Chapter 24 Part 2

This part of chapter 24 talks all about religion. It talks about a lot of different opinions different people had of religion, the role religion played in different countries, etc. During this period of time, the idea of religion wasn't as popular as it had been previously. "Advanced" thinkers believed that religion was coming to an end and the idea of science and evolution was taking over the idea original idea of religion. Aside from the Christian religion from declining in popularity, Buddhism was becoming more widely accepted in the West. Fundamentalism was a reaction against modernization and globalization. Fundamentalists used a lot of modern communication technology. There was also another form of fundamentalism in the Hindu religion called Hindutva which meant Hindu nationalism. There was also Muslim fundamentalism was probably the most prominent form of fundamentalism. A lot of disappointments were caused in the Muslim religion like new states that used Western policies that were majorly unsuccessful. Islam wasn't the only religion that responded to global modernity. Christians for example were worried about how economic globalization could cause ethical issues. There was also the factor that the global environment transformed because of the use of fossil fuels, the quadrupling of the world's population, and drastic economic growth. So many changes were taking place that had caused the people of the world to take their focus off of religion and turn their focus onto the modernization of the world they live in.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23 talks all about the Global South and seeking independence and seeking freedom and all of the sort. But what I read that caught my attention the most was that of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi is like the Martin Luther King, Jr. of the other side of the world. He practiced civil protests in order to fight for injustice. The actions he took were inspiring because I know a lot of people would never have the guts to do everything he did. People know protests as a lot of people being beaten or hurt or killed in the process, but Gandhi did the opposite. Gandhi did everything in his power to make sure that no one had to die to stand up for what they believed him and by following his leadership. He hated violence and everything to do with it. He dedicated the rest of his life to showing people that yes, they can stand up for what they believe in and fight for what they know is right without actually fighting. Civil disobedience. I've learned about Gandhi in a lot of my history classes and his story is definitely one of those that I will never forget. He just made such a difference in the world and he never gave less than 100% and didn't stop until he knew he could do no more. What he did was very admirable and his story should definitely stay as one of the most well known in the world and in history.

Massaro Section 5 and 6

These two sections of Massaro's article were by far one of the most interesting things I've ever read. I found it interesting because I actually never knew how involved the Catholic Church was in making sure that the working classes got what they deserved because they are the ones that provide everything that people have. It also talked about how God wanted all of these people to be equal. In other words, someone should not be rich if they are hurting their neighbors brought it. Section five also talked a lot about socialism and how it is something that is completely unnatural in the world and how it is unjust to people who own land. The people who had a higher position in the working world needed to think of the needs of those who worked for them. Section six talked a lot about the rights that workers need to have. Workers should not be looked at as just a part of one big machine that produces material things, they still need to be looked at as people that work their blood, sweat, and tears into the work they do everyday. It was said that the reason why people worked was not to have a job or career, but as a way to follow God in the path that he set out for them and what they were put into this world to do was to make material things for the population. I was really surprised at the involvement of the Catholic Church in making workers have the rights, working conditions, and appreciation they all deserved for their everyday hard work.

Chapter 20 Part 2

Education, religion, and race and tribe took a major turn after the second wave of European conquests. The education took a big role in the change in societies because it caused a lot more people to be literate which was big deal back then. A very big amount of the population was illiterate and being able to get a real education made it possible for a lot of people to finally be able to read. While many people saw the European colonial rule as a negative thing going on in their countries, a lot of other people viewed the colonial rule as a way to  better future because of all the better education that was brought with the colonial rule. Another thing that came along with European colonial rule, was religion. Christianity spread along with the European conquests. Although Christianity didn't spread widely in every single country the Europeans came across, it spread in most of the countries. The reason why Christianity spread so popularly, was because Christianity was part of the education that the Europeans brought, and since a lot of countries thought that the European education was a new, bright path to the future, they went along with religion because it was taught with their education.

Chapter 20 Part 1

If I could take one thing away from this reading, it would be how powerful the British were when it came to ruling other countries. It is really eye opening how easily the British took over everything and everyone and pretty much no one could do anything to break out of their control for many years. But they were smart. They did not want to take over large masses of populations all at once. They went village-by-village so they could make sure that there was never too many people to take control over. Except for India. The British tried to take over India as easily as they took over other countries, but they had a bit more of a struggle. The Indian population decided that they were not going to just stand by and the Britain take over their beloved country, so they started a revolt against them. Because the Indians made it so much harder for the British to take over their country, Britain decided to take direct control over India. But by the time that India had won their independence, they had become one of the poorest countries in the entire world, and the British never helped. Obviously the British were a force to be reckoned with if they were able to extend their power all the way to the Americas and rule over the United States for years before they were able to hold their own independence. That was what opened my eyes the most in this section of reading: British power.

Communist Manifesto Part 1

Chapter one of the Communist Manifesto was informing the reader about the social differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians. The bourgeoisie didn't live what many people would call an "extravagant" life, but they definitely lived more comfortably than the proletarians. The bourgeoisie basically ran this society. They looked down on the proletarians and did not care to make their lives any better as long as their own lives were how they wanted them to be. What interests me is that even though the bourgeoisie didn't make the "most money in the world," they acted like they did. The proletarians always worked hard for what they owned and earned every bit of it, and then there is the bourgeoisie that takes advantage of the working class, inconsiderate of the hard work they've done, simply for their own benefit. The easiest way for me to describe how different these two social classes lived is to just describe it as servantry. As terrible as the bourgeoisie sounds, they weren't the first of their kind. They were hardly the first social class group that took advantage of the lower classes. Like the First, Second, and Third Estate, the First and Second lived highly and unnecessarily comfortable while the Third had to work their hearts out everyday to give themselves and their family a sustainable life. But between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians, the bourgeoisie took major advantage of the proletarians because they viewed themselves as superior just because they had more money. In my opinion, I believe that bourgeoisie should be viewed as inferior to the proletarians because the proletarians obtain skills and have goals very unlike the bourgeoisie. The proletarians had goals to make their lives better and to give their families food and shelter and a life that they can live without suffering, and the bourgeoisie just lives a life where they can take money from people that worked hard for it because they feel like they can. But after every period of time where one social class oppresses another one, there will come a revolution where it will not be accepted anymore and it will be opposed by everyone that lives in the society to the point where they cannot belittle the lower social classes just because they feel like they have the power to do so because they have more money and resources.

The French Revolution Pg. 504-507

The second part of the Atlantic revolutions were in France. They Estate Generals that consisted of the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. The Third Estate made up of the commoners started to revolt and came up with their own declaration called the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" which they wrote to declare that "men re born and remain free and equal in rights." All the actions that the Third Estate took were illegal in the ancien régime. This was what started the French Revolution. The French Revolution was different from the American Revolution because the American one was driven by the relationships between colonies with distant power and the French Revolution was driven by fighting within the French society. Everything that was going on in the revolution was strictly because of social conflicts within the country itself. Things took a turn for the worst when King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were executed as an extreme act of violence by the revolutionists. The Terror of 1793-1794 followed right after that. Thousands of people lost their lives behind the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre was later arrested because he was to blame for bringing the country to France to tyranny, dictatorship, and terror. Another way that the French were different from the Americas was that the Americans wanted to rebuild what they already had to fix everything. The French on the other hand decided to start all over again and build a brand new city from the old city that was destroyed. After the revolution everything completely changed in France that it was basically not even France anymore. It had changed into something completely different. Things either became something entirely new or they disappeared and were replaced with something else, like streets and buildings and titles. The French Revolution was a bad period of time in this country with good intentions. The people were trying to do what they thought was right, even though the whole rest of the country thought the complete opposite. What they were trying to achieve was somewhat reached, because maybe France didn't change in the exact way that the revolutionists wanted, but France did change.