Animal Farm

Power is the easiest thing to abuse. It is the complete control over another individual and it is up to the person who holds the power to decide what they want to do with it. When there are issues of power involved there is often two sides that the situation can be looked at; either the side of the oppressor or the side of the oppressed. There have definitely been situations in the media and in history where there is an aimless need for people in power to inflict harm upon the powerless.

One big question when studying these situations is what causes the people in power to have that power. Sometimes its money, religion, or cultural background. In the case of the book Animal Farm the pigs were able to have power because Old Major was the first person to speak of revolt and defiance against the humans. The pigs might not have a legitimate reason to have power over the rest of the animals but they do because the original leader was "one of them." It allows the pigs to claim themselves as superiors without any real means to do so.

Whenever a group or individual is in power and is not qualified to be there is usually some type of abuse of power going on. Power should only be given to those who have rightfully owned it, or it almost always gets abused.