Selfishness and Fear According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, selfishness is an noun meaning” arising from concern with one’s own welfare or advantage in disregard of others” (Merriam-Webster). By this definition, all tyrants are selfish because they rule with their own personal gain in mind and have no interest in their people. This is seen in both in the story Animal Farm by George Orwell and in North Korea. The citizens of each institution live in terror underneath their tyrants: the pig Napoleon in Animal Farm and Kim Jong Un in North Korea. As a result of this selfishness and fear, tyranny is a terrible thing for all people.
Because it makes people worry not only about both their own physical condition and starvation but also their society, tyranny detrimentally impacts the people by forcing them to always live under selfish leaders that cause them to constantly fear for their well-being. People fear for their well-being while they suffer under tyranny because there is an imminent threat of starvation. This is evident in a Frontline video. According to this source, in North Korea, a country suffering under the tyrant Kim Jong Un, there are orphans that starve on the street.
The government does nothing to help them, so these children always wake up wondering if they will make it to their next meager meal, much less the next day (Frontline). Although Kim Jong Un knows about this terrible issue, he does nothing to stop this because he is the cause of their starvation. Every day he lets the children starve, turning a blind eye to their struggles, forcing them to rely on what little the other citizens can give them. If they cannot get enough to eat, the kids steal. This makes Kim Jong Un selfish because while he could be helping the starving kids, he is too wrapped up in his own life and power to care.
Furthermore, tyrannies give little hope of change to the people, meaning they will continue having to worry about starvation day in and day out. This is because the leaders constantly want to stay in power. This can be seen in a political cartoon. This cartoon shows many mini Kim Jong Uns marching up to the voting box ran by Kim Jong Un himself. Every voting slip says “Kim” (Olle). Many tyrants such as Kim Jong Un are too selfish to care about the wellbeing of their people. All they care about is their power. Because of this, the leader corrupts the system so no one can oust them, securing their spot in power.
It is very unlikely that a tyrant will change his tune, so the people will have no positive changes in their lives. The tyrant causes all of the people to worry about starvation. Selfishness in the government is a key point in tyranny, and this characteristic causes the people to suffer from starvation. Besides a fear of starvation, tyranny causes people to fear their own personal safety. The first way that this is done is through propaganda. According to a Frontline video, the tyrannical government in North Korea spreads false videos through its closed television network.
Daily, videos are broadcasted saying that the United States is poised to attack the country (Frontline). This leads the North Korean people to the false conclusion that the U. S. will kill them all. This causes them to believe that their lives are in immediate danger. This makes the people turn to the tyranny in North Korea for false protection. This false protection, however, is a way for the government to take advantage of their people. They accomplish this by creating an aura of safety so people have no desire to leave or be unloyal.
This allows the government to unfairly stop people from leaving. The people would leave if they could, but the manipulation of the government stops them. This spreading of lies to maintain power and prestige is most definitely selfish. Propaganda is also used to spark fear on the animals in Animal Farm as well. Squealer is a pig who gives speeches to the general public that constantly manipulate the others. He does this by threatening that Jones, the farmer, will come back to get the animals do not do or believe what the pigs want the animals to accomplish.
They do this because the memory of Jones’ reign evokes fear in the animals because of the cruelty used. When the animals first took control, they abolished all of the cruelty from his time. On page 20, the text says “The harness-room at the end of the stables was broken open; the bits, the nose-rings, the dog chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones had been used to castrate the pigs and the lambs, were all flung down the well” (Orwell, 20). The animals show their disgust for Jones’ tactics by making these cruel tools the first to go.
The animals are so happy to be rid of the abuse these devices brought. This is what makes it so selfish for Squealer and the other pigs to use these memories of Jones in an ultimatum. However, pigs and Squealer show their selfish nature by doing so. These terrible memories are being taken advantage of by the pigs’ tyrannical regime. In order to keep the animals from rebelling further about Napoleon’s expulsion of Snowball, after calling him a traitor Squealer says, “Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back? ” (Orwell, 56). Jones coming back is the animals’ worst fear.
His cruelty and abuse made them angry and fearful. Knowing the animals’ feelings on the subject, it was selfish of Squealer and the tyrant Napoleon to exploit fear to get something done. This use of fear causes the animals to lose all choice in the matter of Napoleon ousting Snowball. This use of pure terror against the animals takes away their free will. Like the Korean government, the pigs’ use of fear as manipulation makes them selfish. They only care about their power and not the feelings of the people. Thus, their fear tactics in propaganda make them selfish.
Finally, not only does tyranny cause people to fear their own well-being, but it causes them to fear for the well-being of their society. Boxer, a cart horse in the story Animal Farm speaks of this. In the story, the animals have just watched the tyrant Napoleon slaughter animals for tiny crimes. His use of force and blood causes many animals to worry about the future of their institution, and what the root of the problem is. Boxer is one of these questioning animals. On page 85 he says, “I do not understand it. I would not have believed that such things could happen on our farm.
It must be due to some fault in ourselves. The solution, as I see it, is to work harder” (Orwell, 85). Boxer is very worried about what has happened. He sees the bloodshed as an issue, but it does not occur to him that Napoleon is at fault. He believes that it is the animals’ fault. His idea of a is to work harder to improve the situation. However, Boxer does not realize that Napoleon wants him to think this way so that his work ethic will increase. This will allow selfish Napoleon to take advantage of Boxer by using his power to continually work harder through his fear for the future of his society.
Boxer’s hard work produces many fruitful and successful results, which Napoleon takes advantage of simply to improve his own life. Once again, Napoleon’s selfishness is evident in the way he manipulates his comrades’ fear to get what he wants. Like Boxer, the North Korean defects (people who have escaped) feel the same way about the situation of their country. However, the main difference is that they know that the bloodshed is the tyrant, Kim Jong Un’s fault. In the Frontline video on North Korea, there is a couple who escaped North Korea. Their life goal is to take down Kim Jong Un.
One of the ways they do this is send over money in balloons to try to help end the starvation for North Korean families (Frontline). This couple knows the struggle of daily life in North Korea, and are trying to end the starvation of their country. They are worried about the North Koreans because they know their selfish leader will not ever try to help the suffering people. They are similar to Boxer because they are both not worried about themselves as much as they are worried about their society. Both Boxer and the couple want to work harder on their personal solutions to help their society.
Tyrants in society cause people dread and despair. They worry about their friends, their families, and themselves. They do not have enough to eat, and they think that they are constantly under a major threat. This is not the way life should be lived. A life should be lived with happiness and freedom, but under the rule of a selfish tyrant, this is impossible. The world will continue to suffer under selfish tyrannies until people stand up and do something. Whether is is sending money or plotting against the tyrant, everyone should do their part. Everyone deserves to live a positive life free from the chains of tyranny and selfishness.
