Monsters and Moral Imagination

Name

Institution

Professor

Course

Date of submission

Monsters and Moral ImaginationOne cannot have a definite definition of monsters as many people depending on their culture and understanding have contradictory meanings of what they are. They can be referred to the mythical creatures with contemplative nature that are brought into reality through imagination, cultural and physiological cultural forces which made the traumatizing since the early eras. However, this is a bit different from the perception of the article “Monsters and Moral Imagination” by Stephen T. Asma a philosophy professor in Columbia College Chicago. The article was first published in 2009 in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The author argues that monsters are there for a purpose and they create fears that people experience without the capability of controlling the nature and world. In this paper, the genre talked about in the article is a narrative folktale, the audience being spoken to by the audience is the general public, and it played a significant role of explaining the meaning of monsters in the modern days and how they are experienced in reality.

Asma’s narrative in the article fits well in the folktale genre as it throughout involves monsters and the moral imaginations regarding their experiences. The folktale is a type of narrative which deals in particular with the culture and believes of the community regarding the existence of nature which is commonly narrated orally. In the essay, the author tries to explain the reality and prove that monsters are not just the imaginary extraordinary creatures bought through films fictions and traditional stories. Stephen T. Asma argues and brings to mind the instance of monsters existing today in consideration of the wild deeds that are done by the people around the globe. Monsters are the ones associated with enormous killing and destroying the peoples’ properties. For instance, considering the typical example of monsters which include Vampires, Zombies and Frankenstein were related to weird enthrallment, and no one in the society would like to be associated with them.

The Vampires were classified as the undead group whose primary purpose was sucking blood and could use any means including affection as well as gifts among others to lure their favorite targets. On the other hand, Frankenstein monster was a supernatural creature created by mixing chemical and old parts of the deceased, and it had humanity even though people did not want to be associated with it at all. Considering the writer’s arguments there are many disturbing and traumatizing actions are done by the people in the name of avenging and gaining popularity among others which cause suffering are not different from the acts done by monsters. All the mentioned above regards peoples ways of thinking that is commonly based on the cultural beliefs making the article fall under folktale narrative.

The audience of the author’s speech is the general public. Throughout the narration, Asma does not base his argument on a particular group of the audience but advice the community in general. He elaborates well that the Frank stein’s monster story signifies the society’s intolerance and the perception that monsters are ridiculous thus failing to realize and positively utilize the monster’s kindness and humanity. The community also fails to think out of the bonds to relate the things viewed on the films and other monsters fictions with the happenings in today’s life. Many evils have been witnessed since the patriots Act and the market center terrorism. Many argue that is monsters are passed by time and were only beliefs and superstition. However, the author provokes many expanding the thinking capacity and changing the perspective on what are monsters. He states that monsters perceptions are encapsulations of the peoples’ feeling of defenselessness and it has spread like a lethal infection. It is not a must that monster is supernatural beings that are masculine and enormous in complexion, but they can also be ordinary individuals that are inhumane and do not value others life.

For instance, basing on Asma’s argument one can put into consideration the story of Shapiro and that of the Abdul Habib, Afghan headmaster, and teacher as essential examples. Shapiro and his friends were attacked by Daniel Silva who was well armed with a coffee. The armed man resulted in the commotion and most painful death of about seven people Shapiro being among them. Shapiro was in his activity to save others but coincidentally the armed man caught up with him and what followed was his extermination. Silva stated that he had done the assassination in the name of avenging her mother who was dead. On the other hand, the story of Habib begun when for armed men junked in his homestead and captured him. The tutor’s family gathered in a strategic place where they could all witness the killing of their father. These stories regard the whole community as all of them are victims of these digital monsters who tend to use advanced weapons to cause a massacre.

The primary purpose of the article is to invoke people’s thoughts and to challenge them on the moral lessons learned from the stories related to monsters. Asma suggests that a good monsters story is significant to a human being as it transmits moral truths to them by proving through examples depravity and dignity but not persuading. Life involves conquering the vulnerability and moving out of the fear to prevent being its captivity. Regarding Shapiro’s immense fear can be subjected to the community but the author uses it as an example of showing that monsters are not an only original thing. Human makes the world a terrific place to be as they use the education and intelligent acquire to cause suffering and accomplishing self-benefit deals. A good example is the case of Habib, he was a productive community member, but the Muslim religious extremists assassinated him because of teaching and being the head of a school that incorporated Muslim girls. It is ironical that the monsters are degrading the dignity of the community back drawing it to the old eras where female education was not put into consideration instead of adopting a digital way of living.

Asma does a recommendable work of convincing his audience to use logic, ethics, and emotion. It is through the mentioned principles that guide the path followed by the society regarding moral behaviors. Emotion, logic, and ethics work well together as logical thinking with determining one’s emotion while both of them facilitates ethical thinking. The article challenges people to improve in ethical issues and plays a relevant role in explaining the definition of monsters. The vulnerability is a common threat to the society that must be eradicated to enhance its development.

From the discussion above, Asma has well based his audience with the emerging and trending issues in the society. F5or instance, people only focus on the entertainment bit and still live in cultural beliefs that monsters do not exist. The author has given a precise illustration of today’s monsters and has in one or another way impacted the general public positively on the measure to be taken regarding moral imagination. The article is significant to the development of the society, and it is also convenient to the future generations.