A True War Film

While on the internet, I came across a CNN article entitled, “Prisoner of War” that greatly reminded me of the movie, “Born on the Fourth of July”. In this article the United States solider being interviewed states, “I am not the same person [after going to war]. I don’t know how to come home” (Ware). This quote immediately reminded me of Ron Kovic, in that the war experience had completely changed him.

Michael Ware, this solider fighting in the Iraq War, recently made a three-minute movie of an actual experience he had at war. He held his video camera one night at war. The camera supposedly only filmed darkness and the sound of footsteps. However, suddenly, a bright flash appears on the screen, this is the light of an explosion. Ware claims that unlike many Hollywood war films that are exaggerated or overly patriotic, his brief film captures the actual painful experience of war. Ware is planning on showing his movie in a theatre with surround sound so that the viewers can get the true feeling of war for a brief three minutes. Michael Ware also encourages citizens to see his film because he feels that the majority of Americans are unaware of the emotional effects of war that soldiers experience. He claims that if people support the war or know soldiers partaking in the war, the film must be seen so that they can experience this true war scene.

I think that Michael Ware’s film idea is very interesting and could potentially change a lot of American’s views on war. Ron Kevin’s view on war was completely transformed after his experience, so I believe that some war supporter’s views on war may completely transform after seeing a film that is apparently emotionally straining. I also think that Ware’s film is a good idea because for the first time, Americans who choose to, will be able to know what war is actually like without actually going to war.

Poor War Hospital Conditions

After watching the majority of Oliver Stone’s movie “Born on the Fourth of July” during class, I grew curious as to the exact period of time when the real Ron Kovic transformed from an almost war-obsessed man, to a person that protests the wars. I completed some research online and found an interview with the real Ron Kovic that lead me to some answers.

Based on his interview, it seems that Ron Kovic was fine with the idea of war until he was injured. Kovic even illustrated his original love for war when he returned to Vietnam for a second tour in 1968. However, in his interview he seems disgusted with the way various hospitals treat their war patients. As seen in the movie, Kovic wanted to see a doctor while strapped to his bed, but the doctors took hours to respond to his request, and Kovic was left alone begging to be attended to. Based on Kovic’s interview, it is suggested that very similar situations to this occurred in his real war experience.

Kovic then states that he was recently in a hospital, and saw two wounded Iraq War soldiers in a room close to his. He discusses the fact that these men were treated in similar poor conditions as he was during the Vietnam War. After seeing these two soldiers, Kovic declares that if people volunteer to sacrifice their lives for their country, they should at least be treated and cared for with respect when they return home. He then mentions that with the enormous sums of money the country spends on wars, the soldiers should be well cared for when they are wounded.

Also seen in the movie, there was a hospitalized solider complaining about a rat in the hospital. While I watched this scene, I originally thought the rat beside the soldier’s bed may have been an exaggeration of the poor conditions in the hospital, however, after doing further research, it seems that problems such as these exist even in modern times. An online article mentions Jeremy Duncan an Iraq Army Specialist who broke his neck. After staying in the hospital, he states, "The conditions in the room ... were ... unforgivable... It wasn't fit for anybody to live in a room like that” (Duncan).

Based on all of this information, it seems that war can only be justified if soldiers are treated with respect when they return home injured. According to Duncan, the United States is currently in a war in which this is not happening. I believe the country should use more of the war budget for the wounded soldiers instead of more weapons or war equipment.

Current Tea Parties Vs. The Boston Tea Party

As we briefly discussed in class, the original Boston Tea Party took place in 1773 just after the French and Indian war. During this particular time, Parliament wanted to collect money from its people in order to obtain enough money to cover the war expenses. However, the people being taxed felt no obligation to pay taxes to a government that did not represent them. The people did not select the government, and they were unaware of the places that their tax dollars would go. Therefore, multiple taxpayers started the Boston Tea Party, something that essentially encouraged the protest of taxes.

Today, there exist several more tea parties across the nation, but this time for different reasons. People are now mainly protesting on tax day because they feel that they should not have to pay larger tax dollars to cover other Americans’ debt. An article online includes various letters to the editor of Palm Beach Post. These letters are detailing the differences between the modern day tea parties to the Boston Tea Party. The letters state that, “the original ‘Tea Party’ was against taxation without representation. Today, voters ignore true representation. Protesters should fight for real honesty and openness when protesting high taxes. The voters, not the legislators, should determine which services should be reduced or eliminated in order to reduce taxes” (Katz). This letter is clearly from a position that believes that instead of protesting taxes, the modern day tea parties should focus on protesting the authority of the government just as people in 1773 did. However, other letter-writers disapprove of the current tea parties, stating that, “perhaps socialism is what is needed in this country. We have seen the major corporations, especially the financials, bleed the middle class almost dry...we are Americans, and we could probably do socialism far better than any country ever has” (Foster). It appears as if each letter promotes a different idea toward the modern-day tea parties. Some people, like Foster, completely disagree with the tea parties stating that the country may need a sense of added socialism. Other people, such as George McLellan, believe that tea parties should be held because Congress should be stopped from freely spending citizens’ money. Despite the different points of view, it still seems as if the modern day tea parties are similar to the Boston Tea Party in that people are rallying together to protest against taxes. The Boston Tea Party resulted in large amounts of tea thrown into the Boston Harbor by protesting colonists. These protesting colonists had some of their taxes repealed by the English government. They were then only required to pay a tea tax to essentially inform the colonists that they were still subject to British rule. The similarities between the tea parties now and then make me wonder whether the modern-day tea parties will ever have the same effect as the Boston Tea Party.

Michael Moore's Visual Argument

As I read chapter 14 of “Everything is an Argument”, I immediately thought of the Michael Moore film, “Roger and Me”, that we watched and discussed in class. While Moore did not use a picture to illustrate his thesis, he did use visual arguments discussed in chapter 14 by embedding various video clips into his film in order to clearly depict his argument. While trying to convey the struggles that the General Motors employees of Flint faced in the 1980’s when the factory closed down, Moore strategically placed several visual artifacts into his film. He captured the emotion of a family that was evicted on Christmas Eve as tears flowed from the childrens' faces, and the parents cursed and screamed at the situation. Moore then placed further emphasis on this tragic situation by juxtaposing it with the General Motors CEO, Roger Smith, declaring the greatness of the Christmas season. Moore also grasps the viewer’s attention and made me personally sympathize for a few laid-off employees that are now attempting to survive by selling rabbits or teaching lessons on style strategies. Also, by playing the overwhelmingly happy song “Wouldn't it be Nice” by The Beach Boys along side several video clips illustrating the impoverished, deserted town, Moore makes it clear that he is opposed to the situation in Flint. He further tries to portray the Roger Smith as an evil man by showing himself on several occasions not being able to achieve an interview with Smith.

There are several more instances in which Moore uses visual artifacts to convey his argument. By using the visual strategies mentioned above, Moore’s thesis can easily be identified. He is greatly opposed to the factory closing down in Flint as seen in the pathos he uses in hopes that the viewer will feel sorry for the town and its laid-off employees. I believe that through his use of visual artifacts, Moore is able to show the severity of the situation in flint more than if he had simply written a picture-less article.

Holidays Link the Recession to the Depression

In the poem “Being Poor”, the author mentions that, “Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa”. This idea of not receiving gifts for any particular holiday due to financial problems immediately reminded me of the Easter holiday that is approaching, and how the recession could potentially affect the sales of Easter candy and gifts.

According to an article detailing the events of the Great Depression, not many people received Christmas presents during that particular time period. Millie Ruchel, an 82-year-old that lived during the time of the Great Depression, speaks of her father’s unemployment, and that, "Because of [her] father's continued unemployment, [her family] received no gifts [for] Christmas." She then discusses how one Christmas, her father wanted to give his children a gift, so he hand-crafted a teeter-totter out of wood. Ruchel appears to have fond memories of that teeter-totter, and it seems that not receiving any store-bought toys was a common during the years of the Great Depression.

A similar scenario is now emerging in the current recession that the economy is facing. The article, “Will the recession slow down the Easter Bunny?”, discusses the predicted outcome of Easter sales this year. The article states that, “the National Retail Federation says a survey shows people plan to spend about 15% less on their Easter celebrations this year” (Famuliner). It continues to state that this 15% decrease in shopping will most likely come from people purchasing fewer gifts such as clothing or flowers for others, but the amount of candy sales is projected to stay the same.

The projected fall in spending this year for Easter is very similar to the Great Depression Christmas sales fall, and may be an indication that the world is heading toward a similar situation to the Great Depression. I hope that lack of holiday sales is not a foreshadowing of a depression to come.

A Modern Day Depression

A News and Observer article entitled, “Recession Calls Up Sacrifices”, reminded me of the Great Depression Dust Bowl photographs that we discussed in class. The Dust Bowl pictures illustrated the great deal of sacrifice that the majority of people living in the Great Depression had to make in order to continue making money. Some people in the photographs were seen walking large distances, instead of taking the train, to get a job in order to save a few valuable dollars. Others were seen dancing for nearly 50 days, sacrificing their happiness, to gain at least some money. Further sacrifices are seen in the photograph of a family living out of their car instead of a house because it presumably saves large amounts of money. Currently, while the scenarios may not be as severe, people and businesses are making several sacrifices in order to keep their lifestyles and companies alive.

The article states that businesses are attempting to avoid firing employees by making sacrifices such as, “reducing hours, freezing wages and suspending matching 401(k) programs” (Murawski). Other sacrifices that several businesses are making include employees bringing their own lunches instead of having catered food, and not having offices cleaned nearly as much as they were in the past. I remember a few years ago hearing of several companies entertaining their clients over a round of golf, or a meal at an expensive restaurant. However, according to this article, those days are now sacrificed and overshadowed by inexpensive company sponsored meals. Initially, I had thought that employees and management would be disappointed by these sacrifices, however, the article states that the workers have accepted the changes and are just happy to have their jobs. This especially reminded me of the Dust Bowl photographs as the majority of the pictures illustrated people that appeared to come from high-paying jobs, due to their attire, and seemed to settle for essentially any occupation that they could find. While the workers discussed in the modern-day article are not making the same immense sacrifices that the people in the Great Depression photographs made, the two situations are similar in that in each scenario people are sacrificing the things they previously took for granted in order to continue making money. I simply hope that people in present day scenarios do not continue having to make sacrifices until they are living out of their cars, or participating in 50-day dance competitions.

Past and Present Company Strategies

After discussing the nature of business this week in American Studies, as well as magazine and commercial ads, I have noticed myself become much more aware of various companies’ marketing strategies. For example, this week while I watched CSI with Taylor Swift as the guest star, I noticed several commercials regarding her future performances at concert arenas and award shows. Also, when I watched a televised college basketball game, I observed several alcoholic beverages being advertised. In both scenarios, the companies seem to attempt to appeal to an audience that they believe is watching. This is something that I was never aware of before. Playing certain commercials on particular stations seems to be a key strategy to cause privileged Americans to believe that they need more than they already have. However, one company that I kept seeing reoccurring ads for, regardless of the station, was Geico, the car insurance company that has forever embedded the line, “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance”, into my mind.

I completed some research to discover the reasons that this company to receives so much airtime and discovered that it is because car-insurance appeals to a mass amount of people…almost everyone who drives a car. An article entitled, “The Best Ad on Television”, states that Geico appeals to, “Pretty much everyone—man or woman, gay or straight, black or white, hip or hick. If you drive a car, they want your business” (Stevenson). However, I also noticed that these ads are very diversified. They range from understandable tame ads for serious drivers, to comedic ads that younger people may like.
Various ads, such as Geico, have made me more aware of the strategic plans of the advertisers. These companies realize that people may, for instance, already have car insurance, so they place multiple commercials on a variety of stations to convince people that their insurance is somehow better. This is similar to several magazine ads we discussed at in class such as the Verizon Wireless ads that appeal to both teens who desire to become popular, and older customers, who may desire a simpler styled phone.
All of these ads ultimately reminded me of the story of the car company General Motors. A company that caused people to yearn for their product by changing the style and color of cars, and convincing people that what they have is not quite good enough, and that they need to have something better. Whether it is a humorous car-insurance advertisement, or a different paint color on a car, it seems that the base of advertising has not changed a lot since the 1920’s. Companies still use similar strategies in order to persuade customers to buy their product.

Modern Day Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

As we discussed in class, The Triangle Shirtwaist factory was clearly unequipped for hazards such as fires. The fire escape in the building was indeed approved by the fire department, however, the doors on certain floors were locked to ensure that none of the workers unionized or escaped during the course any given day. After a fire hit and hundreds of workers died, mainly because of the poor fire equipment, the Triangle Shirtwaist factory was remade. One may think that the management would have learned their lesson after the fire struck the eighth floor, but in their new building, they still proceeded to cover the fire escape with a sewing machine. This finally caused the fire department to disapprove of the factory’s fire equipment.

After learning of this terrible situation that occurred in 1911, I completed some research to investigate if similar events are still happening in modern day situations. I was shocked to find a related situation that had occurred last April in India.

In Mangalore, India, very minimally paid laborers are, “hired to dig trenches in Atturkodi area in Kutherthoor village by the Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL)” (Mondal). These laborers were hired last spring to search for an oil-leak. The trenches that were being dug had been polluted by hydrocarbons. Supposedly these hydrocarbons have caused the trench diggers to begin to develop severe skin conditions. These laborers have repeatedly told their management of these skin problems, and even, “requested the officials of the refinery for protective gear but nothing had been done in this regard” (Mondal). One worker developed a dangerous burning sensation on his legs and hands. However, the officials threatened him after he told a television station about the skin conditions that the laborers are developing.

This modern day situation greatly reminded me of the Shirtwaist Factory in that the management did not care about its workers, but only the job they completed. This situation Mangalore greatly saddened me to know that people have still not learned from the mistakes of the Shirtwaist Factory. In 1911, a sacrifice was made, and I wish the world could learn from those mistakes. However, because similar situations are still occurring today, it causes me to believe that maybe this attitude will always remain in human nature. However, people should learn from events such as these and begin to care more about people than the work that they complete.

Can the Stimulus Package Help Susie American?

Last week in class, we discussed an average scenario that the majority of Americans are living today. This is the scenario of Susie American. In case you don’t remember, Susie was a single mother of two who bought a house for $100,000 and then later used the home “flipping” strategy to sell the house for $150,000. After selling that home, Susie hoped to do the same with another. But the bank told her that with a loan, she could buy a $200,000 home. With Susie’s reasoning, she had thought that she could make more money buying the $200,000 home because the interest would grow faster with a more expensive home. Unfortunately for Susie, and many other Americans, the price of the home did not rise as expected, but it greatly fell because too many people, like Susie, took out loans from the bank that they could not afford. Then, because the entire country was in financial turmoil because of situations similar to this, Susie lost her job and was left with a home she could not pay for, a large loan that she could not afford, and two children to provide for. The question is, what are the government and president going to do to make Susie, and millions of Americans like her, become financially stable again?

Obama’s new housing plan unfortunately does not focus on the many Americans like Susie, instead, according to cnnmoney.com, the plan focuses more on helping around 9 million people that owe more than the home’s value, but can still afford the payments. Unfortunately, “The program does virtually nothing for the unemployed, who often don't have enough income to make any reasonable monthly payment affordable” (Luhby). This is very unpleasant news for Susie and a large mass of Americans who recently became unemployed due to the financial recession that the country is currently in. However, the article did later mention that those who were currently unemployed could potentially benefit from Obama’s bill in the future because Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package “is expected to create or save up to 3.5 million jobs” (Luhby). After reading about the stimulus bill, this appeared to be the only benefit to the large amount of people living with similar situations to Susie.

This seems to be a very terrible thing for the majority of Americans, and I hope in the future, there will be a bill that focuses on helping the mass of Americans instead of the small amount the this bill supposedly helped. Unfortunately, this bill realistically may not appear for months, or maybe years. Therefore, I suppose that one important thing Americans can do is look at what exactly caused the housing market to crash and the economy to fail, and learn from our mistakes, ensuring that it never happens again. Until the next bill, focusing on a greater mass of Americans, arrives, it seems that all Americans can do is become self-reliant and attempt to solve their own financial problems. As mentioned before, this is an unfortunate situation, but one that can be solved with several bills and efforts that will hopefully arrive in the future.

Reverse Discrimination

As I watch this country’s progression from before the Civil War until now, it is apparent that the United States is moving closer and closer to ending racism by the decade. With this progression, I realized that some people might feel discriminated against because some companies and universities are now required to have a certain percent of diverse people in order to prove that racism is no longer prevalent in America. With this requirement, some people, particularly Caucasian males, are beginning to feel discriminated against because they feel that some diverse people are less qualified for an occupation, but are receiving the job instead of the Caucasian males due to the diversity requirement that is now in place in certain parts of America. For example, in New Haven, fire fighters were required to pass a test in order to receive promotions. Only 17 Caucasians and one Hispanic passed the test, so the test was “scraped” because it was a requirement to have a higher percentage of diverse people to be promoted. The fire department then promoted some of the diverse people instead of the Caucasians because of this requirement. Some of the Caucasian males called this “reverse discrimination” because they felt that they were being discriminated against because they could not receive the job that they were qualified for due to their race. The fire fighters who passed the test then sued the city because they felt that they were being discriminated against because of their race. This case is currently being taken to the Supreme Court because, “the city violated [the fire fighter’s] constitutional right to equal treatment” (Richey).

Another Caucasian middle class male writes about this issue of “reverse discrimination” in terms of college scholarships. He states that in his search of finding a college scholarship, one website stated, “Guess what? Nearly everyone's a minority. It's likely that you fit into at least one of the growing minority scholarship categories—nearly everyone does, by some scholarship definition. We'll prove it: African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, Female, Multi-racial or Multicultural, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Have we left anyone out?” (collegescholarships.org). His response to that question was that Caucasian males were left out, and he did not understand the reasoning for this. He was astounded that women fell into the category of a minority when they account for 49.2% of the population, and he felt as if the college scholarship program was specifically targeting the Caucasian male group to be the only one that is not eligible for a scholarship. He then argued that people should receive scholarships based on merit. If one person is hard-working and their results illustrate their efforts, they should be given a scholarship regardless of their race.

I completely agree with his idea. I think that race should not even be a factor when it comes to an occupation or a college. In the future, when people apply for an occupation or a college, I think that they should not even be required to provide their gender or race because these things should not determine a person’s success. Unfortunately, this idealistic proposal will probably never happen. So maybe the law that requires a certain percent of diverse people should exist in order to ensure that racism does not occur. Maybe it exists to continue to illustrate the progression that the country has made since the Civil War, to show that the descendants of slaves can now have the same or better jobs than the descendants of masters.

A Life Changing Phone!

It has been called many things such as, life changing, a device of the future, and “The Jesus Phone” (Net Profits Inc). But is the iPhone truly what it is hyped up to be? This past weekend I went to the AT&T store to purchase a new phone. The salesman, who told me about each cell phone, advised me to buy the iPhone. He said, “The iPhone is truly amazing, its technology and the way it operates are redefining the electronic world”. While I initially found the phone to be intriguing, I soon realized that I already have an iPod and camera, so all I really need a phone for is to make calls and send text messages. So, instead of buying the iPhone, I bought a far cheaper device that fulfilled my practical needs. However, when I arrived home, I saw an iPhone commercial, advertising the speed and applications on the phone, so I began to think that the phone may be overly romanticized, due to the fact that it seems to be overly praised and discussed. I looked at various reviews online, and most described the phone as, “…so sleek and thin, [making] Treos and Blackberrys look obese”, and “fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate." One blogger even describes it as, “…pretty phenomenal. Life changing. This is one of the most polished products [he has] ever used”. With all of these positive reviews, I had to ask my brother if I could use his iPhone for about an hour, so I could see what everyone was talking about.
When I used his iPhone, I played some of the games he had downloaded from the application store, and I personally found them to be fairly boring and trivial. It may be possible that some of the more expensive ten-dollar games are more enthralling, but I could never see myself playing some of those games in my spare time. I then tried to use the Internet, and I found that it worked far slower than advertised. In fact, an iPhone commercial in the United Kingdom was even banned due to the false advertisement of the speed of the iPhone. Later, I tried to type on the small touch screen keys, and with about ten typos, I realized that the iPhone keyboard would be difficult to get used to and very inconvenient for my needs. Then I asked my brother how he liked it, and he stated that he really enjoys the phone, but it is not what it is romanticized to be. He says that the touch screen often has trouble working in the cold, and sometimes he misses phone calls because the switch on the side occasionally silences the phone when he places it in his pocket. While some believe this phone redefines the entire technology world, I consider the phone as an interesting device, but far less “life changing” than people build it up to be.

Discrimination in 2009

When America welcomed President Barack Obama into office on January 20, 2009, the country seemed to act as if his inauguration marked the end of racism and discrimination in the United States. Patricia J. Williams states, “[Obama] truly does seem to transcend race because his mother, after all, let’s not forget, was white” (Williams). While at first I tried to agree with the idealistic theory that one person could suddenly transform the beliefs of all Americans, and transcend race, I then realized that this might be impossible. It may be too optimistic to believe that one person will change the views of millions. I realized that America has moved forward in multiple aspects of discrimination and racism. There are no longer slaves like Frederick Douglas who never knew their birthdays or mothers. There are no longer masters who, “...at times seem[ed] to take great pleasure in whipping a slave” (Douglas). However, although discrimination in the United States seems to have ended, maybe it has simply disguised itself in other forms. While American’s are clearly not as racist as they were many years ago, daily discrimination still takes place in America.

Recently, the election took place. Not only was the president elected, but other important decisions were also made. For example, Proposition 8 allowed Californians to decide whether or not same sex marriages should be allowed in California. While it was an apparently very close vote, “...Millions of voters went to the polls... and said YES to bigotry, YES to discrimination, YES to second-class status for same-sex couples” (No on Prop 8 Campaign). While there seems to be an end in sight for racism, gays in America still appear to feel very discriminated against. They seem to feel as if others are controlling their decisions, just as slaves felt controlled by their masters before the twentieth century. The article, “Final Statement from No on Prop 8 Campaign”, states, “Victory was not ours today. But the struggle for equality is not over” (No on Prop 8 Campaign), indicating that same-sex couples still feel discriminated against, and not equal in 2009. While Americans may believe that there is no more discrimination in the United States, people, such as same-sex couples, still feel discriminated against and unequal. The election of an African American president is just one step among many that must occur in order to have a more equal America.