It Seriously is Seriously Screwed-Up

      I have always held the views of a humanitarian. Perhaps not a die-hard humanitarian but none the less the way other people are treated has always been a concern of mine. Learning from history books, for me personally, is not as different as it is reading about Leopold. People are indeed screwed-up and when those people have influence they can do almost anything they desire. After all Leopold started with the title of a King, and almost no money to fund his dreams. 

     The American colonists started with nothing as well, not even a title. Yet by the time they were all done and settled they had exterminated a huge majority of the Native Americans. Of course the British helped as well, but did the colonists stop after theRevolutionary War? Did they try to make peace of the Indians? No! They simply kept encroaching on the Indian's territory. In fact a majority of the colonists did not even see the irony behind their conquests.                          They escaped England because of the oppression they felt, yet they came to America, their land of "freedom", and oppressed. Only 100 years after the Revolutionary War, in 1890, the now Americans, created what goes down in history as The Wound Knee Massacare. Where Major Samuel Whitside simply massacred hundreds of Indians, men, women, children, all were in his cross heirs. And in 1973 it happened again, having the name of The Wounded Knee Incident. This time the Native American held their own and camped out in their town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. They were fighting for their rights, the same rights that the Americans before them had fought o valiantly for, only 200 years ago. 

     It is only natural with the introduction of black slaves that the American;s would not have any issues with that either. Much like in the Congo living conditions for the slaves were awful and they worked long days with little food. In fact black slaves were preferred for work on plantations especially in the Caribbean and the South because they were accustomed to the hot and humid weather. They were lashed with whips, they were raped, some had metal collars around their neck with bells so they could not escape. Sometimes these collars would fuse with the skin because of the hot conditions and the amount of time worn, between the sweat and the stress. 
     It is one thing to enter African and learn their ways and explore their land in order to create your world map. In fact even the introduction of new technologies would be welcome. But it is entirely a different thing when people enter a different country and continent and begin to take advantage of the people and resources. The Natives in the Congo were already accepting next to nothing in payment, how a human mind can think that enslaving them and taking innocent lives is better than giving them some clothe is beyond me. They had enough resources to pay fair wages yet they chose not to, greed is so over powering for human beings. Of course the whites did distance themselves from the action by making sure natives committed the awful crimes onto other natives. 

     Not even in the 21st century has the world collected it self. There is still slavery today. In an age where cell phones take pictures and can send them hundreds of thousands of miles to a friend. We have little documentation of slavery today, even more so we have little acknowledgement for the slavery today. Virtually everything that comes to America is coming from people who endure slave like conditions. Everything labeled "Made in China" comes from the Chinese people who are paid next to nothing for their work. They work in dangerous conditions creating our Apple products and so much more. 

"Where There Aren't No Ten Commandments"

Chapter 8 is the first chapter in the book thus far to address the slaves and the slave trade directly. There is no beating around the bush in this chapter. The only attempt to cover up the evidence of the trade is on page 130 where they are called "volunteers". However it does nto take a genius to figure out that they are obviously nto volunteers, especially with information in the rest of the chapter. The chapter opens up discussing the luxuries that the Europeans possess even the Congo. Even though they are hundreds of thousands of miles from a civilized world. Leopold is still trying to cover up the slave trade, but he is being challenged more openly now, some people pay attention while others do not. As he is running out of funds he begins to call on fellow states men for help.

By the time he is done a lot of the Belgian officials who wanted no part in Africa owned large parts of it. The African's, realizing that this will not stop, begin to form bands of rebels, some more successful than others. Yet none being able to significantly effect Leopold's purposes. Men, women and children are taken slaves without any discrimination, weak or strong. The process of the children going to mission schools is introduced as well as the Force Publique, which is French for Public Force. Often times there were young black men under the control of one or two Belgian officers. They were forced tod o the dirty deeds. Hochschild makes a parallel between the Nazi's camps and the Congo. 
World War 2 is well known and there is a lot of information about the atrocities that happened in the German camps. The Congo on the other hand is not well publicized and virtually NO ONE knows what took place here. THis chapter has a white hand account, an honest one, about what took place. But it also have the account of an African woman Ilanga, who watched her husband be murdered right in front of her. Of course there are also accounts of the people behind this horrible regime. Last of all this chapter does not forget to check in with Leopold and his family life, as well as his political life.

The pictures are placed in the middle of this chapter. They are in chronological order in terms of what the reader knows as the book has revealed it. They start out innocently showing the pictures of the rulers, Leopold, Stanford and Sanford as well. Then they move into a picture of an African rulers, and missionaries. There true color of this chapter are revealed in the pictures of the slaves themselves, and the effects the Belgians had on their home life. At the end the pictures are of things and people that will be addressed in later chapters. There are also political cartoons and an advertisement for a gathering at the church of England. 


People are still taken advantage of in all parts of the world, Africa included. China however also has a large, practically forced labor system. As the massive factories pay very little to the Chinese workers. Africa still has forced labor, it is simply largely ignored as it is not happening on our own soil. Everything is a distance, which makes it a lot easier to deal with. There is not wide spread usage of media in Africa because there is no money for technology there. Thus the world is left to be blissfully ignorant of everything that goes on there.

Quiz Questions

1.Why is slavery first “nakedly” addressed first in this chapter? No euphemisms or analogies.
2. Why do you think at the end of the chapter, page 139, there is a translation from French to English for the white people songs, but no African dialect for the song the Africans sang?
3. What did Congo provide for the male youth of Europe?
4. How does Lefranc’s observations/account affect our perception of life in Congo?5. While the use of the slaves for the railroad is described, very briefly, why is there no further mention of the railroad and its progress?

Two Men, One Fate

     David Livingstone,  began his life working at a cotton mill at the age of ten. As he became older his interest developing in the medical field. He began his studies in Glasgow and five years later was stationed in Africa near the Kalahari Desert, the southern end of Africa. "Livingstone became convinced of his mission to reach new peoples in the interior of Africa and introduce them to Christianity, as well as freeing them from slavery."  Besides his discovery of "Victoria Falls" and being the first European to cross the width of southern Africa, Livingstone made crucial medical additions to Africa and his crew. He was one of the few and first medical missionaries to think of going to Africa. A lot of the time he was the first white person to even meet the local tribes. "He won their trust as a healer and medicine man and gained such a reputation amongst the villages he visited that he eventually had to limit his treatment only to those with serious illness." His expertise was in surgical removal of tumors, opthalmology and obstetrics. His amazing observational skills, did not gain him credit, but were true. He connected mosquitoes and malaria more than 30 years earlier than Ronald Ross proved it. He connected environmental and climate changes with dysentery  typhoid and pneumonia. Livingstone was also one of the first to administer the drug known as "quinine" in a dosage that was actually useful. Saving him and his companies from a high death rate. Livingstone was a smart man whose brains brought him far, and would have taken him farther were it not for his poor health. 

From BBC and Livingstone Online

     When Livingstone was not heard from in a long time, Henry Morton Stanley, or rather John Rowlands, came Africa to investigate. Stanley was a special correspondent for the New York Herald. Two years after receiving his position he was sent to Africa to track down the great explorer. However, what he found was less than an exciting story. He found a sick explorer, it was then where he uttered the famous words, 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?' After Livingstone passed, Stanley continued to explore Africa. He was funded by the Herald and a British newspaper, enabling to explore vast areas of central Africa, and the length of the Lualaba and Congo Rivers. He reached the Atlantic in 1877, and he later described his journey the "Through the Dark Continent" ten years later. 
    Wanting to continue his explorations and finding little support Stanley turned to King Leopold II who was eager to get Africa;s wealth. With the kings support Stanley worked the open the lower Congo to commerce by building roads. These roads were built against Livingstone's philosophy of freedom, they were built with widespread forced labor.  In later years he spent much energy defending himself against charges that his African expeditions had been marked by callous violence and brutality.  He believed it was necessary in order for the Congo to become a free state under King Leopold II. His successes came from the money of others and his brutality.

From BBC and NWE 

Senior Project!

     The paper itself was good, all you could possibly fit int he 6 page goal was included. Having my paper proof read by an official was very useful. I was able to make corrections before turning it in. However personal opinion of what is necessary and what is not varies from person to person. So the paper was returned to be on the basis of "quote integration." There were many questions on one of my direct quotations. Obviously I could have done a lot better in terms of figuring out MLA format and making the last changes breaking up a large direct quotation better. But otherwise addressing the different types of care and places of care was very thorough. In the modern world there is a large LARGE variety of options of elderly care. My paper explored the most common ones. Each was compared to the other and held to its own standards.
     My opening was done with a direct quotation about an elderly woman who could no longer take care of herself and her only daughter was struggling to keep up with her mother and her own life. It was a perfect beginning because I was able to segue right into my topic and address my thesis directly. My closing however was a weak point as I did not have anything particular to say or summarize. 

Research Paper Update.

1. My topic is on airport security and the changes it has undergone through the years. Starting way back from its origins to the present day 2013 regulations. Of course the tragic incident of September 11th will be discussed as it had a MASSIVE impact on the way airport security is now. 

2. The most useful thing in the arsenal at this time is a government website that has the history of the Federal Aviation Administration. While the administration was more of less shut down, but really just replaced, in 2001 there is a large array of events and history that is detailed on this website. This history includes everything from airway traffic incidents in the beginning to the acts that created air marshals. 

3. My research paper is an exploratory paper, and with the topic at hand it is hard to have an opinion. However on certain details opinions can be held. While airport security is very important, there are ways they could make it more efficient or at least more thorough. The TSA does not have a bad track record thought, but it has only been in place for 12 years. The FAA did not have a bad record either until 9/11 happened. At the same time though, how could they have prevented the attack? More than one marshal? Other than that the warning signs were minimal. There were 19 men who had been assimilated into society, partly anyways. There should have been some red flags as there were, but how many other people had student visas and traveled? And checking their luggage wouldn't have helped no matter which agency did it. 

4. Airport security is not very complicated to understand. Using simple language will make the essay even easier to understand. The simple change and standards of the security measures that are now in use is not that hard. One of the things I will be discussing in my paper is the security measures now. A good paper is never complete without some humor. For example one of my sources gives advice on how not to hold up the line. 
Don’t wear a ton of metal Jewelry.
Don’t Bring Liquids.
Know what you can’t bring through. Go to www.tsa.gov
Arrive early so you are not hassled going in.
Pack so you don’t have to dig for your computer.
Have your ID ready. And the boarding pass.
No Jokes. No kidding.
Take off your earphones.

Hundreds of thousands normal people travel through the airports daily. They could not make the rules complicated otherwise there would never be a single flight to take off in any airport.

5. There is a story that was published in 2006 by a gentleman who is very frustrated with the TSA. This man was determined to prove that the newly established TSA did not do much good for anyone who is a "smart" terrorist.He was able to boards planes with everything from a fake boarding pass to a creation called the "beer belly." A larger bubble back placed on ones stomach filled with any kind of fluid that one desires without getting noticed by the security. Even if they pat you down it feels like it is your stomach. Of course now they have you endure the x-ray machine but it is still surprising that just 6 years ago that was possible. Makes one wonder what is possible now?