The theme for this reading is restitution. When Hitler gave this speech, it was 14 years after they had lost World War I. The country felt like its previous rulers had let it down, and Hitler was sure to reinforce that idea.
In the text, it says that leading up to WWII, there was the use of
poison gas on people and saturation bombing of citizens. Concentration
camps were also established. Additionally, Neville Chamberlain tried
desperately to appease Hitler to avoid another world war; unfortunately,
all his efforts were in vain.
I know it was mentioned in class, but I think it's very interesting that Hitler addresses God. He says that since the day that their former rulers had sold them out, "the Almighty withheld his blessing from their people." He also calls upon God at the end of his speech and asks him to give the Germans his blessing. When I think of Hitler, I think of a cruel, godless man. Of course, he may be just putting on a front for the Germans.
I think reading this made me see Hitler as more human. When I was in high school, I didn't study this at all. Reading something that he said puts personality and a brain in this man that was never there before.
In class today it was mentioned that today's Holocaust could be abortion. I completely agree with that statement. There are millions of innocent lives being lost because they're not considered human. I don't know how you can convince yourself that a fetus is anything but. And I don't know how someone can look at a fully grown person and think that they are lesser and deserve death when they've done nothing wrong.
I don't know what I could be capable of if I was desperate enough.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
The War Prayer by Mark Twain
The theme of this reading is double entendre. The church congregation prays one thing, but they don't realize what they are actually praying to happen. This piece of writing wasn't published until after Twain's death, mostly due to pressure from his family to refrain from doing so because it could be sacrilegious. According to "Mark Twain: A Biography" by Albert Bigelow Paine, when Twain's publisher asked him if he wanted to publish it anyway he said, "No. I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can
tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead."
Twain wrote this before both World Wars and it was published in 1923, five years after the first World War ended. The Schlieffen Plan, written by Germany, had just been devised in 1905. This plan was created around the idea that war would be quick and "painless", in a manner of speaking. There seems to be a same way of thinking between the Germans and the congregation members of this story. They both see the good side of war - war is romanticized, in a sense.
Something I find interesting about this reading is that Twain brings in a messenger from God to speak truth to the congregation. And after all that, after everything he says, people think that he was a lunatic. I understand that this is a work of fiction, but honestly, how could they not see that there are two sides to every victory? Does that go back to what we were talking about in class today - that their enemies were de-humanized and so they deserved all the pain and suffering? I guess it was a different time, but surely people understood death by then.
Today I see this de-humanizing in the retail industry. Human trafficking is not just about sex...it's also about people being forced to work for almost free (if not absolutely free!) in poor facilities, while being treated like less than human. All this so that we can get a "good deal" at Walmart. I'm sure that's not the only business that allows for their goods to be manufactured by people who have been trafficked. So for every good deal that we find or "pray for" like the congregation in this reading did, there is another side of people who are being mistreated for us to get that deal.
Twain wrote this before both World Wars and it was published in 1923, five years after the first World War ended. The Schlieffen Plan, written by Germany, had just been devised in 1905. This plan was created around the idea that war would be quick and "painless", in a manner of speaking. There seems to be a same way of thinking between the Germans and the congregation members of this story. They both see the good side of war - war is romanticized, in a sense.
Something I find interesting about this reading is that Twain brings in a messenger from God to speak truth to the congregation. And after all that, after everything he says, people think that he was a lunatic. I understand that this is a work of fiction, but honestly, how could they not see that there are two sides to every victory? Does that go back to what we were talking about in class today - that their enemies were de-humanized and so they deserved all the pain and suffering? I guess it was a different time, but surely people understood death by then.
Today I see this de-humanizing in the retail industry. Human trafficking is not just about sex...it's also about people being forced to work for almost free (if not absolutely free!) in poor facilities, while being treated like less than human. All this so that we can get a "good deal" at Walmart. I'm sure that's not the only business that allows for their goods to be manufactured by people who have been trafficked. So for every good deal that we find or "pray for" like the congregation in this reading did, there is another side of people who are being mistreated for us to get that deal.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden (1899)
The theme of this reading is facetiousness. As I interpret it, Kipling's poetry appears to be mocking the "white man." I couldn't find anything in Chapter 22 of the text pertaining to this reading.
I am surprised to read something like this. I didn't know that there were people writing this sort of sarcastic material. I assumed that people were serious, and they were either for or against slavery.
A good modern example is the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap. This movie makes fun of the rock music industry, something that was taken very seriously during the '80s.
I am surprised to read something like this. I didn't know that there were people writing this sort of sarcastic material. I assumed that people were serious, and they were either for or against slavery.
A good modern example is the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap. This movie makes fun of the rock music industry, something that was taken very seriously during the '80s.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Report on Committee on Children in Manufactories
The theme of this reading is cruelty. Children during this time period were treated poorly in the work environment. They were forced to work long hours in textile mills and mines, and on top of that they were exploited and treated as less-than-human, according to the text on page 436.
Social reform began during the Industrial Revolution because people saw what was happening to the children and wanted it to stop. One such man, Michael Sadler, saw it as his Christian duty to help them. He was a Tory member of the British Parliament, and he saw to it that a bill was passed that limited the number of hours a child could work per day. Even though most employers did not follow this law, it still aided in getting the ball rolling for others.
I was surprised to read, in Sir Robert Peel's statement, that the growth of the children appeared to have been stinted. I didn't actually know that was a concern, and I'm not sure how that would work. Perhaps it has something to do with getting little to no sleep because they were working so much.
This is still happening today! There are children being put to work in other countries so that we can have cheaper goods here in America. It sickens me to know every time I shop in Walmart that a child in a third-world country had to be put to work. My friend once quoted S. Ford, saying, "Every time you see the Walmart smiley bouncing around and slashing prices, somewhere there's a worker being kicked in the stomach."
I don't know what we can do about this. Walmart is such a big corporation, and it would take everyone in America to step back and stop purchasing items from them in order for Walmart to take another look at themselves. The best we can do is double check everything we buy and look at the retailers that we are purchasing from so that we know that a child or exploited worker hadn't been put to work to make what we have.
Social reform began during the Industrial Revolution because people saw what was happening to the children and wanted it to stop. One such man, Michael Sadler, saw it as his Christian duty to help them. He was a Tory member of the British Parliament, and he saw to it that a bill was passed that limited the number of hours a child could work per day. Even though most employers did not follow this law, it still aided in getting the ball rolling for others.
I was surprised to read, in Sir Robert Peel's statement, that the growth of the children appeared to have been stinted. I didn't actually know that was a concern, and I'm not sure how that would work. Perhaps it has something to do with getting little to no sleep because they were working so much.
This is still happening today! There are children being put to work in other countries so that we can have cheaper goods here in America. It sickens me to know every time I shop in Walmart that a child in a third-world country had to be put to work. My friend once quoted S. Ford, saying, "Every time you see the Walmart smiley bouncing around and slashing prices, somewhere there's a worker being kicked in the stomach."
I don't know what we can do about this. Walmart is such a big corporation, and it would take everyone in America to step back and stop purchasing items from them in order for Walmart to take another look at themselves. The best we can do is double check everything we buy and look at the retailers that we are purchasing from so that we know that a child or exploited worker hadn't been put to work to make what we have.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Thoughts Upon Slavery John Wesley Published in the year 1774
The theme of this reading is "appealing." Not in the "attractive" sense of the word, but instead to make a serious or urgent request.
Slavery has been in our world for a long time. Although it has gone through phases, it is still the same concept: people are owned by people. John Wesley is writing this in a time where slavery is the biggest and most commercial trade that it has ever been.
I think it's incredibly interesting that Wesley writes about where the slaves are brought from - especially their country. He asks of their home, "Is it so remarkably horrid, dreary, and barren, that it is a kindness to deliver them out of it? I believe many have apprehended so; but it is an entire mistake, if we may give credit to those who have lived many years therein, and could have no motive to misrepresent it."
I didn't know that there were people who thought that bringing Africans to Europe was "saving" them from horrible living conditions. I thought that everyone just knew exactly what they were doing. I can see now though that in that time they didn't have a lot of access to information about Africa, so "bad guys" could feed them lies about how they were helping them out.
Slavery has been abolished, but that doesn't mean it has gone away. While there isn't a commercial slave trade, there are still people being used in other countries. There is sex slavery, which is prevalent not only in other countries but also the United States.
Slavery has been in our world for a long time. Although it has gone through phases, it is still the same concept: people are owned by people. John Wesley is writing this in a time where slavery is the biggest and most commercial trade that it has ever been.
I think it's incredibly interesting that Wesley writes about where the slaves are brought from - especially their country. He asks of their home, "Is it so remarkably horrid, dreary, and barren, that it is a kindness to deliver them out of it? I believe many have apprehended so; but it is an entire mistake, if we may give credit to those who have lived many years therein, and could have no motive to misrepresent it."
I didn't know that there were people who thought that bringing Africans to Europe was "saving" them from horrible living conditions. I thought that everyone just knew exactly what they were doing. I can see now though that in that time they didn't have a lot of access to information about Africa, so "bad guys" could feed them lies about how they were helping them out.
Slavery has been abolished, but that doesn't mean it has gone away. While there isn't a commercial slave trade, there are still people being used in other countries. There is sex slavery, which is prevalent not only in other countries but also the United States.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Condemnation and Recantation of Galileo
The theme of this reading is submission. Galileo was required to submit to the church and tell them that everything he had discovered was a "lie."
Galileo never actually admitted to believing in a heliocentric universe, even though his writings allow us to believe that he does. However, even the mere fact that he was presenting ideas opposite to the Bible as probable was considered heresy. His trial was conducted in such a manner that everyone against him was on the jury. The text book says that the pope would have been seen as weak if he had accepted Galileo's defense.
I am surprised how fully and humbly Galileo recanted everything he had discovered. He knew it was true, yet he submitted to the church and even went so far as to apologize for saying what he said. I guess, if it had been me, I would have done the same thing just to keep the peace. Depressing.
As I wrote that last paragraph, I saw that Galileo and I are not much different. When I first read about it, I saw him as a weakling and that he should have stood up for what he believed. However, I started thinking about how I am harmonious to the point of foregoing stating my own opinions in order to keep the peace. Galileo was just doing whatever he could to keep the peace.
Modernly, this could be compared to the Amish. The reason I thought of them is because they have a strict way of living, and it's based off of the Bible. If any of their children go against what the Amish believe, they are excommunicated from the community. In a way, they are put in the same position that Galileo was in...either recant and stick with what the church believes or be punished.
Galileo never actually admitted to believing in a heliocentric universe, even though his writings allow us to believe that he does. However, even the mere fact that he was presenting ideas opposite to the Bible as probable was considered heresy. His trial was conducted in such a manner that everyone against him was on the jury. The text book says that the pope would have been seen as weak if he had accepted Galileo's defense.
I am surprised how fully and humbly Galileo recanted everything he had discovered. He knew it was true, yet he submitted to the church and even went so far as to apologize for saying what he said. I guess, if it had been me, I would have done the same thing just to keep the peace. Depressing.
As I wrote that last paragraph, I saw that Galileo and I are not much different. When I first read about it, I saw him as a weakling and that he should have stood up for what he believed. However, I started thinking about how I am harmonious to the point of foregoing stating my own opinions in order to keep the peace. Galileo was just doing whatever he could to keep the peace.
Modernly, this could be compared to the Amish. The reason I thought of them is because they have a strict way of living, and it's based off of the Bible. If any of their children go against what the Amish believe, they are excommunicated from the community. In a way, they are put in the same position that Galileo was in...either recant and stick with what the church believes or be punished.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Raimon de Cornet (14th cent troubadour) Poem Criticizing the Avignon Papacy
The theme of this reading is criticism. The author points out everything that the papacy is doing wrong, and asserts that the motivation is money and greed.
During this time, when the pope was moved to Avignon, the Italian papacy was losing money. This led them to receive money from questionable sources, such as "accepting kickbacks from appointees to church offices, taking bribes for judicial decisions, and selling indulgences," according to the text. (Levak, p. 211)
I think the most interesting thing to me in this song is the matter-of-fact tone the author uses. He lays everything out in poetic form, and calls out the church leaders.
Modernly, this is seen through spoken word. There have been several poets that speak out against the word "religion." They say that Christianity is a relationship...not a religion.
While these aren't exactly the same thing (religious leaders aren't stealing money from people), they are coming from people who are fed up with religious practices that harm other people. Religion has such a bad connotation in our society today. This is because Christians aren't living by the James passage from the Bible that tells us that pure religion is caring for orphans, widows, and the poor.
During this time, when the pope was moved to Avignon, the Italian papacy was losing money. This led them to receive money from questionable sources, such as "accepting kickbacks from appointees to church offices, taking bribes for judicial decisions, and selling indulgences," according to the text. (Levak, p. 211)
I think the most interesting thing to me in this song is the matter-of-fact tone the author uses. He lays everything out in poetic form, and calls out the church leaders.
Modernly, this is seen through spoken word. There have been several poets that speak out against the word "religion." They say that Christianity is a relationship...not a religion.
While these aren't exactly the same thing (religious leaders aren't stealing money from people), they are coming from people who are fed up with religious practices that harm other people. Religion has such a bad connotation in our society today. This is because Christians aren't living by the James passage from the Bible that tells us that pure religion is caring for orphans, widows, and the poor.
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