Harry Potter and the Deathly Holocaust

Imperialism can be seen in many things. In history it has been seen when the British oppressed the American Colonies, when the Spanish oppressed the Cubans, when Lenin oppressed the Russians, and when Hitler oppose the Jews,. It can also be seen prominently in media and film. More often than we realize imperialism is an underlying theme in many movies, two of which are Avatar and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Both movies deal with a greater force that oppresses a smaller force.

In Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows the evil villain Lord Voldemort gains control of the Ministry of Magic, the equivalent of our government, and begins to imply absurd rules, which caused the entire wizarding world to fear him. Fear is a tactic that is used by imperialists because they want to intimidate the smaller force so that they can easily manipulate it. Lord Voldemort hates muggles (normal people who do not have magical abilities) and wizards and witches who are not pure bloods and do not come from "purely" magical heritage. One of the rules he makes is that all wizarding families must undergo an investigation to prove whether or not they are pure bloods. If the family does not pass the investigation and do not contain pure blood, then the entire family is incarcerated or killed. This is very similar to the way Hitler made everyone in Germany prove that they are of German decent back to their great grandparents. Hitler also made it mandatory that all of the teachers measure and record each student’s eye color, hair color, and the width of each student’s head. Both Hitler and Lord Voldemort illustrated imperialism with their laws.

During one scene that is shot at the Ministry of Magic headquarters, there is a large statue of a chair in the middle of the lobby. This chair is made up of naked muggles that are supporting the evil Lord Voldemort. By illustrating the muggles with faces filled with terror and naked unclothed bodies, it shows how insignificant and worthless he thinks muggles are. In the movie one of the lines that is quoted during this scene with the chair statue talks about how Lord Voldemort thinks that the muggles are dispensable and should be killed and oppressed by, the more superior, pureblooded wizards. In Mein Kampf Hitler discusses how he thinks that there should be only one race on this earth because the rest are imperfect and impure. As you know he later goes on to round up and kill the Jews and those who do not fit the Aryan profile of blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin. These two parallels relate to imperialism because they are oppressing people by requiring them to all fit into a standard profile for fear of being killed.

As one can see imperialism is seen very prominently through out Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows and the holocaust. Through out the movie and history, strict laws and standards were made to oppress the public. Both leaders were set on trying to make their perfect realty come true by oppressing and eliminating those that did not fit into it.

Image source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-N0827-318,_KZ_Auschwitz,_Ankunft_ungarischer_Juden.jpg

Queen Lili Tweets

QueenLili
Walking over to Iolani Palace to proclaim the new constitution. Can't wait to hear the Royal Hawiian Band play, they always sound so great!
01/14/93 12:32PM


QueenLili
Argued with my Cabinet members. They wont sign the constitution.
01/14/93 1:45PM


QueenLili
Cabinet just told me that the Committee of Safety might challenge me. This is an awful way to start my day. 
01/15/93 9:58AM

QueenLili

Is trying not to step on anyones toes and will only alter the constitution by constitutional means.

01/15/93 3:27PM


QueenLili
My people are so incredible! Thank you all for showing your support this morning at Palace Square.
01/16/93 9:12AM


QueenLili
Lorrin Thurston really needs to calm down and stop making those absurd speeches. 
01/16/93 2:17PM


QueenLili
162 armed troops just marched through downtown Honolulu and past Iolani Palace. This feels very threatening, need to go talk with the Cabinet.
01/16/93 5:38PM


QueenLili
Not good! A policemen just got shot when he tried to stop a wagon. Now a crowd. of civilians and policemen, is forming outside the building.
01/17/93 2:49PM


QueenLili
It looks like someone is making a proclamation outside of the government building. I wonder what they are saying?
01/17/93 3:19PM


QueenLili
Just had to surrender over Hawaii to the revolutionaries and the United States of America. My poor Hawaii, what will happen to you.
01/17/93 7:18PM

America is the one of the greatest empires in history. Being a great empire requires America to take up certain responsibilities and precautions to eliminate threats and assure that we remain strong. One of these responsibilities is making sure that we have allies. When we train people in the practice of coup d'etat and assist them in replacing the current government in their countries we are, in essence, choosing the people who will lead the country. After the people we have chosen to lead the new government come into power we expect them to be loyal to America. Occasionally this does happen but more often than not, as seen with Hugo Banzer Suarez (Bolivia) and Luis Arce Gomez (Bolivia), the coups end in bloody massacres. I think that the SOA should not teach people how to overthrow their government because coups do not always succeed and even when they do many lives are lost.

Who do we blame?

Stained glass controversy: Is Archbishop Wenski as big as Jesus?

This article, from the Orlando Sentinel, talks about how an stained glass image of Archbishop Wenski was "immortalized" in a stained glass window. The author, Jeff Kunerth, makes sure to emphasize that images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary are also depicted in the stained glass window. He then proceeds on quoting people who are out raged by the fact that Wenski is portrayed along side Jesus and the Virgin Mary. This relates to yellow journalism because it is blowing a small issue out of proportion and it fails to mention the the archbishop is responsible for the renovations of the cathedral, and that in the past people who have been responsible for previous renovations have been incorporated in the art. This relates to yellow journalism used during the war because the Hearst newspapers wrongly blamed the Spanish for the sinking of the Maine which caused US citizens to demand an intervention between the Spanish and Cubans. Both instances were caused by newspapers that blew situations out of proportion then did not divulge all of the known information to the public who then made ill informed decisions about who to blame. 

Lost In Translation

A man by the name of Voltaire once said, “History is the lie commonly agreed upon”. I personally think that history can be subjective; one person may think they are tights while the other thinks that person is a liar. When we study history we accept the facts as truth and as a group we eventually come to an agreement. Most of the events I have learned about have happened in the past before I was born so, I cannot give an accurate recollection of what occurred. The only people who are able to give accurate accounts for what occurred are those that saw the event take place. As time goes by the event has been passed on and interpreted by so many different people that we do not get the accurate information. Instead we all agree on what we have heard from these secondary sources. This is why Voltaire says “history is a lie commonly agreed upon”.

The expression on her face

When I saw this photo it made me look at my life and see it in a different way. It made me realize how many freedoms I have without ever having to fight for them, but the biggest thing it showed me was how fortunate I am. In this picture we see a little black girl picking cotton to bring back to her masters. The feature that sticks most to me is the expression on the girls face. She looks as though she is unhappy and is longing to put down her basket but know what consequences will come if she does. This poor child’s eyes have the expression of a full grown adult who has worked for 60 years and is ready to retire. I chose this photo because it made me look at my life and see how much I have to be grateful for.



Image source:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cudjoe_Abache.jpg

The Truth Shall Set You Free

When documenting history the primary goal is to have accurate facts and then compile them together. Some countries such as Japan and America leave certain historical events undocumented because they sully the countries image. Personally I think that all history should be put into textbooks, even things that may make our country look bad because it is dishonest and unfair to withhold information. I believe that we should share the events which may make our country look bad because we can learn from past mistakes and to truly understand the history of our country then we have to know all of its history.We cannot change what has happened in the past simply by ignoring it but we can change what will happen in the future by telling the full truth.