Two essays

[th3ranger]

Essay 1

The assignment was to write about "Cultural Differences"

What cultures? The ones in the half-dozen or so stories we read.

What differences and what about them? Not given.

How long? I think it was 750-900 words or so.

What grade did you get? Any comments? Haven't gotten it back. I imagine he will dislike it at least on idealogical grounds

Enjoy!

Assimilation or Preservation?

Whenever a group of people moves from one place to another or is surrounded by another culture geographically, they all face a choice. They all must chose to either attempt to preserve their own culture or adopt another. Culture arises from the dominant philosophy that the culture has already consciously or unconsciously chosen. When two neighboring cultures disagree on how knowledge is gained, or even if knowledge is useful or any number of basic assumptions conflict is guaranteed. Assimilation is easy, desirable, and good when the fundamental paradigm of the two cultures is similar, but very difficult when one culture is clearly more successful at coping with life on Earth.

In Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit cultural clash is obvious due to a basic misunderstanding of Western culture. The author seems to think that all Western culture is extremely superficial and is greatly concerned with appearance. “The old-time people thought that it was crazy to attach such importance to a person’s appearance” (McDonald 306) She also seems to think that Westerners never take considerations of personality into consideration when looking for a mate. “In the old-time Pueblo world, beauty was manifested in behavior and in one’s relationships...” (McDonald 306) The Pueblo culture is clearly based around collectivism while American culture is all about individualism, and assimilation, if any, must have been very long and difficult.

In Civilize them with a Stick, Indian children are sent involuntarily to an oppressive Catholic church run school. There young children are whipped, beaten, and generally abused for small offences. The goal of this school must have originally been to prepare the Indian children to be productive members of society. Unfortunately with such cruel treatment, the children grow to hate the school, and the American society it came to represent. The author observed everything from severe beatings to sexual harassment, all of it ignored or condoned by authority figures at the school. For two cultures are as different as Native American culture is from American culture this must be the worst possible way to attempt assimilation. Exposing the culture to be assimilated to hypocritical religious organizations could only serve to convince them of their own culture’s superiority. One would hope that most Native Americans eventually found out that American culture is the most tolerant and friendly in the world, but it might not ever be possible with the obviously wrong and continual abuses the United States federal government of the time subjected them to like the Cherokee Trail of Tears (Hill). What probably doomed American Indian assimilation was US government attempting to force them, in contrast with other cultural groups, like the Amish, which were allowed to assimilate, or not, at their own pace.

Arranging a Marriage in India is not really that much of a huge culture clash. Much insight into the Indian culture is had though, as the author explores the thoughts of an Indian girl about to go through the process. “How can you agree to marry a man you hardly know?” “But of course he will be known.” (McDonald 625) In India there are many different social castes and the bride and groom must be from the same social class, a concept completely alien to any American. Each family considers many aspects of a prospective bride/groom including personality, intelligence, height, even skin color and occupation. Many gifts are exchanged to celebrate the marriage, not just to the new couple, but between each family. After two years of searching for a match the mother in the story has still not found a match. Prospect after prospect is eliminated for often very petty reasons. This one is too educated, this one is too poor, and this one’s mother is too attached to her daughter. This is all starting to look like a Seinfeld episode. Perhaps the next prospective daughter-in-law will be eliminated for having man-hands? This is all not without reason because marriage in India is taken very seriously and every possible factor must be acceptable to not just one, but two families demanding perfection. Even after the wedding the new wife is observed and judged in every way by her new family. In the past if the new daughter-in-law was not well liked, she might even be killed to collect dowry from other families over and over again. This is why a dowry of any kind is illegal in India. (McDonald 631) Since India has been influenced by Western culture, there would not be a very large deal of adjusting to be done between them. Indian and Western cultures have many basic assumptions in common when it comes to philosophy, certainly, far more in common than European Americans and Native Americans.

When two cultures come into contact, they can either assimilate or try to preserve the important aspects of their culture. This process can be forced, but it will almost certainly backfire and fuel resentment for decades or longer. The stronger culture will always override the weaker one with time. A good example is the fast spread of Muslims in contemporary Europe. For whatever reason, “native,” if you will, Christian Europeans have had a precipitous drop in birthrate. Massive Muslim immigration and birthrates have skyrocketed. The difference between the two is so great that is estimated that many large European countries will be majority Muslim by 2050. (Michaels) So, the question is, will the Europeans assimilate into Muslim culture, or will they try to preserve their culture?

Works Cited

Hill, Sarah H. "Cherokee Indian Removal." 16 January 2008. Encyclopedia of Alabama. 22 Feburary 2010 <http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1433>.

McDonald, Ann and Jack Trotter. World Views Classic and Contempory Readings. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2008.

Michaels, Adrian. "Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent." 8 August 2009. The Daily Telegraph. 22 February 2010 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/5994047/Muslim-Europe-the-demographic-time-bomb-transforming-our-continent.html>.

Essay 2

History

Compare and contrast the English "Glorious" revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution.

Length: 750-900 words

What grade did you get? "A" along with 50% of the class....That really makes me appreciate the grade...not!

Vive La Revolution!

The revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries were all about ruled people realizing that the rule of any government is completely dependent on the consent to the governed. The field of revolution was sown with the widely propagated ideas of the Age of Enlightenment that advocated freedom largely nonexistant before this time. Any government that causes a large majority of its citizens to be angered by its actions, whether valid on not, will reap its own end. This period started the pattern still repeated in modern times, of oppressed people throwing tyrants from thrones and establishing a system of government of their own choosing.

The English “Glorious” Revolution was largely caused when James II, being devoutly Catholic, decided to transform England from protestant controlled to potentially Catholic controlled. While it was known that James II was fairly old and would not be on the throne for long and only had protestant children at the time, having a Catholic son in 1688 pulled the trigger on a revolution. The English Revolution was largely a power struggle between the parliament and the King. To limit royal power the Convention Parliament established a list of rights the Parliament would have over the King, limits to the King’s power in general, and rights of citizens that included petitioning grievances, keep arms, trial by jury, not be subject to excessive bail. Gradually, over the centuries, Parliament became increasingly powerful at the expense of the monarch, eventually becoming a figurehead. This uprising was not inspired by ideas; rather, the ideas that were written down in reaction to it caused much thought about the nature of government and its role. John Locke, one such author, had great influence on the American and French Revolutions.

Causes for the American Revolution were somewhat unique in not being related to religion unlike nearly any other European events at the time. The colonists already had freedom of religion largely, and Great Briton made no effort to enforce any. Today, with very extensive and powerful tax laws, it seems laughable that a small tax on tea and the Stamp Act caused the over-throw of a government. But in 1776, this is exactly what happened, when the Second Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain. After seven years of war, with generous French support, Great Britain recognized the independence of America.

After a false start with the Articles of Confederation, with a too weak federal government, the United States Constitution was written in 1788. The new constitution featured three branches: a president to execute laws, supervise foreign affairs, and direct military forces; a bicameral legislature (called Congress) to pass laws; and a court system to enforce the constitution and adjudicate disputes. This organization went on to be loosely copied throughout the world; such was its success as a system of government. In 1789 ten amendments were passed by the new Congress, which laid out the inalienable rights that every citizen in the new country possessed without any exception while avoiding the subject of slavery. These rights were greatly influenced by enlightenment philosophies that saw certain rights as natural to all people. The same year the Bill of Rights was passed the French Revolution broke out.

The French Revolution was far more violent in political upheaval as well as death than the other two Revolutions. French society of the time was based around the privilege and wealth of very small percentage of people and the horrible suffering of everyone else. When royal government wrote one too many rubber checks Estates-general was called on to address the situation. After a disagreement on how voting should be based with the nobility and clergy attempting to undercut everyone else, the commoners broke away and formed the National Assembly. The National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen establishing rights to men specifically, but not women. This ended the many privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy by making everyone equal, but women being a lot less equal than men. The new government was a constitutional monarchy, with the monarch having very little power. With the chaos that followed, many people were guillotined; as many as 50,000 people were executed in this new way. With so much confusion from within and without, the National Assembly was largely unable to enforce its will on the people, even with such extreme usage of violence and the largest army in European history ever seen at the time. Reliance on the military gave the exactly the opportunity Napoleon need to become the first Emperor of France, thus ending the first democracy of France.

Thus two Revolutions’ governments still exist today, while France almost immediately lost its own. All the new constitutions recognized new rights that had been long in coming since the Age of Enlightenment. The ideas recognized have irrevocably influenced the modern world with the simple idea that the consent of the governed hangs over the head of every tyrant that seeks to oppress.

MAY THE CRITIQUING BEGIN!!!