Essay/Term paper: An extended abstract defintion of 'power'

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Term Papers

Power is many things. It is the ability to control people in their sayings and/or actions. It is
the ability to get whatever you want. Power is a necessary component in any society,
otherwise all pandemonium would break loose; leaders must be established. But, when
taken to an extreme, power is not good, and pandemonium will break loose.
As Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts
absolutely." A good example of this is Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany. He believed he
could not be stopped and that rules did not apply to him. By being given absolute power, he
corrupted the government. No attempt was made to stop this by the Germans, because of
the control he had. People were either scared to stop this, or were brainwashed into
believing it. Finally the U.S. had to step in and try to stop Hitler, and World War II broke
out.
But power is not all bad though. As was stated earlier, it is necessary in any group
of people, and there will be struggle to achieve it--be it a country, a business, or a sports
team. Athletics is a good example of where there is a constant power struggle. In every
league, every player wants control. They want what they think should happen (during
games), to happen. Recently, in the NBA, Dennis Rodman took this struggle to an extreme.
In disagreement with an official's call, Rodman head-butted the official, and through a
temper-tantrum on his way off the court. Quite obviously, this is bad. Every player in the
league agrees to the rules set by the NBA from the beginning. The rules are made to keep
control, and the officials have power to enforce these rules. If there were no regulations,
players would be doing whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. If Rodman's antics
would have taken place somewhere other than a basketball court he probably would be in
trouble with the law. If he were to argue with a police officer, for example, the same way he
did with the referee, he probably would be put in jail or at very least heavily fined. Well, the
NBA is not going to put anyone in jail for this, but they did fine him and suspend him for a
couple of games. Basically Rodman is as bad as any street bully who picks on or beats up
little kids. Only he does it on a basketball court, so generally it is considered "part of the
game." In nine out of ten cases, a fine is levied, and all is forgotten.
There will always be people, like Rodman, trying to have power over a situation
when they can't. Any criminal is trying to do exactly that. They are trying to make their own
rules. When caught for this, they're punished; they are punished by people who have power.
Power is obtained in a couple ways. You can earn it and it can be given to you.
But power isn't necessarily a trait a person has until they know somebody who does. For
example, if a person was good friends with someone who is in a position of power, say their
boss, and disliked a co-worker of theirs, they possibly could get something bad to happen
to the co-worker, like more work or longer hours. Power wasn't had in a situation like this
until someone known had it.
While power is something that can be good or bad, liked or disliked, one thing is for
sure: it is constantly being put to use to control people. And when there is no power, there
is no organization and everything is bedlam. So every person is in one way or another
involved with power. Some have it, but all must abide by it or reap the repercussions.