So, haven’t exactly been on top of these, as is tradition. In short, I’ve struggled with the SPSS stuff due to what seems to me like technical understanding. The book in most cases I felt didn’t really help, but I can’t remember the last math/numbers-based class I was good at so its probably just me. Quizzes have gone well enough, not really content I’m suffering from, mostly just applying the actual information on the data itself and following along in the book; it does an outstanding job of making me feel dumb.
“Please Vote for Me” Documentary
The documentary we watched in class, “Please Vote for Me” was funny but insightful look in how democracy is viewed in China. First off was the complete lack of knowledge of what democracy is among the grade schoolers, which is always strange to hear from an American perspective. Also strange was the similarities between many of the Chinese traditions of synchronized ‘pledges of allegiances we saw and our pledges here in America, at least in public schools. Even stranger however was the response from one of the parents when a student asked what democracy was. The exact quote I don’t remember, but the general gist of it was ‘When your voice is heard and matters’ which struck me as odd coming from a Chinese man on camera and teaching his child, given we tend to think of Chinese as less then friends on the international stage, we do not often think of their people being sympathetic to our values.
All in all, I can see this documentary being very popular in China, showing arguably the worst aspects of democracy on display. The turn to demagoguery, the phony promises and the needless pandering and lies… In the end it’s the kid that handed out cookies that won despite the great effort the other two went through to win. As per the question in at the end as whether China is ready for democratization, I don’t think the video is a good means of gauging that, as democracy is at its core an uncontrollable and easily self-destructive ideology. Democratization is a process and has to be built from the top down in the elite as well as the bottom up, I believe it is possible, but like anywhere else (to include the west) it will need decades to come about and thrive if it would ever.
China in Africa
HR: https://www.ft.com/content/0f534aa4-4549-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996
The lack of interest in the west towards Africa has always confused me, the continent is so huge and has suffered so much and could easily become an economic powerhouse akin to East Asia in the coming decades. Who in the IR sphere was predicting that the 21st century would be the Chinese Century and that China’s command economy would overtake the United States’ as the most powerful on Earth? With Chinese eyes and money rapidly turning towards Africa, the US and Europe should seriously reconsider whether they want to let this potential powerhouse fall by the way side and become China’s first sphere of influence.
The geopolitical aspect of the move makes perfect sense, looking at one particular state China is dumping infrastructure dollars into, Ethiopia, offers no real strategic resources but is located right by the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the oil rich Middle East with geographical positioning like that I find the Chinese narrative of 3rd world solidarity very unsatisfactory. Even in the language used by Chinese themselves: “To have 54 African [nations as] friends is very important for China,” says Jing Gu, director of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development” its very clear China wants to Africa as its own international developmental playground and resource bank. And for Africans, this is welcome, as the article says, China offers a choice away from the failing policies of ‘carrot and stick’ aid from the West and overbearing charity.
The biggest downside is the incredible amount of debt African nations are building to China, the relationship is in no way equal and many African intellectuals are beginning to piece that together. Outside of France’s Emmanuel Macron of France, the west’s postion to Africa is that the nations are ‘shit holes’ and American investments remain dwarfed by Chinese. How the Chinese involvement in Africa plays out remains to be seen as Africa develops across the board, however Africa’s growth will increase going into the 21st century, if the west wants the profits of that growth and influence they will gain going to China, so be it.
Voting Rights in Chinese Villages – Effects of ‘Little Democracy’
HR: Baogang He reading assignment
I feel that to often we in America to often look at China as a singular entity, more of a monolith or star trek style ‘Borg’ then a collection of more than 1.5 billion individuals spread out across an area roughly the size of the US. Even I personally am guilty of this, and often find myself having to remind myself China is a federal entity with probably even greater authority delegated down the chain then the United States. Not one singular government can hope to enforce direct rule across that many people in that big of an area.
Keeping this in mind, He’s writing on deliberative democracy in rural China piqued my interest. Most of these areas are neigh-impossible for the state government to reach and often to small to be of any tangible interest to the state government; many of the issues facing the villagers as well (namely property rights, halting corruption and avoiding social conflict) are nearly identical to the driving issues John Locke wrote about in his Treatsies of Government, the bedrock of western liberal thought, so to see it appear naturally in China is interesting.
He’s findings show (as he states) “contained some practices, ideas and principles of deliberative democracy, such as mutual respect, participation, public deliberation, equality of opportunity, and empowerment in terms of the impact on policy making.” Homegrown small-scale democracy seems to be a good way of laying a groundwork of a more pure democratic thought in China and in places unlikely for it to attract to much attention, possibly serving as a means of checking growing authoritarian tendencies in Beijing. The institutions described by He, involving outside mediators, efforts to curb the ‘cadre’ and establish a sense of ‘equality under the law’ are not ideas and phrases one often hears when reading or discussing Chinese politics and internal affairs.
China Entering 2018
HR: Mao’s Bloody Revolution
2018 came like all years before it with parties and celebrations sweeping the globe as the clock struck midnight in time zone after time zone, 2018 however brought with it sets of geopolitical crossroads not seen since the turn of the last century. American power and influence, which has since the end of WW2 and especially since the close of the Cold War been the final say in all global matters, is slowly being eroded by poor foreign policy choices since the turning of the 21st century. The war on Terror obviously being the biggest example of this, with 20-year multitrillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the global deployment of troops and an overarching influence towards non-consequential and an almost intentional ignorance towards the rise of various regional powers. This is to say nothing of self-inflicted wounds like the election of Donald Trump who has openly questioned and challenged key American economic and strategic interests like NATO, free trade and has shown the world the bitter internal divide gripping the global hegemon.
The global reaction to this increasingly multipolar world is as interesting as it is terrifying, as the old powers of Europe debate whether to unify their efforts or turn inwards, Putin’s Russia continues to be able to influence and hit well above its weight class and even smaller powers having much more say in global affairs, Canada taking the head of TPP negotiations being one of the better examples of such. The biggest and most talked about up and coming powerhouse is China, who since the 70s and 80s has been maturing into what will quickly become the largest economy on the planet despite its rocky beginning.
In the documentary we watched in class, Mao’s Bloody Revolution, detailed the colossal and expensive failures that were the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. With millions of lives lost and an unknowable (but obviously disgustingly high) amount of economic/intellectual potential, its shocking that within a few decades of Mao’s death China would be predicted to overtake the United States in economic might and now, potentially even (while a stretch in the short term) global leadership. After lecture on the January 29, and the writings of Chong and Wang, I would attribute China’s incredible rise to power with the successful policies and reforms instituted by primarily, Mao’s and Richard Nixon’s decision to open China up for trade and the economic/political reforms of Deng Xiaoping.
The decision to reengage with the west shows an interesting turn in Chinese nationalism of which Mao was most definitely a product of. Chong describes this nationalism as being unique amongst other nations as Chinese nationalism focuses around ‘righting the wrongs’ of the century of humiliation, dealt out by the hands of western powers like the United States, Germany, England, France and Portugal and powers aspiring to western ideals of imperialism like Japan. To quote directly Chong describes a central tenant to Chinese identity was that “foreign actors consistently and unequivocally victimized China” and thus to reopen relations with the US, is an interesting move but has undoubtedly prevented the colossal failures of the 1960s to follow China into the later years of the 20th century.
Most notable is the rise of Deng Xiaoping and his “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” which while any bleeding heart, true leftist would decry as selling out the country, has undoubtedly been one of the most successful national policies in the past several decades. His decentralizing reforms were also large successes, described by Wang as moving from local government to businesses and to society at large, laid the seeds of growth in what should have been a stagnant and slowly crumbling communist nightmare like the Soviet Union. Deng’s ever-increasing push towards stability and development is undoubtedly the key to China’s success story. Back to the modern day, Xi Jinping, the current leader of China continues on Deng’s example of pushing for long term stability and carefully building and growing China as a regional power, exemplified by his building of the Chinese military and activity in Korea/South China Sea and as an international power by engaging in trade deals and economic development across the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
China and Global Authoritarianism, or ‘Despotism with Chinese Characteristics’
HR: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-authoritarianism.html
https://www.cfr.org/blog/china-likely-enter-another-long-period-severe-dictatorship
Yu (2014) and Vogel readings
Last week came potentially the biggest singular shakeup in the geopolitical landscape perhaps since 9/11 and only continues to reaffirm that a slow-approaching death may be looming on the liberal democratic order that has prevailed since the end of WWII. The dramatic shake up is the abolition of term limits on Xi Jinping, the head of state of the People’s Republic of China, effectively making him ruler for life if he so chooses. On the world stage this is yet another blow to the liberal world order as well as resounding roundhouse kick to the western idea that China could, given enough time, liberalize and enter the world stage as a true member and believer in the institutions that currently dominate it. China has in one day upended that notion and with it perhaps (as Xi says directly) puts the Chinese system of authoritarianism in direct competition with western democracy for other developing states to follow. The move also reaffirms the massive push of the world towards authoritarianism and nationalism; with several strategic states already embracing the ideology through their heads of state, namely Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia, cracks are appearing across Europe with the rise of the right-wing in Hungary, Poland, Italy, Greece, even the UK as well as the USA with the election of Trump. The lack of outcry from the west leaves me personally scratching my head and deeply concerned with the seeming voluntary American abandonment of the global system we built and fought for.
But what does this mean for China directly? First and foremost, it gives Xi Jinping more power then has ever been enjoyed by one individual since Mao in the PRC and shows a denouncing of the legitimizing factor term limits have for a government, especially one for a country attempting to gain recognition in the global community. The sharp break from norms established by Deng and reinforced since then must certainly be a cause for alarm among Chinese elites. Vogel’s work on Deng’s leadership style, pushing for moderation and building policy with consideration of public support, seems to paint a picture of a China aiming more in the line with what it is trying to escape from in the Mao era. To sum up best, the Council on Foreign Relations described the policy switch as such: “There must be great grumbling and concern among the country’s elite and educated, especially since the same Party “proposals” that have eliminated term limits have also confirmed the establishment of the National Supervisory Commission that will make the regime more repressive and more free of legal restraints than ever, imposing what amounts to “the Inquisition with Chinese characteristics.”
China looking backwards and ahead in 2018
2018 came like all years before it with parties and celebrations sweeping the globe as the clock struck midnight in time zone after time zone, 2018 however brought with it sets of geopolitical crossroads not seen since the turn of the last century. American power and influence, which has since the end of WW2 and especially since the close of the Cold War been the final say in all global matters, is slowly being eroded by poor foreign policy choices since the turning of the 21st century. The war on Terror obviously being the biggest example of this, with 20-year multitrillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the global deployment of troops and an overarching influence towards nonconsequential and an almost intentional ignorance towards the rise of various regional powers. This is to say nothing of self-inflicted wounds like the election of Donald Trump who has openly questioned and challenged key American economic and strategic interests like NATO, free trade and has shown the world the bitter internal divide gripping the global hegemon.
The global reaction to this increasingly multipolar world is as interesting as it is terrifying, as the old powers of Europe debate whether to unify their efforts or turn inwards, Putin’s Russia continues to be able to influence and hit well above its weight class and even smaller powers having much more say in global affairs, Canada taking the head of TPP negotiations being one of the better examples of such. The biggest and most talked about up and coming powerhouse is China, who since the 70s and 80s has been maturing into what will quickly become the largest economy on the planet despite its rocky beginning.
In the documentary we watched in class, Mao’s Bloody Revolution, detailed the colossal and expensive failures that were the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. With millions of lives lost and an unknowable (but obviously disgustingly high) amount of economic/intellectual potential, its shocking that within a few decades of Mao’s death China would be predicted to overtake the United States in economic might and now, potentially even (while a stretch in the short term) global leadership. After lecture on the January 29, and the writings of Chong and Wang, I would attribute China’s incredible rise to power with the successful policies and reforms instituted by primarily, Mao’s and Richard Nixon’s decision to open China up for trade and the economic/political reforms of Deng Xiaoping.
The decision to reengage with the west shows an interesting turn in Chinese nationalism of which Mao was most definitely a product of. Chong describes this nationalism as being unique amongst other nations as Chinese nationalism focuses around ‘righting the wrongs’ of the century of humiliation, dealt out by the hands of western powers like the United States, Germany, England, France and Portugal and powers aspiring to western ideals of imperialism like Japan. To quote directly Chong describes a central tenant to Chinese identity was that “foreign actors consistently and unequivocally victimized China” and thus to reopen relations with the US, is an interesting move but has undoubtedly prevented the colossal failures of the 1960s to follow China into the later years of the 20th century.
Most notable is the rise of Deng Xiaoping and his “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” which while any bleeding heart, true leftist would decry as selling out the country, has undoubtedly been one of the most successful national policies in the past several decades. His decentralizing reforms were also large successes, described by Wang as moving from local government to businesses and to society at large, laid the seeds of growth in what should have been a stagnant and slowly crumbling communist nightmare like the Soviet Union. Deng’s ever-increasing push towards stability and development is undoubtedly the key to China’s success story. Back to the modern day, Xi Jinping, the current leader of China continues on Deng’s example of pushing for long term stability and carefully building and growing China as a regional power, exemplified by his building of the Chinese military and activity in Korea/South China Sea and as an international power by engaging in trade deals and economic development across the Pacific and Indian Ocean.
Revised Genre Writing
One of the longest lasting, most impactful and boasting the widest scope of all music genres has been the blues. Originally hailing from small, southern African American communities in the late 19th century, the blues has since spread to all corners of the world and has become one of the best examples of American culture being exported across the globe (Bloomingdale School of Music). The blues was created from the bonds of slavery, mixing spirituals, field songs, shouts and personal stories to create the classic narrative style, beat driven and rhythmic form known today (Bloomingdale School of Music). But how did 19th century folk survive and continue to thrive 150 years later? It did so by transforming itself for the modern age by combining with the styles of rock and roll thus creating blues rock (Bloomingdale School of Music). Exploding in popularity in the 1950’s and 60’s, the music movement was spearheaded in England and made popular by the likes of Jimmie Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Today, blues rock has evolved and continues to thrive in the form of dozens of high profile musicians and bands as well as thousands of local groups across the country.
Blues rock is made of a fairly simple structure; it can even be completed by just one man maintaining a steady beat or by a few inspiring music enthusiasts in a garage, which many advocate is a major draw to its popularity. The blues consists of, for the most part, of a narrative style vocal part, often focus on a depressing event, misfortune or a broken heart. The guitar is crucial and extremely important; it is steady, strong, rhythmic and can be played either acoustically or electronically. Electric bass and drums, while not required, often share these traits. Instruments of all types can be played in the background or even as the center piece, such as the harmonica, various string instruments and piano (Little Bill and the Blue Notes). Recently, blues rock has seen the integration of computer synth into its music (Auerbach).
These traits and even the most traditional style and elements of blues can still be seen today in the work of the contemporary artist Gary Clark Jr.; most notable in his song “When My Train Pulls In”. It’s an original piece, but would not in the slightest sound out of place in blues rock’s heyday. From its long guitar solos, distortion and narrative, the song could easily be a cover of Jimmie Hendrix. Listening to the lyrics: “Everyday nothing seems to change. Everywhere I go I keep seeing the same old thing and I can’t take it no more.” (Clarke). Shows that same emotional styles that connects it to the legends of the past is still popular and can be replicated today. Gary Clark Jr. has several songs in the same throwback style and has experienced great acclaim for it, proving the genre’s longevity and appeal across time.
This extreme appeal across time and distance is enough to warrant its own closer examination, what makes the blues rock of the 50’s-70’s the go to ‘classic rock?’ What about this style makes it endure up to 60 years into the future? For many there is certainly a sense of nostalgia and quite a bit of generational bias for many which can certainly be passed from generation to generation. But there is certain timelessness in that period of music that will never be forgotten and it will continue to be emulated by future generations as time carries on. The blues rock of that era in my own opinion is the golden standard because it dictated specifically the style of blues rock; the heavy guitar, the melancholy and repetitive vocals and a strong continuous rhythm. This throwback style illustrated by Gary Clark Jr. is so successful because it plays to that nostalgia and also is simply barebones blues rock which will always be remembered as the standard for the genre.
Blues rock however does not always need to conform to the old style. As said above, blues rock has been rapidly experimented with in the past few years and has achieved great success with the album Turn Blue by The Black Keys released just last year (Fricke). In this album The Black Keys, an already extremely acclaimed blues/garage rock band, experimented with mixing psychedelic beats, hip hop elements and The Black Keys signature blues sound (Fricke) to create an extremely unique set of music still grounded in its genre. It remains in the genre despite adding in many new features into a fairly rigid type of music because the added features are just that, features. The core of the song is still the rhythm and the story being told, just like the blues of the early 20th century. The song “Weight of Love” I feel really excels at keeping the classic bluesy guitar riffs and emotional vocals while mixing with a psychedelic flow in the background creating something truly unique. “Weight of Love” and the rest of the Turn Blue album really shows how adaptable the blues can be pressing forward into the modern era and that the genre has a secure future.
However the real popularity of the blues is that it can be created by anyone; remember, that the genre only even came about because of slavery, created by people who had literally nothing but a story and the rhythm to tell it with. This is still true today, thousands of people in ‘garage rock’ bands write, play, cover and perform the blues all across the country, using the same style and instruments as the legends of the genre and famous contemporary artists above. One such example is the small garage band “The Dead Tapes” recently experienced massive fame over the internet, achieving nearly half a million views on their homemade video “Where Did She Go”, a feat many contracted bands cannot boast. The band consists of two friends, a guitar, a drum set, a megaphone, a metal rod and some duct tape in their backyard, it doesn’t get much bluesier then that (Leon). Their performance even attracted the attention of professional music critics, hailing their work as “genuine in a way that attracted me along with 467,843 other viewers” (Leon). While obviously taking influence from the famous guitarist Jack White, their spin on the style has not only led to online fame but to an actual record deal (Leon). Once again showing the longevity and popularity of the genre.
As one can easily see, the blues, despite being around for over a century, is not going away anytime soon thanks to its continued and prominent role in American and world culture. The classics of the genre remain incredibly popular across the world, contemporary artists regularly replicate this style and continue to change its form through their own individual styles and ideas and the younger generation obviously has interest in it and continues to produce their own homegrown blues across the country.
Introductory Essay
As the most physically, mentally and emotional semester of my life comes to a close, it is important to look back at what I did in this class, just as it was important to look ahead at what my goals were in the beginning of the semester. In my ERH 101 class, it was assigned for us to keep and maintain an online blog where we would post all of our papers and reflective essays. Among which was a ‘writer’s development plan’ in which we outlined what we wanted all of which we wanted to improve upon as writers, where I listed some of the things I sought to improve on as a writer. The largest items on my list of improvements were grammar and my ability to efficiently find a method to answer a prompt and in correcting these issues I found others with my writing process that also need to be worked out in later semesters.
Beginning with grammar, I felt like I really have not improved much; however, that was not one of the main goals of the class and was something easily corrected after having a draft reviewed. In fact I think it was even a good thing, in high school grammar seemed like the end all be all of many essays and was often a major component of my grade for an assignment, I was essentially conditioned to believe it was THAT important of a thing that I had to make special note of it. Coming out of my semester, I realize now that grammar is really just a part of cleaning up a draft and be constantly changing as you write. While it is good to know it is something that can be solved by taking your paper to be checked and not be beaten into you class after class. Regardless, grammar is still something I hope to continue to improve on and not rely so much on others to assist me with.
The other primary issue I wrote about, being able to quickly and efficiently make my point, answer a prompt and finish a draft on the other hand is actually an extremely important skill to have, especially as a rat at VMI. In this regard I feel I have improved drastically since high school. This change can be seen from my reflective essays, I never stated that picking my topic was challenging or that actually sitting down and writing out the prompt was the most challenging part of any essay; in fact, one of the most common sentences in my reflections was “The easiest part by far was picking the topic…” Part of this is due to the nature of the ratline of course, never before have I been so pressed for time that I had to get words on paper in a matter of less than an hour and move on to the next assignment, as well as not having the luxury of thinking about essay prompts in my head throughout the day, as well as the nature of the course itself whose rubrics did not restrict our writing as much as High School’s. What really got me out of the rut however was drafting, I used to view drafts as simple busy work and I would often not do them, opting instead to dive right into an essay with everything thought out (often the night before) and be fine. With drafting however, I have a means by which I can hustle my ideas done, add things later, get it looked at and be overall happier with what I hand in because I know it isn’t just the first thing to come to mind; every line has been worked on, thought out and rethought out. I have reorganized whole essays before, noted especially in my discourse community reflection where I stated: “Essentially I had to completely rethink halfway through the writing process how to do this paper…” which allowed me to improve my grade and my confidence in the paper tremendously. Drafting is by far the most major positive change in my writing style and I will no doubt continue it through my cadetship.
As an overall writer I feel I improved, though not exceptionally, but I am happy with how my writing as progressed and adapted under these extreme circumstances. As said above, drafting is my biggest take away from this semester, however I have also started using many prewriting techniques like free writing or making paragraph points for more research orientated essays. I still have much to improve on and there are things I wished I was better at, primarily sourcing. Being at VMI where keeping proper sourcing is crucial, being able to readily find and use quotes and information from outside sources is something I need to master. This can be seen in both the essays where outside sources had to be used (the genre discussion essay and the discourse community essay). I also struggled heavily with time management and had to finish those last few edits a little too close to the time the assignment was due; however, this is primarily due to the ratline and will hopefully not continue as my cadetship goes on. Finally I need to learn how to change my tone when writing. When I reread my assignments I found that I often wrote in my own voice and never actually changed from essay to essay, even from works like the initial more creative piece portrait of a writer to the analytical discourse community essay. I also find it when rereading my research papers from my other classes as well. Being able to change up my writing style and still making it sound natural is a skill I will have to improve upon especially in other classes and write more essays with more varying standards.
All in all I feel I benefitted from ERH 101, I feel that more time could have been spent teaching more research orientated topics, as many of us in the class are humanities students and as such will be writing essays of that type far more then creative pieces or self evaluations. Also all the essays were around a thousand words and did not vary much in terms of overall form and style. I feel I would have benefitted a lot from different styles and lengths of essays even if it meant having two or three more thrown in with the larger ones. On the other hand, the temporally escape of just being able to write during the various stresses of the ratline was a godsend early on. I did not however plan to become a perfect writer this semester, only to improve, so in that regard I am content with how my writing has progressed.
Portrait of a Writer Reflection
This first essay is a creative writing piece detailing a particular experience I’ve had with writing; more specifically, my response to the letters I had received during hell week and how each one varied wildly in its details, description of events and overall tone. The easiest part by far was picking the topic, this experience popped into my mind as soon as the project was assigned. However, I sat for a long while debating what the main point of this paper was going to be. In fact, I only completed the last three paragraphs the morning of the first draft’s due date and included an entire extra paragraph that was cut out completely. I also struggled a lot with overfilling my sentences, some of which upon rereading I still notice, where I go on with comma after comma describing something. Which brings me to my biggest issue in editing. After having my paper reviewed it was suggested and I agreed to have four separate paragraphs for each of the letters in place of the two I had originally. This created an extremely daunting task of changing, copy and pasting, adding and rewording sentences all over the paper. This created what I felt was a lack of cohesion in the paper. All in all, I’m happy with the outcome of the paper, but need to manage my time better in order to allow better editing.