Blog 16

The Five Year plan seemed it would helpful in many ways. Especially because Stalin had a strategic way to pitch this idea. His ideas of capitalism might have seemed to benefit society. It seemed that early society at the time were not aware of the dangers that capitalism were going to bring. Although there are a dew benefits to capitalism, it drives society to be money hungry and competitive. When these two things are combined, corruption could easily happen. With the existence of the divided peasants, being forced to work a job sounds all too familiar for this generation. A society where the poor has a poor quality of life due to the demanding means of production seems like something history and the present shares. Those living in a capitalist society do not only comply to the manipulation of advertisement but to the big industries who negatively affect the lives of many. In many cases today, the job industry seems to be corrupt and focused on producing quickly and efficiently rather than ethically. In the case of the article "Red Bread" by Maurice Hindus, it references a kulak that explains how the new capitalist government is ripping families apart because work and production has consumed their lives. The change in attitude and sense of morality was noticed by some kulaks however which caused them to defy capitalist ideas. In the article "Nadya Speaks", it is evident that communist leaders try to advertise and convince peasants to join the Kulaks. During this process, they use a manipulative  advertisement technique that makes the listener seem like they are being left out of society if they do not comply to the capitalist ideas that everyone else seems to be doing. In today's society, this is strategy is most used on television commercials and in social media. 

Blog 15

The opening of part six was interesting to me because I know yesterday is history and history is history but to think that we may be living in another phase of historical development where current day events are the present and will later be marked on a time line seems so far away when in fact it is not because it is the present. It is also always interesting to realize just how much one person can influence the course of events that are later written down in history text books. The new Anthropocene era mentioned in the book where "...human activity is leaving an enduring and global mark on the geological, atmospheric, and biological history of the planet itself"(p 976) is actually scary and something that needs to changed immediately. Further, this era will probably be judged negatively by some in future generations. In addition, the book proposes and important question: "Will global inequalities and rivalry over diminishing resources foster even greater and more dangerous conflicts?" This is another question I have yet to ask myself.

It was also interesting to learn just how much war affected political and social life. Learning that "British women were encouraged to present a white feather, a symbol of cowardice, to men not in uniform, thus affirming a warrior understanding of masculinity" was interesting because it looks like this action supported gender roles whether they knew that or not. Further, I also learned that Mothers Day was created to encourage childbearing after the men returned from war so that men would not have to compete for "men's jobs", ultimately resulting in the encouragement of patriarchy. Further, if capitalism during the Great Depression was seen as such a devastating system, why do we still practice it? It is also nice to see that when a pressing issues arises, people strike and express their concerns. 

http://truththeory.com/2015/03/28/one-of-the-most-important-videos-you-should-watch/