Author: nt100277

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05/20/11

9/11 Archives

I personally like the concept behind the 9/11 digital archive, honoring and remembering the victims that died that day. I agree with Jonathan on many aspects, I like the idea that people can post memories about their experiences on 9/11, but I find it less sincere in some aspects when I see someone post a picture of themselves from a trip they took to New York 20 years ago in front of the towers and then saying I feel your pain. The fact is that unless they were in the area or knew someone who was in there on 9/11, you really can feel the way we did. Being in New York all my life, I personally don’t like the fact that Ground Zero has become a tourist site, I think that is just wrong. I do however like the fact that people care enough that they do post about it, I just wish there was a separate section they could do it in. I also like the fact that the archive is filtered enough for spam, which shows a genuine concern and passion about remembering those who died.

I think one thing the site could use is a digital memorial, such as the names and pictures of the people who died there that day. I think that those people should have their own section, and only friends and family of those people should be able to post there, perhaps directly under the pictures. I also think the photos should be organized into specific photo albums depending on what the pictures are about. Overall I really do like this site and I’m glad something like it exists.

05/15/11

Pilot: Requesting permission to land. Over. Control Tower:ZZZzzzzz…….

When you get on a plane you do something that most people wouldn’t choose to do; you put your life into someone else’s hands. By getting on an airplane you show confidence in the trained individuals that perform maintenance on the aircraft, pilot the aircraft and direct the aircraft; however recently that confidence has been shattered. The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA has recently been reporting more and more cases of air traffic controllers who have been found asleep on the job. Air Traffic Controllers, or ATC’s, have arguably the most important and tedious job in aviation, next to long distance pilots. They are the one who track planes routes, making sure no planes have mid air collisions and also directly control landing and takeoff patterns of planes. They are the ones responsible for keeping the hectic skies in sync; you could say they are the ones whose job it is to simply control the chaos. ATC’s jobs are extremely fatigue inducing and extremely demanding, having little time for sleep and working extended hours on already overly demanding schedules. Since late March, there have been 5 reported ATC’s who were found sleeping in the control tower while on the clock. This is extremely dangerous, because if no communication is coming out of the tower, the planes in the area are left all on their own, putting passengers and crew in a potentially life threatening situation. The government has now really begun to set regulations into place. They have cut the hours ATC’s work, added more staff to ensure there is always someone available in the tower, and set a no tolerance policy up where ATC’s sleeping on the job will be let go.

 

In August of 1981, FAC’s went on strike to protest the unfair working conditions they endured. President Ronald Reagan stated that the ATC’s had violated a regulation put in place that prohibited government unions from going on strike. He declared this a state of emergency because there was no one regulating the skies and bodly stated that if the workers “do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated”. The ATC’s didn’t budge and in respond Reagan unwilling to work with them fired “11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work”. Government clearly wasn’t afraid to take action, but instead of helping the workers it desperately needed, it cut back on them. This could be viewed as a regulation that if anything hurt the FAA more than helped it.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110417-sleeping-air-traffic-controller-incidents-prompt-usa-regulation-aviation#

05/11/11

Exceptional America, or not?

The idea of American exceptionalism is that the US is different from every other country in the world because we are a “New nation”. We were formed in a unique way during a unique type of revolution, in a unique time with unique situations that came about. The way we have grown as a country since 1776 is now referred to as our state of exceptionalism. Towards the very end of the chapter there is a section entitled “Exceptional America” which describes how America has changed over the last 65 years. It describes the socioeconomic change, the rise in overall education and the rise of the expected life time of Americans. This gives the impression of the general rise in the standard of living among Americans, it doesn’t however give a reason why, other than indoor plumbing was mandated by law. I wonder what happened in American society that suddenly caused the majority of people to attend college, was it the job market getting tougher or was it something else, such as social norms changing. The book gives a startling statistic that in the year 2000 14+ million students attended college, 3 times the amount that did in 1960.

What I feel really needs to be elaborated on is the next section, which is only given 3 sentences. This talks about the “dark side” of what has become known as “exceptionalism”. It simply says that however advanced we have become we still have by FAR the most murders “caused by guns” of any advanced country in the world; with 11,789 in 1998. As a point of comparison the second highest was Germany with 373 and rounding out the top 3 was Canada with 151. Why is our number so ludicrously higher than the rest? I can understand that our population is exponentially larger and that when the percentage is taken of the total population of country/murders that occurred we would probably be lower than the rest; but that’s still nearly 12,000 people dead.

05/2/11

Protest Songs of the Times CCR: Fortunate Son & Green Day: American Idiot

 

In 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival, better known as CCR, released the song “Fortunate Son”.  Fortunate Son became known and embraced as an anthem to protest the war in Vietnam.  Its main message was that American men were forced to go to war in Vietnam against their will, due to the reinstatement of the Military Draft.  There were some instances of high powered government officials who allegedly got their sons draft numbers not called, sparing their child’s life and sending another person in his place.  This is shown by the lyrics “It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no …It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son,It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no”.  The draft is portrayed as an inevitable and horrendous event that can’t be avoided unless you have power or influence in government. America embraced the song because it was saying what everyone was thinking, the fear of unjust death. The moment a boy became a soldier and was sent off to war is captured by the lyrics “And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”, Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord”.  Once the president called you into service, you were soon to be sent to the battlefield, it was essentially a death notice.

 

In 2004 the band Green Day released the song “American Idiot” and it instantly catapulted them into the stratosphere and made them one of the world’s most prominent rock bands.  American idiot is a song that brings light to the fact that the media controls what Americans know about the world events, whether it is true or not.  The lyrics: “Don’t want a nation that doesn’t know media; And can you hear the sound of hysteria?; The subliminal mind f— America” are meant to encourage Americans to break the trend of listening to what they are told, and instead ask questions and investigate what they have been told.  The lyrics: “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda; Now everybody do the propaganda; And sing along in the age of paranoia”, poke fun at the former Republican President George W. Bush (him being the redneck with an agenda).  This song was so popular in its time that President Bush actually banned it for a while, claiming that it was a threat to national security due to it Anti-American tone.  This was proving the power of his propaganda in removing kinks in his armor, and the fact that that time was a time of terror, war and death certainly added to the country’s feeling of paranoia. Green day also sarcastically says: “Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alien nation”.  This is easily interpreted as the heightened terror alerts that were put in place across all the major cities is “the alien nation”, easily interpreted as the USA.  Green Day pretty much nailed the physical, emotional, and mental feelings of an entire nation in their hit song.

 

04/27/11

THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION

On politically important event in the 1960’s was the attempt to “remove” Fidel Castro from power in Cuba.  The Bay of Pigs invasion was a covert mission launched by the US government in April of 1961 under the Kennedy administration.  Its purpose was to insert 1400 CIA trained Cuban operatives into southern Cuba into a location known as the Bay of Pigs.  They would then make their way northward to Castro’s capitol in Havana. The operatives’ mission was to carry out the program nicknamed “Operation PLUTO”. OP PLUTO called for the replacement of the Castro regime, with one that was more focused on the true interests of the Cuban people; and one that is more acceptable to the US.  It was also paramount that it did not appear that the US had any involvement in this issue.  The method of removal covered all bases including assassination.  This was just the beginning of the troubles that the US had with Cuba under JFK, later to come was the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis.  It was a time of tension and fear, with the realization that the US could be the target of Nuclear Weapons, and with Cuba being only 90 miles south of Florida, the missiles could reach every location in the continental US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlnM_n1s1E

04/11/11

New York State Civil Defense Commission Advice on Nuclear Fallout? Not So Helpful…


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I6i5rN-2E4

During the 1950’s and 1960’s the United States and the USSR were taking part in a Cold War.  There was a very high threat of an all out nuclear war, which could potentially destroy the world.  In a true capitalist nation people thought of ways to make money off of this policy of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction).  Suddenly retailers began selling fallout shelters that could supposedly withstand a nuclear blast and fallout for a certain portion of time.  Government agencies, such as the State Civil Defense Commission of New York as seen in this video, gave tips on how to protect yourself and your farm animals from fallout.  Now they suggest putting bales of hay in front of windows of a barn to keep out radiation, so that just shows you how much they knew.  The point is that everyone knew the all too realistic possibility of nuclear war occurring, and there were measures taken to make Americans feel safer in this tense time.

04/4/11

The Berlin Blockade

At the end of WWII, each of the four major nations that had won the war took control over sections of Germany and of the capital city of Berlin as well.  Eventually there were different currencies from the different occupiers floating around in the different “zones” and it led to the split.  This area would be know as west Germany, an ally to the US, French, and British.  This area was far into a dangerous area that the Soviets had control over, bordering Soviet East Germany.  In response to the split of Germany, the Soviets blockaded the area, blocking all supply lines to West Germany.  They blocked road and rail traffic completely.  The only way to get supplies into West Germany, to their allies, was by air.  An 11month air drop of supplies then followed, mainly consisting of food and fuel.

A direct result of this blockade was the creation of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was the first peace time treaty that was militaristic in nature.  Its main purpose was to stop the spread of Communism, and protect America and the European nations whom signed it. The idea was that if Communists took control of one country all the others would join together and fight it back.  Had we not had NATO, the US may have potentially become communist, or worse we might not be here do to the concept of “MAD” (Mutually Assured Destruction).  This ideology was essentially that if the Soviet Union launched its nuclear missiles at the US, we would launch ours right back at them, thus obliterating each other, and potentially the world.

03/21/11

Don’t worry Uncle Sam, Santa will help!

Washington Post, 1933 by Clifford K. Berryman

The artist was trying to convey the message that FDR wanted to get many different things done in a short period of time.  He also leans toward the idea that it isn’t possible to get such a massive amount of relief and legislation passed that quickly. In order for it to be done you would need “magic” or some other worldly force.  This is shown by the iconic image of a child putting out a stocking over the fireplace at Christmas in the hopes for some treat to be delivered by Santa overnight.  On the stockings themselves, are many different agencies that FDR created to provide jobs, such as the: CCC, TVA, FCA, TWA etc.  It can be interpreted that these programs were the primary ideas to get America back on its feet.  The “gifts” that would be received would hopefully make everything return to normal, and get America back to its former glory. FDR is the child and he seems to be reassuring “Uncle Sam” that everything will be okay in the end because his New Deal will work.

03/13/11

The times are hard…

A "Hooverville" home, located in a shanty town during the late 20s early 30's.
A bread line during the Great Depression.

The first photo shows a house made of salvaged boards and planks that poor Americans who lost everything during the Depression lived in.  Many families lost all of their money in the stock market and were left homeless, so they moved into parks, under bridges and into the woods where they formed little communities.  These towns became known as Hooverville’s, because many people blamed the President (Herbert Hoover) for the economic collapse.  These communities began popping up all over the nation as more and more of its citizens fell upon desperate times.  The second photo shows a bread line in a major city.  In an attempt to provide some relief, the government provided food to the most needy of its citizens.  Bread, stew, soup and water were the most common commodities handed out to starving men women and children.  It was not uncommon to see thousands of people waiting on one of these lines hoping to get a few scraps of food to get them through the day, because they did not know when their next meal might be.

03/9/11

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a massive cultural movement among African Americans that took place in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Nearly one million African-Americans left the south following the end of WWI. They sought new opportunities up north and many found themselves heading to cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago and of course New York City. During the 20’s these cities black population more than doubled, and Harlem, NYC became known as “the capital of Black America”. Though many faced hard times during this era, a great artistic movement began. Cultural poetry, paintings, musical composers, intellectuals and novels began to emerge. Most notably was the production and development of outstanding Jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. The Apollo theatre in Harlem became the pride of Harlem, and was the only place in the city that hired black performers. In these theatre seats both black and white patrons watched shows together, and it can be considered a place of equality. The Harlem Renaissance was a massive step forward in the movement for civil rights.

03/2/11

The Roosevelt Corollary

While officially being enacted prior to WWI, the Roosevelt Corollary was an important part of WWI.  This document basically stated that the United Stated had “the right to exercise “an international police power” in the western hemisphere”, in order to protect the Americas for possible imperialistic notions from European countries (Foner, 683).  Essentially this meant that if a country in “The Americas” seemed to be unstable due to economic, political etc.  reasons the US would play the part of the “good neighbor” (as called by FDR) and help the country get back on its feet.  This was done because the US feared that if a country fell, European invaders would take over that nation and make it a point to further expand in the Americas, thus causing war.  This policy became known as the “Big Stick” policy due to the fact that at the time the US had arguably the best military and we put on a show of force to ward off potential attackers.  Prior to and during WWI the US fought for Cuba and Panama and stated this policy as their reasoning.  There were tensions with the Germans in Venezuela as well in the early 1900’s that eventually blew up into them going on a imperialistic and genocidal rampage in WWI.  Foner was dead on in what he wrote about the Roosevelt Corollary; however I feel he could have written more than one page on it.  He seems to be neutral on the topic and seems to state the basic points clearly.  My images show the representation of what people thought of the US during that time, essentially that we were trying to bully them out of “our territory”.  It simply shows that the US took the time to say “we have the bigger gun” so that Europeans better back away slowly and not try to invade our areas.

02/28/11

Woodrow Wilson and Progressivism

Woodrow Wilson; 28th President of the United States of America

Republican candidate Woodrow Wilson was elected as the new President in 1913.  The former governor of New Jersey won a staggering 42 percent of the popular vote, beating out Teddy Roosevelt and Howard Taft in rankings, who had 27% and 23% respectively.  Wilson set up regular press conferences to inform the public on issues of legislation and to try to raise the publics’ opinion of him.  He also personally delivered messages to congress believing that it was more noble that writing them on a piece of paper.  He passed the Underwood tariff which vastly reduced tariffs on imported goods, and also implemented an income tax of the richest 5% of Americans.  He also passed the Clayton act of 1914 which “exempted labor unions from antitrust laws”.  To help out the lower and middle classes, Wilson also passed the Keating-Owen Act which outlawed child labor; the Adamson Act which created an 8 hour work day on all American railroads, and the Warehouse Act which gave credit to farmers who stored their crops in federally licensed warehouses.

02/23/11

Tenement life of the early 1900’s

Tenements in NYC circa 1900                              Tenement life; Photo by Jacob Riis 1910

These images show how the typical immigrant lived in New York City in the early 1900’s.  The first photo depicts how tenement life worked in the 1900’s.  It shows a crowded community in a very small area.  It also gives you the idea of a relative sense of community, after all the strings the clothes hang on do connect to other strings.  It can be a place to talk to your neighbors from each others windows and it seems to be a bright spot in a struggling immigrant’s life. People from many backgrounds all met in these areas and since they all lived in these same conditions they formed bonds with each other.   The second photo was taken by renowned photographer Jacob Riss and is a more dreary and accurate portrayal of immigrant life.  Entire families were packed into a single room, and that room was called their home.  These rooms were generally decrepit, cramped and full of chemicals that today are deemed extremely hazardous to health.  Families would often work out of these shoebox sized rooms; doing things such as tailoring and shoe-making.  It was a very tough life to live, but to them it was the only way to survive.

02/13/11

Robert E. Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox 1865

General Robert E. Lee, the Commander of the Confederate forces, found his army completely surrounded and ravished by Union soldiers. He was forced to surrender to the Union, or have his forces annihilated in a dragged out war in which he was vastly outnumbered in.  On April 9th, 1865, he agreed to meet with his opponent, Union General and future President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant.  They were to meet at a farmhouse owned by Wilmer McLean, where General Grant would officially sign the surrender of the Confederate Forces.  This therefore was the official end to the Civil War.

Lincoln wanted to make the nation a whole again; a solid, single, united nation, the United States of America.  In order to accomplish this Lincoln allowed confederate soldiers to sign a form to allow them to be part of the Union, citizens of the United States.  Confederate officers were, for the most part excluded from this offer, on the basis of high treason; however,Lincoln extended the honor of becoming a citizen to the opposing Commander, and one of his friends General Robert E. Lee.  It is a little know fact that Lincoln had originally asked West Point Graduate Lee to be his Commander AGAINST the South, but Lee declined the offer stating he was a Virginian and could not fight against his home.  Lee accepted the offer and was once again by all standards a legal citizen.

02/8/11

The Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and is the central banking system of the United States.  It is a private institution run by Ben Bernanke, who is responsible to monitor the nation’s monetary policy, maintain the stability of the US financial system, regulate banks, and provide financial services to banks, the U.S. government, and foreign Governments and banks when required.

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and is the central banking system of the United States.  It is a private institution run by Ben Bernanke, who is responsible to monitor the nation’s monetary policy, maintain the stability of the US financial system, regulate banks, and provide financial services to banks, the U.S. government, and foreign Governments and banks when required.The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 and is the central banking system of the United States.  It is a private institution run by Ben Bernanke, who is responsible to monitor the nation’s monetary policy, maintain the stability of the US financial system, regulate banks, and provide financial services to banks, the U.S. government, and foreign Governments and banks when required.
02/7/11

What really happened?

Eric Foner’s book review of “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory”, by David W. Blight, shows that it would prove to be an interesting read.  It sheds light on the fact that history should not be accepted for its face value.  As Napoleon once said “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon”.  The result of a battle is quite simple, there is a winner and a loser; and the only side of the story that is heard is that of the victor.  This creates a bias and a convenient addition/deletion of certain facts and events.  The picture that results is therefore a distorted image, not an accurate representation of the actual events.  The people who would most benefit from reading this book are students, for the reason that many believe that what they were taught in grammar school is the way it actually happened.  This book would teach them to other half of the story, and perhaps get them to begin questioning other historical events, encouraging them to discover the truth for themselves.

An event that is remembered in many different ways is the concept of Manifest Destiny that the United States used to expand westward.  Many believe that the government relocated the nation’s Native American population in a fair manner and that they agreed to actually move in the first place.  This is an ideal thought but, the reality was much more brutal and violent.  In reality the Native Americans were essentially told move to a designated remote location, with useless land and die there, or stay and fight the troops that would be sent to “relocate” them i.e., get slaughtered in battle.  In the case of the Native Americans, the moves taken were absolutely rooted in political agenda.  In the case of the North Vs. the South, the moves taken were also based in political dominance.  The north wanted to erase the fact that the country had been divided so they tried to tarnish the image of the South in as many ways as possible.  This included rallying the Northern voters to only vote for their politicians by “waving the bloody shirt” — reminding voters of the war — during election campaigns”, essentially guilting them into voting the way they were told.  Elections may have been rigged and power was unfairly distributed, but in the end we never heard about it, because remember “we won the war”.

02/2/11

How do you know me? Haha I follow you on Twitter

Technology is the dominating and yet damning factor in our time. It is responsible for our advancement as a civilization, the laid back lifestyle many lead and the primary source of information, whether that be for social or corporate matters. With this new technology comes new ways of gathering information on individuals. On twitter.com you may “follow” people of interest and stay up to date on their every typed out thought, regardless of the value of the information. The Library of Congress now records this information, and I think future historians may find both useful and useless information while studying these archives. For example any type of information, no matter how seemingly random, has a great deal of value under the right circumstances. Let’s say that 35 years from now a political science historian wants to search information on the issues of current times, they can view the recorded feed of a white house official and gather information. Let’s say a psychologist 35 years from now is studying relationships in the past, now that break up with your girlfriend is a primary source for their book. Information is always valuable if not now, then at some future point, even if at the time it seems to be a waste. If you think about it, Twitter is actually a time/date chronicled database of our thoughts, feelings, opinions and beliefs for the world to see. It is the digital file cabinet with “last name/ first name” that defines us.

In the case of WikiLeaks, information that was classified found its way out to the public, thus raising questions as to what we can actually believe that our government is feeding us. Examples given in the article reference the situation regarding, “the Gulf Arab states want forceful action against Iran”. While it has been a widely know thought, we have been told that the situation was more of an escalated dispute, with WikiLeaks, it’s confirmed that this situation is more of a harbinger of war type scenario. Future historians can review the way we, in the present time, react to learning about this information. They can then connect our thoughts, such as those posted on twitter, to how we may have actually reacted. Historians may also view the release of these documents as groundbreaking, and see the political aspect of how the government kept themselves together during these times.

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Technology is the dominating and yet damning factor in our time. It is responsible for our advancement as a civilization, the laid back lifestyle many lead and the primary source of information, whether that be for social or corporate matters. With this new technology comes new ways of gathering information on individuals. On twitter.com you may “follow” people of interest and stay up to date on their every typed out thought, regardless of the value of the information. The Library of Congress now records this information, and I think future historians may find both useful and useless information while studying these archives. For example any type of information, no matter how seemingly random, has a great deal of value under the right circumstances. Let’s say that 35 years from now a political science historian wants to search information on the issues of current times, they can view the recorded feed of a white house official and gather information. Let’s say a psychologist 35 years from now is studying relationships in the past, now that break up with your girlfriend is a primary source for their book. Information is always valuable if not now, then at some future point, even if at the time it seems to be a waste. If you think about it, Twitter is actually a time/date chronicled database of our thoughts, feelings, opinions and beliefs for the world to see. It is the digital file cabinet with “last name/ first name” that defines us.

In the case of Wikileaks, information that was classified found its way out to the public, thus raising questions as to what we can actually believe that our government is feeding us. Examples given in the article reference the situation regarding, “the Gulf Arab states want forceful action against Iran”. While it has been a widely know thought, we have been told that the situation was more of an escalted dispute, with wikileaks, it’s confirmed that this situation is more of a harbinger of war type scenario. Future historians can review the way we, in the present time, react to learning about this information. They can then connect our thoughts, such as those posted on twitter, to how we may have actually reacted. Historians may also view the release of these documents as groundbreaking, and see the political aspect of how the government kept themselves together during these times.