American history Essay Example for Free

American history Essay In the course of American history, the American people have been confronted with different threats to its politics, economy and way of life. At present, the continuing threat of international terrorism and the unceasing wave of Anti-Americanism are constantly putting the lives of simple Americans towards fear and uncertainty, notwithstanding all the different social issues they face each passing day, such as gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research, among many others. These threats had their own counterparts in previous years, and it is worthy to note that different side of the American political fence all had their own positions on various matters of serious concern then, and seemingly, those old issues remain as hotly debated up until this moment. The paper will examine the actual threats and pre-conceived threats by Americans through the different decades such as racism, immigration, government regulation, evolutionism, and many other issues and social questions that have made the United States the brimming democracy of ideas it continues to be until today. Evolution and the Origin of Man and the Earth In the twenties, a most important concern has been the continuing discourse on evolution vis-a-vis fundamental Christian preaching on the ancestry of human beings. In Reverend Dixon’s Sermon on the Evils of Darwinism and Evolution, he is clearly mistaken for lumping the theory of evolution per se, with the racist theory of social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer. He is clearly mistaken in doing so, because never had the theory of evolution posited that evolution is merely a matter of survival of the fittest, thus, the weak may necessarily be oppressed, thus, may be destroyed in the conduct of human evolution. (165) Such a position is clearly misinformed, because what the theory of evolution merely suggests is that humans, as per the evidence culled in the development and evolution of other species, may have descended, not from the biblical Adam, as many fundamental Christians believe, but from apes and monkeys. The trouble with Reverend Dixon, and all other purveyors of the biblical interpretation on the origin of man is that their answers to the scientific question on evolution was never based on a scientific reply itself, but merely on a reassertion of Bible verses that never could man have descended from apes, precisely because he descended from God himself. Then and now, the reason why creationism remains absolutely discredited among scientific circles is the basic fact that no scientific reply has ever been posited to the Darwinian challenge on the origin of man. The evolutionary scientists are no less Christian by continuously asserting their Darwinian position. Defense Attorney Darrow’s interrogation of Prosecutor Bryan during the Monkey Trial is helpful in better understanding the fundamentalist Christian views of the day, which permeates much in the evolution debate of today. Darrow’s line of questioning clearly seeks to debunk the literal biblical interpretation of fundamentalist Christians, which in this case might be Prosecutor Bryan. While Bryan asserts that the creation of the world occurred six-thousand years ago, Darrow insists that the Chinese civilization had been in existence thousands of years more than that, and rightly so, but Bryan remains unfazed with such statements, firmly believing, in mocking fashion, that the truth is on his side. (167) In the discourse of the origin of man, and the creation of the world, fundamental Christians have remained unfazed, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, especially on the age of the earth, that the truth as stated in the Bible is the only truth that needs to be believed by any God-fearing person. Such a position is dangerous, because it creates a faith that is blind and dogmatic, and obscures believers from the well-intentioned truth provided by science in determining previously unknown facts about humans and the natural world in which they exist. Unfortunately, this position remains the subject of intense debate until today, with creationism advocates appealing School Boards and lobbying Capitol Hill to cut funding for the instruction of evolution, and/or to provide equal educational exposure to creationism and its corollary theory, Intelligent Design. White Supremacy and Racism Another threat during the twenties was the rise of white supremacy in the face of a nascent anti-racism and black civil rights movement as represented in the literary works of Langston Hughes and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Klan treatise on Americanism is nothing but empty rhetoric on the need to assert white supremacy in all corners of America, through patriotism, Protestantism and the glorification of the white race. (171) The trouble with their position on Americanism is that much of their assertions are based on their normative conception of the world and its history, without due regard to other history narratives on the founding of America, the role of Protestantism in exposing the excesses of Roman Catholicism, and the absolute poverty of a discourse based on the mere historic successes and failures of races. It is clear, however, the Klan remains stuck on their unrepentant Southern position on the continuing subjugation and slavery of African-Americans to be treated like chattel, and the relegation of other colored races as mere secondary citizens to American whites, precisely because the conflicts and contradictions that occur in this world is race-based, instead of class-based. It is a successful racist position though, because rich whites American obfuscate the apparent class contradictions between peasants and landowners, regardless of race, in order to completely gain the trust of poor white Americans against the hapless African-American who remains to exist as chattel in the racist eyes of the white supremacist. On the other hand, the Klan’s position on Protestantism is without any causal connection to their white supremacist cause, except for the assertion that without Protestantism, there would have been no America. (171) Sadly, it is based on this simplistic formulation on Protestantism vis-a-vis Americanism that the Klan discriminates against whites who do not share their same belief system, in much the same manner that, precisely because other races are non-white, they deserve to be discriminated, ipso facto. Nonetheless, such simplistic and flawed logic is also the reason by which the Klan has only remained and self-degenerated in the poorer, uneducated sections of the American South, and never really expanded into the large coastal cities where racial prejudice is much less because of continuous racial intermingling and higher levels of educational attainment. It must be stated, however, that despite the apparent rise of white supremacy in the American South, the seeds of the black civil rights movement of the fifties and the sixties had been planted as early as the twenties, through the prose and poetry of Langston Hughes. In his poetry, One-Way Ticket, it laments about the situation in the American South, and the persona would rather be in the cosmopolitan cities where African-American are better respected and given their fair share of human dignity, in comparison to the lynching and ridicule of the South. (173) It is a good thing, nonetheless, that the struggle between white supremacy and black civil rights had been quite successful for the latter, not only from Brown v. Board of Education and desegregation, but until today, with the election of Barack Obama, African-American, and 44th President of the United States of America.

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There are six-teen Sovereign State; Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of these states. These states are known as the Commonwealth Realms. During the toughest times Queen Elizabeth II helped and lead people through war and depression. She has made a positive impact on the UK and people world-wide. Queen Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926 at 2:20 am in London. She grew up in London. Her parents took over royal lodge as their country home, when she was 6. There she had her own little small house. After that her grandfather died, which made King Edward VIII, the eldest son, the king. Before the year was over King Edward VIII gave up the throne to be with the woman he loved. Her dad, King George VI, became King and she was first in line to the throne. While her dad was king she got a good education. Queen Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, were homeschooled. Together they learned history, language, literature, music, mathematics, geography. She speaks fluent French. Elizabeth was privately tutored in constitutional history from Henry Marten and Vice- Provost of Eton College....

Anger Management Essay

Anger is a normal state of emotion and can be helpful in times of confrontation because it increases our focus and improves out performance (Tamir). But, that same anger if uncontrolled can cause high blood pressure and the over indulgence of tobacco, alcohol and over eating. All of which lead to heart disease as well as the destruction of personal relationships in our life at home, work and school. (Potts). This is why it is so important to learn how to manage anger in every situation and not let it gain control of our lives. Every person at some time experiences anger so it is crucial to identify the causes before they happen so that steps can be taken to stay in control of our emotions. Anger is typically caused by a variety of factors. The main factors are stress, exhaustion, suppressing emotions from previous confrontations, feelings of being misunderstood and failure. (Kazdin) Anger only becomes a problem when a person loses control of themselves in what they say and do to others. This loss of control can lead to devastating consequences both to the one that is angry and to the people surrounding them. Some of the consequences of this anger issue when control is lost can be depression, relationship problems, as well as destructive activities to oneself and others. (http://anger-issues. org/) To stay in control of an issue, you must first identify the contributing factors and what to do about them before they happen. So how is a person to deal with anger? Not getting angry is the best solution, but as human beings that is not possible. When becoming angry some of the best ways to control it are to identify stress as it is happening, develop empathy, respond instead of reacting, change the hought processes you are having, communicate assertively, adjust your expectations, forgive, and retreat to rethink the situation. (Novick) We need to identity stress before it becomes anger. This step in anger management requires that we be self-aware and have a complete understanding of our limits so that we can specifically identify stress factors. When we know and understand that stress is the underlying cause of anger and can identify that stress we are better able to set limits. These limits allow us to interact with other people and participate in activities that we find enjoyable without confrontations. They also allow us to set boundaries for others in our personal relationships so that these relationships can be mutually beneficial. Developing empathy for the other person is another way to control anger. When we learn to see situations from another’s point of view it is much easier to stay in control of our emotions. By putting ourselves in another’s place and understanding their needs and desires we show maturity and gain understanding that we did not have before. This skill, when practiced, can lead to better team work among individuals when working on projects. It can also ease the tensions that accompany relationships with family and spouses. As human beings we not only have the capability to be angry but we also the capability to choose how we express that anger. Having this choice allows us to learn new ways to communicate our needs, feelings or requests more effectively. By learning new ways to express anger we are enabled to respond to others rather than automatically reacting to them when they cross our boundaries or limits and trigger our emotions. Anger is an emotion that can feed on itself. When situations that cause anger in an individual are constantly replayed in that persons mind, the angry feelings continue to grow until they are all encompassing. This all-encompassing anger clouds our judgment of the situation, changing facts and altering memories to justify the anger itself. Yet, if a person can change the thought processes that are feeding the anger and divert their attention from the anger to another more pleasurable situation they are more ble to take control of their anger and stop it from developing further. By developing the ability to change our thought processes we are better able to release our anger and not let it consume us as well as training our minds to focus on more important issues that are in need of our attention. When we learn how to communicate in an effective and honest way how we are feeling and are able to respond to situations without getting angry or hostile we are gaining valuable leadership c haracteristics as well as diffusing the emotion of anger. When we get angry with another person we are giving that person control of us. When we refrain from getting angry and take control of our own emotions we portray maturity and not only the ability to control ourselves but to stay in control of the situation around us. Anger can often be the result of expectations that are not met by situations or other people that we come in contact with. When we learn to adjust our expectations without showing anger we can learn how to deal with the difficult people or situations in our lives in a better way. This valuable tool, that allows us to adjust expectations, can also teach us how to compensate for our own deficiencies or failures in life. We learn how to release ourselves and others from feelings of judgment and unworthiness. When we find release from these feelings of self-doubt we also release the mechanism in our mind that activates our fight or flight urges. Anger in the form of resentment causes more damage to the person that is angry than to the offending party. It can result in weight loss, insomnia, alcoholism, drug dependence as well as high blood pressure and heart disease. By making a conscious decision to release the emotions of anger through forgiveness or acceptance of the other person, while reestablishing our boundaries, we can make a major step toward controlling our anger. Learning this release of anger is a gift that a person gives themselves. It enables the person to live a happier life without the constant reminder of what happened replaying in their mind and gives that person a peace that is more valuable than wealth. When faced with a situation that has become volatile another technique for anger management is to retreat to regain perspective and think the situation through. This allows a person to gain the opportunity to step back from the situation and identify what is the root cause of their emotions and whether or not an angry reaction will help the situation or whether it will make the situation worse. If it is a person that is bringing about feelings of anger, then they should let that other person know that they will return to the discussion when they have cooled down. This way no harsh or hasty words are spoken, no feelings are hurt and control will have still been maintained while gaining time to think about what specifically has been the root cause of anger. If a person is performing some type of work when feelings of frustration and anger begin to arise, the best choice is to stop what they are doing and do something completely different from what they were doing before. This again gives the person a time out break to think about the root causes of their anger and the specific reasons for their frustrations and by reducing tension that person is more likely to see a solution to whatever has frustrated them. Anger is not created the same in every person, nor does every person show anger in the same way. Different beliefs as well as the way that people interpret different situations in their mind will produce different emotions (Kazdin). It is only when a person becomes aware of their limits and gains an understanding of their individual patterns of emotions that they are able to gain control of their emotions and learn to change how they respond to situations and events that they come into contact with. After a person gains an awareness of the different elements in their mind and how they cause emotions, that person will be more able to use techniques to change the way that they react. With the ability to identify stress comes the opportunity to eliminate the focus of a person’s anger and unhappiness. The main benefit from learning how to identify all of the factors of stress and learning how to manage them is that, with practice, the identification and response becomes automatic and so there is no anger to control or manage because a person has none.

American Dream In Death Of A Salesman - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1334 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/05/30 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Death Of A Salesman Essay Did you like this example? The American dream is a gift and a curse. Many Americans want to obtain the American dream, but for most the price to pay for this dream will turn it into a nightmare. The American dream has different meanings for many people. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "American Dream In Death Of A Salesman" essay for you Create order For some people it may mean becoming wealthy, and for other it may mean living a productive life that benefits society. The one thing that they both have in common is that the individual experiencing this is usually happy. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the embodiment of what can happen to a person when their American Dream turns into a nightmare. Willy is driven to suicide after failing in life. In this play, the readers are introduced to Willy, who is a salesman that despite his strong will to become wealthy cant seem to get a moment to rest. The life of Willy is ruled by failure and yet he still believed he had the ability to become wealthy. In the end, His life turned into a nightmare instead of his dreams, which is the cause for him ending his life. In the play, Willy illustrates the average man in the working class, who wants to achieve his American dream. This made him get so attached to becoming wealthy, and his vision on how to reach the American dream. This caused great turmoil to the people around him. The fatal flaw seen in Willy is also the fatal flaw of capitalism, which is greed. Capitalism promotes the pursuit of wealth without caring about how peoples actions can rob others of essential items. This will happen if capitalism is not controlled. Other flaws that was seen in the play that Willy shares with capitalism is his lack of serious thought, his j ealousy, and his loss of integrity. The average American dreams about getting wealthy and living a good life with a family, which is Willys dream. Most Americans want to get wealthy fast and this caused the get rich quick schemes popularity to jump, but most people today realize that these schemes will likely not work. An example of a get rich quick scheme is buying real estate and flipping houses to sell. Most people are not successful at this and may end up losing money instead. In the play, Willys dream can be seen when people talk about money in front of him and when he talks about his children. He says, I simply asked him if he was making any money. Is that a criticism? (Miller 7). Willy was confused that the fact of him asking Biff if he was making money got him mad. Willy believes that money decides whether someone is happy, so basically, he was wondering whether Biff was happy with his life. The way Willy holds on to his brother Ben shows the readers how important family and material wealth is to him. He wants to be wealthy so bad that he will lie about the amount of money he makes. An example would be when he lied to his wife about how he made $1,200, but actually made $200. Willy believed that simply working harder would make him wealthy. His job represents this perfectly. As a salesman, the amount of money a person makes is based on the amount they sale and their performance, which essentially means that hard work will get a person more money. The big thing about the American dream is that a person needs to climb their way up. As a salesman there is not much room to climb up. As readers read through the play, Willys flaws become more apparent. His rationale of wanting the American dream created his weaknesses, which were lack of thoughts, jealousy his loss of integrity. and the role a manipulator. Tyson says, according to an existential model, social factors may largely establish our initial identity, but, as we shall see, they do not freeze us at that stage without our daily consent (262). The socially accepted idea of the American dream, which supposedly leads to happiness, formed in Willys heart and he accepted that he will only be happy if he achieved the American dream. If Willy didnt get tunnel vision and accepted this notion, he would have realized that being wealthy is not the only way to live a happy life. Willys drive of wanting to achieve the American dream carved itself into his identity. Willys belief that someones looks are important and how they should be liked instead of being a good person shows his lack of thought. A persons looks are no t important when it comes to success unless they in the fashion industry. Willy says, the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates a personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. (Miller 21). Willy is saying that being liked will allow to get further in life. In some instances, this is true because being liked will get a person the opportunity to get further in their career fields, but they still need characteristics of a good person like trustworthiness and respect. The life of Willys sons proves that being liked does not equal success. His son, Biff, was popular and liked in high school, but that did not equal success. His other son, Happy, did become successful and he was not as liked as much by people compared to his older brother. Willy believed that being liked was more important than life. Ribkoff says, Driven by shame, he kills himself in order to preserve his dream of being ?well liked and a successful father and salesman (54). Willy believed that suicide would reserve likeability among others. The irony in this is that Willy was never successful in anything including being a father and he was not liked by others. His relationship with his sons. Willy focused most of his attention to Biff and ignored his youngest son, Happy. When the readers look at Willys relationship with Charley, it is easy to see his shallowness. He acted like a snob when he was playing a card game with Charley. Charley offers Willy a job, but Willy rejects because he thinks he is above Charley when he is not. In the end, he realizes that Charley was his only real friend. Willys tunnel vision on wealth was one of the main causes of his American dream turning into a nightmare. His jealousy that stemmed from his relationship with his brother made the likelihood of dream turning into a nightmare increase. In the play, readers see Willy encouraging his own children to steal. This shows that he lacks morality. Bert says, the evidence in the play for Willys psychopathy is plentiful, so much so that it has led to his being diagnosed as manic-depressive before the age of anti-depressant drugs (4). Striving for his dream of getting wealthy is the reason for him taking these drugs. His greed, jealousy, and shallowness are all causes that increase the amount of stress he deals with daily. If Willy were to find his own happiness rather than what society believes happiness is he would not need to take anti-depressants. When people look at how the media affects what people think, it is easy to see that the media thinks the good guys will finish last. Hopefully, people will come to understand that achieving the American dream does not simply mean attaining. Achieving the American dream means to achieve happiness in life, which can be achieved through many ways. In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman has his dreams turned into a nightmare. This caused him to think that the only way out was death, so he committed suicide. With Death of a Salesman, Miller paints the portrait of a man who is ultimately killed by the one thing that kept him going, which the possibility of obtaining his American Dream. This play teaches the reader that setting ones priorities too high can be dangerous.