World War II Essay Example for Free

World War II Essay In retrospect, there is no doubt that Japanese Americans were discrimated against during World War II. From almost the first moment they arrived in this country, many white people had negative feelings about them. With the negative feelings of wartime escalating, the Japanese internment seemed just the thing to do in order to be proactive in the war. At least that is what government officials told themselves and sold the American public on. The government was able to intern the Japanese because of a long history of prejudice, wartime hysteria, and economic motives. The Japanese were discriminated against in many ways. One way is that they were the only group interned during World War II. Japan did bomb Pearl Harbor, but these were Japanese Americans that were interned with absolutely no proof that they were ever plotting against the United States. The United States was also pitted against Germany and Italy and these citizens were never interned. This is because those people has assimilated and become part of the population at large. Interning Germans would have included interning people like icon Joe DiMaggio’s father. The Japanese were much easier to identify and single out as a group. They could not assimilate because government policies had singled them out and they were not allowed to marry or otherwise mix with the general population. Many United States citizens had always harbored negative feelings toward the Japanese. As early as 1900, the San Francisco mayor James Duval Phelan spoke out publicly against the Japanese. He said, â€Å"The Japanese are starting the same tide of immigration which we thought we had checked twenty years ago†¦Personally we have nothing against the Japanese, but as they will not assimilate with us and their social life is different from ours, let them keep a respectful distance† (Yancey 15). ). By 1905, being greatly influenced by all the sensationalism in the newspapers, Western legislators made statements like â€Å"Japanese laborers, by reason of race habits, mode of living, disposition and general characteristics, are undesirable†¦They contribute nothing to the growth of the state. They add nothing to its wealth, and they are a blight on the prosperity of it, and a great and impeding danger to its welfare† (Daniels 11). This is to say nothing of the fact that they were stripped of all their civil liberties when they were interned. They were herded like cattle into first assembly centers and then internment camps. They could pack only what they could carry; they were forced into tight quarters with little or no privacy. They were surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire fences. They had basically no rights for as long as four years. Most of the Japanese Americans did not struggle or resist in any way. They went along willingly with the government orders because they wanted to prove their loyalties to this country. They resisted this discrimination by doing exactly what was asked of them. Once they were in the internment camps, they went about coping with their lives the best way they knew how. Typically this included how to improve their situation. they formed. Mary Tsukamoto describes a typical day at the camps. â€Å"A typical day in an internment camp such as Jerome would begin with families getting up. Remember we did not have any water in our rooms. We just had one light bulb and a small stove. We had to get dressed and go to the middle of the block to use the toilet, wash up and take showers. Usually there were people waiting in lines. After you brushed your teeth and cleaned up, you had to go to a separate building for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They had two sessions. If you were late or forgot your ticket, you could not eat. We stood in line for the food, which was served on metal trays, and we sat at long wooden tables with benches. There really wasnt much to do the rest of the time. My dad ran the recreation center for our block. Mother organized and coordinated YWCA (Young Womens Christian Association) and USO activities. The USO was organized to welcome Nisei soldiers who were visiting their families. At night we would stay in our room. We didnt have TV in those days. And we did not have a radio† (Tsukamoto). In Farewell to Manzanar, Houston points out other details, like the kitchens being badly ventilated so that food spoiled quickly so that many people constantly had the â€Å"Manzanar runs† (Houston 27). There were many other ways in which Manzanar totally upended their lives before the camps. Because they had to endure this unusual treatment, they were discriminated against. One of the ideas Tsukamoto highlights is that people had to wait in line for everything—to eat, to use the bathroom, etc. Life was basically one monotony after another although internees did all kinds of things to improve their environments from beginning educational courses to starting baseball leagues to planting gardens. They actually built baseball fields themselves and formed leagues to play baseball. They did everything they could to make their lives seem as normal as possible. They formed their own neighborhoods inside the walls of these camps that functioned much like neighborhoods on the outside with their own beauty shops, produce stores, newspaper, etc. It has been proven in retrospect that the Japanese were discriminated against. According to information from the web site densho. org, â€Å"In 1983, however, a U. S. congressional commission uncovered evidence from the 1940s proving that there had been no military necessity for the unequal, unjust treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII. The commission reported that the causes of the incarceration were rooted in â€Å" race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership. [2] Works Cited Recommendations section, Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. (1982. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997), page 459. Tsuakamoto, Mary. And Justice for All: an oral history of the Japanese detention camps. Houston, James. Farewell to Manzanar, Japanese American Legacy Project. http://www. densho. org

Voltaires Affect on Modern Western Society Essay -- Fracois Marie Aro

â€Å"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it,† were the famous words of Fracois Marie Arouet, more commonly known under the pen name of Voltaire. He was known for being very outspoken and rebellious, which got him into trouble with the authorities for most of his life. Voltaire advocated the French bourgeoisie as being ineffective, the aristocracy as being corrupt, and the commoners as being too superstitious. Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom and reason is what ultimately led to the French Revolution, the United States Bill of Rights, and the decrease in the power of the Catholic Church, which have all affected modern western society. The French Revolution was a period of upheaval in France, during which the French governmental structure and Catholic clergy underwent a large change due to Enlightenment ideas. The commoners of France began to revolt after hearing the ideas of famous philosophes like Voltaire. Voltaire was a deist who believed that the Catholic Church and its doctrines were not to be trusted since they used propoganda to get followers rather than the actual religion. He believed it was unfair that there wasn’t any religious freedom since you were expected to be a Catholic. He spoke openly about this, which of course got him into a lot of trouble. Nevertheless, the French commoners took his word into thought and decided to act upon what he said by revolting against the church. Voltaire’s ideas also critized royal absolutism because they had, in his opinion, too much power. He favored an elightened absolutist, which is an absolutist who adopts Enlightenment ideas. Once again, the French commoners took this to heart and agreed with Voltaire that the French government was too ... ... to make you commit injustices.† Voltaire studied natural sciences and reason because he was against supestition. Although he advocated religious tolerance, he believed that any one church should not have absolute power. By the time he was executed, he had already brought about the end of the power and right of the church to torture France. People in France still are not as faithful to the Catholic Church as they had been before Voltaire had introduced them to the idea of â€Å"reasoning†. The Enlightenment is held to be the source of many modern ideas, such as the primary values of freedom and reason. The views of philosophers such as Voltaire are considered to be the source of many essential changes in countries such as America and France. His views on religion, government, and freedom are what people remember most because they have not died out in today’s society. Voltaire's Affect on Modern Western Society Essay -- Fracois Marie Aro â€Å"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it,† were the famous words of Fracois Marie Arouet, more commonly known under the pen name of Voltaire. He was known for being very outspoken and rebellious, which got him into trouble with the authorities for most of his life. Voltaire advocated the French bourgeoisie as being ineffective, the aristocracy as being corrupt, and the commoners as being too superstitious. Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom and reason is what ultimately led to the French Revolution, the United States Bill of Rights, and the decrease in the power of the Catholic Church, which have all affected modern western society. The French Revolution was a period of upheaval in France, during which the French governmental structure and Catholic clergy underwent a large change due to Enlightenment ideas. The commoners of France began to revolt after hearing the ideas of famous philosophes like Voltaire. Voltaire was a deist who believed that the Catholic Church and its doctrines were not to be trusted since they used propoganda to get followers rather than the actual religion. He believed it was unfair that there wasn’t any religious freedom since you were expected to be a Catholic. He spoke openly about this, which of course got him into a lot of trouble. Nevertheless, the French commoners took his word into thought and decided to act upon what he said by revolting against the church. Voltaire’s ideas also critized royal absolutism because they had, in his opinion, too much power. He favored an elightened absolutist, which is an absolutist who adopts Enlightenment ideas. Once again, the French commoners took this to heart and agreed with Voltaire that the French government was too ... ... to make you commit injustices.† Voltaire studied natural sciences and reason because he was against supestition. Although he advocated religious tolerance, he believed that any one church should not have absolute power. By the time he was executed, he had already brought about the end of the power and right of the church to torture France. People in France still are not as faithful to the Catholic Church as they had been before Voltaire had introduced them to the idea of â€Å"reasoning†. The Enlightenment is held to be the source of many modern ideas, such as the primary values of freedom and reason. The views of philosophers such as Voltaire are considered to be the source of many essential changes in countries such as America and France. His views on religion, government, and freedom are what people remember most because they have not died out in today’s society.

Milkweed

Stephanie Flores Per 2 Milkweed Book Report The book my class was told to do our book reports was on Milkweed. This book is written by the famous author Jerri Spinelli. In this novel, there are three main characters which are Misha Pilsudski, Janina Milgrom, and Uri. Misha is a young boy in the beginning of the story that has no family, lives on streets, and steals food from people to stay alive. He later joins a big group of kids who also steal food, and they live together in places that are abandoned. The leader of this group in called Uri. Uri is a very intelligent, young man who has red haired. Since he doesn’t look like a Jew, he ends up becoming a Jackboot at the end of the story. Janina Milgrom is a Jewish little girl who meets Misha when he steals food from her garden. This book is set in the year 1939 when World War 2 is barley starting out in Warsaw, Poland. It’s happens during the Holocaust. Another possible theme for this book is that your identity means everything. Before Uri named Misha, Misha was a nobody. He had no friends, and he just kept on running for forever. His identity was born when Uri gave him his name and his fake life story under the barbershop. Misha was very proud of his identity, and when somebody asked him who he was, he said his story it like it was the greatest thing in the world to him. One event in the story that contradicts this is when Uncle Shepsel tries to give up his identity as a Jew. His efforts were pretty good, but they still weren’t successful in the end. The last possible theme that I think is good for this book is to never have fear and if you do have fear, you won’t survive. One event that supports this theme is when Uri tells the other orphan boys that if you have fear you won’t survive on the streets. This is true because if the boys had fear to steal the food from stores and people they would mess-up a lot or not even do it. If that happened, they would either get caught and killed, or just end up starving cause of hunger. They key point of stealing the food was to be invisible and if you had fear, you wouldn’t be invisible. I learned many things about the historical events that occurred in this story. I learned that all the Jews had to move to a place called â€Å"the Ghetto†. It seems weird that people can be so mean to others just because they’re a different religion but they’re still good people on the inside. Another thing I learned was what the Holocaust was. I never really understood what it was, and surprisingly it’s very interesting to learn about once you get deeper into it. I’m actually very shocked in learning how the way people used to live during those times. It’s crazy to think that little kids my age and even younger would be living in the streets stealing food for a way to survive. Also it’s unbelievable, how it says that a lot of different families can would be sharing space in a tiny room. I was very surprised while reading this book because I didn’t think I would end up liking it. It was actually very good, and it taught me many things I didn’t know about how times were in other places back then. I liked how the author described everything very detailed, and while I was reading the book I could picture some events in my time. It got me thinking of how fortunate I am right now, in having all the things I have. One thing I didn’t like was that the chapters were very short and it would make it harder for me to stop reading it. I would recommend this book to my friends. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli was an overall good book.

Learn the Basics of Earthquakes

Earthquakes are natural ground motions caused as the Earth releases energy. The science of earthquakes is seismology, study of shaking in scientific Greek. Earthquake energy comes from the stresses of plate tectonics. As plates move, the rocks on their edges deform and take up strain until the weakest point, a fault, ruptures, and releases the strain. Earthquake Types and Motions Earthquake events come in three basic types, matching the three basic types of fault. The fault motion during earthquakes is called slip or coseismic slip. Strike-slip events involve sideways motion—that is, the slip is in the direction of the faults strike, the line it makes on the ground surface. They may be right-lateral (dextral) or left-lateral (sinistral), which you tell by seeing which way the land moves on the other side of the fault.Normal events involve downward movement on a sloping fault as the faults two sides move apart. They signify extension or stretching of the Earths crust.Reverse or thrust events involve upward movement, instead, as the faults two sides move together. Reverse motion is steeper than a 45-degree slope, and thrust motion is shallower than 45 degrees. They signify compression of the crust. Earthquakes can have an oblique slip that combines these motions. Earthquakes dont always break the ground surface. When they do, their slip creates an offset. Horizontal offset is called heave and vertical offset is called throw. The actual path of fault motion over time, including its velocity and acceleration, is called fling. Slip that occurs after a quake is called postseismic slip. Finally, slow slip that occurs without an earthquake is called creep. Seismic Rupture The underground point where the earthquake rupture begins is the focus or hypocenter. The epicenter of an earthquake is the point on the ground directly above the focus. Earthquakes rupture a large zone of a fault around the focus. This rupture zone may be lopsided or symmetrical. Rupture may spread outward evenly from a central point (radially), or from one end of the rupture zone to the other (laterally), or in irregular jumps. These differences partly control the effects that an earthquake has at the surface. The size of the rupture zone—that is, the area of fault surface that ruptures—is what determines the magnitude of an earthquake. Seismologists map rupture zones by mapping the extent of aftershocks. Seismic Waves and Data Seismic energy spreads from the focus in three different forms: Compression waves, exactly like sound waves (P waves)Shear waves, like waves in a shaken jump rope (S waves)Surface waves resembling water waves (Rayleigh waves) or sideways shear waves (Love waves) P and S waves are body waves that travel deep in the Earth before rising to the surface. P waves always arrive first and do little or no damage. S waves travel about half as fast and may cause damage. Surface waves are slower still and cause the majority of the damage. To judge the rough distance to a quake, the time the gap between the P-wave thump and the S-wave jiggle and multiply the number of seconds by 5 (for miles) or 8 (for kilometers). Seismographs are instruments that make seismograms or recordings of seismic waves. Strong-motion seismograms are made with rugged seismographs in buildings and other structures. Strong-motion data can be plugged into engineering models, to test a structure before it is built. Earthquake magnitudes are determined from body waves recorded by sensitive seismographs. Seismic data is our best tool for probing the deep structure of the Earth. Seismic Measures Seismic intensity measures how bad an earthquake is, that is, how severe shaking is at a given place. The 12-point Mercalli scale is an intensity scale. Intensity is important for engineers and planners. Seismic magnitude measures how big an earthquake is, that is, how much energy is released in seismic waves. Local or Richter magnitude ML is based on measurements of how much the ground moves and moment magnitude Mo is a more sophisticated calculation based on body waves. Magnitudes are used by seismologists and the news media. The focal mechanism beachball diagram sums up the slip motion and the faults orientation. Earthquake Patterns Earthquakes cannot be predicted, but they have some patterns. Sometimes foreshocks precede quakes, though they look just like ordinary quakes. But every large event has a cluster of smaller aftershocks, which follow well-known statistics and can be forecasted. Plate tectonics successfully explains where earthquakes are likely to occur. Given good geologic mapping and a long history of observations, quakes can be forecasted in a general sense, and hazard maps can be made showing what degree of shaking a given place can expect over the average life of a building. Seismologists are making and testing theories of earthquake prediction. Experimental forecasts are beginning to show modest but significant success at pointing out impending seismicity over periods of months. These scientific triumphs are many years from practical use. Large quakes make surface waves that may trigger smaller quakes great distances away. They also change stresses nearby and affect future quakes. Earthquake Effects Earthquakes cause two major effects: shaking and slip. Surface offset in the largest quakes can reach more than 10 meters. Slip that occurs underwater can create tsunamis. Earthquakes cause damage in several ways: Ground offset can cut lifelines that cross faults: tunnels, highways, railroads, powerlines, and water mains.Shaking is the greatest threat. Modern buildings can handle it well through earthquake engineering, but older structures are prone to damage.Liquefaction occurs when shaking turns the solid ground into mud.Aftershocks can finish off structures damaged by the main shock.Subsidence can disrupt lifelines and harbors; invasion by the sea can destroy forests and croplands. Earthquake Preparation and Mitigation Earthquakes cannot be predicted, but they can be foreseen. Preparedness saves misery; earthquake insurance and conducting earthquake drills are examples. Mitigation saves lives; strengthening buildings is an example. Both can be done by households, companies, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. These things require a sustained commitment of funding and human effort, but that can be hard when large earthquakes may not occur for decades or even centuries in the future. Support for Science The history of earthquake science follows notable earthquakes. Support for research surges after major quakes and is strong while memories are fresh but gradually dwindles until the next Big One. Citizens should ensure steady support for research and related activities like geologic mapping, long-term monitoring programs, and strong academic departments. Other good earthquake policies include retrofitting bonds, strong building codes and zoning ordinances, school curricula, and personal awareness.