The Dispensable African in Heart of Darkness
Three Works Cited The story is about a man named Marlow, who is hired by The Company, which is a shipping company located in England. Although Marlow had sailed before, he had never sailed to Africa. The people who operated The Company (those located in England) are so far removed from reality, that they have no concept of the devastation caused in order to ship vast loads of ivory. The Company is a perfect example of how these profit driven industries obtain their wealth – through the blatant disregard of the environment and their fellow man.
One can only imagine the death and destruction that was inflicted in order to ship mass quantities of ivory. The Company’s disrespect for the Africans and their environment was the typical attitude had by many nineteenth century profiteers. Their rationale was that no matter what degree of damage was inflicted, they felt it would never affect them.
Their disdainful attittude towards the Africans is expressed in the following words:
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. (Conrad 9)
In order to be able to conquer a people, one must dehumanize them and believe they are insignificant/inferior. This mode of thinking is used to justify any atrocities committed by the conquerors.
In “Root of Racism,” the superior attitude is described as
All groups, by their nature, imply to the members that they are somehow special in particular ways and in many ways better, than their fellow travelers on this earth. (Ross)
This superior attitude has been evidently pervasive throughout mankind’s history; some strong examples of these are the war in Bosnia, the slaughter of the Tutus in Rwanda and the white settlers near annihilation of the Native Americans.
Conrad’s character Marlow describes the natives as having “a wild vitality” and their “faces like grotesque masks.” These remarks demonstrate his fear and reinforces the distinction between himself and the natives.
Racial or ethnic hatred is a direct consequence of our Fear
Response. Hatred is really taking the fear response one step further. We justify that fear by invoking certain attributes to others by assuming that they may be inferior, evil or harmful.
Voting is at the center of every democratic system. In america, it is the system in which a president is elected into office, and people express their opinion. Many people walk into the voting booth with the thought that every vote counts, and that their vote might be the one that matters above all else. But in reality, America’s voting system is old and flawed in many ways. Electoral College is a commonly used term on the topic of elections but few people actually know how it works.
The Electoral College can be a bit confusing to understand. It was created by the founding fathers and according to the History, Art & Archives, U.S House of Representatives, “…established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, the Electoral College is the formal body which elects the President and Vice President of the United States.
This loophole can be exploited by the two presidential candidates. This happens because politicians no longer have to win people, they have to win states. In his video on the flaws in the electoral college C.G.P Gray explains how there is a possibility, that while this is an improbable circumstance, a candidate can scrape by with 22% of the popular vote. He states “Here’s the action plan: win the votes of the people who count the most and ignore the people who count the least. Start with Wyoming, the state where 0.18% of Americans live, but who get 0.56% of the electoral college votes for president. And, because it’s a winner take all system, you don’t need all of them to vote for you, just half plus one or 0.09%.” (The Trouble With The Electoral College,
In this paper four subjects on the Electoral College will be addressed. These four subjects are: What is the Electoral College? Why did the founding fathers create the Electoral College? What are some major criticisms of the Electoral College? Should we keep it? Before these questions are addressed it should be noted that many people were not aware of the existence of the Electoral College, perhaps even the Author of this paper.
The United States is a privileged country with freedoms and opportunities many countries strive to achieve. People come into the United States in hopes to obtain these rights and make a better life for themselves; they strive to achieve “The American Dream.” Citizens are given the chance to vote, speak their mind, and live according to their desires without prejudice. However, the same government that promises hope has flaws that frustrate the American people; the Electoral College is one topic of debate. Many feel this system is a safe way to regulate who leads the country, while others feel that issues should be left to popular vote.
The author argues that without the use of an Electoral College that every vote by an American citizen would still create a big outcome in the election for a candidate. Instead of telling electors who citizens wished to cast their vote for, citizens would be able to really vote for the candidate in which they feel will be most effective for the country. The author believes that the Electoral College has soiled our elections and that we should make a better way in which we can make the elections more efficient and equal for each and every citizen in
Ross, Kelly. “Electoral College Outdated.” Northern Arizona News. 6 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
They are spatial versus temporal in orientation; attachment to versus ownership of particular lands or territory; community focused versus individual gain; and a consistent notion of the interrelatedness of humans with versus stewardship over the rest of creation. (p. 7) Tinker states, “these four cultural identifiers are so interconnected that any damage to one cultural aspect extends the damaging effect to the other three.” (p. 9) His focus is obviously on the first peoples, although this phenomenon can arguably be true for both cultures. In fact, it is the clash of these bi-polar stances that have inflicted the most genocidal damages. For instance, the temporal view of Euro-American culture kept greed, in all its forms, alive. Ownership of lands and territory took center stage due to a combination of the theology of stewardship over the untamed west and the need for more land and resources becoming more obvious in the eyes of the colonizing. Thusly, the individual attainment of land followed suit. These cultural elements of the Euro-Americans led to years of genocidal attacks on the Native
Although, it is remotely possible in a very close election that there will not be one candidate receiving 270 electoral votes, in which case the House of Representatives chooses the President. In this scenario, each state has merely one vote each to decide the presidency out of the top three contenders for the office. The Senate chooses the vice-president out of the top two contenders.
“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience?” (George Bernard Shaw). George Shaw was an individual who had finally understood that humans must learn from their mistakes so huge fiascos such as genocide may never happen again. A message taught to all individuals is regardless of race or sex, treating others equally is the right way to act. Mistreatment of the Native Americans should have revealed to all, that the travesty of genocide will repeat itself until, the social order changes their way. In the 1800’s the government had abused all Natives, acting if they were not real humans. Chief Joseph, chief of the Nez Pierce, had explained how he was tired of trying to compromise with the Americans then receiving nothing coming in return. He then goes on saying his heart broke when he remembered all the broken promises. The settlers had pushed many other different tribes to their breaking point also, such as the Cherokee, Dakota, and Lakota. Society easily misperceives and only sees what they want, then actually misses’ reality. And in that, humanity must learn not to abuse others, understand everyone deserves self-respect, and not overuse power.
I think we should remove the Electoral College. This would allow for each vote to be equal rather than making each state have equal say. Most people do
The author tells of how waves are effected by quantum mechanic. He also discusses the fact that electromagnetic radiation, or photons, are actually particles and waves. He continues to discuss how matter particles are also matter, but because of their h bar, is so small, the effects are not seen. Green concludes the quantum mechanics discussion by talking about the uncertainty principle.Chapter 5: The need for a New Theory: General Relativity vs.
The band created in 1971 by Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, and Bev Bevan used cellos and violins to create a classical sound. Although Roy Wood left shortly after their first record was released. The idea came about when Jeff Lynne said to Roy Wood, “‘What if we had a band with strings- real strings?’” (Wild 9) They were in The Move at the time and decided to create a band on the side. They called this experimental band The Electric Light Orchestra. “Of the groups name Lynne remembers, ‘At the time people thought ‘ELO’ was pretty bad. It was like ‘The Electric Light what?’ The name was as wacky as the idea really.’” (Wild 9)
In conclusion, exploitation, racialization, identity, and inferiority all played a role in why and how the genocidal events that took place in the U.S. with the Native Americans, The Belgian Congo, and German Southwest Africa happened. When the feeling of superiority overtakes a group of people it can easily lead to the discrimination of another group, just as it did the genocides I analyzed. The lack of commonality and cultural tolerance led to crucial events that affected many along the way.
The beginnings of modern processing of iron can be traced back to central Europe in the mid-14th century BC. Pure iron has limited use in today’s world. Commercial iron always contains small amounts of carbon and other impurities that change its physical properties, which are much improved by the further addition of carbon and other alloying elements. This helps to prevent oxidation, also known as rust.