The Nuremberg Trials

Watching the movie about the Nuremberg Trials made it seem so surreal. It was almost as if it was all just a movie to begin with. The Nuremberg Trials were the very first of its kind, and I think the intensity of it really showed through in the movie. It really brought what happened to life. One thing that I couldn't get past was that the Nazi leaders just kept saying "We were following orders" and then Goering said that the Fuhrer didn't know what was going on in the camps. Well if the Fuhrer didn't know, then who was the person giving them the orders? Every soldier claims to follow orders to an extent, but it had to have reached a point where if they truly cared they would stop. I also thought it was interesting how they used a Jewish man as the Psychologist. Looking from the German perspective it seems kind of unfair because the Psychologist will have a biased opinion. But, on the side of the Allies it gives them an advantage in prosecuting them. When they showed the real video footage that was taken during the Holocaust my heart just broke. I could never fathom why or how one human being could do that to another. You would think that the Nuremberg Trials would be a lesson to every country to never commit something like the Holocaust again, yet we see it happening still today in places like Darfur and Rwanda. I guess it really is true that History will repeat itself.

Self-reflection

Overall I have really enjoyed this class. I think it was an eye opener for me at how fast paced things will be in college, and having to balance everything. I think I did pretty well in the class, although I think I could've done much better. I am a procrastinator at times and I think it showed most in this class. This is my first year taking a social studies course during the year and I found it a little bit harder to balance everything with all of my other classes because I haven't had to do that in awhile. The most beneficial skill I have learned from this class is to get ahead and how to use technology to my advantage. I've only used an online forum once before in a class and most of the time power points are optional, in this class I became more acquainted with online forums and I learned how to better utilize a power point. I really think that this class has prepared more than some of my other classes for what I'll be doing in college.

Israel vs. Palestine

The past week we went over the Israeli Palestinian Conflict. This conflict has been going on for a very long time, and I don't see it ending any time soon. The conflict is too complex to just end. There are arguments over land, water rights, refugees and prisoners, and religion. It is hard to end a conflict when one side isn't willing to compromise with the other. Israel will agree to do something that the Palestine won't and visa versa. It is a sad thing to see happening between to countries.

Connection Across Time: Chapter 31

My connection for Chapter 31 is between the September 11 attacks and Pearl Harbor. The attacks of Pearl Harbor were done by the Japanese as their way of trying to involve America in the war by means of violence, rather than supplying goods to allied countries. Pearl Harbor was an unexpected attack that hit America hard, because we had not had a war come that close to home since the Civil War. The attacks of September 11 were also unexpected and hit America extremely hard. The attacks of September 11 were done by Al-Qaeda in an effort to break down our country. The attacks of September 11 backfired on Al-Qaeda though, because America only came back stronger. Because of September 11, American citizens realized that we needed to become more nationalistic which brought us together in the War on Terror. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 both refreshed America's nationalism.

A Child's Perspective on Global Warming

This piece of artwork is a twelve year old's perspective on Global Warming. I think it's a pretty accurate piece for what is going on. He has made the Earth look as though it has a cold, which is kind of what's going on with global warming. We keep putting harmful things in our environment causing the Earth to be "sick". I really like how this kid portrayed his vision of global warming. You can see pollutants coming up from the city part of the drawing into the sky forming a black umbrella. For only being twelve years old this kid has a pretty good hold on what Global Warming is and that it isn't good for our Earth.

Burning Village

This is a painting of a burning village in Darfur done by a child at a refugee camp. This really brings the events of Darfur to a heartbreaking perspective. Not only adults are suffering but also children. No child should be making finger paintings of their village being burned. As I was looking for art representing Darfur, I came a across a lot of drawings and paintings done by children. Children were drawing pictures of the Janjaweed killing their neighbors, setting not only huts but people on fire. These are some of the most devastating accounts of the Genocide in Darfur. It is one thing to see it through the eyes of an adult, but another to see it through the eyes of a child.

Kibeho (Rwanda)

George Gittoes is a Contemporary Artists who travels to the most horrific areas of war and paints what he sees and feels from the experience. Gittoes takes the side of war that the media doesn't publish, “ I believe there is a role for contemporary art to challenge, rather than entertain. My work is confronting humanity with the darker side of itself.” This painting is one that Gittoes painted from what he saw in Kibeho. In the distant background is a cross,a sign of God and hope, but in the the foreground there is a child with no hands and a man holding a child's head.He also uses unrealistic colors, that make you think that maybe it's a dream. I think he uses these colors because the people of Rwanda wake up every morning wishing that what is going on is all a horrible dream that they had the night before.Overall I find this artwork to be very chilling and sad.

Tibet Crisis

Before we had to do our presentations for Chapter 31, I had no idea there was a crisis going on in Tibet. Researching it really opened my eyes to it. China decided to take over Tibet, for reasons that people still aren't sure of, and in the process they have taken away every right that Tibetans hold to their culture and their humanity. It is so bad that the Dalai Lama hasn't been to Tibet in over 50 years. One thing that I found extremely heartbreaking is the Chinese kidnapping of the Panchen Lama. The Chinese went to the extent of capturing this little boy, just so the Tibetans could never really reinstate a new Dalai Lama if the current one were to pass away. The Tibetan Crisis has been going on for over 50 years and the Chinese show no signs of leaving. I never knew this, but in 2008 many people boycotted the Summer Olympics being held in Beijing because of the Tibetan Crisis. This is one of the most heartbreaking things that I've learned about, and it seems like there will be no end to it.

The Korean Conflict

I think it's interesting that war was never actually declared on any part of Korea, but to many it is still viewed as a war and not a conflict. General MacArthur is the person who urged U.S. troops into the conflict between North and South Korea. At first MacArthur succeeded in his plan to invade, but he persisted that the U.S. troops continue to invade and things got much worse. Although we don't call it a "war", I think that people still like to consider it one because 34,000 Americans were killed during it. We don't picture a conflict as being something with a death toll at all, a conflict is just a disagreement and to many Korea became much more than that.

Connection Across Time: World War II

My connection across time for WWII is my family, and the different way it affected those who were involved. During World War II my Grandfather was a part of the 143rd Seabees. The Seabees were a part of the Navy, stationed in the Philippines. In the Philippines my Grandfather built bases for ships and airplanes. He never saw any of the "action" in war, and has told me that it really felt like any other construction job he has done except it was in another country. World War II didn't really affect my Grandfather; he went, did his job, and then came home. My Uncle Tommy, on the other hand, was an ambulance driver during the war. That's all I know about the war from him, according to my Grandfather he saw too much during the war. It is interesting how war can affect people, just by the job that they were given. Growing up I always knew that it was okay to ask Pappy about the war, but it was something to never mention in front of Uncle Tommy.

The Nuremberg Trials

The end of World War II, we saw new ways of ending war. There were no official treaties, but a series of conferences. The end of World War II also saw the series of trials against leaders who committed war crimes, these were called the Nuremberg Trials. We watch the video on the Nuremberg Trials in class, and it seemed as though those charged of these war crimes were either proud of themselves, or thought that they wouldn't be found guilty. I remember one piece of evidence brought against someone was the shrunken head of a Jew that he used as a paperweight, it shocked everyone in the court room and the man who owned it seemed proud. The Nuremberg Trials were the first of their kind, and they seemed like the most intense and shocking trials that a person could ever attend.

This is a painting by Yasuko Yamagata. She was just seventeen when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima.Yamagata didn't do this painting until she was forty-six years old. It took her almost thirty years to be able to express the horrors that she saw that day. I admire her for this because I don't think I could've ever taken a paintbrush and relived one of the most horrific moments of my life the way she did. This image is very cold and unpleasant. Everything is done in very dark colors and this painting just gives a feeling of loneliness and devastation. Yamagata said that this is her depiction of the day after the bombing. In the painting there are corpses in a tank of water and the charred body of a mother holding her baby.This is just one of those things that I look at and I can't even imagine the way she must have felt. This painting leaves me speechless.

Diving For Cover

The painting Diving for Cover by Alexander P. Russo is a depiction of the Storming of Normandy. In this painting soldiers are frantically diving for foxholes as the enemy is relentlessly attacking them. I can't imagine what it would've have been like to storm Normandy. I would've been scared out of my mind. The soldiers we sent rode on a boat for days and then when the time came they got off of the boat and right into war. They had no idea what their surrounding were like, they just knew they were there to fight a war. This painting is done with very dull colors, which I think adds to the frenzy. Have you ever seen a movie where as soon as it becomes frantic things seem to slow down? I think that this painting has that slow frenzy effect because of the dull colors. I feel like I'm watching these soldiers dive for cover in slow motion. I also noticed that not everything has a sharp definition to it either. I think that the Russo's intent was for us to look at it and almost feel like we are there. I can't say I know how the soldiers felt during this time, but I bet it felt like everything was moving in a slow undefined frenzy. I know that sounds a little weird, but I really think that's how they may have felt.

Garden at Hiroshima, Autumn

I found the painting Garden at Hiroshima by Standish Backus to be chilling. This painting is the depiction of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, leaving the city in ruins. There are only two people left standing in the middle of everything and one of them looks like a very small child. It is hard to tell where anything was and it is amazing that there are still things lying around. There is only one item that I can really tell for sure what it is and it is a bicycle. Looking at a painting like this really makes me wonder how we could drop such a devastating bomb on a country and not feel like we've done anything wrong. Especially when it was dropped on a city of innocent civilians.