Week Seven - Chapters 17, 18, 19 & 20

Chapter 17  begins by discussing the impacts that each of the major social / cultural revolutions (North American, French, & Haitian) had both singularly and on each other.  For instance, I was unaware of that Thomas Jefferson was the US ambassador to France at the beginning of the French Revolution or that Simon Bolivar had a tie to Haiti.

The North American Revolution occurred not so much because the people wanted immediate independence from Britain so much as they wanted a way to ease the control and taxation from a country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.  The revolution allowed the people of North American to continue to create a society based upon equality that was not prevalent in Europe.

After hearing about the positive effects the North American Revolution created, the French began to realize they could revolt against the taxes imposed upon them to offset the government’s fiscal problems.  Additionally, social conflicts pitted the rich against the working class and the working class against the peasants.  The French Revolution created a new beginning which they illustrated by recreating the calendar starting with the year 1.  The population of France began to view themselves more as citizens of a country as opposed to residents of their particular region.  Napoleon was able to tame the tides of the revolution and use its forces to provide benefits to the people.  It was also his goal to militarily expand the elements of the revolution beyond France’s borders.  Napoleon’s empire came to a halt by 1815 due to the efforts of Britain and Russia.

The Haitian revolt by slaves created a society where “the last had become the first.”  Slavery was abolished and equality within its borders was established.

The industrial revolution began in Europe, particularly in Britain.  This was most likely because of the culture of the people of Europe at the time in conjunction with the wide availability of iron ore and coalfields.  The United States also later took advantage of its natural resource of coal mining and precious metal to begin their own industrial revolution.

The impacts of the Industrial Revolution were felt globally.  The advent and improvements made by the West provided them with military superiority over the East.  Pressure from the West including rampant racism of the Asian people made their growth more difficult.  The Chinese in particular had mounting internal issues that had to be dealt with first. 

Opium use became widespread in about 1832.  China attempted to prevent further strife by seizing millions of pounds of Opium from western traders without providing them compensation.  The British would not let this stand and embarked upon a crusade to make the Chinese pay dearly for their decision.  In the end, Britain ended up signing a treaty with China, paying millions of dollars, giving up control of Hong Kong to the British. 

Week Six - Chapters 14, 15, & 16

With the majority of my education on the history of the Americas coming from elementary school (which included colorful crayon drawings of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria), I was somewhat fascinated by the role that disease played in the destruction of the Native Americans.  I was always under the impression that Europeans came in and simply militarily conquered the original inhabitants of the “New World.”  The text indicated that in some areas up to 90% the Native American peoples died from disease brought by the Europeans and Africans.  This of course had an impact on the available slave workforce which impacted their ability to grow food which in turn affected their source of an adequate amount of food.  Pretty elementary but not really anything that I can say I thought about before.

Moving onto the building up of the Russian empire and Geoffrey Hoskins statement, “The British had an empire, Russia was an empire.”  The Russians were able to utilize their own existing means in which to expand their empire whereas the countries of Europe were forced to use only what they were able to bring over by boat.  This allowed their Russians to build a strategy to slowly expand their borders akin to a virus.  This provided them certain benefits when it came to trade and commerce.  When it came to obtaining goods from the America’s the Russians simply traded their furs for American gold and silver.  There was no need to fund overseas trips using funds that could be better spent expanding and defending the empire at home.  

On has to wonder what would have happened if there had been an African Empire; a nation in which the people and civilization had progressed enough to defend themselves and their borders from other nations looking for slave labor.  Where would the workforce that other nations used to build their newly conquered lands?  As mentioned in the text, the African population was not necessarily chosen so much as they ended up being the largest mass of people left from which to draw from.  Not to mention the inclination that stereotyping of blacks as an inferior race began as early as the 14^th century and has continued to this day worldwide.  Finally, I find it interesting that Africa as a continent is still considered to be a third world country.  Could one surmise that this began when their peoples were pillaged and since that time their culture has never really been able to regain its footing in the world again?

Week Three - Chapters 4, 5, 6, & 7

While doing the assigned reading for this week, I was immediately struck by the amount of social inequalities that still continue to exist in our modern world today.  Both at home and abroad, the media constantly reminds us of stereotypes that reaffirm our class using our perceived education, the color of our skin, and our occupations.  With the exception of the few and far between “Cinderella stories” many cultures, like ours, continue to allow perceived labels to dictate our thoughts and actions.  While some cultures are considered more advanced then others when it comes to social hierarchies, the recent events in China really illustrate a point that is not being broadcasted enough.

A mere forty-eight hours ago the Wall Street Journal reported that, “A newborn’s cries… in a residential building in eastern China led to a tenant to a startling discovery; a baby boy trapped in a sewage pipe beneath a squat toilet.”  What is it that continues to feed the Confucian ideology of a preference over men to women?  Even today, China has a strict one child policy that reinforces the belief that it is better to have a son over a daughter.  Had the trapped infant been a female would such efforts to rescue and save her life have taken place?  China’s “family planning policy” has been in practice for over thirty years and shows no signs of discontinuing.

We still do not know if there were other social factors involved that caused this young woman to abandon her own child.  Was her mother an unmarried peasant, “untouchable” in China or a modern day “Brahmin” who did not feel compelled to lower her social status to that of a commoner?

Then we can factor in religion.  Given that Taoism is one of the major religions of modern China and that Taoism got its roots from the Dao religion, where would the attempted murder of your own child fall within the ways of nature?  As stated in the text, Daoism called for a limited government.  While not trying to abjectly fight the government could we not assume that there might have been some moral imperatives that would have allowed the mother of this child to rethink her own values and what statement her actions would make?

Nonetheless, our world still focuses on the things that we apparently value the most… money, prestige, and social standing.  Ask any teenager today what the name of Mother Teresa’s child was. 

Week Two - Chapters 1, 2, & 3

It is truly amazing that we have continued to be our own worst enemy when it comes to the environment.  It was not until reading these chapters that I received a much clearer picture that we consistently have taken the earth for granted while at the same time needing what it produces for survival.  Animals, plants, and the environment have been decimated time and time again under the guise of creating more or making it better.

As hunters and gathers humans took from nature what was necessary and then moved as the seasons changed or as food became scarce.  This allowed the land they previously inhabited to rehabilitate and replenish.  Due to their nomadic culture the group remained small and their possessions were limited to what could be carried.

Unfortunately, someone got the bright idea of trying to fix what wasn’t broken.  In an effort to manipulate what was already being provided, the Paleothic population began to use unnatural forces to encourage better outcomes.  Setting fires to one species of plant to encourage the growth of another is one example of what may have seemed like a good idea at the time.  I do not believe any thought was given to what its true long term impacts would have been.  However, when you have a life expectancy of around 35 years there probably isn’t much thought given to the next generation.

These practices continued throughout the agricultural revolution whereupon humans became more stagnate and still wanted more for less.  As civilizations developed they abandoned their nomadic ways and were then forced to come up with a source of food for a now growing population.  Populations inland used various form of irrigation to grow food.  In the Indus Valley this practice decimated the region by introducing salt into the soil.  This in turn resulted in lower crop yields.  Lower production meant less food for the local population.  With no continued source of produce available to them, they chose to vacate and move on to another tract of land so they could start the process all over again.

Thousands and thousands of years have taught us nothing.  Throughout time we have held onto the belief that getting what you can today is more important than where our source may be tomorrow.

Oil companies continue to slash and burn the dense forests of South America to increase profits.  This is done without any consideration to the people that have lived there for thousands of years.  Corporations like Monsanto genetically alter what we already produce enough of in an effort to produce even more despite the unknown risks to our own health or the impact their effort will have on the environment. 

All the while, we claim to want to preserve those areas of the earth that we have not already destroyed.  We can’t have it both ways.  Either we learn to live and survive with less, or face risk of there being nothing less in the future. 

Yay - I'm Done

Really.... I am....