Power against power

One of the first people we looked at starting our unit on Power and Violence was Nicholas Machiavelli, author of the The Prince.  What first made him interesting was that he was the first author we had looked at that was not an actual philosopher. He regarded himself, and is now universally regarded as more of a thinker. The second aspect that made him interesting was learning that his book The Prince, was a shot towards to the Medici family. The family had previously ruled Florence for 60 continuous years, having just lost power as Machiavelli was beginning his education in the city. A couple years later, the family came back into power, taking control of Florence once again and ending its government structure as a Republic. Machiavelli responded to this takeover with The Prince, despite not being published until after his death. The book's main point was how leaders should gain power as well as how to maintain it. One example he gives is that any leaders must to strive to preserving the state, and the best way to do this is by preserving stability within the state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS09U73gib4

This is a link to rap star Tupac Shakurs last album in 1996. Tupac became so intrigued by Machiavelli and The Prince he would go on to later make the name his stage name. He was quoted in one of his interviews about the album saying “ We don't need no more rapper, we don't need no more basketball players, no more football players, we need more thinkers”. Tupac strongly believed, as he constantly expressed in the album, that the African American community in the United States was suppressed by law enforcement and the government. He believed that as an icon, it was his duty to gain power in order to fight the injustices the African American community was faced with. The first thing this comparison shows is how even though he was not a philosopher, his works was still relevant hundreds of years later. What makes this even more impressive is that it can be related and compared with the modern day society and the culture. While Tupac was, in his words, “at war with the police”, Machiavelli was fighting the monarchy imposed under the Medici family. The major difference in this however, is Tupac was fighting for more power, while Machiavelli was fighting to change power. Ultimately however, they both strived to fight the injustice present in their communities. In history, we often looked at people chasing power as evil, not only because of why they wanted it but also what they did to get it.  As the given examples shows, people may not always want to gain power in order to gain control over others, but rather to fight another source of power that is not shown responsibility.