As I am working on my book project about the current socio-political climate, I have come across a lot of different written and artistic works, and viewpoints. Some of them have been a lot more thought-provoking than others, while some have been more emotionally charged than others. And I am grateful for the variety of perspectives available out there. Discovering diverse and varied perspectives helps me better formulate and articulate my own perspectives, as well as better understand the political world in which I live.
Which well-known philosophers, activists, writers, artists, or politicians have had the greatest influence on how you view politics or political engagement over the years, for better or worse? Who has been able to change how you view things, or what you thought you knew, for better or worse?
I am always searching for diverse, shocking, and or notable viewpoints to enhance or better understand my own, even when I don’t agree with them. So, I created a list of who has influenced my understanding of politics and political engagement over the years, for better or worse.
The individuals listed below have contributed to my political education in one way or another over the years. They aren’t listed in any particular order. Believe it or not, this isn’t even an exhaustive list–not even close.
[Please note that the inclusion of someone on the list below does NOT mean that I am endorsing them, their philosophies or politics, or that I fully agree (or agree at all) with their political views, actions, and stances.]
Frantz Fanon
Martin Luther King Jr.
Nelson Mandela
Elizabeth Warren
Bernie Sanders
Mitch McConnell
Donald J. Trump
Vladimir Putin
Saddam Hussein
Adolf Hitler
Osama Bin Laden
Brian Kemp
Stacey Abrams
Jacinda Ardern
Justin Trudeau
Barack Obama
Michelle Obama
George W. Bush
Ronald Reagan
Hillary Clinton
Bill Clinton
Hannah Arendt
Ayn Rand
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Karl Marx
Mary Wollstonecraft
Angela Davis
Gloria Steinam
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
Simone de Beauvoir
Noam Chomsky
Michel Foucault
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Richard Nixon
Abraham Lincoln
Robert E. Lee
William Tecumseh Sherman
Frederick Douglas
Ambrose Bierce
Walt Whitman
Sinclair Lewis
George Orwell
Kate Chopin
Sylvia Plath
Charles Dickens
William Shakespeare
Toni Morrison
Margaret Atwood
George Washington
Andrew Jackson
Ava DuVernay
Ken Burns
Anne Frank
Thomas Paine
Alexis deTocqueville
Mark Zuckerberg
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Rage Against the Machine
Nas
Tu Pac
Eminem
Ken E. Nwadike, Jr.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
James Joyce
Sir Thomas More
Dante Alighieri
Niccolo Machiavelli
Sigmund Freud
Harriet Tubman
Mahatma Gandhi
Brittany Kaiser
Ezra Klein
Rodin
Picasso
Banksy
There are certainly many more individuals I could add to this list. This is just a start. Some listed here might seem more obvious than others, regarding how they relate to my political education. In one way or another, for better or worse, they all forced me to grapple with and consider the socio-political world in which I currently live.
Who would be on your list? Which philosophers, activists, writers, artists, or politicians have had the greatest influence on how you view politics or political engagement over the years, for better or worse? And why or why not would they be on your list?
Once you start your own list, you might be surprised with what you uncover.
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