Manifesto by George Saunders
From what I can understand about the article, Saunders is trying to promote the idea that things aren’t what they seem to be. He challenges the ideas of stereotypes, that have a negative impact on the image of certain types of people. The main example that he provides is one about an American solider within the middle east. The stereotype that he presents is how destructive soldiers are towards the country that they are invading or currently fighting in. Most assume that everyday there is destruction, where bombs would go off and destruction would occur. However as stated by Saunders that is not the case, in fact it is quite the opposite. Saunders uses the actions done by the “People Reluctant To Kill for an Abstraction” organization to show just how those images of soldiers were indeed false. He writes about how the organization was highly against destruction, as zero buildings were destroyed and how silent the surrounding area was. It was so quite and peaceful, that it wouldn’t even wake a baby up. Saunders also writes about violence towards people, where the PRKA wouldn’t inflict any form of injuries towards others. They didn’t force people to do what they didn’t want, even when it comes to sexual desires the members would control themselves and put aside such feelings.
Overall, the PRKA is a form of symbol, a symbol against the stereotypes that were put against people that identify differently the the ‘general norm’. In fact, in the way that Saunders describes this organization, it makes it seem that it isn’t an organization at all, rather it was a symbol for people. The purpose of this supposed organization, was to make people value the individual regardless of the stereotypes that are put upon them. Saunders writes couple of examples that shows this idea of putting away ones judgmental feelings about someone, and doing something to aid them. There was the inclusion about the homophobic grandfather who rewarded a gay man after helping him. The grandfather in that moment, showed empathy towards the man and was able to put aside his negative thoughts of homosexuality in order to compensate the man for helping him. These is also the toothless women, known for being negative and bitter throughout her life, wanting to change. She wanted to change before it was too late for her to be able to redeem herself, which shows how one can’t be judged by their outside. In short, the PRKA refers to people who are able to forgive others, or at least put away their opinions in order to help others. It shows that the stereotypes that people have established aren’t necessarily true, and people have to accept the fact and try to find out the truth themselves.