully into politics, I can still tell that Japanese people (maybe Asian countries in general) have some kind of fear to challenge International diplomacy to the current United States. Although Japan and the United States have agreed on their Japan-US trade negotiations on August 26th, the impression of the negotiation seemed much harder to achieve compared to the former president. For an example, I could tell that the way the media shared this news was different between the two different presidents, and I think there is an impression of President Trump included in each of the news that is related to the US-Japan relationship. And I think that this "impression" of President Trump is created by his fear. It is definitely true that countries are less likely to challenge the United States (except for North Korea I guess...). However, since we have democracy, it is also true that presidents need love in order to become a president. I support the idea that it is important for the prince to have some balance of fear and love, but not hatred, because the power of the public is way stronger in the current generation compared to 500-600 years ago. It is certain that the prince needs some fear from the public in order to meet their objectives in the current society, but at the same time be loved by the people of his country to preserve his support to run the country. At the same time, I do not think Machiavelli was aware of all the development of technologies that allow the public to share their opinions and thoughts more easily, which is the greatest power of public opinion formation in the world today.
I still think that The Prince by Machiavelli is valid and has value to read in this modern society. Also, I acknowledge that Machiavelli wrote The Prince in a broader perspective so that it will be applicable in the future. Howeverm I still question whether he was aware of all the developments that are happening in the world today.
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