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.