Native American and The US government Essay -- essays papers

Native American and The US government The Iroquois Nation was a nation of five tribes, which was comprised of Mohawks, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Onondagas. These tribes were originally separated, but later brought together by two Indians named Hiawatha and Deganawidah. Hiawatha seemed to be the spokesman while Deganawidah took on the role as a philosopher. These two men formed a nation where some of the ideas are still intact today. One aspect that made them so strong was the way in which they governed themselves. Women in their society were basically in charge, except for the Sachems who were representatives appointed by the heads of the Ohwachiras. When this federal assembly met, the Sachems voted as tribes instead as individuals. This in many ways can be compared to present day government electoral votes. Another aspect I found that created a strong unity was the arrangement of power, which was demonstrated in their seating arrangement. The Mohawks and Senecas sat on one side, while the Oneidas and Cayugas on the other. The two tribes were separated with the Onondagas sitting between them. This arrangement was a lot like present day’s balance of power in the three different branches of the Federal Government. The government of the Iroquois Nation has set themselves apart from almost all other Indians of North America and made it a powerful force in denouncing the Indians as being savages. Today’s Native American has adopted many of the ideas of the Iroquois Nation. Native American history is handed down amongst the tribes through spoken language and rituals. Native American religion is centered on the idea that every day items as well as the nature surrounding them can possess spirit. Euro-Christian’s views are more anonymous as to religion and more scientific concerning their history. Native American’s view of history contains many inconclusive facts when looked at from a European point of view. When you consider their lack of a written language, there are many instances where they do name specific places from which they originate. Unlike the Euro-Christians, these places the Native American’s speak of can be found today. In contrast, Euro-Christian religion/history speaks of the Garden of Eden, but with no specific location as to where the garden can be found. Native American history is interwoven with... ...for what they needed to exist, not to turn a profit and destroy nature (the wilderness). Native Americans thought of gifts as symbolic gestures of friendship and peace at first. They would look at all trade as an exchange of gifts. They would have feasts after trades with the French, for instance to bolster the moral and finalize a deal. Even when the stakes were high and the Europeans knew that it was a gift and not a trade, the natives thought it to be a gift. When the Europeans traded gifts to the Natives for land, the Natives assumed they were trading a gift for the use of land, not knowing that land can be owned. Land was a sacred thing to the Natives and I doubt they would have traded any of it, if they knew the implications of these gifts they were receiving (in trade). The Europeans on the other hand knew that the natives didn’t know what some of these trades meant. A few Europeans tried to explain it to the natives, but to no avail. The Natives didn’t understand to the Europeans delight. They used this against the Natives who couldn’t have known the value of what they were giving up. The Europeans were at fault by knowing these trades to be absurd and unfair.

Brave New World: A Linguistic Analysis

The novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley tries to show us the extreme consequences of social planning. As Huxley makes it, it is a project begun in philosophy, and ending in a few philosophers exercising control over larger society in order to suppress philosophy among the generality. The remnant of philosophers has earned the wisdom that thinking is deleterious to human happiness and social stability. Therefore the overriding goal of the 27th century world community is to suppress the natural human inclinations.In effect the community is only of the small coterie of philosophers at the helm, for the rest of humanity is maintained at a bestial level of existence by their machinations. They are bred artificially, and then raised through constant conditioning, all designed to make them function on their animal instincts alone, and so that they abhor the least tendency to reflection. All are made sexually sterile, and then encouraged to dwell on the sexual act with promiscuous abandon .Care is taken that the promiscuous partners do not fall in love, for love arouses the noble tendencies, and theses are dangerous to the status quo. Otherwise, any substantial thought in nipped in the bud, for the inhabitants of this society are encouraged to take the soma drug at the least onset of a serious thought process. It has been worked out that a hierarchy is necessary for this society to function, and according a five-fold caste system has been applied to the make-up of this society – from the alphas and betas at the top, to the deltas and epsilons at the bottom.The breeding and conditioning takes place according to this scheme. It is a triumph of logic, and yet it is also the death of the human. This conflict is the central theme of the novel. The opening section of the novel presents to us this theme variously and in poignant fashion. This essay carries out a linguistic analysis of the opening chapter, which sheds light on the overall theme. The general impression given is that society has progressed very far, so that logic and science have completely prevailed.The Director of the Hatcheries is describing to some students the process of artificially breeding the citizens of this society. His account tells us that it is a highly advanced process, and the machinery seems to be functioning flawlessly. As he enters the fertilizing room, there are fifty Fertilizer staff immersed in their work, and so the group is met with a â€Å"scarcely breathing silence, the absentminded, soliloquising hum or whistle, of absorbed concentration† (Huxley 2004, p. 16). All the clues point to a highly sophisticated society working on the factory principle.The factory principle is so esteemed years are counted from the year that the industrialist Henry Ford brought out his first mass-production car, the model T, which was in the year 1914. The present year is said to be 632 A. F. – the latter stands for â€Å"after Ford† (Ibid 15). But the fact ory is producing human beings. The cold calculation that is involved in this process reminds us of death rather than life. The suggestion is that the genesis of human being is also a process whereby humanity dies. Therefore, the general atmosphere painted is deathly, cold and uninspiring.â€Å"A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories† (Ibid, p. 15). describes the Hatcheries Central, and defines a drab setting, to juxtapose it against its momentous function. Winter conditions are maintained to preserve the eggs and the sperm, and winter is also intimated in a symbolic sense. â€Å"Wintriness responded to wintriness. The overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost† (Ibid). The general impression is that this is not a place of life, but of death.The conflict is also between knowledge and ignorance. We are privy to a society where the excess of knowledge has begotten its antithesis, which is a will to ignorance. The society is based on a highly philosophical design, and yet the philosophy behind it is not supposed to be known by the citizens, because the entire object is to eradicate thinking. Thus the motto of World Society is emblazoned on the top of the entrance to the Hatcheries: â€Å"COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY† (Ibid). The only possible way for the entire world to live as one community is to suppress thought.Individuality is encouraged, but only in so far as it pertains to action in particular, and eschews all generalizations that stems of thinking. â€Å"Not philosophers but fret-sawyers and stamp collectors compose the backbone of society,† we are told by the narrator (Ibid). â€Å"Identity† here means that one is able to fulfill one’s own immediate inclination or instinct. Stability is the result of this non-thinking and instinct-driven existence. In short, the plan is for a bestial existence, and one acquires stability just as a species of animal is stable in its jungle abode.Yet the highest philosophy must coexist with this manufactured ignorance, because the ignorance must be manufactured by someone. The Director of the Hatcheries is among the tiny group of citizens that must know exactly what is going on, for they must process and maintain it. He is part of the highest caste, the Alphas, those who are privy to all knowledge. But the second highest caste, the Betas, must also have a working knowledge, because they take on the high supervisory roles of the running of this society. â€Å"Just to give you a general idea† (Ibid 16).the Director is wont to say as he provides instruction to the Beta students. They are not supposed to know, yet they must be able to do their work properly, and with a modicum of intelligence. The knowledge that they are provided is just enough to keep them happy. They apply the knowledge towards the particular work that they have to do. If they do their work prof iciently they have job satisfaction and financial reward, and ask for nothing beyond these. But the danger is that the knowledge is applied generally, and beyond the confines of the particular situation.Such application of knowledge disrupts the whole pattern, and defeats the object of society. â€Å"For particulars, as every one knows,† the narrator tells us, describing the logic of the Director, â€Å"make for virtue and happiness; generalities are intellectually necessary evils† (Ibid). The last observation is told from the point of view of the Director, and it is significant that he describes generalities as â€Å"intellectually necessary evils†. This is admitting that evil has not been eradicated from this society. It is present in the process, especially in the thought process that engenders the entire system.But the intellection that takes place is necessary, so it is not the philosophers at the helm who are evil. There is no indication in the novel that the World Controllers abuse the power that they have appropriated. They are portrayed as selfless, and as having no concern but the greatest good of society. They hold the secret knowledge that thought is evil, but the evil does not touch their own person, while they proceed with their intellectual designs on society. The evil is instead diffused throughout the system. The evil aspect of this society is the aggregate loss of humanity.Happiness has been bought, but the price paid for it has been essential humanity. The gift of humanity is the greatest gift, and thus the price paid is the ultimate one. For all its apparent contentedness, this society is intrinsically inhuman, and the descriptions of the process taking place in the Hatcheries Central point towards an inhuman existence. â€Å"I shall begin at the beginning† (Ibid). This is how the Director begins his instruction, trying to manufacture a solemnity in keeping with the enormity of what is taking place, which is huma n genesis on a massive scale.But his effort falls flat, and it seems nothing more than a facetious pun. We notice the same effort towards solemnity in all his words and gestures. But solemnity is not possible in the presence of such mundane processes, no matter that the object is human genesis. He tells them about the operation that removes the female ovaries, which are then kept functioning artificially in order to provides the human eggs. We are told that the donors act voluntarily, but we know that it is actually a hefty bait of â€Å"a bonus amounting to six months’ salary† that induces them (Ibid, p. 17).Both sperm and egg cells are maintained at the right temperatures, before arriving at the fertilizing room, where cylinders containing the eggs are manually dipped into the sperm to effect fertilization. We are shocked to witness human conception under such a shabby process as dipping cylinders is seminal fluid. The calculation is relentless. Not all the fertilize d eggs are not all treated the same. Those embryos that are destined to become Alpha citizens are accorded the best treatment. All other embryos are deliberately maltreated, to various degrees, so that they form the lower hierarchies, from beta to epsilon.The â€Å"Bokanovsky’s Process† is the euphemistic term to describe this crime. The deliberate damaging of embryos in indicative of the inherent inhumanity of this society. It is one human being maiming another who is at the most defenseless state of existence. The evil is thus inherent in the process itself. Not just on the philosopher at the top, the indictment somehow falls on society at a whole. References Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited. London: HarperCollins, 2004.

20 Surprising Facts About the Titanic

You may already know that the Titanic hit an iceberg  at 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912, and that it sank two hours and forty minutes  later. Did you know that there were only two bathtubs for third class passengers or that the crew had only seconds to react to the iceberg? These are just a couple of the interesting facts about the Titanic that were going to explore. The  Titanic  Was Gigantic The Titanic was supposed to be an unsinkable boat and it was built to monumental scale. In total, it was 882.5 feet long, 92.5 feet wide, and 175 feet high. It would displace 66,000 tons of water and it was the largest ship built up to that point in time. The Queen Mary cruise ship was built in 1934 and surpassed the Titanics length by 136 feet, making it 1,019 feet long. In comparison, The Oasis of the Seas, a luxury liner built in 2010, has a total length of 1,187 feet. That is nearly a football field longer than the Titanic. And Grand Luxuries for the first class passengers included a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a squash court, and a dog kennel. The Ritz Restaurant on board was inspired by the famous Ritz in Londons Picadilly Circus. The grand staircase—there were several staircases—descended seven of the ships ten decks, and featured oak paneling and bronze cherubs. A replica of the staircase can be seen at the Titanic museum in Branson, Missouri. The Last Dinner The last dinner served to first class passengers at the Ritz Restaurant was a feast with ten sumptuous courses, featuring oysters, caviar, lobster, quail, salmon, roast duckling, and lamb. On board the Titanic were 20,000 bottles of beer, 1,500 bottles of wine, and 8,000 cigars, all for the first class passengers. Expensive to Operate The Titanic burned about 600 tons of coal each day to keep it powered. A team of 176 men kept the fires burning, and it is estimated that over 100 tons of ash were injected into the Atlantic each day the Titanic operated. The Canceled Lifeboat Drill Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on the very day that the ship hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. Many people believe that had the drill taken place, more lives could have been saved. Only Seconds to React From the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg. In that time, First Officer Murdoch ordered, hard a-starboard (which turned the ship to port—left). He also ordered the engine room to put the engines in reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasnt quite fast or far enough. Lifeboats Were Not Full Not only were there not enough lifeboats to save all 2,200 people on board, most of the lifeboats that were launched were not filled to capacity. If they had been, 1,178 people might have been rescued, far more than the 705 who did survive. For instance, the first lifeboat to launch—Lifeboat 7 from the starboard side—only carried 24 people, despite having a capacity of 65 (two additional people later transferred onto it from Lifeboat 5). However, it was Lifeboat 1 that carried the fewest people. It had only seven crew and five passengers (a total of 12 people) despite having a capacity for 40. Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather than the Carpathia, was the closest ship. However, the Californian did not respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky. These were the distress flares sent up from the Titanic  and they immediately woke up their captain to tell him. Unfortunately, the captain issued no orders. Since the ships wireless operator had already gone to bed as well, the Californian was unaware of any distress signals from the Titanic until the morning. By then, the Carpathia had already picked up all of the survivors. Many people believe that if the Californian had responded to the Titanics pleas for help, many more lives could have been saved. Two Dogs Rescued The order was for  women and children first when it came to the lifeboats. When you factor in that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the Titanic, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese. Rich and Famous Among the famous people who died on the Titanic, the wealthiest by far was John Jacob Astor IV, who was worth over US$90 million, over two billion in todays currency. Others included the mining heir, Benjamin Guggenheim, and engineer Thomas Andrews, who oversaw the construction of the Titanic. The co-owner of Macys department store, Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, also died on board the ship. Corpses Recovered On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York, the CS Mackay-Bennett, a commercial cable repair ship, was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. On board, the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett  found 306 bodies, 116 of them were too badly damaged to take all the way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found. Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but 119 of these were so severely degraded that they were buried at sea. No-one Knows All Who Died on the Titanic Although the official number of the dead on the Titanic was 1,503 (of the 2,208 on board, there were 705 survivors), over a hundred unidentified bodies were buried in Fairview Lawn cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many people traveled under false names, and from so many different places, it proved impossible to identify even the recovered bodies. Sidney Leslie Goodwin, a 19-month-old boy buried under the marker unknown child was identified in 2008, after extensive DNA tests and a worldwide genealogical search. Dance Band on the Titanic There was an eight-piece band on the Titanic, led by violinist Wallace Hartley, who had to learn 350 songs in the songbook handed out to first class passengers. As the Titanic was sinking, they sat on the deck and played music, and all of them went down with the ship. Survivors reported that the last piece they played was either Nearer My God to Thee or a waltz named Autumn. The Fourth Funnel Wasnt Real In what is now an iconic image, the side view of the Titanic clearly shows four cream and black funnels. While three of them released steam from the boilers, the fourth was just for show. The designers thought the ship would look more impressive with four funnels rather than three. Only Two Bathtubs in Third Class While the promenade suites in first class had private bathrooms, most passengers on the Titanic had to share bathrooms. Third class had it very rough with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers. The  Titanics  Newspaper The  Titanic  seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper. The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the  Titanic. Each edition included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, society gossip, and the days menu. A Royal Mail Ship The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship. This designation meant the Titanic was officially responsible for delivering mail for the British postal service. On board the Titanic was a Sea Post Office with five mail clerks (two British and three American) who were responsible for the 3,423 sacks of mail (seven million individual pieces). Interestingly, although no mail has yet been recovered from the wreck of the Titanic, if it were, the U.S. Postal Service would still try to deliver it out of duty and because most of the mail was destined for the U.S. 73 Years to Find It Despite the fact that everyone knew the Titanic sunk and they had an idea of where that happened, it took 73 years to find the wreckage. Dr. Robert Ballard, an American oceanographer, found the Titanic on September 1, 1985. Now a UNESCO protected site, the ship lays two miles below the oceans surface, with the bow nearly 2,000 feet from the ships stern. The  Titanics  Treasures The Titanic movie included The Heart of the Ocean, a priceless blue diamond that was supposed to have gone down with the ship. This was just a fictional addition to the story that was likely based on a real-life love story regarding a blue sapphire pendant.   Thousands of artifacts were recovered from the wreckage, however, and many pieces of precious jewelry were included. The majority were auctioned off and sold for some rather incredible prices. More Than One Movie Though many of us know of the 1997 movie Titanic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, it was not the first movie made about the disaster. At least 11 have been made, depending on how you define Titanic movie. The very first movie made about the Titanic disaster was released in May 1912, a month after the disaster. It was a silent movie called Saved from the Titanic and it starred Dorothy Gibson, an actress who was one of the survivors. In 1958, A Night to Remember was released that recounted in great detail the ships fatal night. The British-made film featured Kenneth More, Robert Ayres, and many other notable actors, with over 200 speaking parts. There was also the 1953 Twentieth Century Fox production of Titanic. This black and white film starred Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, and Robert Wagner and was centered around a couples unhappy marriage. Another Titanic movie was produced in Germany and released in 1950. In 1996, a Titanic TV mini-series was produced. The all-star cast included Peter Gallagher, George C. Scott, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Eva Marie Saint. It was reportedly a rushed production designed to be released before the famous blockbuster film hit theaters the next year.