All music tells some kind of story, but I recently heard a song that was eerily similar to our recent studies in class. The song "Ten Million Slaves" by Otis Taylor is about the "middle passage" for slaves, that being the trip from Africa to America. Here is a link to the lyrics. The song is about how, as Otis says, "Ten million slaves crossed that Ocean / They had shackles on Their Legs", and how the slaves back then had no idea where they were going or what they were doing.
The song parallels many of the horrible conditions slaves had to live through in the book A Narrative Life of Fredrick Douglass, including the lack of adequate food as mentioned in the line "Food goes bad, food looks Rancid / But they ate it anyway". Slaves lived horrible lives, and it is very depressing to think that some were allowed to starve because owners did not want to spend money on feeding their workers.
Here is a video of the song.
Apart from this song in particular, the entire album, called "Recapturing the Banjo", tells another surprising story. If you were asked where the banjo was from you would probably say the south. That is what most people, me included, have commonly thought. But recently I learned that that is incorrect, the banjo actually originated in Africa. Although throughout their adaptations to American music banjos have changed greatly, they have their origins in Africa. Otis Taylor decided to inform the public, and he made that album to tell a bit of history while he made the music he loves.
I doubt this is the only piece of musical history that is not common knowledge, so when I get a chance I intend to look into it more.
When you hear the term Child Labor, almost every one, me included, immediatly has a very negative idea of what it is. But recently I read something that made me question what I thought.
In class we are currently talking about slavery, and to many people, child laborers seem to be slaves. Child labor is rampant throughout developing countries, and there has been an uproar because of companies like Nike using factories that employ kids. Due to the public anger Nike closed down these factories. But did this help anyone?
In the article I read, linked here, the author brought up a different moral point. He states that if the kids in poor families of developing areas did not work they would end up even worse off. With children working to "augment household income" as the author Adam Hersh says, they will most likely end up doing even worse things. These could include prostitution, drug trafficing or even becoming child soldiers. Additionally the money they earn, while it may not be much, is often enough to ensure that they do not starve.
The other side of the argument has its own valuable points though. Child labor often leads to kids getting little to no education, and of course some labor is unhealthy. Not to mention it is very illegal by International standards.
This is a tough question. Whether or not children should work in factories is very circumstantial and will be debated for a long time. As of right now I have no clear opinion. I understand that child labor is a bad thing, but I also feel compassion for young children who work all day in order to have enough to eat.
I will most likely revisit this topic at sometime, but until then comment and leave your own opinion.
This year in class we have discussed story telling and how people choose to deliver the things they see. After watching the Chicago Bears unfortunate loss to the Oakland Raiders I noticed that people chose to tell very different stories of the game.
Jay Cohen of the Associated Press in an article described Caleb Hanie's (The Quarterback replacement for the injured Jay Cutler) performance as a "shaky trip to the Black Hole". Later he also discusses the "flubbed" spike at the end.
I find it very interesting how sports analysts only have two opinions usually. Either someone preforms spectacularly or they completely failed and have every detail of their game meticulously analyzed for the smallest mistake.
Caleb's so called "flubbed" spike is an example of this. With four seconds left and about fifty yards to go not many veteran QB's could be expected to score, much less a first time back up. A slight mental error ended the game seconds earlier than it normally would have, but if you listen to a lot of people it sounds like the game was lost in that play alone.
Caleb Hanie played well as far as I care, but the message I am trying to get across is how peoples opinions change the way they retell events. I guarantee if we had won in those last seconds all his interceptions would be ignored as first game nerve issues. But he didn't, so now he is being criticized for it .
There are countless other cases of corrupt or biased stories being told. Our own opinions seem to be able to alter the facts in our own minds, the stories we tell can also show our opinions on the topic being discussed.
Every year in early November stores nation wide use their own form of propaganda to draw shoppers in on the Friday after Thanksgiving. If you did not know, this "holiday" got its name from the idea of a companies profits being in the black (positive) instead of the red (negative or a loss).
While the deals may be good, people wait for hours just to even get into stores. For a while a never understood it. Is saving 50% really worth waiting at a store for hours then having to deal with the crowds of people like you filling every square inch of a Target or Walmart?
Not being an avid shopper myself I talked to my sisters and grandma. They explained that, weird as it is, people don't just shop for the deals. Many people actually enjoy spending their Friday going from store to store, waiting in line at each. It's more of an experience, one that people look forward to each year.
In the end the companies "propaganda"is very important. Whoever can convince the most people that they have the best deals is the one that will get the biggest portion of the shoppers on this busiest shopping day of the year. They are able to profit greatly even though the prices are reduced because of the sheer number of customers and the money they spend.
In class recently we discussed propaganda, and on an excursion we got to see many examples of communist era Soviet propaganda art. Propaganda is defined as something, ideas, information, rumors, etc., that is spread deliberately to help or harm a group, movement or nation. The Soviets use many forms of propaganda throughout World War II and later. But one film I had seen that I found interesting was made to target the Nazi's and Hitler as an almost inhuman enemy.
The Soviets goal was to encourage their troops to fight as hard as they can to defeat the Germans. I found it interesting how Hitler was depicted as a huge monster just out to kill and destroy all the Soviets worked for, and the Nazi's were fanged demons who try to destroy the USSR from the inside. The Soviet people are then instructed to destroy the enemy with bullets and bayonets at all costs.
This made me wonder does the U.S. dehumanize its enemies in similar ways?Unfortunately I think we have. This is one of many posters I was able to find that make our enemies seem more like beasts that need to be slain. There are many more showing buck toothed Chinese men shown as Communists that are taking over the world.
While I could not find American videos as extreme as the Soviet one, all countries at war try to brainwash their citizens at least a little because there need to be troops to have a war. And propaganda is not all a bad thing, there are plenty work effectively to gain support with out dehumanizing others.
Hopefully you have heard the very unfortunate story of the exotic animals in Ohio. But if not here is a quick summary: Terry Thompson, who was recently released from jail, had a sort of farm for exotic farm for animals like bengals, lions and grizzlies. He left the cages open for 56 animals to escape before shooting himself. Unfortunately 49 of the animals had to be killed, some were shot with tranquilizer darts but that did nothing but aggravate them more.
The real tragedy is not that so many animals had to be killed, but that they were held there in the first place. As I talked about in an earlier post, there is a difference between collecting and hoarding. Thompson kept the animals for himself for reasons that are not clear. His intentions were not public awareness or preservation, he seemed to be a hoarder of exotic animals.
The animals had to be killed as they posed a great threat to all humans nearby, as unfortunate as this is it was necessary. I am happy to say though that there has been much talk about changing the laws in Ohio about the owning of exotic animals. Hopefully it only takes this one disaster to make every one rethink owning such an animal. What dot you think? Is it ever right to keep animals like that captive? Zoos are an entire different debate, not to be brought up here. But one man owning so many of these wild creatures, is it really a surprise something went wrong? Especially seeing as there had been escapes in the past.
One of my friends recently asked me why it seems that the current car of choice for teens is the Jeep Wrangler. We live in a more wealthy part of the suburbs, so the choice of cars is not all that limited. But what image are high school kids trying to send by driving large 4x4 cars meant for off-roading, that get horrible gas mileage, around the paved streets of the North Shore?
With money not being an issue there are many much more practical cars to drive. The Wrangler gives off an feeling of a tough outdoorsy person, because that is what it is made to do. With high ground clearance, a high horsepower engine, just under 300, and large knobby wheels the Wrangler is meant for muddy rocky terrain, not the asphalt of the North Shore.
Getting under twenty miles per gallon, the Wrangler uses a lot of gas for being not too big of a car. But it is still really popular. I am wondering why. What does having a doorless roofless car say about its owner? That they are an outdoorsy person or that they are very impractical?
I live in a house with three little sisters, so naturally I try to keep all my stuff safely closed up in my bedroom. The only problem is my bedroom is the smallest room so it gets a bit cluttered. I try my best, keeping all that I can on a nice metal shelving unit, but for some reason my parents hate it.
Why is it that I am called a hoarder for keeping my seventeen years worth of possessions in one safe place, but a man like Lee Hartung keeps acres of, for lack of a more descriptive word, junk and is considered a collector. I may just be on my way to ending up like him.
Now after saying that I must admit that I hold a great deal of respect for Lee. He recently departed this world after living a very full life, and his multi acre estate in Glenview is to be auctioned off November 3th-5th. Lee Hartung was a collector, he had everything from rows upon rows of original early 20th century Fords to kids toys and just about anything else. He ran this collection as a kind of low key museum when he was alive. But it was his wish for there to be an auction so a new generation of collectors could buy the acres of items he had.
My question is where is the line between being collector and just having lots of junk? Albeit millions of dollars of collectible junk. Lee Hartung was considered to be an eccentric man by many, but he did what he loved. The airplane hanger like building of his possessions is proof of that.
To me the only thing that separates hoarders from collectors is the value of their objects. Hoarders find their own personal value in everything, but collectors look to obtain items that are widely believed to be of some value.
If you want to check Lee Hartung's collection out you can go on a preview day and for twenty dollars admission you may peruse the fields and buildings, but there is a hundred dollar charge in order to be allowed to bid on any item. This is understandable as they wish to keep the bidding to people who are actually interested in collecting things of their own.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about the story of Troy Davis. Unfortunately his life has come to an end, he was executed for a charge of murder late on the night of September 21. We are all entitled to our own opinion, but I strongly believe Troy was innocent. There were numerous questions and aspects of the story that just did not seem to fit. I am not alone as many people such as Jimmy Carter, Jesse Jackson, Pope Benedict and the organization Amnesty International. Troy's life was one of torture. He spent over twenty years on death row awaiting an injection that he did not deserve. After hearing of his Tragic end, I had a rather disturbing thought. Let's say it was the other way around; a white cop killed Troy. He may end up serving a short term in jail but probably would not be in very long. There is still evident racism in our country, and I feel this trial was a good example of it. Georgia is one of the top states in dealing out the death penalty sitting in seventh with 40 people executed since 1976. Of those there have been a few debated cases but Troy's remains the most contested.
No matter the evidence, or lack there of, I feel that when a persons execution is as opposed as that of Troy Davis is, the least the government could do is step in and review the situation. The fact that one of the witnesses against Troy was a man who many witnesses said was the true killer is an other point of question. If a man is accusing someone of murder is it fair to take them seriously if they themselves may be the culprit? Overall I am disappointed in the courts judgement of the case, and I hope that this will teach us to look at things a little more carefully in the future. Troy may be dead but we can remember him by helping others in similar situations.
After watching Grizzly Man in American Studies, I remembered another story similar to Timothy Treadwell's adventure in some aspects. Starting in the 1950's Soviet scientists began attempting to domesticate the silver fox through selective breeding. For decades they the most gentile and kind foxes and bred them, but also bred were they most ferocious and mean foxes. Though some financial issues arose through the duration of the experiment it is still operational today, and in some places it is possible to purchase these foxes as pets.
My real question is, should we as humans be doing this? The silver fox is a wild animal, yet we are turning them into dogs. The characteristics of the domesticated animals have even undergone changes. Their noses are smaller and their tail changed shape. Genetically they are no longer the same as other foxes. I am not completely against this experiment. I like most people find the idea of a tame fox to be very appealing, especially after seeing Timothy Treadwell and the fox that followed him around all that time, but I am bothered by the creation of extremely vicious foxes. There is little reason to create an animal to be as bloodthirsty as possible. Those animals will never be happy and it is easy to see the negative applications of foxes like those. As seen in the video there are pros and cons so it is up to you to decide what you think of all this. In my opinion doing research for the furthering of our scientific and evolutionary knowledge is way different than companies selling these foxes as pets for their profit or creating killer animals.
Hockey has always been a contact sport, but now it often seems to be just a sport used as an excuse to watch men bash each others brains out. In the early days of hockey helmets were not worn, but neither was their much need for a helmet. Players wore minimal padding and kept the hitting to light bumps. But as science helped to increase the protection of pads, the game got more violent, but at a natural level. Nowadays all people want is the hitting. Sitting in the stands a massive hit raises as much of a cheer as a nice goal.
This change in playing style has led to a new breed of player, The Enforcer. It is their job to sit on the bench and look mean then every once in a while go out and check a bunch of people then maybe get in a fight. Unfortunately our own Blackhawks have stooped to this level, picking up Daniel Carcillo in a trade. You may remember him from the Stanly Cup finals versus the Flyers where he racked up countless penalty minutes. Carcillo and other enforcers have very limited hockey skills apart from size and strength. They are opposite of what a hockey player should be, yet the crowds love them.
Hockey is an inherently dangerous game, but the chance of getting hurt is much greater now with the degree of hitting that has arose. Neal Goss of New Trier was a team captain and just your everyday normal student. But a cheap shot changed his life forever. In 1999 Goss was cross checked from behind, a very illegal hit that left him paralyzed from the chest down. That is one close to home example of how devastating it can be when people do not respect a sport enough to play it correctly. I am hoping that soon hockey fans will once again prefer the players finesse and skills over their ability to cause pain. As hockey is part of the entertainment industry they do conform to the fans wishes, so I believe we should try to clean up the sport of hockey and play it as was meant to be played.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Watch Video First
The story of Troy Davis is a sad one, but I hope that we can all still help remedy the situation. In 1989 a police officer was killed while working an off duty job in Savannah, Georgia. With no true evidence to speak of, except an unlikely eye witness account from very far away, Troy was convicted and sentenced to death. Soon after his sentence was suspended for further trials. After 22 years waiting on death row and numerous death sentences, one of which was called off within hours of being carried out, Troy Davis is still waiting for a fair trial. Many new testimonies have turned up revealing that the police were responsible for forcing "witnesses" to give the "proper" account of the events of that night, including one man who could not even read being forced to sign the testimony. For a more detailed account watch the linked video.
I first heard of the sad story of Troy Davis through the band State Radio. They wrote a song, "State of Georgia" as a means to get the word out about Troy. After hearing the song I decided I had to learn more, and the more I learned the more disturbing I found the whole situation.There are countless online petitions and groups backing a fair trial or even the release of Troy Davis including Amnesty International (linked to a page to join the movement against the death penalty). If you wish to learn more you can visit one of these sites or use Google to learn for yourself.
Unfortunately I think we have. This is one of many posters I was able to find that make our enemies seem more like beasts that need to be slain. There are many more showing buck toothed Chinese men shown as Communists that are taking over the world.
