Recent orders
Presidential campaigns in the United over the years have been undergoing a revolution
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Communications and Media
Electoral campaigns in the United over the years have been undergoing a revolution, whereas in the past any person willing to become the president of the United States of America or to be voted in for any electoral position one had to spend a lot of time in rallies and meetings in order to interact with the voters, the presidential election in 2012 was a bit different.
According to a study carried out by Pew Internet & American Life Project in October found that about 39 %of the Adults in the United States of America used the social media to discuss issues related to politics. Realizing that one was able to meet more voters on the social websites than in campaign rallies most of the presidential candidates in the 2012 elections turned to social media to pass their messages. During the campaign trail Obama’s speech during the Democratic National Convention sparked off about 2.5 million online conversations. This enormous people could not bring together in any campaign rally but social media was able to bring all of them together. During the presidential debate (the first) approximately more than 10 million people sent their tweets (Unforgettable Social Media Election Moments).
According to OpenSite the use of social media has increased since the year 2008. Approximately 1.8 million tweets were sent on the Election Day. This is far much less than the tweets sent currently, about 1.8 million are sent every six seconds. Looking at some of the defining features of the 2012 elections by Barbara Juliet one can see the extent which the social media plays in shaping the politics in the United States of America. Social media has become the only platform that politicians can be able to meet the highest number of voters.
Work cited
“5 Unforgettable Social Media Election Moments.” Leadership. N.p., 11 June 2012. Web. 5 May 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/julietbarbara/2012/…/5-unforgettable-social..>.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Comparing Between Epic of the Gilgamesh and Star Wars: The Force Awakens
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Introduction
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem about ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest epic literary works to be known in the world. The Epic of Gilgamesh is recorded in Akkadian language with its most complete version today being preserved on 12 tablets made from clay. Notably, it originates from the series of the Sumerian poems and legends tracing back to the late 2nd millennium and early 3rd millennium. The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the life of Gigalmesh, a mythical king and hero from Uruk and his friend Enkidu, who is half human and half wild. The two friends set of for dangerous adventures and quests together and after the death of his friends, Gilgamesh starts searching for the secret to being immortal. Notably, the poem has a story that is similar to the Noah’s flood story from the Bible. On the other hand, the movie Star Wars: the Force Awakens is an American epic film released in 2015 and is the first of the sequel trilogy including Skywalker saga and Return of the Jedi (Eberl & Decker, 2016). A new threat faces the galaxy and Finn who is a former stormtrooper and Rey, a desert scavenger are forced to team up with Chewbacca ns Han solo as they hope to restore peace. After 30 years, Rey comes across a BB-8 that bears important information about the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. Rey and Finn are caught in between a battle between the resistance and the First Order. This essay is a comparison of ancient and modern heroes as presented in the movie Star Wars: the Force Awakens and The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian poem.
What is Being Sought and Why?
Both heroes in the movie as well as the book seek to achieve different things. While the main hero in the book, Gilgamesh is seeking for eternal life, Rey, is seeking to find her own purpose and path. For a long time Rey has only known to be a scavenger and is always on the move as if running away from something. However, this soon changes after she comes into contact with the lightsaber that belonged to Master Luke Skywalker. She never believed in the Jedi story and although she had thought about how Luke disappeared she only thought it to be a myth and nothing more. After Rey teams up with Finn to help the droid locate its master, she attracted by the sound of a girl who is crying and upon touching Luke’s lightsaber, she has a vision. He sees quick flashes of old Jedi voices like Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Rey seeks to find out the truth about herself and her roots. In her vision, she sees Cloud city’s hallway, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2. Furthermore, in the vision, Kylo Ren is surrounded with many bodies and he is thrusting his saber into the chest of a figure that is mysterious. Further, Rey encounters a vision of herself and how she was abandoned as a child in Jakku before encountering Ren pursuing her in a rather snowy forest.
Gilgamesh on the other hand is looking for the secret to mortality. This is after Gilgamesh set out on journey to destroy Humbaba in the deep heart of Cedar Forest. Humbaba was a half demon and half ogre making it a beast like demon. Before it dies, the beats curses Gilgamesh. The two also manage to slay the “Bull of Heaven” that has been sent after them after Gilgamesh rejects goddess Ishtar sexual advances. The people from the City of Uruk celebrate Enkidu’s victory for successfully killing the bull of heaven and Humbaba. However, Enkidu has a dream that the gods wants to punish Gilgamesh for killing the two beats. Shamash points out that if Enkidu is to die, Gilgamesh will be reduced to a shadow of his former self. The curse takes a toll and by the day Enkidu becomes more ill and he dies. Gilgamesh becomes devastated by this friend’s death and he tries to offer the gods gifts to allow him to walk beside his friend in the Underworld. He is filled with a lot of sorrow and grief and only leaves his the corpse after six days when maggots began falling from Enkidus body. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh only has one purpose, he is determined to avoid the curse and suffering the same fate as his friend. He sets out on a journey to locate Utanupishtim and his wife, who were they only two humans that were granted eternal life after surviving the great flood. The ageless couple resides in a beautiful country called Dilmun that is in another world. Gilgamesh travels to the Far East as he searches for them crossing oceans’ great rivers and mountains as he slays monstrous bears, lions, among other beasts (Hall, 2019). Unfortunately, upon finally meeting Utnapishtim, he given two opportunities at getting eternal life, but he fails in both attempts.
Trials involved in the quest
In their quest to find what they are seeking, both heroes in the movie and the poem encounter challenging trails. When Gilgamesh starts seeking for the secret to eternal life, he is forced to travel long distances as he locates the only couple that has ever been given eternal life (George, 2018). As he travels east, he has to fight beasts including oceans, rivers, and mountains in his bid to locate Utnapishtim and his wife. Utnapishtim challenges him to stay way awake for seven nights and six days but Gilgamesh is already asleep before Utnapishtim finishes speaking. In the second challenge, Gilgamesh is supposed to pick a plant found at the bottom of the ocean set to make him young once more but it is stolen by a serpent as soon as he places it on the shore of the lake as he bathes. Additionally, in his journey, Gilgamesh arrives at Mount Mashu, twin peaks located at the end of earth who gate are guided by two scorpion beings. He has to convince them that his divine and desperate in order for them to allow him to cross. He manages to do so and he travels through the dark tunnels for twelve where the sun travels through the night. In Star Wars, Rey finds herself caught in the middle of the battle between the resistance and the first order. As soon as they discover that Rey has seen the map that shows where Luke is located, they capture her . At this point Ren is determined to do whatever to takes to retrieve the map. She wakes up chained to an interrogation chair and following a conversation with Ren, he finally removes the mask revealing his real identity. Ren uses his power to read her mind revealing the lonely life she had at Jakku and how she dreams of an island far away. Another trail that faces Rey is the hardship life she lived as a scavenger where she had to search for ship scraps in exchange for food. She is also constantly on the run, and is being hunted by the troops of the First order because she is aiding the droid in its escape.
How the Trials Contribute to the Hero’s Maturation
The obstacles that Rey and Gilgamesh go through were meant to prepare them what was to come. As a scavenger, Rey was used the life of hardship and she had to fight her way through everything. She was used to defending herself and struggling to get scraps to sell so that she can get food. This made her a strong individual capable of surviving in the harshest environments. Upon her capture, she used the skills she had gained over the time to try and escape. She also had a background in flying the spaceships, skills which came in handy as she defended the droid from the troops sent by the first order. She is stronger than she thinks and eventually she used the strength for Luke’s light saber to free herself from the room where she has been confined. Han Solo, Finn and Chewbacca spot Rey climbing a wall on the base and they rush off to meet with her. She is thrilled that her friends came back to rescue her. Additionally, Gilgamesh also goes through tough trails which only serve to prepare him for his journey as she searches for the secret to eternal life. Gilgamesh is keen to avoid the fate that his friend Enkidu suffers. He had an ego and he had no regard for women and never respected marriages and leads to a fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. After the fight with his friend, Gilgamesh begins to learn the virtues of courage, humility, nobility, and mercy. These experiences shape his life and they prepare his for hard tasks that lie ahead of him. In his journey, he travels long distances, crossing mountains, oceans and slaying beasts and lions to get the Underworld where Utnapishtim and his wife reside.
Rewards for Completing the Quests
After successfully completing his quest Gilgamesh is rewarded in that he finally manages to locate the couple who are the only people who had managed to acquire eternal life. However, the catch is that Gilagmesh is unable to complete the challenges that are given to him by Utnapishtim and as a result he ends up not getting eternal life. Gilgamesh gets to learn about how Utanipishtim and his wife survived the floods which destroyed the entire world and everything in it. Eventually, Gilgamesh dies and his passing is mourned by the people of Uruk. In Star Wars, Rey is rewarded in the end whereby she discovers that she is stronger than she thinks. She gathers the courage to confront Kylo Ren, who is one of the leader of the first order in a snowy forest. Initially, Rey fights unsuccessfully and she is desperately running from Ren. She closes her eyes and mediates and then attacks Ren with power and vigor before gaining the upper hand before cutting him across his face and on the arm. After defeating him, she sets out to the rocky island to look for Luke Skywalker where she hands him his light saber.
Differences in the Quests for Modern and Ancient Heroes.
Some of the differences that can be noted in the cases of the heroes in their quests have to do with the fact that one of the heroes had a successful ending while the other one did not. In StarWars, Rey emerged successful in the end; she overcame her fears and found her purpose. She strived as much as possible to help the droid and to defeat the First Order which had already began controlling the world. In the end, she located Luke and gave him back his light saber. Gilgamesh on the other hand ended up not attaining his goal of securing eternal life. He failed in the two attempts he has at securing gaining eternal life. He ended up returning to his home, in the city of Uruk where he died.
Conclusion
The Movie Starwars: the Force Awakens and The Epic of Gilgamesh both follow the story of heroes in their quests. Rey sought to find her true purpose as all her life she has lived as a scavenger and she was always on the run from something. Gilagmesh on the other hand, was hero who spends most of his time on dangerous adventures with his best friend Enkidu. Both heroes went through tough trials in preparation for what was to come in the future. Rey was caught up in the battle between the First Order and the Revolution. Gilgamesh was seeking the secret of eternal life and had to travel dangerous grounds crossing seas, mountains and slaying betas to get to the Underground world where Utanipishtim and his wife lived after surviving floods that swept all living things in the face of the earth.
References
Eberl, J., & Decker, K. (2016). Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Philosophy Now, 115, 48-50.
George, A. (2018). The epic of Gilgamesh (pp. 7-16). ARC, Amsterdam University Press.
Hall, A. E. (2019). Identification and parasocial relationships with characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(1), 88.
President William Howard Taft and “Dollar Diplomacy”
President William Howard Taft and “Dollar Diplomacy”
The following quote summarizes President Taft’s view on foreign policy:
“The diplomacy of the present administration…has been characterized as substituting dollars for bullets. It is the one that appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to the dictates of sound policy and strategy, and to legitimate commercial aims.”
President William Howard Taft, December 3, 1912
General Points behind Taft’s Foreign Policy:
Taft’s approach to foreign policy between 1908 and 1912 reflected his strong judicial temperament and his life-long aspiration to become a justice of the Supreme Court. Temperamentally, unsuited to be a dynamic leader like Roosevelt, Taft knew that he would not be able to “beat the drum, herd emperors, and the destinies of continents with one grand flourish.” Not surprisingly, Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” gathered cobwebs during his administration.
Unlike Roosevelt, Taft did not try to be his own Secretary of State. Instead, he chose Philander C. Knox, a capable corporation lawyer, thoroughly, sympathetic with the goals of big business. Regarding himself, something of a “prime minister,” he reorganized the state department to pursue a “spirited commercial foreign policy.”
Secretary Knox eagerly embraced President Taft’s view that the United States should take it is rightfully place in the world, not by bullets, but as a major power reflecting the commercial and financial world. Indeed, Taft’s preoccupation with investments abroad prompted many to remark that “Dollar Diplomacy,” the almighty dollar, supplanted Roosevelt’s “Big Stick.”
To be clear, Dollar Diplomacy was nothing new. The use of foreign policy to protect and promote American commercial interests dates from the beginning of the republic. However, Taft-Knox administration made the unmistakable point of emphasizing the “traveling salesman” concept that Washington would aggressively encourage and support American bankers and industrialists in securing new opportunities for profit in foreign countries. Economic imperialism or dollar diplomacy was designed to prosper both the exploited people and the American investors.
Taft and Knox added still another theme to dollar diplomacy. They stressed not so much the protection of the American dollar already invested abroad as the employment of the dollar to promote American national polices. Those that supported dollar diplomacy strong believed economic penetration of foreign lands was often the “foot in the door” for political domination.
The instrument for this handmaiden of American foreign policy was the encouragement of American bankers to pump their money into sensitive areas, notably the Caribbean and China, to forestall or replace foreign capital.
Pumping Dollars into China:
At first American bankers demonstrated a strong reluctance to risk money in capital-hungry China. Such a conservative attitude distressed Willard Straight, a dynamic U.S. consul general at Manchuria from 1906 to 1908. He expressed mounting concern the economic penetration of Manchuria by the Japanese, and concluded the U.S. lacked influence in the Far East due to the small amount of money Americans had invested in that region. If the U.S. had any hope of playing a decisive role in preserving the integrity of China and the Open Door, its bankers would have to invest large sums of money, particularly in Manchuria.
Under the Taft administration, he served in the State Department as Acting Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (1908-1909) and exercised a strong influence pushing dollar diplomacy, forcing American capital, by diplomatic pressure into a region of the world where it would not do so, of its own accord.
Examples of Attempts at Dollar Diplomacy:
In 1909, the State Department backed an American banking group’s “push” into the Hukuang Railway project, a consortium of British, French, and German bankers’ proposal to build a railway in central and southern China. However, by 1911American, capitalists showed only erratic interest in their responsibilities, and little railroad building was achieved less done to preserve the territorial integrity of China.
By 1097, the Japanese and Russians had divided China’s Manchuria into southern and northern economic spheres of influence. The Russians enjoyed a dominant position in Northern Manchuria, with their key Chinese Eastern Railway and the Japanese were firmly entrenched in southern Manchuria, with their vital South Manchuria Railway.
Secretary of State Knox viewed this development with great concern for the Open Door policy. He set about a scheme to use American dollars to block this ominous penetration. He introduced the Manchurian Railroad proposal in late 1909 to interested powers. In short, the proposal called for American and European banking groups to lend the Chinese government huge sums of money, they would use to regain full control of Manchuria by buying the various railroads. Buying the railroads, Secretary Knox hoped would “smoke the Japanese out from her dominant position” she had acquired in the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) in Manchuria. The gambit failed. Both the Japanese and the Russians saw through Knox the thinly veiled scheme. In the end, it weakened the territorial integrity of China, and drove Japan and Russia closer together.
However, out of office Roosevelt still thrashed Secretary Knox’s Far Eastern policy of “bluff and back down.” By the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912, “dollar diplomacy” on both continents had been rejected and denounced.
Woodrow Wilson’s Missionary Diplomacy:
Wilson’s actions in Mexico reflected a rejection of previous Presidents Roosevelt and Taft’s position to stay out of Mexican affairs as long as it did not affect America or business interests. The Mexican Revolution allowed him to show the Mexican people how to establish a moral and righteous government.
The following quote expresses Wilson’s idealism in foreign policy:
“We dare not turn from the principle that morality and not expediency is the thing that must guide us and that we will never condone iniquity because it is the most convenient thing to do so…It is a very perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in terms of material interest. It is not only unfair to those with whom you are dealing, but it is degrading as regards your own actions.”
Republicans and the business class in America scorned Wilson’s foreign policy. Investors decried that every day the U.S. intervened in Mexican affairs America lost money, not to mention the loss of lives.
Even more ominous was Congress’ growing demand for intervention the deeper Wilson got involved in the Mexican affairs. Some, like the Senator Albert Fall of Mexico and House Representative Otis Wingo of Arkansas, wanted to see the Mexican border pushed to the Panama Canal.
One Hearst newspaper declared,
“Oh, say, can you see by the dawn’s early light
Any possible way for avoiding a fight? The Star-Spangled Banner, oh, long may it flap,
While we’re kicked by the Greaser and slapped by the Jap!”
Wilson and World War I:
At the outset of the war most Americans seemed to be grateful, their forebears had emigrated from Europe and escaped, what they thought was “old world lunacy.” Notwithstanding this, and Wilson’s call for Americans to be neutral both in thought and deeds, the fact that most Americans came from European countries involved in the war, ultimately made neutrality impossible. Wilson’s admiration of England and its history affected the way he interpreted the Central Powers actions under international law—generally supporting the Allies.
Wilson’s refusal to compromise with Senate Republicans on the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations led to the embarrassment that America never signed the treaty and joined the League of Nations. This has led many historians to declare it was the “supreme act of infanticide.” The end of the war with an armistice and the failure of America to ratify the treaty and join the League of Nations utterly destroyed Americans’ belief in the Wilsonian declaration the war was to make the world safe for democracy. Rumors that Lenin’s vow to spread Communism had reached American shores created the “Red Scare” between l919 and 1921.