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!

Ch. 15 Cultural Transformations or How Science Turned Religion Upside Down and Other Pope Stories

As I have stated in previous writings, churches are a business, and this line at the bottom of page 721 sums it up:  “many people were critical of the luxurious life of the popes, the corruption and immorality of some clergy, the church’s selling of indulgences, . . . and other aspects of church life and practice.”  You bet your sweet booty!  What a racket!  The Pope mobile is one of the worst offenders.

Right on, Martin Luther!  Somebody needs to question those popes, because they are some of the shiftiest people roaming planet earth.

Here we go, kings/princes, middle-class urban, and common folk are jockeying for positions.

Martin Luther’s movement actually lit a fire under the Catholic Church organization, to the point that the Catholics started a Counter-Reformation!  Good power play, Mr. Luther!  Don’t let those phonies rest on their laurels.

Honestly, people are taking this religious thing way too seriously.  Must they completely destroy other people’s objects with complete destruction?  And urinating on public idols (p. 729)? That is complete insanity.

“It is hardly surprising that such aggressive action generated resistance” (p. 729).  Of course it is not surprising!  What would you do if some foreigner ruined your trinket with his bodily fluid?

Oh, those Jesuits were even craftier than all other previous evildoers combined.  Let’s dress like them [the Chinese], learn their language, and focus on exchange of ideas with the ulterior motive of converting them.  Assimilate, then move in for the kill.  They will never know what hit them.

Oh, please, Strayer!  Christian monogamy would require men having to give up their concubines.  Then, Strayer asks, “What would happen to these deserted women (p. 734)?”  Certainly, no one was worried about these women’s welfare!  The only interest lies in the very act that has caused this world so much grief since day one.

Leave it to the pope to step in and right the ship in China.  Back off, boys, you are practicing Chinese idolatry!

That Muhammad Ibn Saud – what a nice guy!  “He did not insist on head to toe covering of women in public” (p. 736).

Here is a good line to chew on:  “intuitive moral knowledge exists in people . . . even robbers know that they should not rob” (p. 737).  Do humans have built-in morality?  Good Q.

Now this is interesting – how the university concept took off in Paris and other Euro cities.  The emergence of modern science is a breath of fresh air from all of this heavy talk of religion.

Copernicus turned old concepts about earth upside down and started a whole new ball game.  At the center of all of this lies math; scientific principles are described mathematically, providing new realities for non-believers.

I disagree, though, that the heart is just a machine – the heart is a metaphor for feelings.  It can be broken so badly that it is sometimes beyond repair, and that breaking can reverberate throughout one’s soul.  But then, my view is not the scientific view.

“Borrowing.”  That is the perfect word to describe how the world’s various peoples responded to new ideas, conquests, assimilations, and movements.

Ch. 14 Emotional Transformations and Other Historic Tragedies

Imagine the emotional state of the shackled victims in the painting on page 668.  Look at the faces of the four men in that painting and visualize the conversation taking place.  This chapter should be titled Emotional Transformations rather than Economic Transformations.

Whips, leg irons, windowless dungeons – how can people be so cruel and heartless?  I do hope that the tables were turned when these slave traffickers were sent to their final destination of hell.

Oh, those Portuguese were clever peeps!  We don’t have anything valuable to trade with you, so we are going to use our maritime might, whilst borrowing from the Mongols, and forcibly overtake your sorry arses to create a “trading post empire” (p. 673).  When all else fails, use brute force.

Sounds like the Spanish timed their takeover of the Philippines just right!  A combination of weak societies, no other competition, and proximity to China were the perfect combination for an “often bloodless Spanish takeover of the islands” (p. 675).

Why are the islands called the Philippines, yet its peoples are “Filipino”?  Never understood that flip from “ph” to “f.”

The Dutch and English “quickly overtook and displaced the Portuguese, often by force, as they competed vigorously against each other as well.”  Well, that scenario about sums up how the female species in my office operate.

Seems to me that the Dutch were more ruthless than the Mongols.  They “killed, enslaved, or left to starve virtually the entire population of some 15,000 people” (p. 676) and replaced them with slave labor.

When all else fails, another option besides brute force is good, old-fashioned bribery, which is what the Brits had to resort to with the Mughals in India.

Of course the conditions in the silver mines were horrendous!  Mine work is literally a descent into hell.  Check out the song “Blue Sky Mine” by Midnight Oil and notice the juxtaposition in the title words.

I would hardly call infanticide a moral method of birth control (p. 682).

Thankfully, we have environmental impact reports today.  Without keeping tabs on such commercialization as the fur trade, many animals would be extinct, just like what is happening to those poor elephants for their tusks.  Leave those animals be!

Yes, “criminal excess” (p. 685) is an excellent way of articulating how people get seduced by foreign commodities!

Unfortunately, we know all too well what alcohol has done to not only our Native American people, but people the world over – to the point that society functions on rehabilitation centers.

Fascinating that the word “slave” derived from the Slavs; bad timing for the African peoples, who were forced into plantation slavery and such a sad part of history.

I am not buying this line that “Africans did not generally sell “their own people” (p. 693).  Nonsense!

Not only was Mother Earth decimated by deforestation for whatever was in vogue at the time (silver), and animals made nearly extinct, the African population decreased from 18% of the world’s population in 1600 to only 6% in 1900 (p. 694).  These actions signify killing for profit.

Ch. 13 Political Transformations: Spud Encounters and Evil Vices that Make People Happy

Is there any significance to the fact that the Soviet Union was replaced by the Russian Republic on Christmas day 1991?  Why was that particular day chosen?  Is there symbolism?

Winds + innovations – a successful combination for conquering lands across an ocean.  With the wind at your back, you just sail right on in and make your mark.

For some inexplicable reason, I am fascinated by the germs and disease topic and how low tolerance in the Americas was an advantage for the Europeans.  Our book states that up to 90% of the Native American population was decimated by the diseases from abroad: measles, smallpox, malaria, etc.  That is a mind-blowing number.  Really lovely of the Euros to transport their diseases, but little did they know what was coming down the pike.

Here is a new word:  Amerindian.  I have not heard that used before.

One cannot possibly think of potatoes without thinking of the Irish potato famine, yet I never knew that the famine was caused from an airborne fungus from the Americas.  Fascinating!

Corn may have been cheap food for slaves, but it still is used today in just about everything.

Tobacco, chocolate, coffee, tea – Evil vices that people love!

Of course, all of this prosperity brought with it rivalries, wars, piracy, and smuggling – all things that still go on today.

Good way to soften the blow of women’s sexual abuse and rape by first stating that sometimes the marriages were beneficial to women because they acquired land.  Then the bomb drops – knew that one was coming.

Protection my arse!  So Mafioso!

Here’s a good string of words:  “Bearers of Civilization” (p. 628), the roots of status and power.

The Arabs pioneered large-scale sugar production?  Who would have known?

The demands placed on slaves were sinful.  While modern society has a pretty comfortable life, reading about the working conditions of slaves is a sad reminder of how we got to this point in time.

I see similarities in the “dregs” of the colonial world developing into the powerhouse of the United States and smart acquisitions of low-budget baseball teams that get the golden boys for small salaries.  The teams take these guys off of the scrap heap and shine them up into stud ball players.  Nice.

The PETA people would not have liked this fur hunting in Russia!

There has been a recurring theme of paying fees for virtually nothing in return throughout this book.

Peyton Place alert:  Nur Jahan ran the helm of her alcohol-and-opium- addicted husband!  Love it!

Within the space of two sentences, Turkish women are secluded and veiled, YET retained some social power from the pastoral societies.  Does not quite make sense.

The Devshirme Process:  Sheez, I guess if your son is stolen, you might as well look at the bright side:  upward mobility.

Ch. 12 Fifteenth Century or How People Became Jaded

It is about time these men of the past, like Columbus, were deconstructed to reveal their true colors.

Thanks to the Agricultural Revolution, the American Indians have been reduced to relying on casinos as an economy.  What a shame.

“Things Fall Apart.”  They certainly do.

“Warfare replaced successful food getting as the avenue to male prestige.”  Damn straight because certainly women are not the instigators of war.  War is all about men flexing their almighty muscles to prove their manhood.  Sorry if I have offended any of you dudes out there, but it is true.

Those Iroquois had it together by creating the League of the Five Nations.  Right on!

The encyclopedia concept by Emperor Yongle was the best concept ever drummed up by a person of his ilk.  I used encyclopedias from about 7^th – 12^th grades and could not have gotten through school without them.  My dad bought them from a traveling salesman.  Best thing he ever purchased.

I want to hear more about these “eunuchs” (castrated men).  What was that all about, Alfie?

300 ships filled with 27,000 people?  That equates to 9,000 people per ship.  Those things must have been monstrosities, kind of like the cruise ships of today’s world.

Personally, I much prefer reading about Western Europe than places like China, Russia, Africa.  The Renaissance period is fascinating reading in my book.

I like this Christine de Pizan woman and just might read her City of Ladies when WH is over.

I must say, Strayer does a fine job of volleying back and forth between Europe, China, and the Islamic empires.

So, some of the Hindu and Buddhist rulers along Malay and Indonesia converted to Islam with the ulterior motive of attracting traders to their port city (p. 580).  Not surprising at all that religion is used as a method to gain something because that is how people operate.

That’s so cute that the Aztecs had rubber balls!  Rubber balls defined my childhood; I always had a rubber ball and broomstick ready for stickball games.

I am willing to bet that the people responsible for performing human sacrifice rituals were thanking their lucky stars that they were on the other side of the table.

A laundry list of gender parallelism, which sounded so even, then the bomb drops with “None of this meant gender equality” (p. 586).  I do not see a distinction between parallelism and equality.

Thank God, we are finally getting into the modern age!

I like how Strayer words population growth as an “unprecedented jump in human numbers.”  It is procreation, something humans excel at.

It is so much easier to read about modern society, since that is what we know.  Out with the old, in with the new!  The Euros have taken over the world with their dominance in everything, thus creating the jaded human being.

Of course, coincidence and chance played a part on history!  Coincidence and chance play a part in every aspect of life.  We can "what if" all we want, but that will not change what actually happened.  God only knows how much I would like to have changed many things from the past.

Reflections on Ch. 11: Pastoral Peoples or How to have the Pope Shaking in His Boots

Patterns develop when people start forming alliances.  The mind’s wheels spin in directions that create power and wealth, and from reading about the Mongols, they wrote the book on survival of the fittest with kinship, horsemanship, and military might.

Strayer amazes me how empires are created and dissolved in one to three paragraphs.  That has been his running theme throughout this book: the rise and demise in less than 300 words.

Wolf packs led by a kaghan.  Los Lobos, the wolves, now has a whole new meaning tied to their name, and raids are the name of the game.

Sultan is such a sexy word.  Who would not want to be dubbed a sultan?

Those Mongols sure are a conundrum – they left only a modest imprint after being the “largest land-based empire in all of human history.”

Outnumbered?  No problem.  No technological superiority?  Handled.  Just create armies that will kick everyone’s arses, and you have got yourself a Mongol empire.  Desertion means death, so don’t even think about it.

Were Mongols bullies?  I would say, yes, since they used “psychological warfare.”

Great idea:  Let’s “exterminate everyone in northern China and turn in into pasture land.”

Bloodshed and massacres everywhere, and torture for taxes.  I guess that is one way of getting blood from a stone.  God’s punishment for all of these evil doings was to turn the land into desert.

These Mongols make the Mafia look tame.

Can someone please do something different with peasants besides tax and torture them?

Thank God someone came along and finally poked a hole in the Mongols’ hold over creation!  Leave it to the Russians.

Cool that guidebooks were published about how to navigate the Silk Roads.

Wow – the pope and European leaders were shaking in their boots about the Mongols’ intentions all the while with their own intentions of converting Mongols to Christianity.  Let’s see, Mongols versus the pope.  That pope had better run for cover.

Thus far, the Black Death portion is the most intriguing of all.  The rats and fleas were in and of themselves vehicles for disseminating the plague.  In a way, the plague could be viewed as a way of simmering down all of the Mongols’ frivolity over the planet.  It sort of evens thing out.

Reflections on Ch. 9: The Worlds of Islam

I had no idea that as many as “22% of the world’s population identified as Muslims” at the beginning of this century and that they “identified their own God, Allah, with Yahweh, the Jewish High God.”

Well, the book says that “the Quran demanded social justice," but in today’s world, extremists have taken this doctrine to the nth degree.  As the book states on page 411, attacks have “signaled the growing role of Islamic civilization in world affairs.”  Unfortunately, Americans are all too aware of the negative connotations.

These pillars of Islam are way too out there for this cowpoke.  A month of fasting?  How can one even stand up without sustenance for a solid month?

For someone who preaches “spiritual striving”, suppressing turncoat Jews by exile, enslavement, or murder is nothing short of contradictory in my book.

Seemingly, Muhammad had a captive audience, just like Hitler did in Nazi Germany.

I see contradiction in the brotherhood and no superiority themes posed on page 418 because of so much violence in today’s world.

Wow – the Arab armies just rode in and pretty much swept up Asia and Europe.  Were people really that weakened to let themselves get swept away by a foreign invasion?

Honestly, can’t people just get along?  These caliphs end up dividing people instead of uniting them, and then they roll right into a civil war.

I have heard of the Sunni / Shia people but never had an understanding of what this meant, so now I know.

How many offshoots of one religion can people create?  It is almost like a game:  Sunni, Shia, Sufis.  Maybe they should all just sit down together and enjoy some sushi and sake.

Yeah, I was waiting for this one:  in spiritual life, men and women were equal.  Then, you turn the page and get the big BUT.  “In social terms, and especially within marriage, . . . viewed women as inferior and subordinate.”  Of course, they did!

A separate bridge for women – that is hilarious!  This one is even better:  if a woman has to answer a knock on the door while she is using a pestle, she must stick her finger in her mouth to sound like an old lady!  Then they turn around and put equal blame on sin for both Adam and Eve just to level things out a bit.

I would hardly call Muslim egalitarian as stated at the bottom of p. 428.

“Massacres, enslavement, famine, and flight led to a sharp drop in the population” of Anatolia.  Sheez, I should think so!

Here is a nice change of pace:  Islam’s acceptance was “largely peaceful and voluntary” in West Africa.

Ch 10. The Worlds Christendom

Religions take on a life of their own by contracting and expanding, like a breathing organism.  Christianity, which seems to encompass a multitude of sub-religions, is the one religion that seems to have infiltrated the entire globe.

How could a religion decimate so quickly when a new one emerges?  Within a century after Muhammad’s death, “only a few Christian groups remained.”  It seems inconceivable that so many people converted so quickly.  They must have been really unhappy with Christianity – something was not going their way.

Oh, here we go.  Let’s show our control over others by guaranteeing the right to practice religion, largely in private, in return for payment of a special tax (p. 466).  So the Muxlim rulers flexed their muscle by driving Christians underground.  Nice.

Motivation for endorsing a religion:  It allows one to drink alcohol and eat meat, including during worship.  The Mongols liked it!

Wow!  Imagine “twelve linked underground churches” in Ethiopia (p. 469).  Literally, the churches were underground.  That is awesome!

People are not fools.  They are not going to be fooled by the pageantry and ostentation of an emperor who is hoisted high above his peoples as though he is made from divine blood.  That is why Byzantium had to focus on “collecting taxes, maintaining order, and suppressing revolts” (p. 470-1) because the people were on to their shenanigans.

I am not seeing the difference between a serf and slave.  Serfs were not personal property, but were bound to their master’s estates as peasant laborers and owed payments and services to the lord of the manor (p. 478).  That is hardly any different from being a slave, but then maybe it truly was a step up for them.

An anchoress – a woman who withdrew to a locked cell, usually attached to a church, where she devoted herself to prayer and fasting” (p. 484).  That is what I want to be when I grow up!  I am an anchoress, hear me roar!

Ch. 8: China and the World, or The World According to China

Amazing how in one paragraph there is a dynasty, like the Sui, and in the next paragraph they have collapsed.  How quickly things turn.

All you have to do is bring in the arts, and voila, you’ve got yourself a “golden age.”

Oh, it figures: the privileged get positions even when they flunk testing – still goes on today, I bet, and those poor peasants are forever being abused by the bullies.

Foot binding!  Certainly that was not thought up by anyone female!  What a ridiculously cruel thing to do to young girls.  Absolutely thoughtless.  Sickening, really, and right up there with animal abuse.  I want to know who dreamed up that idea!  Whoever the man is  responsible for foot binding should be floating around purgatory forever and a day.

The “tribute system” is an ingenious idea, I must say.  Let’s have the barbarians pay homage to the emperor with gifts, and we will gift them at a higher level just to cement who is in charge.  Great strategy – kind of in line with the Godfather.

OK, right on with the Godfather theme:  protection money (p. 375).  Still goes on today, I’m sure.  Extortion, a way of life for many people over many eras of time.  It’s all an illusion.

I had no idea that Chinese culture was so sought after and borrowed from by Korea, Viet Nam, and Japan, although Japan had the most upper hand in being selective because they were physically removed from China.

I also had no idea that China was the leader in papermaking and printing.

Seemingly, the rise and demise of dynasties coincides with foreign religions that had been slowly infiltrating.  For example, Buddhism was accepted into the folds during the demise of the Han Dynasty.  Timing is everything.

As always, things do get lost in translation:  “husband supports wife” gets translated to “husband controls wife.”  I am sure that was deliberate.

Monasteries, like the Catholic Church, are businesses and acquire wealth, so it is no wonder critics resented Buddhism’s hold in China.

Everything is a two-way street:  “what comes from beyond is always transformed by what it encounters within” (p. 393).

Ch. 7 Commerce and Culture or How to Transmit Disease Across Borders

Why does it not surprise me that rural women were the "main labor force" of silk textile production, were bringing in the bacon, frying it up in a pan, yet living in poverty?

This silk talk is fascinating stuff.  The fables about smuggling silkworms across borders are precious!  Hiding silkworms in a bamboo cane?  How did those little buggers survive?  Of course, the story has probably been embellished time and time again.

The silk bandwagon – you either get on board or lose your chance to profit.

 All it takes is people comingling, like on the Silk Roads, and you have got a recipe for disease.  Let’s face it, people are dirty, and combine that with animals, you’ve got disease brewing.

Of course, people are smart enough to take advantage of the death tolls incurred by disease.  Just jack up the prices on everything, and all is good – the foundation of supply-demand.

Consumerism at its best – always hungry for luxury goods, thus creating a money-infused economy of which everyone wants a piece of the action.

Piracy!  I was waiting for that to surface.  Of course those ships were hijacked in transit.

Phallic imagery was prominent in the Champa kingdom.  Imagine that?

Still today as in the past, commerce/trade is the driving force of economies and shapes civilizations creating hierarchies, status, wealth, and poverty.

The fabulous camel even has a cigarette named after her/him.  “I’d walk a mile for a camel.”  I just hope those poor creatures were properly cared for.  People can be so cruel to animals, and that is an unforgivable act.

Here is the one sentence that sums up commerce and the way of the world:  “This growing integration with the world of international commerce generated the social complexity and hierarchy characteristic of civilizations” (p. 336).