Take a look at this picture:
In the late 19th Century, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem called "White Man's Burden" which encouraged the United States to colonize the Philippines and join other European nations in helping the local Filipino people join proper civilization.
For this week's blog, I want you to think about the terms civilized and savage. Find a news article that is connected to this theme - who is civilized? Who is a savage? Who is responsible for 'bringing civilization to the savages'?
Your blog posts should be at least 150 words, but more is better. Please give a brief summary of the article (5 W's) and a connection from that article to the concepts of a civilized and savage person or group.
19 comments:
Not His Finest Hour: The Dark Side of Winston Churchill.
Hari, Johann. "Not His Finest Hour: The Dark Side of Winston Churchill." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.
Winston Churchill is usually remembered by leading Britain in to “her finest hour” but what if this is also the most shameful hour for the country. During the 19th and 20th centuries Britain was one of the powerful countries in the world. When he was born in 1874 Queen Victoria was conquering the world already an he just continued doing the something. He built concentration camps in South Africa, he gladly destroyed houses and burned crops and afterwards he told the basic story: “ The superior white man was conquering the primitive, dar-skinned natives, and bringing them the benefits of civilisation.”
He entered Africa and said, “That was before war degenerated. It was great fun galloping about.” He entered Kenya and humiliated and tortured to locals. One of the victims of that torture was Hussein Onyango Obama grandfather of current U.S president. That’s why Obama hates Britain this much. He imprisoned Kenyans he tortured them, and then he said “Kenya’s fertile highlands should be preserve of the white settlers, and approved the clearing out of the local ‘blackamoors’.” Many of the wounds Churchill created have still not healed but of course we are living in a more civilized world that’s why they are pretending like these acts had forgotten.
News, CBC. "Uncontacted Tribe's Encounters with Civilization Fuel Ethical Debate - Technology & Science - CBC News." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 03 Oct. 2016.
According to CBC News, an undiscovered tribe called “Mashco Piro” in Peru was being tried to be contacted by the Peruvian Government; however, tribe didn’t respond positively. Deputy minister of multiculturalism, Torres Espioza, claims that this tribe is uncivilized, violent and dangerous. Therefore, they need help to be civilized and get to know the outside world. Missionaries have already tried to convince them to convert to Christianity, as the first step of civilization. As it is clear from the news, Peruvian Government tries to assimilate the tribe. They want the tribe to contact with the government, covert to Peru’s religion. They believe, it is a major step for civilization. In my opinion, what government wants to do is only proselytism and manipulation. Having an official country doesn’t make you civilized. Many tribes including Mashco Piro have their own rules, system, language, customs, beliefs and tradition. It’s no one’s right to stereotype them as savage just because they have a different way of living and they choose to be isolated. These people aren’t savage, they don’t attack people or do any harm. After being tried to be physically contacted for a million time, even though they didn’t want to, of course they have right to defend themselves because they are afraid. It’s not Peru’s business to encroach these people’s right to be isolated and interfere. If these people become a member of the government, their cultures and identities will disappear. For me, trying to change someone’s culture in the title of civilization is manipulation for benefits. If Peruvian Government succeeds to affect and convince these people to be a part of the society, the government will obtain a new territory, in return the tribe will lose it’s culture. In order to stop similar events, countries should respect tribe’s decisions and rights to survive individually and remain isolated. Regarding the fact that tribes have their own regime and culture, no one should try to change them.
"Brazil Makes Contact with Members of Isolated Tribe in Amazon." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2014. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.
According to Los Angeles Times, a tribe in Amazon was found and Brazil contacted with them. The region of Amazon could be called “home” for the tribes due to its proper conditions such as hunting and its beautiful forest. These group of people were found that they contracted flu. Brazilian government sent there interpreters to contact with the tribe and the tribe members said that they had been shot at with firearms. They look uncivilized and savage from our point of view, however I think they are not that much uncivilized and savage. This people are able to communicate among them, dress uniquely, and shelter with their huts. They were happy until they were found by the “civilized people”. We “the civilized people” never fight, never kill each other, and always live in peace with having a perfect education(!). So, in my opinion this is not a good situation for these people because they had their own way of living their lives. We, the “civilized people” destroyed their culture and maybe they were satisfied with being “uncivilized”. So this situation also looks really connected with Okonkwo’s situation as there were tribes living in their clan. Okonkwo’s tribe has their own religion however because they don’t believe in a divine religion, Christianity is being spread. This affects their culture just because they don’t believe in a divine religion and this tribe in Amazon was pressured by Brazil just because they were not autonomous.
Poon, Linda. "Maasai Warriors: Caught Between Spears and Cellphones." National Public Radio News.10 July 2014. Web. 04. Oct. 2016.
According to NPR News, one of Kenya's oldest tribes; Maasai are one of the few to both preserve their culture and catch up to the civilized world. These people in their cultural clothing and jewelry, have a cellphone in their hands. The Maasai still live in houses out of mud and raise cattle for a living. They are very eager to embrace the technological and industrial modern world today and to be a part of it. Even in schools, English is taught. When someone is in need of something, the tribe members come together and support that person in any way they can. They are living as a whole and taking responsibilities for each other, to make sure that everything goes okay. If someone is sick, or a child needs money for his or her school uniform/books, the Maasai want to solve that issue as a whole. They appreciate unity. I think, these people are very exemplary people, not because they know how to unite and be each others' company, in this modern world of ours today, or not only because they managed to keep their identities and culture as they always were, while they also embraced the outside world instead of isolating themselves; but because they also teach us how the stereotypes that are usually said for uncivilized communities might be in fact wrong. It is wrong to think that uncivilized people are narrow-minded, savage and that they do not want change. The truth is, -at least the Masaii- are "forward-looking" and very willing to improve themselves.
"Stun Grenades Fired at Protesting Wits Students." News24. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2016.
According to News24, stun grenades were used against protesting Wits students and their leader was arrested for asking questions. A protest called #FeesMustFall which is about rising fees in South African Universities was going on in the University of the Witwatersrand and police started using stun grenades against the protesters. The fact that police used stun grenades against unarmed protesters and arrested their leader for asking questions is the very definition of savage, and how the students handled the rising fees by protesting can be defined as both savage and civilized because there are different and more harmless ways of dealing with a problem such as petition raising. However it can be defined as civilized too considering that protesting is their right.
Source/ https://guncelgercek.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/aborjinler-avusturalya-yerlileri
In the web site guncelgercekler.com (currenttruths.com) there is a article about what were the first british missinorys thinking about avustralians native people Aborgins. There is two common ideas the first one is, Britsh people said that they were one of the supperior race and they call them self progressive race which mean protector of human progress. For aborgins this idea dose not diractly say that they were saveges but its say that they were inferior race which means the low or primative ones. This idea defend thatif two race like that the low race will be disappear because its the one of the nature's low and its even says that if we improved trought history, its because of this rule. According to Albert F. Calvert the secont opinion is aborgins are basicly saveges because their religon is not similer to christianity and chaninging (improving) them is thier relegeus misson. I thing this resons are too simmiler to the comic specificly the secont one.
Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2205839/Anti-jihad-ad-urging-people-support-civilized-man-savage-gets-ahead-plastered-New-York-subway.html
Title: Anti-jihad ad urging people to support 'civilized man, not the savage' gets go-ahead to be plastered on New York subway- Daily Mail
As I do every week, this week again I am going look at this topic from a different perspective, as you can in the article that they defined civilized as israeli people and savage as muslim people, as we can see media once again portrayed muslims savage and higher class people civilized. Savage and Civilized are terms that being used commonly to seperate our people. Its also used to seperate religions, with this type of brainwashing and propaganda people will judge each other by their religion, and if they are savage or not. So what means savage well we use that word to, define people which are not accepted by society, which are unable to act and cooperate with people, the dictionary is : uncivilized; barbarous. Which can change according to people to people. For me civilized means, a person who can look at problems in different ways and has an ability to solve problems with ''Savage'' people. For me to be civilized, is to be able to civilize othe rpeople without hurting them or forcing them to do the th
ngs that they dont want
California Shooting Shows Police Ill-Equipped to Handle Mentally Ill
New York Times
According to the New York Times, on September 29th an Ugandan born-immigrant, who was mentally unstable was ill handled by two police officers where one had tried to taser him while the other man shot, and thereby killed him. Even though the officers went through training course for them to be able to handle situations where mentally ill citizens are involved. This is not a one time occurrence or a coincidence. “Mentally ill people have been shot to death in recent years by police in Texas, California, Colorado and Virginia. In Los Angeles last year, more than a third of people shot by police had mental health issues, according to a Los Angeles police report.” Says Reuters. However, the fault doesn’t lie in the police officers entirely, Reuters says “ "The reasons for the problems you're witnessing today have little or nothing to do with police training and have everything to do with generations of politicians who have let the mental health system collapse in this country," Pasco said. "It's not the police officers' fault.” ” However the debate shouldn't be wether its the governments fault or the officers fault. All that actually matters is that an innocent person, with a mental condition, was killed. This behavior is savage and uncivilized. No one would shoot a cancer patient, so why is it that because an illness can’t be physically seen it automatically justifies uncivilized behavior?
Davies, Catriona. "Colonialism and the 'scramble for Africa'" CNN. N.p., 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Aug. 2010.
Super powers invade small community’s territories and exploit their sources for their own benefits, which we can call manipulation. In the article it says that: (CNN) “The wave of Independence across Africa in the 1950s and 1960s brought to the end around 75 years of colonial rule by Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and -- until World War I -- Germany.” (Catriona) Big countries take control of the other countries for their manipulation. Big countries convince little countries. They convince little countries about being modern. But their main objective is to exploit them and efface their culture. “They believed they were bringing civilization to 'savage people’.” (Catriona) The article is protecting the same thought too.
Carrington, Damian. "Amazon Tribe Makes First Contact with outside World." Theguardian.com. The Guardian, 1 Aug. 2016. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.
According to The Guardian newspaper, an amazon tribe in Peru searched for a help from the outside world, for the first time, after some drug trafficker attacked them murderously. Who is civilized and who is savage? Just because the tribesmen live in poor conditions in nature doesn’t mean that they are savage. People who live in the modern world can also be a savage by their mentality and habits. Unfortunately, some people’s cliché thoughts support that being savage only depends on how you dress, how you speak and your social life. In constrast, if you have different perspectives in life and open to outside world, then you are civilized. You don’t have to fully dress yourself. Dressing up your mind is enugh! As it is told in the article Amazon tribe makes first contact with the outside world, what the tribe members do is an act of civilization. They are scared and have no other chance to continue their daily life without doing anything because there are some “savage” drug traffickers out there and they are dangerous. So they had to communicate to civilized people to learn how to protect themselves and become civilized in time. On the other hand, the drug traffickers blunt themselves and became wild savages, who can’t solve problems by speaking but with agression. Being savage or civilized depends on person. Either way is up to who you want to be.
According to some surveys which take place in Britain a big percent of young people eat junky food so they get fat easily because junky food contains a lot of fat, sugar and fat while it has a nutrition value. Other problems are The amount of meat people consume daily and missing main meals especially breakfast. People should eat less meat daily . According to The nutrition specialists people should eat at most 70 grams of meat daily and they should not miss any meals especially breakfast.Parents should Make their children get good eating habitat. Young people should avoid eating junky food and Fast food very often. On the other Hand governments should do something to prevent obesity and they should apply some strict policies to encourage people about healthy nutrition.
An Australian republic 'could benefit Aborigines' 25 January, Austrlia
A leading Australian academic and Aboriginal activist has supported a renewed campaign for Australia to become a republic if it recognises the sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens and gives them more political representation. That Australian people wants to help aboriginal people so that is good for them. Australia wants to make African people improve and they want them to be like a republic, like a normal improved country. So that is a good news for that people. Those persons are not being racist.
According to the Washington Times 19 February 2016,
Donald Trump said American government will start to help more to African countries. Also he said “You know, Barack Obama — African-American — if I were African-American, I would be so angry at him,”. So he is going to help African countries more than Barack Obama. American government is going to civilized African people and it is a good new for Africans.
Phew, Motsoko. "Effects of Colonialism on Africa's past and Present | Pambazuka News." Effects of Colonialism on Africa's past and Present | Pambazuka News. N.p., 31 May 2012. Web. 06 Oct. 2016.
/.latest_citation_text
According to Pambazaku News, Africa has changed a lot in years.“ Torn away from his past, propelled into a universe fashioned from outside that suppresses his values, and dumbfounded by a cultural invasion that marginalises him.” (Motsoko Pheko). In the past people used to live happier. But then colonialism effected their lives. The article tells about the effects of colonialism. Big countries exploit little countries.
According to "Hürriyet" (Turkish newspaper) 4th October 2016
Two days ago I read an article. It was about two 26 years old man punched a policeman in Istanbul. In front of many people. No one said stop or pushed them back. Policeman rescued by the other policeman who was near to him. When I read this article first think that came to my mind was what a savage society this is and policeman works for our security but some people attack to them. There is no explanation to this attack and it happens many times these days. Our society must be educated better and in this education they must teach humanity and explain that hurting someone is not an appropriate act. This acts must be punished. This types of acts must be punished very heavily and people must afraid of this punishment. If the government start to punish this savage men no more savage people will able to do these types of acts.
Jarbawi, Ali. "Israel’s Colonialism Must End." New York times. N.p., 4 Aug. 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/opinion/ali-jarbawi-israels-colonialism-must-end.html
Acording to New York Times the colonolisim isn't an old thing that has finished it is a thing which is still going on in the middle east. Israel is still colonizing Palestine. The author thinks that Israel have to end this because it is preventing that country’s growth.
Knights, Michael. "Islamic State Conflict: How Will the Battle for Mosul Unfold?" BBC News. N.p., 04 Oct. 2016. Web. 04 Oct. 201
According to western governments, east population is savage, barbarian etc… In the past, they claimed they were “civilizing” those people. But now, these “savages” somehow dying and western population somehow lives in peace. I personally think and I know most people thinks like me, they just stole their resources and let them suffocate. I think western civilizations should aid that victims. In the poems, articles, etc… They make it seem like a normal rescue operation. In 2002 USA came to Iraq. They said they were destroying nuclear weapons. Soon it turned out that “Nuclear Weapons” were just food depots.
Post a Comment