Reply to Leah's Blog 3

Leah! That is really cool. I had no clue you enjoy music and play the violin and the cello. I also enjoy music and have been playing the trumpet for 8 years and just started the playing the guitar and love it. That first video is awesome, the way that guy strums is insane. I also never knew that about the bridge of the violin as well, but it makes complete sense! I really like how you found a sweet, musical video from a word that intrigued you in Sarmiento's reading. Thank you for sharing, Leah!

Blog 3 More Comparisons?

This week we read Echeverria's "The Slaughter House" and discovered that it is filled with a bunch of analogies and symbolism. One certain part of this reading really interested me and reminded me of something else, which I am kind of surprised no one mentioned...

The part that I related to and caught my attention was the story of the killing of the young Unitarian man. Many parts of this scene reminded me of the Crucifixion of  Jesus that appears throughout the Gospels of the New Testament in the Word of God. In "The Slaughter House", Echeverria clearly states this analogy to the death of Christ in this line from the reading: "...they finally dragged the unfortunate young man to the bench of tortures just as if they had been the executioners of the Lord themselves." I believe "executioners of the Lord" is pretty clear. It is also interesting to consider the fact that Echeverria opposes the church, yet he relates this event in Catholicism, his enemy's religion, to a character he uses to get the readers on his side, against the Federalists.

These were a few of the connections that popped into my head while reading this part of the story:

First of all, just as Jesus is brought before and judged by Pontias Pilate and the Jews (Matthew 27:11-26), the young Unitarian is brought before and judged by Matasiete and the Federalist people. Just like the way they treated the Unitarian with their "Death to the savage Unitarians!" chant, reminded me of the death of Christ and the people yelling "Crucify him!" in Matthew 27:22-23. Again, the people of the Slaughter House were chanting "Long live Matasiete!" while the Jews similarly chanted "We have no king but Caesar!" in John 19:15. The mocking of the Unitarian also reminds me of the people and soldiers mocking Jesus (Matthew 27:27-31). In "The Slaughter House", the Federalists mock the Unitarian by cutting his hair and taking off his clothes. Similarly, the soldiers take off Jesus's robe and place a crown of thorns on his head while continually mocking Him. Along with this, the Unitarian was beaten and tied down to a table, which again is somewhat similar to how Jesus was beaten and nailed to the cross to die.

I normally struggle with making connections and comparing different readings, but this actually caught my attention and reminded me of something I was very familiar with, the Bible and my faith. Again, these might be somewhat loose connections but they completely made sense to me and worked in my head so I hope you too can see a little similarity between these two completely different readings and events.

Blog 2 Reply/Reaction to Gabrielle Gomez Post

This is also a question I have been thinking about. Who is civilized and who is barbaric? It is kind of funny, but not really funny, to think about how the Europeans automatically inherited the ability to rule over the indigenous just because they are from Europe, I guess. The ironic thing is that they call the natives barbarians along with "savages" as Sarmiento describes them, but you have a point. The elite Europeans are the ones acting as savages. What determines whether a group of people is barbaric or civilized? I feel like the word barbaric kind of has two meanings being: 1) cruel or brutal and 2) inferior or unsophisticated and primitive. So I guess if we look at the two groups, the Europeans and their ideas like you said, probably are considered to be barbaric as in cruel and brutal. While at the time, the indigenous were kind of automatically "considered" to be primitive, unsophisticated and inferior to the Spanish which apparently makes it right for them to punish them and treat them in a cruel manner? Oh history. It befuddles me.

Blog 2

So I guess for this weeks blog post I will talk about a little bit about what I found interesting in my favorite of the readings this week, which for me was Chapter 1 of Sarmiento's Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism. Compared to the other readings for this week I found this one easier to understand and a little more interesting. I actually did a project on Argentina way back in 6th grade so I was trying to remember a little bit about the country and the history, but really, how much do you actually learn and remember from 6th grade. I really enjoyed how the first few pages in this chapter were very descriptive in the geography of Argentina. It was really useful and interesting to actually be able to picture the landscape in which each of the types of people reside. He talks about the two very distinct types of people, the Spanish and the Indigenous. I always struggle with comprehending why people think certain things, specifically about other people. For example, why do the elites and "superior" European people think so lowly of the indigenous? I always feel as though a lot of people throughout history are really selfish and it frustrates me and does not make sense to me because I guess of who I am and how I think. What makes the Europeans automatically better than the indigenous people? I feel fortunate to live in a time where most people are respected and loved, even though obviously there will always be issues and people who do not do so. Another thing I found interesting was that Sarmiento referred to the natives who lived in the countryside as savages. The word savage makes me feel like they are not even human. He does describe the conditions in which they liveas basically horrific and animal-like which is appalling to me. Why not just help them out a little bit to get them off the ground? Is it because they are frightened of the natives and want to control them and keep them far away from the "civilized" state or do they just not care about the conditions of another human being? I know these are silly questions, but I guess with the way I think and the way I am these are questions are difficult for me to comprehend and understand why people do certain things and think certain ways. I even struggle to understand what I believe as well. Hopefully, the second chapter of this reading is even better than the first chapter!

Blog 1- Introduction

Salutations fellow classmates.

My name is Ian Felten and I have never really done a blog before... To start and to be honest, which I normally always am, I struggle a lot with knowing what I am thinking and forming opinions on different topics, so this blog should be a good way for me to think it out and record it! First, a few things you need to know about me is that I love science and math, therefore, I am a Biomedical Science major. Second, history, english, and especially reading are very difficult for me so this class is extremely challenging! Why did I choose this class? In high school, I took three years of Spanish and really loved it. I really enjoyed the different culture and thought that knowing a second language was really cool. Also, ever since I was little, I have wanted to go on a mission trip to a Spanish speaking country. Unfortunately, I have not been able to leave this country at all... I would love to study abroad sometime or at least travel to Latin America. This class has really reinforced my desire to travel, seeing the different cultures of Latin America and learning the history behind the people. More honesty now... I really dislike history. Sorry Prof. Stark and Serrata. I know you do not like to hear that. It just does not work in my head and it is extremely frustrating. I try my best, but my comprehension of history is just not there. However! This class is really challenging me and forcing me to think and question a lot of things, which is good. Also, this class is helping me realize that history is extremely important along with the useful life skills we are learning. This next semester should be a fun one. I am looking forward to spending it with you guys and hopefully I am at least a little bit interesting!