The citizens of Zombieland, a class from College Place Middle School in Lynwood, Washington, have been challenged by their instructor Carly Althauser to answer a fundamental question,
“Who do you agree with more: Hobbes or Locke? Why? EXPLAIN.”
John Locke and Thomas Hobbes were both known as the Fathers of Western Political Philosophy, it is important to understand these philosophers in order to understand the history of government and politics in many western countries and the citizens of Zombieland had no problem applying these theories to their individual experiences within their own country.
Jose began the discussion with an understanding of the ability of people to be good rather than bad,
“i agree with the lockster cuase he liked people and he thought that the goverment should be able to protect the human proporty. he also thought that the ruler should not have all the power.”
With some elaboration, Jay.G agrees with the core of Jose’s argument,
“i agree with john locke because all pepole are not that bad because pepole fight sometimes but they forgive eahother someday, but we still do need a goverment because sometimes we do get too emotianl. The goverment should not have all the power just some of the power. The goverment should exist to protect properties because then if the goverment doesnt protect other pepole properties (robbers, burglers etc.) then thier might be no insurance so the goverment can’t afford it.
We should also have our rights not to lose our rights like hobess did. If we lose our rights then the goverment would probably be controlling THE WHOLE UNITED STATES because since pepole cant disagree then the goverment just has to make the descisons.”
Marlee is also a Locke “fan” but for different reasons,
“I guess I agree more with Locke because I dont think that goverment shoud have total control over us. We should be able to question the goverment. We are bad, but most of us don’t want to hurt people. With what Hobbes is saying about having a really storng goverment and have totally believing in whatever they do, that is pretty unfair.”
JohnC agrees with Marlee but confesses that Hobbe’s ideas are slightly confusing,
“I definetely say i agree with John Locke , because thomas hobbes said one person should rule and have unlimited power. joh locke said that people should make changes. wait…and john locke also said that humans arent just that bad. but thomas said that humans are bad, which makes no sense to me because a lot of people did good things. like abraham lincoln. he freed slavery. so i dont get what thomas means by,”human natures was basically bad”… that is my opinion….”
Marco feels as though he understands Hobbes and Locke through his experience with the video game Halo,
“he lockster….. Because he thought about life a place where there’s solution while Hobbes did not thought about life way. That’s the reason mostly why i agree with lock. And if you think about it life is not that hard you just need to think about it as though is just a game an example for those who play it would be HALO you need to survive and have friends as well. And alwasy think about it with a good attitude, and lock is also right the gavernment needs to control some power but not a lot because we just need government so it can take control of the politics but not everything.”
Just when it seems everyone within Zombieland all agrees on the answer to this important question, Samantha shares a different, though equally important opinion,
“i agree with thomas hobbes because over everything we do or did bad things like was killing animals,gas. when gas first came out it was ok but now we r killing everything and its mostly our fault. like maybe our children wont get to see polar bears and i dont want that.i think maybe we should walk more. over the past year food and drink sizes went up larges and xxl. dang we r getting fat.well not us but our whole world might be.”
TimothyP’s reasoning leaves some intellectual wiggle room when deciding between the two philosophers,
“First of all our goverment is pretty good. Even though locke would probably disagree on our goverment today because of healthcare, food care, and etc. We have a little to much goverment in our life but our goverment still helps the community helps us be not chaotic. So i actually agree with both they are both right but both have to give a little bit to each other. One thing Hobbes right about we need the goverment not to be chaotic.
Like in zombieland some people scam and we need the goverment to take care of our community. If it wasn’t for the our goverment we wouldn’t be able to have health care so if we were sick we wouldn’t be able to heal each other with out health care. But like Marco was trying to put price count on the food and stuff the goverment should not and will not put price tags on items. If they did I would rebel and that is not right. We as a country should make our own prices for food and everything economical. If the goverment wants to use our taxes for important items I agree with that.”
HaleyO shares that she has had a hard time choosing between the two,
“I agree more with John Locke that aren’t ALL that bad, but I also agree with Thomas Hobbes that if we didn’t have all these laws… Then yes there would most likely be alot of chaos. So basicly I agree with Thomas Hobbes that if there weren’t all these rules there would be chaos, but not that the king (or president ) should get unlimited power. Also I agree with John Locke that people aren’t ALL that bad , but not that government should have one law because that alone WOULD cause chaos. Finally, I’d say with whom I agree with is 50/50.”
Much like a certain Vampire movie/book series one is either a supporter of Thomas Hobbes or John Locke although it can be difficult to decide between the two. When all of the complicated details are stripped away, this question becomes one of basic beliefs. “Team Hobbes” believes life in its “natural state” is “nasty, brutish and short,” creating a need for a strong government that will help people for their own good. “Team Locke”, however, believes that people are basically good when stripped to their very core and can therefore rule themselves in a fairly free and open way. Zombieland is proof that life is not this black and white, cut and dry, and that there is room for a combination of both. How will Zombieland develop their own political theories? Will the “Lockester” and “Hobbesy” continue to effect Zomblieland or will the citizens feel the need to abandon them for their own theories? Only time will tell…
seasons, has one big mountain in the middle(for Snowboarding and sking), there is beaches surounding the island and every house has a boat dock in the summer so that we can boat and tube and ski and wakeboard we should have ever type of meat there is and some watermelons,apples,pinapples, and other fruit. I think that a good name should be weom. I think our culture should be meat eaters and vegitariences. “
). I think the best name for our country should be something good. It should be something that sounds fitting. I don’t have any name in particular though
. I think the two best national cultures are tied between meat eaters and veggy eaters, and taylors and kanyes.”
Although The Civic Mirror does not directly connect to the middle school curriculum for ancient history and/or medieval times, it could most definitely be used to help students compare and contrast the social, political, and economic systems and structures between then and now.
