The United States is addicted to war. In the same way that the drug addict seeks a euphoria from heroin, America seeks the thrill of war and victory. Though there are dire consequences, and certain destruction, the thrill of the high is a prize to be won, no matter the cost.
The euphoria of victory and the addiction to war are comparatively recent for the United States. America was a reluctant and late participant in World War One, and before that, wars were fought for the conquest of the continent, or for hemispheric objectives. The notable exception was the Civil War, which was terribly destructive, and which took place entirely on American soil (the only one; the Indian wars were about the conquest of land belonging to others). More American combatants lost their lives in the Civil War than in any other involving Americans.
The United States of America was founded by people with a distrust of a large standing army, a distrust that lingered into the twentieth century. As economically powerful as the United States was by the beginning of the twentieth century, it was not a country with a huge military. Viewed as it was then, it was easy enough to defend the country, with friendly neighbours to the north and south, and great oceans between the US and the rest of the world. As the situation in Europe and Asia tended to become more dangerous in the 1930s, there was still very strong sentiment in the United States against getting involved in wars on other continents. The country was very reluctant to enter the First World War, and the hope was that it wouldn’t be sending anyone to war abroad again. Besides, the Civil War and its horrors were still part of living memory. The coming of World War Two, and the possibility of Amer...
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...ar movement today is higher; especially amongst the younger elements of the movement, there is a greater realisation of the connections between war, capitalism, and globalisation. That consciousness can be found at ground level, too. It does not manifest itself only at the level of abstraction and theory. I am reminded of the Liberation Theologians’ principle of 'praxis-reflection-praxis', and the advantage of this 'orthopraxis' over 'orthodoxy' and 'practice'. I am also hopeful because, disconnected as it seems, SUV-loving Americans do seem to have in the back of their minds that oil is both finite and bad for the environment. Moreover, as the US moves reluctantly away from the oil economy, it may not have as many of the economic rationales described above to wage war, and war may even be kicked as an addiction. These are hopeful signs, and I am always one to hope.
In the book, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the “isolationism” ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.
Dill, Karen E. and Dill, Jody C. “Video Game Violence: A Review of the Empirical
The wars that America fought was primarily for that reason. The formation of the European Union was a key strategy by United States to ensure that European countries are consolidated under one umbrella that controls the political and economic affairs of the region. United States’ economic mighty, political and cultural appeal and strong military has helped maintain the status as the only truly global power. U.S. used its power to promote democracy and support countries under siege both from internal and external aggressions, a strategy that they also used to promote the interests of American companies and its people. The U.S. foreign policy through the 20th century was meant to take the lead in creating effective international institutions and arrangements to handle new challenges especially those rising from Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Throughout history, America has had its hand in conflict with other countries. Some of those conflicts have turned into wars. Looking back at America’s “track record” with war, America has a worthy past of having its citizen’s support. Obviously the two World Wars are not controversial. The United States in the Korean War was criticized, fairly, for its strategy, but the need to defend South Korea was never questioned.
Now, sustainable development and quality of life are crucial to the well being of our nation. Thus, I have pondered many a year on this very important matter and have consulted a very knowing Canadian of my acquaintance at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The amount of natural resources in this country being usually reckoned infi...
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
As we approach the next Presidential election the topic of American foreign policy is once again in the spotlight. In this paper, I will examine four major objectives of U.S. foreign policy that have persisted throughout the twentieth century and will discuss the effect of each on our nation’s recent history, with particular focus on key leaders who espoused each objective at various times. In addition, I will relate the effects of American foreign policy objectives, with special attention to their impact on the American middle class. Most importantly, this paper will discuss America’s involvement in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War to the anticipated fulfillment of these objectives—democracy, manifest destiny, humanitarianism, and economic expansion.
The United States affected the first major catastrophe of the twentieth century tremendously. The First World War, otherwise known as the “Great War,” was truly a world-wide event that was started in August of 1914 due to a single assassination of the heir to the Austria-Hungarian Empire. All but two of the world’s major powers at the time were in Europe, and all of those powers were in entangling alliances that propelled the continent into war. The United States joined the war as a latecomer in 1917 due mostly to a combination of unrestricted submarine warfare and antagonism from Germany over U.S. borders. The involvement of the United States in the Great War was overall beneficial to the development of itself due to a combination of domestic and international factors that cemented the United States as a major “Great Power.”
Sculpture is one of the most important parts of Greek art since it is almost the only art form that has survived in some quantity. The ancient Greeks were especially known for their sculpture because their sculptures were extremely life like and beautiful. It was important to the ancient Greeks to combine passion and reason in their sculpture. Greek sculptures were mostly of the human form since they looked at their gods as having a human form. All of the sculptures were nudes of males because society looked down upon female nudity until latter on in time when you started to see sculptures such as the Venus di Milo, which was modeled after Aphrodite (Wikpedia the free encyclopedia. Wikpedia.11 Nov 2004. 12 Nov 2004 http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Greek_art ). One of the most amazing sculptures is the colossus sculpture of Zeus in Olympia it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Ancient writers said that it stood 12.40 meters high, 6.65 meters long and 9.76 meters deep the body of Zeus was made of ivory followed by a robe made of gold topped with a silver olive wreath and his throne was decorated with mythological scenes painted by Panainos and Kolotis the statue itself was created by Phidos. Michael Lahanas. 25 Dec 2002. 11 Nov 2004 (http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/ZeusStatue.htm). Another great sculpture is the colossus Athena Parthenos. This sculpture just like the colossus statue of Zeus was made of gold and ivory and had various mythological engravings in her shield, helmet and pedestal.
Scott, D. The Effect of Video Games on Feelings of Aggression. The Journal of Psychology. March 1995 v129 n2 p121-132.
During much of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the United States was a fairly isolated nation. While much of Europe and rest of the world were waging war against Germany, the United States kept a fairly pacifist stance and refrained from military involvement (World War II: Isolationist America). Many citizens in the United States feared an intrusion from outside forces, especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which changed t...
John, a 15 year old male, is an 8th grade student attending a local middle school. John is a transfer student from another state and he been placed into an inclusion classroom because he has been identified as a student with a disability and requires an IEP. Lately, John has been verbally and physically disruptive during math class. Some of the disruptive behaviors John often exhibit in the classroom include making loud noises and jokes during instruction, calling his peers names, physically touching his peers, and grabbing group materials. John’s teacher collected data and learned that his verbal disruptive behavior occurs 4-8 times during each sixty minute class meeting, and his physical group disruptions occur 75% of the time he works with a group. After meeting with John’s other teachers, his math teacher learned that his disruptive behavior is only present during math class. According to John’s math test scores on his IEP, his math instructor also learned that math is a challenging subject for John and he is significantly below grade level. Both John’s math teacher and his IEP team reached an agreement that they would like to decrease the number of times John disrupts instruction and eventually eliminate the disruptive behavior. The replacement behavior for John is to remain focused and on task during math instruction and assigned activities without triggering any disruptions (i.e., distracting loud noises or jokes causing the class to go into a laughing uproar, physical contact with peers, name calling, or grabbing his peers’ materials). Instead of John being punished for his disruptive behavior, the replacement behavior would allow him to remain in math class, and he will also be able to receive posit...
The Parthenon was an amazing and important temple. Dedicated to Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, it was a very important temple to the Greeks. Greeks worshiped all of their gods by building temples for them and giving sacrifices. Most of the sacrifices were sacred tiles designed especially for the gods, not many were human.
Lee, Mickey Suhn. "Effects of Video Game Violence on Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors." Journal of
Several studies display that video games with violent content are related to more hostile behavior in teens. This is a concern because most of the popular video games contain violence. Part of the upsurge in aggressive behavior is connected to the amount of time children are permitted