Saturday, October 29, 2016

Satire in everyday life

Around the 1950's in the U.S, Joseph McCarthy announced he would investigate the 200+ Communist party members who worked for the U.S Department of the State. In doing so, he would use a very aggressive strategy to calm the paranoia, but he bullied and falsely accused people of disloyalty to the America. This was the creation of McCarthyism. Many people were fired and blacklisted as a result: Hollywood Ten, Charlie Chaplin, Hellen Keller, Artie Shaw, etc.


Arthur Miller happened to be one of the victims of this flawed system, and as a result he wrote the Crucible. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses Juvenalian satire to criticize the random unsupported accusations McCarthyism makes through the Salem Witch Trials. In Act 4, *No spoilers* "I have come to counsel Christians they should believe themselves", which means that his Hale's purpose is to save certain characters from the Devil, but this leads many of them to be killed, which is already breaking one of the ten commandments. Hale then returns to being them God, but because they are already holy he is getting them he is getting them to lie about things they did not do. Miller shows how Hale, like McCarthy, uses unsupported evidence to convict people of disloyalty to the U.S through the Crucible. This satire is very clear and direct criticism, which is much more serious compared to the other type of satire, Horatian. 

Horatian satire is also way of ridiculing the intended opponent or subject, but the difference between this and Juvenalian satire is that it uses comedy or wit and a little ridicule to make the audience laugh. The implications of satire in society are immense. From the political cartoons you see on the internet, to the SNL skits you watch on television. Many things you may not think of revolve around satire. Anyway, the implication of Horatian satire I included is in the SNL skit. This ridicules teens about their addiction to social media, but exemplifies it in an over the top example in a comedic fashion.
SaTiRiCaL AnD pOlItIcAl
Horatian Satire- Ridicules the government with comedy.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Columbus got beat to America by 11,000 years!

          "In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue" (to soon discover America) is the rhyme taught to students in elementary school, but is that really true? To begin with, No.
          The answer to who discovered America is very simple, the Natives, but most people think of who was the first European to discover America, and still Columbus wouldn't be the first.
           Indigenous People's Day is a movement that multiple states celebrate on the second Monday in October, but there is controversy because Christopher Columbus Day is a federal holiday on the same date. Indigenous people are natives whom live with nature, have a small population, and uphold various traditions. America would support Native Americans for Indigenous People's Day specifically. The reasons behind this change is because the movement wants to proclaim how the Natives rescued and "nourished him(Columbus) to health" (Chappell.43). They also want to change the myth of history that Columbus discovered America first because they discovered it first. Evidence is first found around 12,000 years ago when Natives crossed a land bridge from Siberia to North America.
          Although I do think Native Americans need to be recognized, but I also believe that both Indigenous People and Christopher Columbus should be celebrated in the form of a holiday. The Natives beat Columbus by around 11,000 years in discovering America, but Columbus Day does not only stand for discovering America, but it also celebrates Italian-American Heritage; therefore, I say that there should be no reason why anyone can't celebrate their heritage ;furthermore, freedom to celebrate ethnicity is why I support Indigenous People's Day. The holiday should represent the minority of Native Americans and should bring an overall appreciation to the diversity in America.