05/2/11

Fighting aganist War

(Protest Against Vietnam War)

(Protest Against Iraq War)

Both of these two songs are protest against the war that US has fought.  The first song is protest against Vietnam war.  The second war is protest against Iraq War.  In both songs, the meaning for war is always questioned.  “What are we fighting for” is often used in protest musics to emphasis the meaningless of war and it lacked of cause.

through these two songs, we can see a change in protest methods.  In the first song, we can see many people rally on the street to protest against the war.  In the second song, we see more battle actions than protesters on the street.  The impact of the action on batter field in emphasized in the video to reflect crudity of the war.

04/27/11

Women wanted!

In 1960s, feminism in USA and around the world starts to gain momentum.  At that time, typical women are viewed as housewives.  In the public perspective, commercials often depicts women being helpless if her car broke down.  The roles of women at home and public creates gender difference and inequality in society.  Such difference limited women’s opportunity to advance in their economic and political life.

The feminist reform started with more women attending college to obtain law degree and pursue political life.  Through political reform, and the assistance of law, feminist gained equal opportunity in many fields.

 

02/28/11

Difficult to get drunk

In 1917, US Congress passed the prohibition act which prohibits the manufacture, transportation and sales of alcohol.  However, drinking alcohol is not prohibited.  The following picture depicted an alcohol retailer is closed because of violation of National Prohibition Act.  The alcohol beverage is prohibited in public.

Although alcoholic beverage is prohibit for manufacture, transportation and sale, drinking alcohol is not prohibited which created opportunities for alcohol smugglers.  After the Prohibition Act is enforced, many people started to sell alcohol as bootleggers.

02/23/11

From China to Chinatown

As early as Colonial time, many Chinese has immigrated to colonies.  Although Chinese people were enslaved by colonist, they were part of the working class.  Until late 1800s, most Chinese people works at mine field and rail road sites.  Few Chinese people started small businesses.  In the following picture, A Chinese immigrant are selling lilies at China town.

This picture above depicted a Chinese immigrant’s life in US at 1900s.  This picture reflected the improvement of the Chinese Immigrant.

02/14/11

The Return of KKK

In 1865, American Civil War has ended, but the racial war has just started a new chapter.  Although the nation is once again unified, but the difference between racial perspective hasn’t been changed until many years later.  The lost of war did not make southerners give up their believe in slavery.  Many veterans of Confederate Army have organized and committed brutal crimes against white and racial republicans.  Although Ku Klux Klan is organized originally at local area, many other groups across the southern states have adopted the name.  The image above shows three members of Ku Klux Klan under arrest at Tishomingo county, Mississippi on September 1871 for attempt murdering a family.  In 1870, Government passed Force Act to fight the crimes and place soldiers to protect racial republicans and peoples.

This picture above shows a gathering of KKK members Gainesville, Florida at December 31, 1922.  With Government’s involvement, the scale of Ku Klux Klan gets smaller as more members of KKK is prosecuted under the law.  In 1920s, KKK re-emerges when racial conflicts is incorporated with religious conflicts.  The member of KKK become more organized and openly practiced.  The Klan fades away at 1940s because of criminal acts committed by the head of the organizers.

02/9/11

Capitalist Vs. Communist

After the World War II, the world entered a period of peace.  However, wars has never stopped since the end of WWII.  Cold War between United States and Soviet Unions leads to many mini wars around the global.  The Korean War is one of the example of Capitalist Vs. Communist war.  After the WWII, Korea is divided into two parts with two different political system.  North Korea is a communist country while South Korea follows democratic ideology.  After suffering great causality, the war ends three years after the first battle.

I learned about this war when i was back in China.  In Chinese Government’s perspective, Korean War was a defense war to repel the Capitalism aggression.  Chinese Military’s involvement of Korean War was to aid North Korean in war to stop United States’ Capitalism influence in Asia.  On the other hand, I also learned about the war in United States and the story is different.  In US text book, the war is view as Communist aggression.  North Korea invaded South Korea and attempted to unify Korea under Communist rule.  United States send troops to fight the war under the name of preserving democracy.  The War ended without any significant benefit for neither sides.  The border line was restored and mini battles continuous even until modern days.

02/7/11

War for Nothing, 1 Black still equals to 3/5 Black

In “Race and Reunion: the civil war in American memory,” Civil War is viewed as a war for reunification rather a war for equality.  As Eric Foner mentioned in his review, “rather than the crisis of a nation divided by antagonistic labor systems and ideologies, the war became a tragic conflict that nonetheless accomplished the task of solidifying the nation.”  Although Union army believes in equality for all mankind at the beginning of the war, the ideology behind the war changes after the war broke out.  During the war, there are almost 180,000 African American joined the war and many had died for the cause.  The war ends with Union’s victory.  However, African Americans are still treated unfairly as second class citizen.  Many people see the South’s defeat as defeat on battlefront, but victory in ideology and memory.  Due to such ideology, many African American who fought during the war was totally forgotten after the end of Civil War.


The winner writes the history.  The book contains both Union and confederate’s ideologies for war.  It is interesting to see how the ideology influence both North and South after Civil war.  By reading the book, any reader can have an understanding of Civil War and reasons for war.  Moreover, people can relate the American Civil War with other events in the world.  Being a Chinese, the most unacceptable thing is to hear denials from Japanese officials on World War II invasion.  Many of the Japanese students were educated with the ideology of their invasion during World War II is a holy war to create a greater Asian empire.  Many Asian countries has suffered greatly from the war.  many people are slaughtered like animals to satisfy soldiers’ cruelty.  However, all these negative images are prohibited and twisted in Japanese history due to Japanese Government’s political motivation to justify their mistake.

02/2/11

When we become the past…

Internet is like Times Square.  People go online to shop, to socialize.  Social networks are just like clubs.  There are millions of people doing different activities online in every minutes.  It is difficult to keep personal information private because there is no law enforcement to protect the information.   The best way to protect the personal information is not to post too much personal information online.  According to the document, the government is taking records of people activities online for future reference.  Many people are worried about their privacy in future.  As I have stated, any information posted online should be expected to be view by others regardless of present or future.

Yesterday is our history.  Time is not waiting for us.  So as technology will not wait for us.  From radio to portable computers, technology has surpasses human working capacity in efficiency.  Everyday living is completely different from the past and future is definitely different from now.  Soon enough, everyone in this generation will become the history and study by the future historians.  It is very person’s option for leaving their information for the future.  Internet is just public.  People has the option to leave their trace behind for others to see.  Freedom is on people’s hand to control.  In this case, government is just like a recorder.