Alterity can be a powerful and unifying concept, serving to bring people together passionately towards a common goal. It has a far reaching effect in any scope or scale, from amalgamating warring local houses and tribes as in 11th Century France to coalescing adversative countries as in the Russian-American alliance during World War II. This essay will track the notion of alterity throughout history, starting with how it was used in The Song of Roland, …
showed first 75 words of 1012 total

showed last 75 words of 1012 total
…d both claim that God is with them, each respectively sharing their views through a taped speech by Osama Bin Laden and a recent speech by George Bush delivered to a joint session of congress. History shows that alterity, although a powerful ally, has very little success in actually annihilating the opposition. This may suggest the futility of the current conflict, but traditionally it also indicates that our war will be a long fought battle.