Ways of the World: Chapter 24

A section that I found to be very interesting was the section on religious alternatives to fundamentalism. I found it interesting because the way that the countries and the different religions that inhabited these countries were willing to come together and meet to discuss their different ideas to gain understanding and hopefully come to establish peace. I feel that this is exactly what needs to happen in order to be able to establish a global peace. There have already been too many wars in the past between nations because there was a difference in religion or ideology, by coming to accept other ideas and religion there will be a greater peace established. In the past religions have tried to convert others with different ideas to share the same ideas so that they could be "saved", this caused conflict as well as distrust amongst nations, which led to wars. The acceptance of one global religion and the destruction of all others would be impossible to achieve therefore making the only possible solution to be agreeing to disagree on the matter, through acceptance and understanding of others and their cultures. Unfortunately this solution is easier to be said than done and in order to accomplish this there would be a lot of hard work and cooperation, which is hard to achieve due to the already present resentment between nations. I hope that some day this will be accomplished and a global piece could be established.

Discovering the Global Past: Chapter 15

A piece of the reading that I found interesting was the churches response to September 11, when the United States was bombed by terrorists. Reverend Falwell and Pat Robinson believed that an angry God had allowed the terrorists to succeed in their deadly mission because the United States had become a nation of abortion, homosexuality, secular schools and courts, and the American Civil Liberties Union. This is the first time that I have encountered this idea, and when I read this section I was truly shocked to see that people really believed that this was the reason for the bombing. I am slightly biased to be against some of the views and ideas of the church as it is, so this just made me angry. Religion needs to evolve and reconsider and be refreshed to the very ideas that people believe qualify a person as a good christian individual. Christianity stresses being a good individual that is accepting and understanding to all other people, no judgment or condemning of others, that is the responsibility of God. The church in this case was just using September 11, as another reason to hate people are different from what they want and teach and I find this truly disgusting.

Ways of the World Chapter 23: South Africa

I found the apartheid to be very interesting and how ending the apartheid and gaining freedom was a challenge for the South African natives, because South Africa had in fact been independent of Great Britain since 1910, however the Independence was granted to a small group of white settlers that made up less than twenty percent of the entire population. Therefore the struggle for freedom was against an internal opponent rather than a distant colonial authority. The dependence of the black population on the white controlled economy made individuals seem highly vulnerable to repressive action, however the threat to withdraw the work of the black community gave the people a powerful weapon. Actions that were taken to end the apartheid were nonviolent civil disobediences such as boycotts, strikes, and the burning of the hated passes. In retaliation the white leaders had the black leaders put in jail and participated in violent shootings thought to be necessary in sending a message to the revolutionaries. However the people remained persistent in the fights for their natural born rights, and with the help of international countries, the apartheid was officially ended in the 1990’s, and the African National Congress came into power and Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black South African president.

Ways of the World Chapter 22: Nuclear Standoff

The United States was able to gain an authoritative advance on the other nations because it was the only country that had nuclear weapons. The soviet union was not happy with this advancement so they focused much of their attention on the production of a nuclear weapon, and were successful in 1949. The amount of nuclear weapons in the world and the countries that obtained them increased exponentially creating a worldly threat and changing the way warfare was carried out. There were no need for simple battles when a nation could be destroyed at the touch of a button. This is the concept that grabs my attention the most, because the thought of this even being possible is absolutely horrifying to me. To think that the entire world could be destroyed over one wrong move. That is why there was the cold war, because there was a cold front. Countries feared fighting any battles because it might possibly result in a bombing that leads to the destruction of earth. The concept that the earth could be destroyed seems so distant but so possible. If a country or psycho leader decides to release a bomb on us, the whole world will break out into a nuclear war, destroying everything and nothing but cockroaches would be left to walk our planet. That is a scary thought, I wish the weapons would just be destroyed and then we could be more peaceful of a place.
I watched a science special on nuclear weapons a couple years ago, where the scientist that invented the nuclear bomb was interviewed and he said he hated what has become of his invention. He made the weapon to keep the peace and after it was released he was sorry he ever did it, because all it did was create more problems. He feels guilty for the lives it took and for the destruction it has already caused. I found this extremely interesting because this man recieved so much honor and praise for his discovery and he doesnt want it because he is not happy with the discovery. I understand his guilt and I feel sorry for him, cause there is no way to really end it. I hope the nations that have these weapons know what they are caring for and do so wisely, cause like the scientist, they will probably regret the aftermath, if there is enough time for the thought to run through their mind.

Chapter 21: The Faciest Alternative in Europe

I found it interesting to read about how the fascist movement began. So many people grabbed onto this new idea of government and embraced its ideas, I am hoping without really knowing what it is. The description the textbook gives of fascism makes me very unwary when realizing so many nations accepted this concept. Fascists bitterly condemned individualism, liberalism, feminism, parliamentary, democracy and communism, all of which they argued divided and weakened the nation. Fascists were intensely nationalistic, seeking to revitalize and purify the nation, they condoned violence and exalted action rather than thought and or reflection. Nations that accepted the fascist ideas and joined the movement, included Germany, Italy, and Russia. These were the main three nations and all were taken over by an inspiring charismatic leader that could make some of the most horrid and treacherous things seem like the right thing to do.
For example, Hitler was the leader that began to influence Germany and his party was able to eventually take over the entire nation's government. Hitler was such a good speaker and influencer that he nearly influenced an entire nation that it was right to kill a neighbor due to the way they looked or the religion they chose to follow. He turned friends against friends, lovers against lovers and in some cases family against family to lead a nation to one of the largest and most horrible genocides in history. The fact that people could be influenced enough to let something this horrid take place and also in some cases follow along and commit these types of crimes is scary to me. I sometimes wonder if something like this could happen again and the people of one nation or even my own nation could do something similar.
What I have learned from this is that I must craefully choose which leader I choose to follow and allow to influence me. The other people of the nation must also do this. In a case where a mistake was made or the people were blinded by someone's character, I hope that people would choose to stand up and do whats right so that history willl not ever repeat itself. This was a very interesting subject and I am curious to read more on the subject.

Ways of the World Chapter 20

The section that grabbed my attention most was Cooperation and Rebellion. When discussing colonial times and the actions of exploration and conquest, it is common to discuss rebellion. The rebellion usually occurs from the people of the colonies that are natives to the land and being conquered by other larger nations. They rebel because they disagree with the ideas or religion of the Europeans. They may also rebel in order to drive the Europeans out of their native lands so that they can preserve their histories and traditions that the Europeans are trying to strip from them. What grabbed me about this section was the discussion of cooperation of the native people and the Europeans. In some cases the natives chose to cooperate with the European colonists in order to gain an advantage. It was necessary for the colonials to rely on the natives in order to make distant rule more effective. In these cases the natives of status and influence usually were able to retain their power while gaining even more wealth for their efforts. The natives that cooperated were able to gain a strong western-European education that allowed them to sometimes leave the native lands and go off and gain a further education on the "mainland". These natives would return home as lawyers, doctors, and even engineers or journalists, which enabled an overall higher level of sophisitication amongst the natives.
This is what I found most interesting. Both options, rebellion or cooperation had its pros and cons among them. In the case of rebellion, the pros were that they stood for what they believed in and what they felt was right, and in some cases they were successful. The cons of rebellion is that many natives were saughtered and in the end they seemed to lose every freedom possible. The pros to cooperation was that the people contained some freedoms and were given the opportunity to receive and education. The cons of cooperation were that the people lost their traditions and beliefs and were forced to conform to the ways of the europeans, losing everything they believed in. Niether is better than the other, and both have positive and negative outcomes.

Ways of the World Chapter 19: Sick Man Of Europe

I found it interesting to read about how the Ottoman Empire, which was once viewed as one of the most powerful empires in the world, weakened greatly in the early 19th century. The Ottoman Empire was the leader of a variety of nations and controlled most of the Arab world and it shocked me to see that a nation so powerful could fall so suddenly. Then I realized that this was a common phenomenon that occurred in many of the powerful nations in the past. This in a way, slightly scares me, because the United States is constantly growing in power and I cannot help but think when it is our turn to fall. As the United States continues to grow as a nation, the chances of us falling, I feel greatly increases. It is important that the United States government pays attention to the stability of the country which I am sure that they do, but I am afraid we are headed down the path that many nations in the past may have followed, which lead to their overall downfall.

Ways of the World Chapter 17: Feminist Beginnings

I was extremely interested in the section of feminist beginnings. I found it interesting and inspiring to read about the women who in the 1700's took a chance and voiced thier ideas in the enlightenment period that lead to the beginning of the feminist movement across the world. The revolution provided opportunity for women by creating the possibility of re-creating societies on new foundations that contained new ideas on equality. Women participated in the various events in order to see the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality included women. However the acknowledgement of these rights were denied till future times. Although this was the case women were still able to find some educational opportunities and freedom from household ties during the hustle and bustle of the industrial revolution.
I found this inspiring to see that these women were fed up with the life that they were forced to live and had the bravery and overall abitity to speak up for themselves. These miniscule outbursts of feministic ideas everntually lead to the equality of women. Equality may not have happened instantly but it did need to be introduced as an idea and this is what these women did. I almost feel empowered as a woman in this society with all the opportunity that I have. In the past I have taken equality and the availability of opportunity for granted, but this section in the textbook reminded me of how fortunate I truely am and made me truely thankful for these strong women who fought for the freedom that I am now able to enjoy. It is inspiring to know and fell what women are capable. Females have come a long way in society and there is still a long way to go and more equality to achieve, and I am fortunate and willing to do my part in ensuring fair treatment of females.

Chapter 18: The Beginning of the Industrial Revolution

An interesting concept that I read and had never considered before was the Why Europe? section. In this section the textbook poses the question of why was Europe the first place to industrialize and be the birthplace for the industrial revolution. I had never considered this idea. There were many other areas, like India and China that were just as technologically advanced if not more than the European nations. Experts have dissected the various possibilities of why this may be, but they have only come up with theories.
When the situation is looked at closely, there is no real reason as to why Europe was the first area geographically to industrialize. Other areas of the world experienced times of technological and scientific greatness. For example, the Islamic world generated major advances in shipbuilding, power, papermaking, textile production, and much more. In other areas there were similar advances, in India, there was the world center of cotton textile production, sugar production from sugar cane, and mathematical inventions. In the same note, China was clearly the world leader in technological innovation. However, all of these places of technology slowed down considerably by the early modern era, which was when the change in European technology began to pick up.
Historians have tried to describe this phenomenon, but have only formulated theories. They believe that it has to do with the patterns or Europe’s internal development that favored innovation. The many tiny nations that makeup Europe was constantly competing against each other, which fueled the industrial revolution. In places like Asia the nations are larger and more segregated. Another reason could be the monarch’s desperate need for revenue, which pushed them into an alliance with their merchant classes. It was an interest of the government to encourage commerce and innovation, and in some ways the merchant classes began to take over the states.
I found this to be very interesting, and like I mentioned earlier I did not ever consider the other parts of the world, or the reasoning as to why Europe was the first to industrialize. In all consideration, I would have expected China to be the first to industrialize because they were the most technologically advanced in the early modern era. However, when it came down to the industrialization, Europe took the first step and led the way, and more specifically England, which happened to be the one of Europe’s smallest nations.

Ways of the World Chapter 16: Growth of Christianity

I found it very interesting to see the difference between the European explorers/conquerors and other explorers/conquerors. The European explorers were extremely forceful with the natives when it came to the adoption of Christianity. When the Europeans came to a new land they would not only contribute to the spread of disease, population collapse, loss of land, and forced labor, they would force the Christian religion amongst the people. The settlers would claim an absolute religious truth and sought utter destruction of local gods and everything associated with them. This was a new phenomenon with the European conquerors, earlier conquerors, made no attempt to abolish any of the local deities and/or religious practices.
I found this fairly disturbing and sad. For many of the natives, if they did not adopt the ways of Christianity they were killed, so they had no other options. Many accepted baptism, contributed to the construction of religious churches, attended services and embraced the different idols and practices of Christianity. In many ways the natives lost their culture and their traditions completely. The native people were forbidden from practicing their traditions. As time passed, the new generations were immediately immersed into the new ways of the Europeans, losing valuable insight to their native traditions.
The destruction of the monuments and worship temples resulted in the lost of history and knowledge. The European settlers could have learned much valuable information on the area or the history of the natives, that could only enhanced their knowledge. However the Europeans were too close-minded to give anything but Christianity a chance and now many traditions and histories were lost or altered. And not only did the Europeans destroy their culture they did it in the most disrespectful way possible. They smashed religious images and ritual objects, as well as urinated on shrines, desecrated the remains of their ancestors and humiliated anyone who stood up to them for their beliefs and culture.
This horrible conversion that occurred in Spanish American colonies, did not continue in other parts of the world. For example in China the people were stronger and more independent so they were not easily conquered. The European missionaries or traders did not threaten China and they were able to keep their traditions and culture. Europeans had to go the Chinese leaders and ask to be allowed to be in the country. The Chinese people never fully became interested in the Christian way and were able to keep their own traditions and beliefs.

Ways of the World Chapter 16: Protestant Reformation

I found it very interesting to learn that it before 1517, the views of Christianity, were completely different than they are today. The original Christian had to perform tasks, such as sacraments or offerings to be considered for salvation from God. Then Martin Luther came and proposed the idea that "good works or any of the sacraments had any bearing on the eternal destiny of the soul, for faith was free" Luther preached that faith alone would bring salvation to humanity. This reformation is what separated Catholics from the other Christian groupings.
This reformation gave justification for different groups to revolt from the Catholic Church and establish their own lands and countries under the teachings of Martin Luther. Woman were also given the chance to advance in literacy and education. Martin Luther preached the importance of of reading the bible at home or on your own, so with this women were able to learn how to read and advance in their education. This was a big step, and in some groups, like the Quakers women were even given a role in the church other than the convent.
I found the passage about the Quakers giving women an equal role in the church a little surprising. To me it feels that within some time the churches began to once again slightly segregate and become a little hypocritical, like the original Roman Catholic Church. I was baptized Catholic as a child but my mom was non-denominational christian which just means that she just follows God and Jesus. My step-mom was protestant and my step dad was atheist, so I was able to get a view of many different types of beliefs. Last year I also attended a Quaker University and joined a Baptist Church so I was also able to learn of those beliefs. To my surprise I found the Quakers to be the most segregated. I do not know if that was just that sect or if all Quakers are like that, however a variety of acts were committed by the students and the community which demonstrated raciest and even sexist views.
I like the ideas that Martin Luther preached and projected and how different groups have grown from that developed his ideas into greater ideas. I feel that this is how Christianity should be and be taught. I feel like his views on how it did not matter what u did as long as u believed in God and had strong faith. It made the individual relationships with God and Jesus more personal and overall stronger. I am very thankful Martin Luther had the courage and the strength to share his ideas with the world, because without him, who knows where Christianity may be now.

Ways of the World: Chapter 15

I found it very interesting to see how powerful Portugal was, and how it was a force to be reckoned with in Europe's journey to the East. It is a strange concept because of the actual size of the country and the actual standing that it has now. However, being a country almost completely surrounded by water it doesn't seem implausible. The journey across the Indian Ocean towards the East was very necessary in the advancement in the economies of the European world. This journey would result in valuable benefits that could revive and strengthen their economies and wealth. Among these benefits were various goods such as spices/textiles and the development of trade systems and relationships between countries. The gain of these aspects would lend an advantage of certain countries over others in Europe.

I also found it interesting to learn that the Spanish invasion of the Philippines was in order to get an advantage on the Portuguese in the journey to the East. It proved a success by providing a place for Spain to hold their silver during the silver trade. Silver was labeled as one of the most important pieces that started trade being started across international borders. Thus definitely giving the Spanish the upper hand in the newly discovered idea of global exchange of goods. However, China became a force to be reckoned with as well. The Chinese/Indians, created many different products so quickly and at so little cost that it became almost impossible to compete. I also found it interesting and slightly amusng how in some places, for example France, it became illegal to use imported items from India or China because the government was trying to conserve and protect its own industry.

Chapter 4: Sugar and the Origins of the Modern World

I found it very interesting to learn of the origins of sugar in the modern world and how it was thought to be a medicine and/or a spice, and was used in very small quantities. It wasn't till the 18th century that it was used as a sweetener, and that is when it went from a high class privilege to a world commodity. I also found it very interesting to learn that the traditional beer was more nutritious than sweetened tea. It was weird to see the transition between tea being a statement of wealth and power to a statement of poverty and lack of nutrition. When first introduced it was a statement of wealth because it the rarity of it. Only people of wealth had the ability to have it imported or to recieve it. However, once it became a commodity it was commonly used as a replacement for food because it gave the illusion of a hot meal, making it a common use of the lower class. It was interesting to read and learn about the evolution of sugar as a product and how the value of it changed as it became more popular and more widely used.

Response to article by John Boudreau

Upon reading the article In Vietnam, Teenage Daughters Sold Into Sex Slavery, I found it rather sad when the "motherly" woman and the man came to these villages, which were obviously struggling in the first place, and offered them "opportunity" through slavery. The worst part is that the families unknowingly agreed to give up their daughters to slavery because they thought it would benefit the family and they were so desperate for money. Unfortunately when the girls went with these people their lives were only made worse, they were tricked into thinking they would be able to work to help their families and enhance their lifestyle, but instead they were forced into the sex trade.

This is a very depressing situation, because the girls that were taken, on top of being tricked into slavery they were all so young. They didn't even stand a chance, because there was so much lack of experience. Due to their home life, most of these women, as well as other women that this has happened to, are found to be illiterate and unaware of these types of dangers.

I found it extremely disgusting to read the part about the men paying extra for the younger and the more innocent or "pure". I cannot even image what these young women have to go through. They are taken from their homes, lives, and basically everything they own, so that they can be used and taken advantage of by gross old men. I also found it disturbing to learn about the high counts of women that are sold and disappear. Thats crazy that governments have let this type of situation get so out of hand or that they might even be involved. I was glad to see that there were programs in place to try and help this issue, I hope that people can come together and try to stop sex trafficking, because so one should ever have to be subjected to that type of treatment.