Many points in the podcast “Insatiable” I agree with and have further commentary regarding. I found it hard to understand the comparison to the star trek metaphor as mentioned in the opening segment of the podcast as I have not seen that episode and could not find a description or version of it to view. If by comparison the reason for its mention is to accentuate the insatiable appetite of the American consumer, I understand its meaning and can relate.
In regard to the mention of Thomas Jefferson and his quote “We want to populate the nation with a thousand generations of Americans” although it was probably stated in a sense of pride, when taken in a different context well describes the intentions of the leaders of America. In its similarity to the “Manifest destiny” of the United States of America the statement decrees the elimination or expulsion of all that is in our way. It remains the same throughout history whether it is Columbus and his mistreatment of the natives upon arrival, Polk and the Mexican war, Jackson and the native Americans, Bush and Iraq, throughout history American leaders are thoroughly insatiable for more power, resources and wealth.
In addition, it is odd the ways that American leaders will justify their actions throughout history. As mentioned that Indians are capable of assimilation and their attributes not fixed as hereditary. While describing African Americans as hereditarily deficient and incapable is disgusting to us. It created the reasoning for the American leaders to feel justified regarding slavery and the removal of the Indians. Therefore the leaders of America fed their insatiable appetites for more land, labor, resources, power and money at the expense of these different cultures.
I agree with the orator in regard to the idea that similar circumstances would reveal similar results; the examples throughout history continue to demonstrate that fact. The examples of men of power using that power to disregard what is in their way and accumulate are many. The ironic statement by the Whig Intelligencer regarding the Mexican war that, “we take nothing by conquest…. Thank god” (Zinn 124) is hypocritical as we had taken half of the Mexican territory by force and conquest in our ever continuing fulfillment of Manifest destiny.
Although all this can easily be justified again by citing American exceptionalism as stated by the orator, American leaders would have you believe all of these atrocities that we commit are for the common good and we are here to show others the right way.
To answer the question stated, do I agree with the orator of the podcast? Yes, I believe that the American leaders throughout history have been insatiable and that greed and justification has been the downfall of many. This class has definitely opened my eyes to truths I did not realize and histories I was ignorant of in the past, our founding fathers and our nation as a whole were not the leaders I was taught about in elementary school.
Works cited
Zinn, Howard. A people’s history of the united states, vol 1, New York: The new P, 2003
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Hey There Brett
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. I have the same stance on this subject. And I too was ignorent to the past, and have learned so much from this class.
You chose your quotation wisely to support your view point, and incorporated smoothly into your writing. I also really liked how you related the issue of the intentions of our leaders to different time periods, all the way up to our beloved George Bush. You echoed what I was thinking at that moment, that things have not changed in a lot of ways. We still deal with some of the same issues.
You touched briefly on the concept of African Americans being “hereditarily inferieor” and perhaps this is just because I feel strongly on this particular point, but I thought you could have gone into it a little further. Both Foner and Zinn presented some great material that you could have used to support this paragraph.
But all together, good job. You express and support yourself well.