Ch. 23 Capitalism and Culture - Barbie Goes Braless and Keith Richards Lives Forever

Instead of buying clothes for my niece’s Barbie doll, my sister would buy the entire doll with different outfits because it was cheaper to do that then buy individual outfits!  That is crazy!

Key words:  Globalization and the Columbian Exchange.

Neoliberalism – this is a new word to me, and I have been around in the 1970s as the book states its existence came to be – I must have over-toked and missed that one.

The photo on page 1140 – “A World Economy” – those must be my DirecTV peeps!  Right on!  Now I know why they talk kind of robotic.

Human migration – the perfect word combo to describe how people want to escape oppression.

The fact that women and girls are recruited as sex workers attests to the fact that human trafficking is a major problem in today’s world and is nothing short of a form of slavery.

Good use of verbiage to describe the 2008 economic downturn:  “the worldwide economic contraction” (p. 1143).  I clearly recall thinking how the house prices were skyrocketing out of control and just how high could they possibly go?  Sure enough, the inflated housing market came crashing down.  I also recall that in 2000 it seemed anything and everything was possible – there was money flying around everywhere – money did not seem to be a hindrance for people who previously had been struggling.

If you want to experience outsourcing, just call customer service for any business with whom you wish to have contact, because you are bound to talk with someone from India who has been trained to sound as American as possible.  Good luck.

There is a whole new meaning to ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ when it comes to talks of economic globalization.  I was unaware that organizations exist to counteract globalization, which just proves how strongly people feel that there is too much inequality.

I can see why people would view the U.S. as either an “informal empire” or an “empire of production” because it is true.

Just how people can recall the day President Kennedy was assassinated, those who were alive on 09-11-01 can vividly recall the events of that fateful day and which are forever etched in our minds.

France wrote the book on revolutions!  Those people know how to express themselves for sure!

Anyone interested in a movie about Che Guevara, check this out this excellent flick from 2004: 

The Motorcycle Diaries

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/

I love that the women’s libbers crowned a live sheep as Miss America in 1968 (p. 1151)!  Ballsy!

1975 – The International Women’s Year – that’s the year I graduated from high school.  I must say that going braless is not a good idea for most women.

I definitely consider yoga in the religion category – why not?  It is mindful, peaceful, and contemplative.

Awesome lines on page 1158:  “secular schools, alcohol, Barbie dolls, European and American movies, scantily clad women.”  Awesome.  Too bad drugs aren’t listed because I like to joke that drugs and alcohol are two of my favorite things.

Another sweet line:  “It was a posture that would enable Muslims to resist the seductive but poisonous culture of the West.”  Seductive and poisonous – great use of intertwining two words of opposite contexts.

Yes, the Anthropocene Era!  I learned the word ‘antropogenic’ in my Way of the Earth class earlier this year.  Also, I learned in great detail about global warming in my Atmospheric Geography class.  Humans have been ruining earth to the point that it may not be able to be corrected.

People die from pollution, but then there are those who are kept artificially alive with dozens of pills down the hatch every day!  I can think of many people who should have been dead long ago.  For instance, take a look at Keith Richards!  I love the guy, but really, how is he staying alive?

Here’s a good one:  Western governments want China and India to watch their emissions, but the Western world is the culprit by having their manufacturing done in those countries!

Very nice ending to chapter 23 – that “history provides us a marvelous window into the unfamiliar” (bottom of p. 1170).

Ch. 22 The End of Empire or How to Get It on Sans Your Fez

Every time I hear or read Nelson Mandela’s name, I think of the 1984 song by The Specials, “Free Nelson Mandela.”  Attached is the YouTube video – check it out.  A little known gem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgcTvoWjZJU

‘Conjuncture’ – a perfect word to describe how the intersection of various developments paved the path to collapse of empires (p. 1091).

Eyes of the colonies were opening to the injustices they had been enduring for far too long, although the decolonization process was a slow and full of growing pains.  This was no easy task.

I like that Gandhi “sought the moral transformation of individuals” rather than calling for a social revolution (p. 1095).  That idea is a nice turnaround on the revolution theme.  Also seeing women as suited for non-violent protests seemed a pleasant way of utilizing female resources.

Did not know that Pakistan was created to accommodate the Muslim population in India.  Also, maybe I knew this but forgot that East Pakistan became Bangladesh, which inspired the popular song, Bangla Desh by George Harrison to raise awareness of their plight.

Well, the African National Congress (ANC) gave their fight everything they had with four decades of peaceful and moderate protests, only to not make a dent by 1948 “when the Afrikaner-led National Party came to power on a platform of apartheid” (p. 1100).  Four decades is an awfully long time to work at something, only to make no progress.

It is hard to digest that apartheid only ended in South Africa 21 years ago!  I clearly remember Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

Another wow!  The third world countries “accounted for about 90% of the fourfold increase in human numbers that the world experienced during the 20^th century” (p. 1103).

Seemingly, democracy supersedes authoritarian governments in a multitude of ways where the latter has failed:  correcting disastrous economic situations, improving standards of living, providing jobs for the up-and-coming young folks, and eliminating corruption.

East Asia chose a different route:  “they chose to specialize in particular products for an export market” (p. 1111) – I am sure this meant CARS!  Because even more than the Italians, of which I am a member, Americans love their CARS!

OH!  Here we go!  The photo on page 1114!  Steely Dan had a pop song called “The Fez” which I am sure had to do with the abandonment of the traditional Turkish headdress known as the fez!  Sweet vintage tune – check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCdKBHdPz30

Another pop song from the 1970s was My Sharona, which got morphed into Ayatollah at some point in time, or maybe I just surpassed my limit of vino for the evening.

Ch. 21 Revolution, Socialism, and Global Conflict or Social Upheaval at Its Finest

The line on page 1036 about “schoolchildren scrambling under their desks during air raid drills” prompted me to remember having drills in school, where a bell would go off (sometimes we were tipped off ahead of time, and sometimes not), and everyone would have to evacuate the building in single-file fashion, then stand outside in the freezing cold until led back into the building.  Freaky.

The word ‘communism’ scares me, even though it when described, it sounds sort of like it is looking for some kind of leveling of the playing field, but nonetheless, it inhibits freedom, and that, my friend, is not what people have been striving for throughout history.

‘Bolsheviks’ has got to be the most fun words ever to have been conjured up, despite the fact that they were total bullies.

Reading about the rise of Chinese communism reminds me of the 1998 movie Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, a haunting film that has stuck with me to this day.  Here is a recap from Wikipedia: 

 Xiu Xiu (Chinese: 秀秀), a 15-year-old girl living in the city of Chengdu, moves out to study horses in the countryside with a nomadic Tibetan. She is told that after six months, she will return to take charge of her all-girl cavalry unit. However she quickly discovers that she is not returning. She learns lessons about life while struggling against corrupt government officials who manipulate her hopes and body. Her only friend is the eunuch horseman, Lao Jin.

Her body is manipulated alright, because she is continually strung along with hopes of escape and was only continually raped in return.  Very sad and not for the faint of heart.

Interesting tidbit that “communist countries pioneered forms of women’s liberation” (p. 1046) – I was totally unawares of that piece of information.

Very smart of “the party” to grant women their own organization, the Zhenotdel.  They knew how to use their resources wisely, until opposition from men began to surface, and it was taken away.  Let’s face it, men just cannot deal with women having the lethal combination of intellect and power.  Deep down, the men who have to take away the threat of women are cowardly on the inside.  It boils down to this:  Men are afraid of being outsmarted by women.

Yep, women’s liberation is a double-edged sword, as attested on page 1047:  “the double burden of housework and child care plus paid employment continued to afflict most women.”

Hypocrisy is the name of the game, as reading about Stalin on page 1050 attests.

Nature has been synonymous with the female gender, as I have learned in various classes at NDNU, and men have always wished to control both.  Thus, it is no wonder that our environment is in its current state.  The word “heedlessness” on page 1051 sums it up nicely.

The Great Purge was a lose-lose situation.  Even if you were on the side of the government, you did not stand a chance to survive (bottom of page 1053).  “The smell of death was all around her” as Carson McCullers expressed in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

What a mess!  Mao calls for rebellion against the communist party, then has to turn around and call in the military because complete chaos ensued.  Put a woman in charge for God’s sake.

Gadzooks!  My year of birth coincides with the eerie photo of the hydrogen bomb test on page 1057.  “Responsible scientists discussed the possible extinction of the human species under such conditions.”  Uh, YEAH – don’t ya think?!  So, both sides, the U.S. and Russia, continued to build up their nuclear arms, yet agreed to sidestep direct military confrontation because God forbid if one has weapons of mass destruction and the other does not!

Corruption and vices and drugs – Oh My!  Why, this is the stuff of modern society (China discussion p. 1062-3).

The next to last paragraph on page 1067 sums up communism beautifully – to the oppressed, it brought hope and opportunities, yet crime became prevalent, killings were rampant, and violations of human rights soared.

Ch. 20 Collapse at the Center, or How to Stray the Weak and Oppressed Down the Road to Hell

Yes, world population growth discussed on page 975, or procreation as I like to call it, has been an enigma given the multitude of birth control options floating around out there today.  Even Loretta Lynn admitted that had birth control pills been available when she was young, she would have taken them like candy!

I remember reading about the Franz Ferdinand incident in history at CSM about six years ago.  Franz Ferdinand is also the name of a Scottish rock band.

I just do not understand how people can be so all-consumed with creating weaponry and an “incentive to strike first” mentality.  Really, could not energies be put to better use than to figure out how to annihilate other people?  It is really a retarded way to think, and look what all of this war has done.  Despite it all, people still procreate.

The word “genocide” keeps popping up here and there.  I remember that one of my history teachers in high school asked an extra credit question related to the word “genocide” and no one got the answer, but I always remembered that word since.

My parents were raised during the depression.  Both came from extremely poor, Italian immigrant families.  I heard many stories about lack of food.  We are so lucky today not to suffer like that.

Whoa, that Life magazine photo by Margaret Bourke-White reflects the chasm between social classes to a T.  Bet those folks in the photo had no idea where the rubber came for the car’s tires.

Roosevelt’s New Deal still resonates today, although we know all too well about the imminent collapse of the Social Security system with the aging Baby Boomer population.  And the Welfare part of the New Deal has had its share of abuses for sure with people buying things like cigarettes and lottery tickets with Welfare money.  Sad how people abuse things.

Interesting that fascism was born in Italy, when all along I was under the impression that it was Hitler’s making.

What I would like to know is how Hitler conjured up that silly mustache.  That is the worst facial hair expression in the history of mankind.

Little did the poor Italian people of Mussolini’s world have a clue about was coming down the pike.  Instead of Italy becoming a state “with a conscious entity with a will and a personality” (p. 996), it became a state of complete devastation after WWII.

I see the Treaty of Versailles as the root of Germany’s wrath.

“Racial Revolution” is a good way of putting Nazi Germany into words.

Oh, this is good!  Heinrich Himmler openly encouraged illegitimate births to increase the Aryan nation.  Who took care of all these ill-begotten children, Mr. H squared?  Novel idea.

A MORAL collapse!  Perfect way to describe Nazism!

Interesting that martial arts replaced baseball in Japan’s education curriculum – never thought of Japan as a baseball nation.  The whole section on Japanese Authoritarianism is an interesting read (p. 999-1003), particularly that the Japanese also thought of themselves as pure and unique.

News to me that WWII began in Asia before Europe (p. 1003)!

Too bad the song “War” by War was not around during WWII.

It just goes to show that when people are weak-minded and desperate, they can easily be led along by someone like Hitler, who looks to have the answers to their  quandaries.

Comfort women, prostitutes, concubines, however you spin it, it all has to do with satisfying men, just like the war machine “heightened the prestige of masculinity” (p. 1009).  That’s another way of saying how large their penis is, not to mention that they have to go and do something as ugly and sinful as rape women.

The Marshall Plan sounds like it was the most positive outcome of both world wars.  We need more of those.

Ch. 18 Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa or How to Have Your Life Ruined by Euros

In the last paragraph on page 882, many aspects of the Chinese and Indian cultures were held in high esteem, and some even married their women.  Two paragraphs later, the Chinese and Africans are reduced to subpar humans.  How fickle we are with one another.

I suppose one way of justifying the superior race card is to turn the tables and act like a benefactor.

Juxtaposition:  “endless but peaceful negotiations among the competing Great Powers about “who got what” and extensive and bloody military action” (p. 885).  Does this mean make an offer they can’t refuse?  OK, I see now.  There were no central authorities with whom to negotiate, so conquests had to be made by force.

Good for the Zulu and the Boers for fighting back and not making their overthrow easy!

Did not know that Ethiopia and Thailand avoided colonization!  Cool.

Sometimes the old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” is worth its weight in gold, meaning it is easier to cooperate than get beat to a pulp.

Why innocent animals have to get dragged into human battles is just plain sad, i.e. animal fat from both used for gun cartridges.  I do not like weaponry – this is what starts trouble because people feel powerful with guns.  Sad.

Oh, those Brits were clever with their invention of a Brahmin version of “traditional India” and with the idea of a “tribal Africa” (p. 892), not to mention linking inferiority of women with the weaker races.  Trickery at its best.

I am willing to bet the people buying cars were not thinking about where the rubber came from for the tires, nor had they any idea about the cruelty and violence inflicted on those poor people of the Congo, who were abused for the sake of rubber.  Sickening.

Here is another slave labor technique:  the cultivation system.  Not only do you starve to death, but you get whipped while being forced to cultivate, then you have to turn around a pay taxes on it.  Raw deal.

What else is new?  The women end up having to support their families without the husband, yet men are always concerned with controlling women’s “sexuality and mobility” (p. 901).  Control is the name of the game.

I find it interesting that the Euro colonizers had a “paternalistic obligation of the superior to the inferior” (p. 902).  This is quite new considering the forcefulness with which they overtook most of the colonies.  I am actually taken aback at this statement.  Just take a look at the photo on page 894 - that photo is worth a million words.

Everybody hold it!  This “female circumcision” thing is absolutely atrocious.  I have heard of this and have actually seen a photo of this being performed.  It is repulsive!  Who thinks of these absurd actions?  Dang!

I like this Edward Blyden’s assessment comparing African culture to that of the Euros at the bottom of page 909.  Nice!

The term “tribe” was something contrived by the colonialists.  “Ethnic identity” is a much more powerful term.

Ch. 17 Revolutions of Industrialization or The Problem with Wealth and Power and Other Quandaries

Two words on the first page of this chapter jump out:  wealth and power.

Bottom of page 829:  “a widespread and almost obsessive belief that things could be endlessly improved.”  I can say with confidence that this thinking still applies today.  Just look at Apple; they are constantly upgrading and improving their products, and people are like sheep lining up at the crack of dawn to get the next best toy.

OK, I am dating myself by saying this, but when I was a kid, we had a white rotary dial phone attached to the kitchen wall, and I still remember that phone number: 57980.  That was it!  Later, more numbers got attached to the front:  335-7980.  Then 412-335-7980.  Now 412 is 724 because there are too many people, and new numbers had to be created.

Historians can spin the words all they want about spreading the credit for innovation from Britain alone to other parts of the world, but the bottom line is that the Industrial Revolution was spawned in Europe, with Britain at the helm.  To say otherwise is like saying that the Cardinals don’t have the runaway best record in baseball right now.  The writing is on the wall.

Page 833:  “Asia, home to the world’s richest and most sophisticated societies . . .”  Says who?  Is this what everyone thought of Asia?

Seems to me that Britain, if compared to a phenomenal baseball team, had all the star players, resources, and backing to create a team of ultra studs!  Let’s give credit where credit is due.

This is awesome:  Samuel Smiles’ famous book outlining the core values of middle-class culture:  Self-Help (p. 837).  What a great title!  Now I know where my family’s values derived.  I will sleep much better tonight.

OH MY WORD!  So the Industrial Revolution spawned the world’s shopping addiction!  I wonder if the topic of shoes and shopping will surface at some point, because shoes are my personal addiction.

My father worked at PPG factory where I grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.  Once, as a young adult, I took a job in a uniform factory, which I found to be akin to entering and exiting a prison on a daily basis.  That job lasted one week – I never even gave them a notice – just walked out of there.  Got sick of having my lunch stolen every day, punching a clock for every movement, and getting barked at for not folding the uniforms with the right creases.  Factories are really prisons in disguise.

Little did Henry Ford realize what a monster he created with the advent of the car.  Virtually every other commercial on the boob tube is one promoting a car.  Our society relies so heavily on automobiles that there is no turning back.

I am dating myself again, but this paragraph on Sears and Monkey Ward’s (p. 848) prompted me to think of my first pair of skates obtained with books of green stamps.  They were the metal skates that clamped onto the bottom of your sneakers and the parts were adjustable with a skate key.  I still remember going to the Green Stamps store to get them, and I loved them so until I got my first pair of shoe skates!

Yes, Pittsburgh is a steel town through and through.  That is why the Steelers are called the Steelers.  There are still communal living areas that exist around my hometown, projects that were built to accommodate the families of the factory workers.  Basically, they are tenement slums.

OK, I get the need for tin, rubber, sugar, bananas, cacao, etc., but bird droppings for fertilizer?!  Ugh!

Ch. 16 You Won't Fool the Children of the Revolution - No Way!

Ya know, I used to like French culture, but after reading what they did to the Haitian peeps on page 781, I have a change of heart.  Demanding payment for a successful revolution is downright cruel.

The Euro wars were more global because they had stakes around the world.

I like this “popular sovereignty” idea – give the people authority versus “from God or established tradition” (p. 783 .  Right on, brothers and sisters.

This perspective that the thought never crossed their minds to break from England until England tried to tighten the reigns is a detail that has been overlooked by me in past history classes.  Never looked at the colonists situation in that regard, but it is understandable the way it is explained in the textbook.

Another similar angle – that the independence achieved by the U.S. was less a result of the revolution and more of principles contained in the Declaration of Independence.  Never thought of our country’s freedom in these two aforementioned regards.

I like the distinction made between the impetus for the American Revolution versus the one for the French Revolution:  Respectively - tensions between a colonial relationship with a distant power versus sharp conflicts within French society (p. 788).

If anyone would like to see Louie XIV and Marie Antoinette humanized, check out Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.”  This is a wonderful flick with Kirsten Dunst as Marie, and Jason Schwartzman as the inept and wishy-washy Louie XIV.

I remember reading about the French Revolution in history class at CSM about six years ago – the most interesting aspect of that lifeless class.

I actually kind of feel for Marie Antoinette.  She was a mere child thrown into a role in which she most likely did not want to be.  She knew nothing of Louie.  Who knew that a salad would be named after him?

Oh, I love this one:  Women who aspired to exercising political power were “not really women at all” (p. 790).  What were they, then?  Men in drag?  Sheez.

“Enlightenment” permeates these revolutions.

Hey, I like this Toussaint Louverture!  Smart guy.  Even got a power shift toward the slaves in Haiti (p. 793).

I simply do not understand how the French government can “force” a debt on Haiti.  How do you force someone to pay money?  I need more details to understand this one.

Of course, few of the promises of freedom, end of legal restrictions, and social advancement were kept because who is going to enforce these freedoms anyway if the people did prevail?  If France can force Haiti into debt, then broken promises for Latin Americans seems par for the course.

Thank God for enlightenment!  Finally, slavery was being viewed as out of date and unnecessary.

Funny how Britain became the voice of slavery, yet they were the worst offenders overall.  Atonement?

Sometimes one is unawares of oppression until it is brought to their attention, like the Poles and Ukrainians under the control of the Russian Empire (p. 802).

I love this phrase on page 806:  “freedom from household drudgery.”  How about the drudgery of working in an office?

Well, I don’t think I would throw myself in front of king’s horse in the name of women’s rights, but whatever suits your fancy.

This sentence sums up the feminist movement nicely:  “the movement prompted an unprecedented discussion about the role of women in modern society” (p. 807).  Amen.

Of course women were viewed as selfish, because now men have some serious competition, baby!