The Japanese internment of World War II was very shocking and surprising to me. I had heard of some of the measures we took against Japanese-American’s during the after Pearl Harbor, but the lack of justification and lack of human rights we provided to these people are awe striking. The fact that the government needed little to no more evidence beyond the original nationality (or the nationality of their parents) is discouraging. I would like to associate America with a global leader when it comes to human rights, but obviously this is not always the case. Ida B. Wells excuse for lynching was a very intriguing document as well. I found it shocking that neither the state nor federal government took any real effective action against the lynching’s when they occurred. The rhetorical justifications Wells refers to some of the Southern lynchers as having is also incredibly surprising. They seemed to have truly believed that this was the answer to protecting their families from the “black monsters” that surrounded them. I at one point truly believed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Not to say that I do not now, but I simply have come to the realization that individual country’s self-interest will always impede the effort for an ideal world. For instance, China is a egregious offender of human rights, and they have been for quite some time. The US likes to think of themselves as the world police or the progressive knight in shining armor for the world. And yet, the US is so caught up in borrowing money from China as well as tied in business transactions, that they do not take any real measures against the Chinese.