Sarte: Vote Yes or No?

During this week in class, we have talked about various topics centering Sartre. He was a devout Existentialist, meaning that he adopted a philosophical attitude opposed to rationalism and empiricism. Existentialism stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices. As human beings, we are responsible for things when we decide to do something because we are always going to be saying no to a million others things in that same instance. Also, as human beings, we cannot choose not to choose. The example we used in class was based on voting. By refusing to vote, you pretty much already have. You have refused to take a stand on either side, even if you may disagree with a particular side. Essentially, by not voting against it, you have silently rescinded your right to vote and that, consequentially, puts the vote in the opposing party’s favor. We also talked about how a human being is a freedom, and no one can take that from us. Being human beings, we have certain freedoms to which we should always and forever be entitled. In the idea of the “Negritude Movement”, some people have motioned that the word “negre” should be taken out of any kind of language. The fact that there is a negative connotation associated with that word makes the attempt to remove it from the English language especially noble. The idea that the actual existence of humans is based on racism and colonialism isn’t something that we as a human race should be proud of. Anyone will bleed if cut with a knife, and anyone would die if shot in the head, so there is no reason for people to feel as if a certain race is of higher substance than another. A scenario where the “lesser” race is usually alienated from having certain powers and freedoms while the “higher” race enjoys doing basically whatever they please is not admirable in any light.