The Best Around

In class we have talked about the "Myth of firsts" (being the first person) but there is another Myth that i think it goes hand and hand with "The Myth Of the BEST." Americans have a strong sense of patriotism towards their county, but I also think that they have a strong belief that the U.S.A is the best at whatever it (USA) sets out to do. Because of this notion that we are the best, Americans idealize those figures that lead them to glory. If you look at Michael Phelps, he is considered to be the BEST swimmer ever (14 gold medals and 7 world records). He has been heavily criticized, but the fact is that because we are infatuated over him so much shows that we idealize him. Another example is President Obama, everywhere I turn theres something to buy with his image on it weather, its a mug, plate, pencle, or even a shirt. Americans have an obsession with being the Best.

Manifest Destiny

Today in class we watched the beginning of The American Future Part 1: American Plenty (A history by Simon Schama); it reminded me of this term Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is this belief/concept/Myth that the United States had/has a divine right to spread its values, and its people across North America.
Manifest Destiny was used to justify the Westward expansion and the slaughtering of any people group who got in the United States way. Many people believed in this "Manifest Destiny", they not only believed it was there destiny but that it was righteous or it was the right thing to do. One such person was John L. O'Sullivan (coined the term manifest destiny) in his paper, New York Morning News, he used Manifest Destiny to argued that the United States had the right to the Oregon Territory, "And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." (December 27, 1845) I believe that Manifest Destiny was once (and still maybe) one of the United States most widely believed in myths. Manifest Destiny was (is) the American myth that, we have to expand West, share our values, and most importantly we need to spread and protect DEMOCRACY.

"I think we all realize that the day has come when Democracy is being put upon its final test. The Old World is just now suffering from a wanton rejection of the principle of democracy and a substitution of the principle of autocracy as asserted in the name, but without the authority and sanction, of the multitude. This is the time of all others when Democracy should prove its purity and its spiritual power to prevail. It is surely the manifest destiny of the United States to lead in the attempt to make this spirit prevail." Woodrow Wilson "The world must be made safe for democracy."

Tokenism

So we have been discussing tokenism in class, and the big question is "Is tokenism real, and if so is it a problem." First off believe that tokenism is realm, but it is not as big of a problem as it should be. I think that it is not as big of a problem because as kids we watched T.V. that had a large amount of tokenism. As a child you do did not watch T.V. critically at all. I think as a child you just absentmindedly absorbed what you watched. And in turn I think that this absentminded absorption, led to a distortion that tokenism is OK. Now that I look at T.V. more critically, I see that this tokenism is not OK and needs to be changed.

In The Tribune

So as usual i read The Chicago Tribune every morning, or at least glance at it (I most of the time just glance at it). I noticed at the top of the front page they added something. There was an announcement at the top of the front page Recession Survival Guide (starting today and continuing this week. So I naturally flipped to it. After reading it through, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was there first marginal thing I have seen since the paper tanked. Is the Tribune starting to turn around, or have they just gotten lucky and found away to make money off the Recession.

Last Post of 08

I found myself perusing (National Public Radio) On the Media web page. This segment talked about medical journals and how most studies published in medical are either exaggerated or just plain wrong. There is an example in the segment that talks about a study that was done, were half of the groups found positive results and the other half found negative results. In the Medical Journal only the positive results were published. I think Medical Journals need to find away to publish only studies that have data from everyone. It may not seem like such a big deal but the repercussions can be great.
The segment talks about this thing called herding. Herding is when a study is published that says this chemical has been found to eliminate Cancer. All of the groups working on Cancer prevention spend time, man power, and most importantly money on a new chemical that is later proved to only prevent Cancer .5% of the time.

The past year

So I have been meaning to do a new post for sometime now, I have also been meaning (since I saw the "Fires in the Mirror Wodle") to make my own Wordle. It came to me when I was perusing the An American Studies Blog. I saw the top two 2 news words (by hour) link on the right hand panel of the blog and i deiced to click it. It goes back to when it was first put up on the Blog so without any further delay heres my Wordle of the top 2 news words (by Hour) for about the last 5 months. I thought it would be a good way to some up the first semesters news.



http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/386659/top_2_news_words_%28by_Hour%29

As you can see the main topic in the news has been the election and the bailout. Speeching of the election when January comes around Obama is put in office. Its time for him to set out and fulfill his promises. I think most people can agree with that but, I think that most people need to understand that its not all going to be fixed when he steps in to the office. The hole that the U.S. has dug is very deep and its not going to take one day to fix it. "Rome wasn't built in a day"

Post Election

We have done our part, by Electing Barack Obama. Now I can only hope Obama, becomes a great president. He has to do more then just a good job he has to a great job. I think if he doesn't I think people will be reluctant to elect a black President again. I also think if he doesn't do a good job the power in congress and the presidency will be shifted over to the right. But I also think Barack Obama will be a great President and he will change the course that the United States Of America for the better.