Blog 12

The first wave of colonialism took place during the 16th and 17th centuries when the European powers, mostly the Spanish and Portuguese, colonized the Americas. The first wave was responsible for the beginnings of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Not only did European influence remain as a long-term effect but also the idea of racism developed. The second wave of colonialism took place in 1750 through 1914 in Africa and Asia. The European powers Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the United States and Japan were the main actors. Unlike before, the second wave involved military force, or at least the threat of it. Furthermore, new economic interest in cash crops introduced the idea of capitalism. The second wave colonizers also believed they were bringing a superior religion to the Americas. During this time, social Darwinism, the theory that rooted from Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory, justified conquest stating that some are superior over others because they are more evolved.

Blog #4

Though some slaves were treated better than others and some were able to gain status, 12.5 million slaves were traded in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Not only was this a huge amount of people who were treated badly and in many cases killed, slavery continued through generations. In other words, people were born into slavery so, the children of slaves were automatically slaves as well. In the documents section of the chapter, primary sources are presented so that the readers could get a better sense of the situation. In the documents, one notices that slave owners treated slaves like items, depriving them of their dignity. For example, Olaudah Equiano explains "after about a month, I was again sold... The people I was sold to used to carry me very often, when I was tired, either on their shoulders or on their backs" (pg 701). In another source, a slave owner, Thomas Phillips, describes the business of slave trading. During this process, we see how slaves are dehumanized and treated like items when slaves were being marked as property. In addition, he explained how palm oil was placed on the area to be marked before being marked. He states that this made it less painful however, a burn to the skin is always painful. Here, we can see how slaves owners tried to justify their actions and make their actions seem trivial. Similar types of reasoning and justification can be seen in World War II during the holocaust.

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/

Blog 14

It is interesting to know that Chinese officials that governed China were elected through examinations. If this kept occurring, the governmental institutions would be all over the place because they might have gotten a leader that was corrupt and maybe a benevolent and understanding leader next. With governments, there must be stability and they must keep in mind the best interest of the people. Further, the examination system that it was based on was very conservative as a result making the people be more conservative not allowing them to express. Further, a document written in 1898 that critiques the examination system states that the way exams were programed were very corrupt and students found it difficult to balance out their social life and responsibilities with these examination systems. Further, they saw themselves falling behind in comparisons with other countries. It is nice to know however, that citizens oppose and express their concerns. The document that I found most interesting was Qiu Jin's document on women's rights. She mentions foot binding and explains that on a woman's wedding day, people compliment the father on doing a good job on his daughter's feet not really the daughter or the mother. This is interesting because he may not have even played a part in the foot binding other then ordering that the mothers do it yet he still gets credit. This is patriarchy taking its course. Further, women were seen as someone else's property in the 1900's. With the roaring 20s on the rise and the abolition of slavery in the United States, it is hard to crazy to know that women were seen as property still being treated that way in other parts of the world. Women in China had no say in what their future would look like. Women in China were not living, they were surviving. It is also brave and courageous that Qiu tells her readers to no longer depend on men and to stop binding their daughters feet.

Blog 13

I found it interesting that although some believe they are helping by donating to third world countries, it turns out that the best way to help third world countries is through developing programs and provided jobs and resources in place of bandaging the issues. In addition, it is believed that one of the reasons third world countries have issues is due to historical colonialism. Colonialism itself was damaging however, the attitude behind colonialism such as the hunger for power, domination a  has been passed on through generations. Today, it seems that competition is becoming more and more of an essential key to success. Further, as John Paul II explains, sinful greed and evil structures are largely contributing to poverty in third world countries. Advice


- resource exploitation destabilizes especially when factories are destroying their enviro
- forced religion
Although research shows that many preachers and ministers denounced injustices including slavery, this was more than conversion this was about control
- understanding is important
2: the church repeatedly insists that all people should care about poverty and do all they can do address this as part of common humanity bc all members of human family. Church believes all people in first world countries should donate a bit to help third
- far away so not relevant to individuals life
- inviting believers to ponder causes of poverty and offer suggestions for improvement
- advice by church leaders changes over time which is not good because no concise
- bishops Vatican council on how to change poverty
- chuches concerns in maldistribution
- what should be done by church and nations to address global development

- some blame put on colonialism
- need vs wants of affluent
-more concerned in profit for the few not for most useful for the many
- most efficient: micro development self improvement is how to fix (ex: employment opportunities) not put a band aid over and donate because that makes them dependent
- faith based organizations
- christians must provide opportunities to disinherited
- John Paul II wasteful materialism "super development"
- evil: arms race, debt, economic domination = neocolonialism
- global probs: thirst for power and materialism
- modern day christians: guilt but probably struggle for suggestions for immediate solutions
- no individual can change so each person has to pitch in
- call to all christians to help poor inhabitants of the world
- official voices of the church
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Blog 3

The fur, spice and silver trade was beneficial to many nations however it gave rise to slavery. Although we still benefit from these trades today, enslaving others was detrimental to humanity and society then and today. Further, it led to competition and the desire for control between nations. Perhaps this was where racism and/or prejudices all started. The desire to control people and use them in order to make an individual’s life easier was desirable. It seems that humanity took steps leading up to this. In other words, control over the living progressively got worse. For example, it might have first started with Paleolithic people’s taking advantage of nature and the environment. One example could be seen in the burning of plants in order to keep warm. Although this was vital to their survival, it still harms the oppressed group that cannot speak for itself, nature. Then, perhaps the next step was controlling another oppressed group that cannot speak for themselves, animals. For example, the domestication of animals, such as horses. Then perhaps, it led to the control over humans. Perhaps there is something within us that feels the need to control something whether it is humans or the way we look. Perhaps the control of fire was where it all started… who knows?