LAD/Blog #22: Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth

My impression from Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth was that he was a Social Darwinist, but not in the traditional sense. Social Darwinism in Carnegie's time was generally filled with racial stigma. It was a philosophy that the society should be dominated by Whites, who were superior, and held up by Blacks, who Social Darwinists considered inferior. However, Carnegie did not seem to care about race. Rather, he addressed the economic side of social Darwinism. He felt that the rich deserved to be rich because they were adequately rewarded for their contributions to society by the free market system, seeing as the free market paid them. Therefore, he supported a laissez-faire economy vehemently because it adequately rewards those who deserve to be rewarded for their ingenuity and contributions. However, this posed the question of some people having so much money, that they did not use it all and either left it to the public or to their relatives after death. This meant that people who made no contributions to society were being rewarded simply for knowing somebody that did. He felt that this was wrong. Instead, he supported those with copious amounts of money using it to further better the society that rewarded them. This meant through philanthropy. He knew that the only way to increase the standard of living was for those who controlled the majority of the wealth to pursue doing so rather than squandering it after their deaths. His goal was to better society through using his money charitably and building infrastructure and housing and cities that would allow for a greater quality of life than before he came to the earth. It was this way that while he supported Social Darwinism in letting those who succeed keep their wealth, but also bettering society as a whole through their use of that wealth. One of my personal favorite quotes reminds me a lot about this. Jackie Chan stated that his son will receive none of his $130 million fortune because, "If he is capable, he would make his own money. If he is not capable, then he will just be wasting mine".

Andrew Carnegie:
Image result for andrew carnegie

Jackie Chan:
Image result for Jackie Chan quote about leaving his money to his sons

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LAD/Blog #35: Home was a Horse Stall

Executive order 9066 was essentially a racist program that excluded Japanese Americans from everyday life in America due to the actions of their former nation. They were banned from the west coast and forced into internment camps where they essentially lived under oppressive, racist marshal law. This was especially painful for first generation immigrants as they had a personal connection with both nations. Many of them did not want to see their two home nations fighting, and held some allegiance to both, but most were more prone to defending the United States.This was also hard on Japanese children, as they were ripped away from their friends, lives, and schools and taken to internment camps. One example of this is Sox, and her difficult upbringing during this time. She is taken away from her home and placed in a new one. That home is a horse stall. This stall was in a small, crowded internment camp which Sox was forced to grow up in. Her experience illustrates how poorly the Japanese ...

LAD #37: FDR’s Executive Order 9066

On February 19th, 1942, FDR proposed executive order 9066, the order that gave the Secretary of War the ability to create designated areas for specific people to stay during wartime that could pose a threat to the US military. In WWII these areas became known as internment camps, and the people put in them were Japanese-American citizens. This allowed for the rampant mistreatment of these people with cramped living conditions and improper education. While FDR did say these areas were to be provided adequate food, shelter, and transportation, the word "adequate" is very subjective, and allowed for very poor conditions. One example of this is the story "Home was a Horse Stall", where a young girl, Sox, and her family were forced to live in a horse stall and had very little rights and no access to programs many citizens would such as a good education. I, personally, think this is a horribly executed order. While it was FDR's intention to avoid the influence of spie...

LAD #39: Brown V. Board of Education

This case marks the beginning of the civil rights movements of the late 1950s to even present day. In Brown v. Board the supreme court unanimously ruled that schools can no longer be racially segregated. This contradicted the previous ruling of 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, that stated all publicly funded buildings could be separate but equal. This previous case had been deemed ineffective because all to often these separated facilities were not equal, with facilities that were dedicated to African Americans being significantly lower quality. This case was brought up originally because of Linda Brown, a girl barred from an all white school, and only given access to black schools which did not provide an equal education. Her defendants cited the 14th amendment, stressing that the State could not deny any person the equal right to protection of the laws, specifically the equal treatment under those laws which Linda Brown was not receiving. The Kansas District Court acknowledge...

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