Takaki!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNvmcuVt6Rs&feature=related


We watched this for my religion class and at 8:37 it reminded me of the Takaki reading for this past Friday.

Another Blog

In “Afro-American Housing in Virginia’s Landscape of Slavery” it states, “His statement draws attention not only to a private economy within the slave quarters but to alternative slave tastes that favored the purchase of liquor over clothing,” (pg. 220). I found this relatable to an article we read in the past that said the traders who traded with the Indians preferred to trade with them when they were drunk because they could cheat the Indians and encouraged them to drink so they could continue their cheating. These two examples show how throughout history whites have used alcohol as means to keep minority groups suppressed. The article also states how Carter wanted to give his slaves an economic advantage. However, I think he did this to undermine his slaves. Once he realizes his slaves are using their earnings to buy alcohol he does not stop them because he most likely realized they become less powerful and the chance of their rising up is lessened.

Also when I was reading this section it reminded me of Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko because while Tayo and his friends are under the influences of alcohol, they are blind to what is happening around them and are unable to change their futures.

A Party Without a Mandate is Damaging

            Across the nation, the Tea Party Movement is taking American politics by storm. In November’s Midterm Elections, the momentum the Tea Party has generated within recent years was more than noticeable. This can be attributed to celebratory figures within the Tea Party, such as Sarah Palin. With her eloquence and strong presence in the media, Sarah Palin has been able to foster growth and support for the party by endorsing various candidates. However, due to Tea Party’s lack of mandate, the growth and support of the Tea Party is more of a danger to the future of American politics.

            On the national level, Sarah Palin has endorsed 64 candidates running in the House, Senate, and Governor elections. “Campaign 2010: The Politics of Palin” illustrates that of these 64 candidates, 32 were elected. Endorsements in excessive amounts endanger the future of American politics because they create biases towards the candidate. From a psychological perspective, people who favor Sarah Palin are more likely to favor the candidates she endorses because they will believe the candidates are like her. This perspective coincides with the voters’ inability to inform themselves on specific candidates. By believing the candidate is similar to Sarah Palin, the voters will not feel the need to educate themselves on where the candidate stands or the past experiences of the candidate. Ultimately leading to the possibility of electing an under qualified candidate. Furthermore, endorsements endanger the future of American politics because the elected candidate may skew or completely change their original principles in order to keep in favor of their endorser. Due to the Tea Party’s lack of mandate, the idea of candidates falling to the principles of their endorsers is entirely possible. In this sense, Sarah Palin is a puppeteer and the candidates she endorses are her puppets.

            In “Campaign 2010: The Politics of Palin”, the large amount of endorsed Tea Party/Republican candidates gives way to the large citizen population who support the Tea Party. While these candidates and supporters are spread across the nation, it goes without saying there is much diversity amongst the ideals of the candidates and their supporters. In “Tea Party Comes to Power on an Unclear Mandate”, Kate Zernike emphasizes this point by quoting the conflicting viewpoints of Tea Party supporters on how they believe the Tea Party/Republican candidates ought to act once they are elected.

             With the elections come and gone and the Tea Party having no set mandate, it can be argued the Tea Party’s inability to set a mandate is damaging to the future of American politics and the Tea Party itself. The absent mandate is allowing the individual ideals of elected candidates to linger and develop, which in time these ideals will become more precious to the candidates. Therefore when the time comes to set a mandate, the elected Tea Party/Republican candidates will be unwilling to compromise on a mandate if their ideals are not all represented in the way they wish. From here arises the possibility of the elected candidates moving away from the Tea Party and the ideals of their endorser, Sarah Palin. This has the potential to stall American politics because each elected candidate may only want to work for their agenda and be unwilling to work with their counterparts in other parties as well as their own.

                        Tea Party candidates have greatly benefitted from the endorsement of Sarah Palin. In “Campaign 2010: The Politics of Palin”, the graph shows many Americans are willing to stand behind the Tea Party endorsed candidates. Therefore the Tea Party and its elected candidates must realize the importance of setting a mandate in order to bring about beneficial change for the people who elected them.

United States of Jefferson

In “American Neoclassicism, The Idealistic Phase”, it emphasizes how Thomas Jefferson would not base his architectural style off anything British related. As an architect, he criticized the classical taste in architecture because it revolved around classic principles, “Classical taste in architecture was epitomized for Jefferson by the classical orders,” (pg. 290). The same is true for his political beliefs. One could go on to say that this is true for all his belief systems. This isn’t a surprise right? After the Revolution, the colonists couldn’t have kept their previous ideals and methods of thought because it would have remained heavily influenced by the British. The colonists’ could not have had a clean break from only the political influence and kept their social influence. Their break from the British is like the Dominos game, where all the pieces have to fall after you push the first piece.

Paper Part 1

Dense Fact: The Sarah Palin Tracker Political Chart

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/palin_tracker/

The Tea Party is using prestigious figures, such as Sarah Palin, to create growth and support for their party. However due to their lack of mandate, the growth and support of the Tea Party is endangering the future of American politics. The public is electing Tea Party endorsed candidates without having much knowledge on where these candidates stand.

I also plan on referencing these sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/us/politics/03repubs.html?scp=4&sq=Tea%20Party&st=cse

http://www.kare11.com/news/elections/election_article.aspx?storyid=880303&catid=222

Hypocrisy within the Declaration

What is the purpose of honoring the Declaration of Independence when the message of equality is nothing more than a hypocritical statement? Why would you write about equality and then do nothing to promote it? The delegates’ inability to follow the Declaration’s call for equality leads one to believe that they were only thinking of themselves and their counterparts when writing/reviewing the Declaration.

In Takaki’s text he analyzes how various minority groups view the Declaration of Independence. By doing this, he brings forth the hypocrisy of the Declaration and how the Declaration did not serve the needs of all Americans at various points in time.

“Thomas Jefferson declared to the Kaskaskias that whites and Indians were both ‘Americans, born in the same land,’ and that he hoped the two peoples would ‘long continue to smoke in friendship together.’” (pg. 45)

“Seeking to do more than demonstrate and affirm the intelligence of blacks, Banneker also scolded the author of the declaration of Independence for his hypocrisy on the subject of slavery,” (pg. 66)

“They were taught that honest labor, fair play, and industriousness were virtues. But they ‘saw that it wasn’t so on the plantation.’ They saw whites on the top and Asians on the bottom,” (pg. 250)

In recent events, I feel like hypocrisy within the Declaration was most notable this past summer when Muslims in New York City wanted to expand on a mosque. There was one day when I was watching CNN and they were interviewing a construction worker and he said that if there was a job regarding the expansion, he would not take it because it was un-American to support Muslims. Does it not say in the Constitution that there is the freedom of religion? Does it not say in the Declaration that every person is created equal? By suppressing one’s freedom of religion, you are suppressing their ability to have equality. Every person should be considered equal in the sense that they have the freedom to practice their own religion.

Harry Potter!!

I am currently sitting in Buntrock Commons. I am waiting to buy my Harry Potter movie ticket. I didn’t think that many people would have shown up for this, but I was wrong. I’m super glad I got here obnoxiously early.

Paul Revere vs. Pocahontas

The main difference between the John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Paul Revere and Simon van de Passe’s 1616 engraving is that Copley’s portrait displays the subject as a real being. In Paul Revere’s portrait, you get the sense that he was a real person with thoughts and feelings. He makes the viewer wonder what Paul Revere was thinking about. In Pocahontas’s portrait, you get no sense of who she was. However, you do get the sense of who the British wanted her to be. She is removed from her native environment and culture. She became an image that the British settlers could use to their own advantage when interacting with Native Americans in the future.

TEA!

Drinking tea from a psychological perspective can affect the way one views themselves and how one is viewed in society. It can also be applied to how common misconceptions can dramatically increase the usage of tea.

Tea drinking became an indicator of one’s social status in colonial times. It is arguable that many people developed the belief that if they were seen drinking tea, they were of a worthy status. It is also arguable that the perception of the wealthy drinking tea fosters a larger gap between social classes. With more and more people drinking tea and holding the belief that they are of a higher status than the people who don’t drink tea, they are creating the possibility for more social prejudices.

“…the wonderful Chinese plant that seemed to cure so many different diseases,” (pg. 66)

The belief that tea could cure so many diseases was a placebo. The fact that the colonist believed the tea was making them better was all in their head. Tea is not a magical medicine. It was not responsible for curing their many diseases.