On Thursday, April 28, I was lucky enough to go hear Dan Rather speak in Skoglund Auditorium as the featured Spring Speaker for the Political Actions Committee. I was surprised to find myself, throughout his entire speech, thinking about Bellah's "Paying Attention" and couldn't stop making the connection between what he was saying and "Paying Attention".
One of Mr. Rather's focus points was that news has evolved throughout his lifetime from being what is important, to more entertainment focused. He encouraged us to find the news worth reporting, and he defined news as something that someone else does not want anyone to find out, but someone does find out and reports it. This made me realize how much people are not paying attention to things worth paying attention to. In class we discussed how we can get distracted from the things that really matter in the nation. This is so true with news. We pay attention to the Royal Wedding, instead of the deaths from tornadoes in the south. We pay attention to whether or not Obama's birth certificate is released to the public, instead of what's going on in Syria and Afghanistan. Mr. Rather emphasized Bellah's point that we have gotten distracted from what really matters, and that it is my generation's responsibility to turn news back to what really matters; we need to distinguish between entertainment and news that holds a heavy weight for our nation and our world.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
My Claim about Black Elk Speaks
I find myself torn about which claim to make, because I have two in mind. This first one is that this book is a fabulous example of how the Native Americans lived and learned: through stories. I could go into detail on this, and on how valuable stories can be, but I am choosing to go with my second claim. I would like to claim that this book is a religious classic; it is a great tool to learn about the spirituality of the Native American people. On pages 76-77, Black Elk speaks about the time of the Sun Dance, and in this section many things are described as holy: "Now when the holy tree had been brought home", and "The next day the tree was planted in the center by holy men who sang sacred songs and made sacred vows to the Spirit. And the next morning nursing mothers brought their holy little ones to lay them at the bottom of the tree", and "...for they had been fasting and purifying themselves in the sweat lodges, praying. First their bodies were painted by the holy men...".
My favorite quote, though, that I have come across thus far in the reading is this:
"It does not matter where his body lies, for it is grass; but where his spirit is, it will be good to be" (114). This quote holds huge significance to anyone who believes in a greater being or even life after death. It also highlights how physical things do not matter -- it is the spiritual things and an individual's soul that will truly be evaluated once the individual is gone. This quote allows the reader to tie Black Elk's spiritual view to themselves; the principle of "it's what's on the inside that counts" has held true from Black Elk's time to our current day.
These snippets are such a good sample of the insight a reader can get from a specific text. We are reminded that the Native Americans held spirituality in very high esteem, that it somewhat dictated their daily activities, and most of all that their religiosity and spirituality was connected to nature. I am claiming that Black Elk Speaks is a religious text that highlights and teaches the reader about the religiosity of the Native Americans during Black Elk's period of life.
My favorite quote, though, that I have come across thus far in the reading is this:
"It does not matter where his body lies, for it is grass; but where his spirit is, it will be good to be" (114). This quote holds huge significance to anyone who believes in a greater being or even life after death. It also highlights how physical things do not matter -- it is the spiritual things and an individual's soul that will truly be evaluated once the individual is gone. This quote allows the reader to tie Black Elk's spiritual view to themselves; the principle of "it's what's on the inside that counts" has held true from Black Elk's time to our current day.
These snippets are such a good sample of the insight a reader can get from a specific text. We are reminded that the Native Americans held spirituality in very high esteem, that it somewhat dictated their daily activities, and most of all that their religiosity and spirituality was connected to nature. I am claiming that Black Elk Speaks is a religious text that highlights and teaches the reader about the religiosity of the Native Americans during Black Elk's period of life.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Observations from first reading of Black Elk Speaks
In my reading of Black Elk Speaks, there was one quote that really stood out to me. Black Elk says,
"So I know that it is a good thing I am going to do; and because no good thing can be done by any man alone..."
No good thing can be done by any man alone. Isn't this kind of what Bellah and Putnam have been getting at? Voluntary associations, community, involvement, etc, make good things happen. Without others, one is isolated and cannot accomplish very much. But when surrounded by others who have the same views and even opposing views from you, you can grow and change things all around you.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Our Trip to the VFW
Tonight was the night that my voluntary association group, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, headed down to the local VFW post to do some interviews. However, upon arrival, the bartender told us that her patrons would not like to be bothered, and that they've run into this problem in the past. At a loss of what to do, we had no option but to leave!
Thankfully though, we have a back-up plan and have the name of someone who is a local member, and have contacted him to do an interview within the next few days. Hopefully this will work out! It is interesting to me that they have had to refuse students in the past -- it surprised me, because I would have thought the veterans would want to share their stories with others. Especially students who are trying to appreciate the VFW and it's role in the community. Hopefully we will get the interviews we need, and the people we talk to next will be willing to give us their time and their thoughts!
Thankfully though, we have a back-up plan and have the name of someone who is a local member, and have contacted him to do an interview within the next few days. Hopefully this will work out! It is interesting to me that they have had to refuse students in the past -- it surprised me, because I would have thought the veterans would want to share their stories with others. Especially students who are trying to appreciate the VFW and it's role in the community. Hopefully we will get the interviews we need, and the people we talk to next will be willing to give us their time and their thoughts!
Native Americans and the Railroad
The "Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad" article from the American Experience website concludes with these highly impacting words in the section titled "A Lost World":
"In 1876 the United States celebrated its might, gathered in part from the completion of the railroad, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. There on exhibit were the "very aristocracy of the Indian nation." The tribes who had roamed and hunted in the woods of the Northeast and the plains of the West found themselves a curiosity for the fair's visitors. The struggle was over, and Native American tribes had lost it, leaving the world of the West forever changed."
Americans celebrate their accomplishments; no one likes to be reminded of the bad things that happened in America's past. Before reading this article, I had not taken time to think of the impact of the railroad on the Native Americans. Yet, it is significant enough to title this impact "A Lost World". So much culture and influence from the Native Americans was lost as a result of the railroads. We can never get this back. The railroad destroyed a way of life for an entire culture...which is so drastic that I am surprised that I have not really studied it before this. When transcendentalists and other critics of the railroad of that time denounce the railroad due to other factors, I can't help but think that none of those bad things can top the degree to which the railroad hurt the Native Americans. In my opinion, destroying a culture seems to be way more of a problem than straying away from nature, becoming more industrially involved, or any other reasons that have been mentioned by the transcendentalists that we have studied.
"In 1876 the United States celebrated its might, gathered in part from the completion of the railroad, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. There on exhibit were the "very aristocracy of the Indian nation." The tribes who had roamed and hunted in the woods of the Northeast and the plains of the West found themselves a curiosity for the fair's visitors. The struggle was over, and Native American tribes had lost it, leaving the world of the West forever changed."
Americans celebrate their accomplishments; no one likes to be reminded of the bad things that happened in America's past. Before reading this article, I had not taken time to think of the impact of the railroad on the Native Americans. Yet, it is significant enough to title this impact "A Lost World". So much culture and influence from the Native Americans was lost as a result of the railroads. We can never get this back. The railroad destroyed a way of life for an entire culture...which is so drastic that I am surprised that I have not really studied it before this. When transcendentalists and other critics of the railroad of that time denounce the railroad due to other factors, I can't help but think that none of those bad things can top the degree to which the railroad hurt the Native Americans. In my opinion, destroying a culture seems to be way more of a problem than straying away from nature, becoming more industrially involved, or any other reasons that have been mentioned by the transcendentalists that we have studied.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Transcendentalists' Viewpoint
Here is an excerpt from the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's piece on "Transcendentalism":
"The transcendentalists operated from the start with the sense that the society around them was seriously deficient: a “mass” of “bugs or spawn” as Emerson put it in “The American Scholar”; slavedrivers of themselves, as Thoreau says in Walden. Thus the attraction of alternative life-styles: Alcott's ill-fated Fruitlands; Brook Farm, planned and organized by the Transcendental Club; Thoreau's cabin at Walden. As the nineteenth century came to its mid-point, the transcendentalists' dissatisfaction with their society became focused on policies and actions of the United States government: the treatment of the Native Americans, the war with Mexico, and, above all, the continuing and expanding practice of slavery."
I think this can speak for even today's society: we do what we do because we want to fix things. Whether a certain aspect of our government is "seriously deficient", or because we are dissatisfied with the policies and actions of our government, Americans have learned to take action in democracy. This allows society to function as a type of friction against the government; in order to realize their true power within a democracy, it takes speaking out or acting out against something. Taking action, even if it is passive action, such as Thoreau's not paying his taxes, it makes a statement. And it is statements like these that help the government know what the citizens think of their decisions.
"The transcendentalists operated from the start with the sense that the society around them was seriously deficient: a “mass” of “bugs or spawn” as Emerson put it in “The American Scholar”; slavedrivers of themselves, as Thoreau says in Walden. Thus the attraction of alternative life-styles: Alcott's ill-fated Fruitlands; Brook Farm, planned and organized by the Transcendental Club; Thoreau's cabin at Walden. As the nineteenth century came to its mid-point, the transcendentalists' dissatisfaction with their society became focused on policies and actions of the United States government: the treatment of the Native Americans, the war with Mexico, and, above all, the continuing and expanding practice of slavery."
I think this can speak for even today's society: we do what we do because we want to fix things. Whether a certain aspect of our government is "seriously deficient", or because we are dissatisfied with the policies and actions of our government, Americans have learned to take action in democracy. This allows society to function as a type of friction against the government; in order to realize their true power within a democracy, it takes speaking out or acting out against something. Taking action, even if it is passive action, such as Thoreau's not paying his taxes, it makes a statement. And it is statements like these that help the government know what the citizens think of their decisions.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Civil Disobedience
Thoreau's view on civil disobedience raises the question, "can civil disobedience be compatible with democratic government?" I would answer yes, but only to an extent.
Civil disobedience is at odds with the democratic government because of the tension that goes along with the tyranny of the majority. Democracy only works when a community is able to pass laws with the understanding that all will abide by what the majority desires. Thoreau states that no person should have to compromise or tolerate a policy he did not want. But can this really work for all of society? Would society fall apart under this idea?
Civil disobedience has potential to be compatible with the democratic government because Thoreau is not suggesting that people simply deny the existence of unjust laws. Rather, he says that protesters will probably have to pay for the consequences of their actions, forcing society to make decisions about having just people in jail. Thoreau seems to accept the legal authority of unjust laws, but does not seem to recognize the moral authority of unjust laws. This is why he encourages people to violate them. This approach can turn dangerous if many communities adopt it, and it raises the question of why democratic institutions have the ability to produce laws that violate democratic principles.
Civil disobedience is at odds with the democratic government because of the tension that goes along with the tyranny of the majority. Democracy only works when a community is able to pass laws with the understanding that all will abide by what the majority desires. Thoreau states that no person should have to compromise or tolerate a policy he did not want. But can this really work for all of society? Would society fall apart under this idea?
Civil disobedience has potential to be compatible with the democratic government because Thoreau is not suggesting that people simply deny the existence of unjust laws. Rather, he says that protesters will probably have to pay for the consequences of their actions, forcing society to make decisions about having just people in jail. Thoreau seems to accept the legal authority of unjust laws, but does not seem to recognize the moral authority of unjust laws. This is why he encourages people to violate them. This approach can turn dangerous if many communities adopt it, and it raises the question of why democratic institutions have the ability to produce laws that violate democratic principles.
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