craigms's blog

Antisemitism in todays society as compared to in past society is not much different.  I found an article about the current global antisemitism. http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/anti-semitism_global.asp It is a very interesting read to find out all the preconceived prejudices and the current prejudices again the jews.  It really is astounding how similar the comparisons between the past and the present are!  In the past, the Jewish people have been thought of as being vengful, greedy, and evil and the same exists today. 

In the book, Takaki stated that those Jews being pushed out of their homeland are highly educated when they come to the United States.  And when the second generation of Jews in America are born, they start to fill up the Ivy League Schools.  Though Jews are white, even in America they still feel the prejuduce and are discriminated against because of their religion and ways of life.  The very fact that the Jews understood life enough to create high goals and could delay their gratification in achieving their goals, they became the scapegoats for problems in the country.  Basically, those persons in the United States who were undereducated and white were jealous of the Jews and would try to slander the Jewish race. 

Today, global society is very much the same from in the past.  The Jews of America have slowly been less discriminated against, but there still is prejudice against them.  But, in the Middle East, Hatred for the Jews is running rampid in the streets.  More particularly, the Muslims stereotype the Jews as Nazi like and even Arab Media delves on conspiracy theories that the Jews are to blame for 9/11 and that the Holocaust never happened.  This is the result of leaders in the Arab media influencing a population of undereducated people who will believe and most certainly act on anything they are told.

http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal-immigration-from-mexico.html

In this article from US immigration Support’s organization, we find that many Mexicans are crossing our borders to gain access to the Uniteds State illegally.  I’ve found that the perile of the Mexian People is not very much different than that of the Japanese in the past when they wanted to immigrate to the United states.  Because the Jappanese were under supression of heavy taxes because of a more centralized government control, many of them immigrated to the United States in search of a good paying job and to build a life.  In the same way, the illegal mexicans can be thought of in the same way as described in the article.  When crossing the boarder they face the fact that they could be deported or if they get through… they could live a prosperous life, make good money, send some of that money back to their relatives in Mexico (just like what the Japanese did!), and also create a new life. 

With that being said, this day and age is much different from that of the past.  Our enforcement is much stronger and the resolve of the American People is much more stronger with the fast and liberal flow of information, opinions, and ideas.  The very fact that many of the people in the United states feel that those persons coming into our country illegally and not paying their fair share into the system is the only reason why our congress and presidents have stepped up enforcement on the influx of illegal immigrants.  In the past, the im sure there had to be millions of illegal immigrants that came to the United States on their own and did not pay taxes.  This day and age inhibits the ease of which that may happen anymore.

My next blog that I would like to write about is the somewhat similarity to refugee camps that have been set up in later years that can be compared to how the Native American were treated when they were made to retreat to small sections of the country in which they felt restricted. 

In Darfur, recently in 2000-2002 and it may be still happening, but nearly millions of people have been relocated from Darfur into Chad.  This total relocation of people from one place to another, and with them being very very poor is such a hard thing to have happen to not only the people, but of the host country Chad.  With a huge influx of more than 800,000 people it is hard to try to accomodate people in an already, poor host country.  This situation can be fairly compared to the problem that the Native americans had when the whites forced them to the west and only gave them limited land to live on.  From where the native americans once had a thriving population and a certain way of living that kept them living like living off the land and the game around them, it really hurt the Indians to have a limited land area to live off of.  without being able to spread their concentration of game hunting out to a wider area of land, it gives them a much smaller area to work with and find their necessary food to live off of. 

In Darfur, the people were trying to be killed off by their own government because the leaders were so called “arab-nazis” trying to disolve their country from all people not arab.  With the people of darfur being scared of being part of the genocide, they obviously had to get out of there to a safe area, which was Chad.  And with that, many of them could not take all that they have worked for in their lifes with them.  So the people of Darfur and the Indians are not all that different. Both groups had to leave all that they had worked hard for and go to a place where they could no longer carry out their traditional ways of living.

My next blog will be about how the times have changed in the military in regard to how well and how effectively our military folks are handling their job as compared to how it was in the past.  I read in the article “Its all about the Rank” that our military members of all categories to include gender and race have a statistically better happiness for their job than what others in the civilian world do of the same race or gender.  The difference in the military is that it is such a well structured and well organized set of rules and procedures that are to be followed that we understand that there once were prejudices and now we have tried so hard to push away from those terrible habits and given everybody equal chances and priveleges in the military to get rid of those stereotypes. 

The article focuses on a prior Navy Officer named Lory Manning.  What the article said was that Lory looked for a way to hold high responsibilties and be treated with the same and proper respect as her male counterparts.  The military was the answer for her.  It allowed her to have added responsibilities put on her like managing a 3 million dollar budget and participate in internations negotiations.  Along with all the sights she was able to see, within her over 20 year of military experience she was able to get a good job after retiring active and settled down as the director of the Women in the Military Project at the Women’s Research and Education Institute.  With her job she has found that women in the military are much more satisfied than civilian women because of the equallity that is across the board with all members of the military.  Even for african american women, it is a complete 180 for them says Manning.  

This is no where in comparison to what it was back in 1800’s when women were just starting to be allowed to work in the factories, but yet had lower wages than their male counterparts.  The balance of responsibilities and trust was so uneven. 

In days now, the members in the military that are white males are not enjoying the kind of priveleges that their white male civilian counterparts are enjoying so in essence, minorities are not such a minority in the United States Military which is a tremendous leap from where we were to today.  In the 1800’s it was hard to get the blacks and whites to fight side by side until about the Civil war when they fought together.  Irish and Blacks, side by side fighting to retain the Union and end slavery.  It could be no greater feeling in the world than to fully take in the facts that happened right before our eyes within the last 20 years to make it a level playing field among all members of the military, whether they be black, white, hispanic, chinese, or any other nationality for that instance.  It is sad, but true, those who are feeling oppressed in the civilian world may want to consider joining the military to gain that level playing field. 

Link:

  http://www.newsweek.com/2008/06/11/it-s-all-about-the-rank.html

There is this movie that I’ve watched many times and there are some pretty interesting topics of not only ethnicity, but also of gender discrimination. The movie that I am talking about is one that is more or less a first rate comedy and its name is Anchorman!  This movie is packed with ethnicity.  During the first part of the movie there are several sexist remarks about women.  “Ron Burgundy” played by Will Ferrel is the top guy in the group at the news station and he throws parties that women come to.  He knowingly feels empowered because of his status as a man and because he is the lead anchorman.  But, when he is quickly turned down by the new newswoman at the party, he is speachless because he has never come across a woman that didn’t care about the power he had in the station.  This sense of power can be related back to how the white protestants felt about the new irish Catholics coming into the United States.  The protestants had all the power and kept it that way by making it certain that the Irish could not gain too much money while working. 

An example of empowerment is when the new woman anchor comes out and takes the lead anchor position is a turning point in the movie for Ron Burgondy because he loses his legitimate power as the lead male role in the newsroom.  This kind of event one that actually started to happen during the 70’s when women started taking on more powerful roles in the media and helped to create more equality unlike the way it was back in the colonial times.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/220107mexicangangs.htm

The next article that I would like to pose a comparison about is the article that I have listed right above.  It is one that recalls back in 2007 how in Los Angeles latino “american” gang members are continually discriminating and trying to rid the city of Blacks.  The way they do this is actually by killing them randomly, without fear of concequences, and without memorse.  It is set in their way of thinking because of the theology of the Neo-Nazi liberation known as “La Raza,” which basically suggests that all races except for Hispanics are to be eliminated by any means necessary.  Now, what I more closely link this to is the way that the Nazi’s treated all of the people that they conceived as unfitting for their own society and vowed to eliminate, but in a way, it can be related back to when the whites of the Colonies in America pushed for the Native Americans to be removed.  A big difference in these two situations is the act or the performance of how the white colonists started the movement against the Native Americans, but the way that they are similar is in the prejudices and discrimination towards the other race in both of these articles.  The Native Americans where definetly, though some mixed with white, were still very discriminated against because they were “violating” the purity of the American “white” colonies that the Protestant Anglo Saxon had so pushed to enforce upon this new nation.

The way that the Latino “Americans” are blatently making it a known fact that they do not want the Blacks in their neighborhoods and that they will kill those that stick around is a much more violent act of discrimination that any other Native American had ever felt.  Even President Jackson stated that he would like to see the Native Americans learn the ways of the whites, take up wifes of different race, and have the blood of both Native Americans and Whites run and share the new nation that is forming.  

The way that I look at these two articles as being similar in nature is defined upon the intelect of the people doing the discriminating against the minority in these articles.  In the book, Takaki reveals that though many Native Americans had been educated and held high positions of authority, taken up the white lifestyle, and had intellect in fields of study, they still were unable to withstand the prejudices that the unknowing, undereducated, and missunderstood, everyday, white man had come to put on every one of those people with the same skin color, heritage, and way of life.  In a similar way, the uneducated, unknowing, and missunderstood, and/or missled latino “americans” have an undying prejudice against the Black people living in LA. The reason behind these attrocities is because of uneducation, intolerance, and just bad mentors/role models.  

In the situation that came up when the whites pushed the Cherokee out of their land and onto the Trail of Tears is a horrific sight of being able to call the white legislators murderers because of their inability to think through they way they planned on moving so many people without themselves being able to provide a regular source of food, water, and warmth to stay alive to make it to the other side of the Mississippi.  This lapse of thought could be thought of as murder and would never happen in this day and age. 

If you have any suggestions please be sure to post any you may have.

http://0-proquest.umi.com.maurice.bgsu.edu/pqdweb?index=6&did=1946000591&SrchMode=3&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1283522315&clientId=3340&aid=1

In the above article that I found in the Ethnics Newswatch, I found that in Chicago businesses are taking advantage of the poor by telling them that they can have  a loan as long as they put down their assets, such as a car, for collateral when taking out a loan for even less than 1000 dollars.  The situation has come to the point where the businesses are making people pay interest because of hidden fees that could amount to three times the amount of the loan they took out (Shanita Bigelow).  This is outrageous and can be paralleled with the situations that many indentured servants came across when they were trying to pay off their debt but the people who were in charge of them kept changing the conditions of the agreement between them… thus resulted Bacon’s Rebellion (TAKAKI).  Now, this day and age, a rebellion would not be likely because our government isn’t nearly as volatile as it was back in the beginings of the Colonies, so help to those in situation like this is tough because legislation needs to take place which is a very slow process. 

Refering back to the article, i’d like to address the fact that ministries within Chicago are taking a stand for changes in these financial situations because the people who are poor don’t have the time or the energy or the funds to do so.  The Ministries are acting as a more down to earth representative of the lower class in the Chicago areas that are being affected.  The ministers sit in on meetings with financial advisors that the State Senator Kimberly Lightford has assembled and the minister actually give feedback and possible solutions to work the problem out (Shanita Bigelow).  This kind of proactive approach towards helping the the poor is something that was missing in 1676 when Bacon’s Rebellion occured.  Had the more powerful plantation owners been a little more compassionate towards the indentured servants and not be greedy for more money, then this rebellion could have been avoided.  But in the end, the lower class became fed up enough to do something about it.  With the way that we have our system of governement, law enforcement, and National Guard, it would be very hard for somebody to start and follow through with a rebellion on the Illinois State Governemnt to change the unfair laws or put new laws in place.  The unstability and clear near-dictatorship of the governement in Virginia threw the servants over the edge.  

The way the Virginia government got away with this is because the key persons in leadership positions were wealthy plantation owners who only cared about making more money and keeping the indentured servants in their use to harvest the tobacco that England so dearly loved.  The land owners should have thought ahead like what Thomas Jefferson said about how if they arn’t careful, then the indentured blacks could become the majority of the colonies, which the land owner didn’t want because they wanted to maintain the “purity” of the colonies from England.  But, inevitably, greed for more money from a business with very little wage expenses inticed the land owners which lead to the largest rebellion of any American Colony before the American Revolution (Takaki).