America is a special country. the success of the U.S. has been cemented by the foundations of our founding father who set forth an experiment in self government and declared independence for all. the U.S. declares equality and liberty for all human under the rule of law, cherished by the people, for the people. does this mean that the U.S. holds a special seat with the rest of the world? do american values affect the rest of the world? or do these values make people hate us even more with our western ways?
today i believe our role, thus far, has been to defend the american constitution with the common interest of protecting the people along with seeking peaceful relations with other countries. i believe america feels they have to uphold a sense of morality, social justice and promote economic growth with other countries (even though sometimes we suck at it ourselves). america's goal is to advance as much as possible and oppress other countries from surpassing us (another great american characteristic).
one subject, that is touchy for me, is womens rights. we had a brief yet intense debate among the class. womens rights within the united states is no where close to where it needs to be, however it is the leading country in the world that advocates womens independence. without the advancement and complete liberation of women, we can not expect to advance to our fullest potential. the argument said in class was "women who decide to dismiss furthur education and jump into starting a family, becoming a housewife, how do americans look at those women? how are those women viewed in our society?" although i am all for the right to choose your own destiny, i can help but feel there is a lack of knowledege with these women. if only our women and young daughter were furthur informed on the possibilities of their capabilities, i believe we would see an amazing increase in womens independence.
by dissecting the gender inequalities, men's patriarchy and the mysogynistic views that oppress women in this nation is to open our eyes to the social stratification and internal colonization that has been pinning women down for centuries. Americans have constructed womens identities around an image of what a typical women is like. these gender roles not only affect women but men as well. gender construction is formed on the basis of the roles in which you play in society, which in turn is our individual roles, or commonly known as our "identities". these gender roles assigned to women throughout history have been re-written by men and has set the tone for the underlying bigotry within this country, which is apparent and pumped into our everyday lives. this is to keep a patriarchal status quo to belittle womens abilities and maintain an attitude, behavior and intolerance towards women. this irrational fear is nothing more than than hypocritical justification and realization of social hierarchies and privledges bestowed upon men, by men. by defaulting men we are able to hide, protect and displace accountability.when men suffer, women suffer. i like to call it the internal war of testosteron. just as it is difficult for men to question their foundations on which their fragile egos lye, it is even more infuriating when a women challenges it. our society has set up and reward and punishment system through peers, media and social institutions to question what is "appropriate".
my point is if we keep on conditioning women and deny the information available to women that there is much more to a women than her womb, we can then start to make great advances and possibly solve world problems. :)
ok could go on and on.....but i wont.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
colonialism
colonialism is the expansion, establishment and maintenance of a nations
soverneighty over territory and people outside its own boundaries,
often to facilitate economic domination over their resources, labor and
markets. the term also refers to a set of beliefs used to legitimize or
promote this system, especially the belief that the mores of the
colonizers have superior ways of industrialized practices than those of
the locals. advocates of colonialism argue that colonial rule benefits
the colonized by developing the economic and political infrastructures
necessary for moderization and democracy. colonialsm also creates a
protective, big brother, saftey net for smaller countries and allowing
dependency for incapable countries. there are many forms of colonialism:
settlers colonialism- involving large scale immigration, often motivated by religous, political or economic reasons.
exploitation colonialism- involving fewer colonists and focuses on acess to resources for export, typically the metropole. this includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration, but would rely on indigineous resources for labor and material. prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labor was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the americas, first by the spanish empire and later by the dutch, french and british.
plantation colonies- considered expolitation and powers would either utilize different territories depending on various social and economic factors as well as climate and geographic conditions.
surrogate colonialism- involves settlement project supported by colonial powers, in which most of the settlers do not come from the mainstream of the ruling power.
internal colonialism- the notion of uneven structural power between a nation state. the source of exploitation comes from within the state.
the benefits of colonialsm include:
gain of natural resources
western medicine
education
infrastructure
political participation
religous freedoms
accelerated nation building
exploration of land
revenue
trading
safety
creating new job
better agricultural methods
NO COLONIALSM MEANS NO INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION. WHATS GOOD FOR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE IS WHAT MATTERS, NOT THE INDIVIDUAL.
the cons of colonialsm are obvious and tragic:
human trafficking
exploitation of peoples, land and resources
its time consuming and expensive
slavery
brings on disease
cultural cleansing
the truth is, anytime there is major revolutionary change, people are filtered out. people die, contract disease, etc. however the foundation that the colonists are buling are ones that will solidify a better life for your children and those to come many years after. colonialism is also an investment. you reap what you sow. global economic benefit happens when investment in capital occurs, often involving not so pretty stuff, such as slavery. colonialism is also at its own pace. only through time can a nation grow. those being colonized usually arent even aware of the resources available to them, thus going to waste. western modernization is able to educate and capitalize on these precious resources. colonialism doesnt just benefit the colonizers but the colonized as well. colonialism allows for developing countries to set forth a democracy and implement practices of advanced thinking and doing.
examples of successful colonialism is so apparent today. look at the united states. america gained advance modernization piece by piece over time. the urge for expansion-although at the expense of others, such as the native americans- is in the history of the united states itself.
although the notion of colonialism is unpopular, there is no deny without it, there would be no expansion or development crucial to our way of life right now. it is unnatural for humans not to be curious and explore.
to say that colonialism has no benefit is undermining the bigger picture itself.
settlers colonialism- involving large scale immigration, often motivated by religous, political or economic reasons.
exploitation colonialism- involving fewer colonists and focuses on acess to resources for export, typically the metropole. this includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration, but would rely on indigineous resources for labor and material. prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labor was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the americas, first by the spanish empire and later by the dutch, french and british.
plantation colonies- considered expolitation and powers would either utilize different territories depending on various social and economic factors as well as climate and geographic conditions.
surrogate colonialism- involves settlement project supported by colonial powers, in which most of the settlers do not come from the mainstream of the ruling power.
internal colonialism- the notion of uneven structural power between a nation state. the source of exploitation comes from within the state.
the benefits of colonialsm include:
gain of natural resources
western medicine
education
infrastructure
political participation
religous freedoms
accelerated nation building
exploration of land
revenue
trading
safety
creating new job
better agricultural methods
NO COLONIALSM MEANS NO INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION. WHATS GOOD FOR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE IS WHAT MATTERS, NOT THE INDIVIDUAL.
the cons of colonialsm are obvious and tragic:
human trafficking
exploitation of peoples, land and resources
its time consuming and expensive
slavery
brings on disease
cultural cleansing
the truth is, anytime there is major revolutionary change, people are filtered out. people die, contract disease, etc. however the foundation that the colonists are buling are ones that will solidify a better life for your children and those to come many years after. colonialism is also an investment. you reap what you sow. global economic benefit happens when investment in capital occurs, often involving not so pretty stuff, such as slavery. colonialism is also at its own pace. only through time can a nation grow. those being colonized usually arent even aware of the resources available to them, thus going to waste. western modernization is able to educate and capitalize on these precious resources. colonialism doesnt just benefit the colonizers but the colonized as well. colonialism allows for developing countries to set forth a democracy and implement practices of advanced thinking and doing.
examples of successful colonialism is so apparent today. look at the united states. america gained advance modernization piece by piece over time. the urge for expansion-although at the expense of others, such as the native americans- is in the history of the united states itself.
although the notion of colonialism is unpopular, there is no deny without it, there would be no expansion or development crucial to our way of life right now. it is unnatural for humans not to be curious and explore.
to say that colonialism has no benefit is undermining the bigger picture itself.
electoral college
ok..........so I hate the electoral college. VOTING IN AMERICA SHOULD BE ABOUT THE PEOPLES VOTE!!! omg what a hard concept to grasp?!?!
The electoral college is a bunch of old white guys, who sit around and pick who will be president and vice president, "taking in consideration of the popular vote". These final decision makers are elected by popular vote state-by-state. There are 538 electors. The electoral college has been around since 1787, an outdated process that needs to change. It was originally set forth to equalize the need of opposing views of direct democracy versus Representative democracy.
In 1969, our country came the closest it ever has to abolishing the electoral college because they were upset of the turn out with Nixon versus Humphrey. The popular vote was never the basis for choosing a president, rather to make the people feel they are apart of a government in which they have say in. This only discourages the people from participation and voting turnout. The electoral college disfranchises all groups of people and diminishes all incentives to part take in the most patriotic duty we are able to be apart of every four years. There is also the disadvantage for any third party that is not of the main republican or democratic party, even if an independent has ideas that appease to the majority of Americans. Although it does promote stability with our current two-party system and isolates election problems. The electoral college is overly and excessively complicated as well, and it doesn't need to be. LET THE PEOPLE CHOOSE: one person, one vote (those that should vote, which you can read about in my other blog labeled "who should vote").
The electoral college is a bunch of old white guys, who sit around and pick who will be president and vice president, "taking in consideration of the popular vote". These final decision makers are elected by popular vote state-by-state. There are 538 electors. The electoral college has been around since 1787, an outdated process that needs to change. It was originally set forth to equalize the need of opposing views of direct democracy versus Representative democracy.
In 1969, our country came the closest it ever has to abolishing the electoral college because they were upset of the turn out with Nixon versus Humphrey. The popular vote was never the basis for choosing a president, rather to make the people feel they are apart of a government in which they have say in. This only discourages the people from participation and voting turnout. The electoral college disfranchises all groups of people and diminishes all incentives to part take in the most patriotic duty we are able to be apart of every four years. There is also the disadvantage for any third party that is not of the main republican or democratic party, even if an independent has ideas that appease to the majority of Americans. Although it does promote stability with our current two-party system and isolates election problems. The electoral college is overly and excessively complicated as well, and it doesn't need to be. LET THE PEOPLE CHOOSE: one person, one vote (those that should vote, which you can read about in my other blog labeled "who should vote").
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