Nazi Art essays

Nazi Art essays The German Nazis of the 1930s and 1940s had an explicitly approved form of art. Unlike the other totalitarian regimes of the era, the approved forms of art were firmly integrated into their iconography and ideology, and excluded any other art movement, including those that were popular at the time. These approved forms of art held a limited number of themes which were repeated as often as necessary, in order to portray the values the Nazis deemed relevant to their cause. These values were, of course, fundamentally nationalistic, and those themes approved by the government were meant to glorify not only the Aryan race, but specifically the German nation. The painting Out To Harvest, by Oskar Martin-Amorbach, is a typical, governmentally approved, work of Nazi art. It depicts a family of farmers going out to harvest on what seems to be a summer day in a typical German countryside. It shows three generations of that family, a young boy at about 4-5 years of age, his mother, and what appear to be his father, grandfather, and a young woman who might be his older sister or aunt. As its title implies they are going out to harvest, for they are carrying scythes and rakes for harvesting and a small handheld basket, presumably holding their lunch for the day. In the background is portrayed a typical German landscape, rolling hills as far as they eye could see, symbolising the Nazis slogan of Blood and Soil. What makes this painting a typical work of Nazi art is its glorification of peasantry. Not only is it mere peasantry it glorifies, but German peasantry. Now, while on the surface it may not sound a very Nazi-esque topic to the layman, it embodies many of the ideals that the Nazis stood for, one of them being the aforementioned Blood and Soil, another being the portrayal of peasantry as a source of strength and purity. The reason peasantry was held in such high regard by the Nazis, was that the pe...

Five Facts About Oktoberfest

Five Facts About Oktoberfest As September inevitably segues from summer to autumn, Germany’s daylight hours shorten appreciably. This change of seasons is worldwide, but, in Munich (Mà ¼nchen), in southern Germany, the locals and the tourists brace for a festive event of an altogether different sort. Munich, a modern city in all senses of the word, is the capital of Bavaria (Bayern). It lies on the edge of the Alps; it’s Bavaria’s largest city and Germany’s third largest. The Isar River, which originates near Innsbruck, Austria, flows through Munich on its way to join the Danube (Donau) near Regensberg. At this time of year, some say the flow of the Isar is more than matched by the flow of ​beer. For two weeks this year, from 19 September through 04 October, Munich’s huge assortment of international companies, world-renowned brands, high-technology resources, and exquisitely graceful fairy-tale-like architecture compose the backdrop for the annual German clichà ©, the 182nd Oktoberfest. For those living in Munich, it will be two thrilling weeks of lederhosen, beer, and tipsy tourists. If raucous revelry on a city-wide scale is not to your liking, you’d be well advised to leave downtown Munich until the festivities end. If you live near the Festwiese, the epicenter of the partying, you better close your windows tightly and get used to the smell of spilled beer mixed with puke. There are not only nice things to tell about the Wiesn, but also endearing ones. Here are five important, lesser-known facts about Oktoberfest which might surprise you. 1. The First Day of Oktoberfest Oktoberfest embraces numerous traditions, most of them commemorated at the very beginning of this annual celebration. The first day of the so-called â€Å"Wiesn† is the most traditional one and it follows a strict timetable. In the morning, the â€Å"Festzug† (parade) takes place. The â€Å"Wiesnwirte,† the landlords of the fest-tents, are the main participants. They are soon joined by waitresses, brewers, and old-fashioned Bavarian shooting associations. The two parades head toward the â€Å"Theresienwiese† where the actual Oktoberfest takes place. Horses pull big wagons with wooden kegs of beer, gunners fire salutes, and the Mà ¼nchner Kindl, the personified coat of arms of the city of Munich showing a child in a hood, leads the parade. At the same time, thousands of people, sitting in the 14 huge tents, await Oktoberfest’s official opening. The atmosphere will be convivial, but dry: They won’t get a sip of the good Bavarian brew before . . . 2. Ozapft Is! . . . the mayor of Munich starts Oktoberfest at high noon by tapping the first keg. This tradition began in 1950, when mayor Thomas Wimmer initiated the ceremonial tapping of the keg. It took Wimmer 19 hits to fix the big tap properly into the huge wooden keg- traditionally called a â€Å"Hirsch† (deer). All wooden kegs come with the names of different animals. The deer has a capacity of 200 liters which is the weight of a deer. The mayor will tap the keg at exactly high noon on the first Saturday of Oktoberfest and call the famous and eagerly anticipated phrase: â€Å"O’zapft is! Auf eine friedliche Wiesn!† (It is tapped!- for a peaceful Wiesn). It’s the signal for the waitresses to serve the first mugs. This tapping ceremony is broadcast live on television and the number of strokes the mayor will need to tap the keg are wildly speculated on before the event. By the way, the best performance was delivered by Christian Ude, mayor between 1993-2014, with on ly two hits (opening the 2013 Oktoberfest). Traditional Bavarian gunners will immediately fire two shots out of a â€Å"Bà ¶llerkanone† just below the memorial of the Bavaria, an 18ÃŽ ©-meter tall statue which is the female personification of the Bavarian homeland and, by extension, its strength and glory. The first Maß, i.e., the first beer of the Oktoberfest, is traditionally reserved for the Bavarian prime-minister. â€Å"Wiesn† is local Bavarian dialect for both Oktoberfest itself and for â€Å"Theresienwiese,† i.e., the meadow where it all began decades ago.   3. The Ma The typical Oktoberfest mug contains one liter of â€Å"Festbier,† which is a special brew made for the Oktoberfest by a few select breweries. The mugs can be filled very quickly (an experienced waiter can fill one in 1.5 seconds) and, from time to time, a mug could end up with less than a liter of beer. Such a tragedy is deemed a â€Å"Schankbetrug† (pouring-fraud). There is even an association, the â€Å"Verein gegen betrà ¼gerisches Einschenken e.V.† (association against fraudulent pouring), which makes spot checks to guarantee that everybody will get the right amount of beer. To make fraud even more difficult, the â€Å"Maßkrà ¼ge† are made of glass. If you want to drink your beer out of a traditional â€Å"Stein† (stone mug), you can visit the â€Å"Oide Wiesn† (old Wiesn), a special Oktoberfest area where you can experience Oktoberfest as it was practiced in days of yore, with old-fashioned â€Å"Blasmusik† (brass-band music ) and original attractions from 1900 through the 1980s. Taking your Maß home isn’t a good idea because it is seen as theft and might lead to getting acquainted with the Bavarian police. But, of course, you can buy one as a souvenir. Sadly, the delightful beer, with its slightly higher alcohol content, combined with a heavy mug in one’s hand, frequently leads to harsh â€Å"Bierzeltschlgereien† (beer-tent brawling), fights that can end very seriously. To avoid that and other criminal acts,  the police patrol the Festwiese. 4. The Police Every officer on duty volunteers his/her time for Oktoberfest. For most of them, it’s both an honor and a significant challenge. The high amounts of alcohol consumed on the Wiesn lead to numerous fights and beatings. Besides that, the dark sides of Oktoberfest include theft and rape. Three hundred police officers are therefore on duty in the local police-station which is located in an underground building beneath the Theresienwiese. Additionally, over 300 more officers make sure that this mass event remains safe. If you plan to visit this episode of Bavarian madness, you should be aware of the dangers caused by thousands of drunk people all over the place. Especially as a tourist or non-Bavarian, you should also be aware of the beer. 5. The Beer It is not harmless, but it is, or can be, delightfully mischievous. Oktoberfestbier is not an ordinary beer, especially for those who come from the USA or Australia. German beer itself is rather strong in taste and alcohol, but Oktoberfestbier is even stronger. It must contain between 5.8% to 6.4% alcohol and be brewed in one of the six Munich-based breweries. Besides that, the beer is very â€Å"sà ¼ffig† (tasty), which means that you will empty your mug much quicker than you might have intended- one does not sip â€Å"Festbier† daintily. That’s why so many tourists, unfamiliar with German beer, can be found on the â€Å"Besoffenenhà ¼gel† (hill of the drunks) after three or four Maß- a little hill where all the wasted people sleep off their Wiesn experience. If you don’t want to end up there, just enjoy the fest as the locals do: have a â€Å"Brezn† (a typical Munich pretzel), drink slowly, and enjoy the annual Bavarian madhouse.

Alternative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Alternative - Essay Example The free electrons move into a circuit all through a module of 60 cells, and they flow back through a solid contact layer into the cell at the bottom. The flow creates a closed circuit of electricity (Boxwell, 2010). A solar panel has various advantages. It provides a free and clean energy that is environment-friendly and available at any place with sunlight. Unlike generators for electricity, solar panels produce no noise and emissions that pollute the environment. Solar panels are less expensive with lower operating and maintenance costs than renewable energy systems (Rassie, 2002).  On the other hand, solar panels bear some disadvantages. Solar panels are normally very delicate and can be easily damaged compared to other energy systems. They also require more equipment such as the inverter to convert direct electricity to alternating current to aid electricity usage on the power network. The energy from solar panels is more inclined to intermittent issues due to unpredictable weather. During the cloudy and rainy weather, solar energy using home may run short of energy. Therefore, these issues make this energy unreliable. Fan energy: Long before the 20th century, wind turbines were used to harness the force of the wind to grind grain and pump water. With the advancement of technology, giant fans are made today to produce electricity. On top of every wind turbine, there is a box called a nacelle with three blades attached to it. These propeller-like blades connect to the rotor. Also, there is anemometer on the nacelle to measure wind direction and speed. During the windy periods, the wind rotates the nacelle to face into the direction of the wind. The kinetic energy from the wind (wind energy) turns the blades to create mechanical energy around the rotor. This rotor is connected to a shaft which rises from the generator housing - where a magnetic rotor rotates inside the loops made of copper wire. The

Ethics and the War on Terrorism Personal Statement

Ethics and the War on Terrorism - Personal Statement Example Torture and targeted killing are a method of crime prevention and reduction (Heymann & Blum, 2010). The promotion international peace and security is an important component of the U.S constitution. President Bush vowed to protect and shield America and any other state that was prone to the terrorism. Terrorism became known as the gravest crime under international law that requires a harsh response. Torture and targeted killing is limited to terror suspects based on the findings of the homeland security and CIA and does not go beyond a particular race, religion, or country where the targeted terrorists reside. Civilians who are harmed in the course of targeted killings are normal victims of consequences of war. The government maintains that the war on crime targets criminals and not any bystander who is harmed by lethal force. Approaches of fighting terrorists may lead to innocent deaths (Heymann & Blum, 2010). Remarkably, the targeted persons feel the impact. However, the constitution maintains that law enforcement officers should not use lethal force when a high number of innocent deaths is at risk. Targeted killings are means to peaceful international relations. The mission does not take place in an active combat zone. U.S uses drones to carry out the operations where there is incriminating evidence about the causes of war or terrorism activities. The peace missions have been carried out before but in the form of assassinations. United States has taken up the practice following the 9/11 attacks. The 1998 bombings of US embassies set the ground for target killings, but they were not availed to the public. Additionally, the peace missions involved governments where the targeted suspects reside (OConnell, 2012). In 2002, a remotely operated predator was used to pin down a Yemen-based terrorist, Al-Aretha. US government executed the attack following approval of Yemen governments. U.S did not use lethal force to disturb the peace within

The Character of Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest Essays -- Tempes

The Character of Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest Caliban is one of the most interesting of Shakespeare’s characters. For centuries, scholars have puzzled over the meaning and importance of this central character. Who or what is this creature? Is he a man or a beast (Peterson, p.2)? Most of the people who have debated this question take the question itself at face value. Caliban is either a man or a beast. The other characters in the play dismiss him as a "poisonous slave," "savage," and "hag-seed" (Act 1, Scene 2), but that does not mean that the reader must do so as well. Let us take a closer look at Caliban the individual and evaluate the question of his humanity. In the end, I think we will see that Caliban is just as human as the other characters in the play. The first charge against Caliban is his shape. Prospero beckons him come by shouting, "What ho! Slave, Caliban!/ Thou earth, thou, speak!...Come thou tortoise!" Prospero does not even deign to place him among humankind; instead he is called "earth" as if he is part of the very ground-- the dirt that Prospero rules. Later, Trinculo calls him "A strange fish" and Stephano refers to him as a "monster of the isle with four legs." (2,2) Indeed, Caliban is never spoken of without some dehumanizing adjective added to the address. I would, however like to challenge the notion of his ugliness. During Shakespeare's day, there was a very narrow, very specific concept of beauty. For example, a woman was usually considered most beautiful if she was very fair. This showed that she was not exposed to the sun through any type of common labor and thus signified her gentility. To most of Elizabethan England, this concept of beauty was the only concept of beaut... ...ight not all be good ones, are, nevertheless, very human ones. In fact, most of Shakespeare's characters exhibit attributes far worse than Caliban's, yet their humanity is ever called into question. Consider Iago of Othello. Iago exhibited a startling lack of redeeming qualities, yet he was never called a monster. The only reason that Caliban should be called a "monster" lies in the only way he differs from the other characters-- his appearance. It is a shame that, while a modern audiences may question the treatment of Caliban, they do not often question the reason behind it, and by failing to do so, they, along with Prospero become slaves to their own preconceptions. Dale Peterson and Jane Goodall encompassed the lesson that we must learn from Caliban. They said, "By enslaving Caliban, we enslave ourselves. Only when we free Caliban will we free ourselves."

Pseudoscience: Critical Thinking and Author Essay

People often regard the ideas that are generally accepted by the multitudes as â€Å"truths†. However, many of them are not scientifically proven and lack logical and reasonable explanations. According to Saupe’s â€Å"What is Pseudoscience?†, such ideas are called â€Å"pseudoscience†. To be more specific, they are claimed to be scientific, but do not have objective evidence to prove that they are true. If people cannot distinguish between pseudoscience and scientifically proved science, the results would be consequential. False science would lead to the misunderstanding of things and cause people to do things wrongly and might lead to harms and damages eventually. To evaluate if the information is credible, there are some standards; for example, check the credentials of the author, check the credibility of the sources of the information and the relevant sources that the information contains and see if the author has good logics to prove the information ( Saupe, 2005). In the three articles, they all talked about the problems of globalization. They either claimed that globalization benefits the environment or causes harms. Among the three articles, â€Å"Green and Brown? Globalization and the Environment† by James J. Boyce appears to be the most credible. The most obvious indicator is that it comes from a published journal; according to the journal, the author’s credential is clearly addressed. In its thesis, the author examined the assumption that the â€Å"global North is relatively ‘green’ and the global South relatively ‘brown’†. He also argued that the claim of globalization leads to a convergence toward better or worse environmental practices cannot be proved by either theoretical or experimental evidence. To support his arguments, the author explained how it is uneven and what global polarization is. The arguments and the evidence the author used to prove his ideas are very logical and also credible since they are mainly from other peer-reviewed journals. The entire article appears to be reasonable and understandable. Thus, this article is considered to be the most credible one. Just a little bit not as good, the article â€Å"Globalization: Myths and Realities† by Jim Dolmas is ranked behind the previous article. In his article, although he has reliable credential, he did not make good use of facts as empirical evidence. The author explained too much by his own views and ideas, and did not use enough references to support what he said. Though, this is overall a credible enough article since the author’s claims and explanations still appear to be logical and understandable. The least credible article is â€Å"The Environmental Benefits of Globalization† by John A. Charles. First of all, the author does not have credential at all since it only mentioned his name and did not give any other information about such as his title or so. Then, while trying to prove that globalization benefits the environment, he did not use enough credible sources. The sources are also not well cited. Although the author still wrote logical and understandable supporting arguments and statements, they still lack the use of scientifically proved facts. As a result, this article appears to be more pseudoscientific. To give another example of pseudoscience, I believe that most of people have been warned not to eat high cholesterol food, such as seafood and eggs. These foods are bad for health because they cause people to have cholesterol level hike. What makes me concerned about this claim is that I have seen some people in my life who eat a lot of these food everyday but st ill stay in good health. In fact, according to my research, eating food that contains high cholesterol should not be worried like how people are afraid of eating them now. According to Johnson and Ridlen of the University of Illinois, eating foods like eggs actually does a little effects to human cholesterol level. The main reason that people have high cholesterol level is because their bodies themselves lack the ability to regulate the cholesterol in their blood stream. The intake of cholesterol from food is only partial the cholesterol in the bodies. In most of the cases, the overproduction of cholesterol of the body is the leading cause of high cholesterol level. Thus, people should not worry too much about eating eggs and other high cholesterol food if their bodies have good control over cholesterol regulation themselves, and we should not see eating eggs as a demon to avoid in our diet. Pseudoscience exists everywhere in our lives. To obtain the accurate knowledge and true science, we need to observe the world and keep questioning to examine the credibility of information to best avoid pseudoscience. Work Cited Boyce, J. K. (2004). Green and Brown? Globalization and The Environment. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 20(1), 105-128. Charles, J. A. (2004, July 14). The Environmental Benefits of Globalization. Global Envision. Retrieved from http://www.globalenvision.org/. Dolmas, J. (2004, September/October). Globalization: Myths and Realities. Federal Reserve Bank of Dellas, 13-14. Johnson, H. S., & Ridlen, S. F. (2013). Eggs and Cholesterol. Retrieved from University of Illinois Extensions website: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/. Saupe, S.G. (2005). What is Pseudoscience? Biology Department, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN 56321.

Racial Prejudice in the Bluest Eye and to Kill a Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader is introduced to the theme of racial prejudice through the experiences of the characters Scout and Jem Finch. The story is told from the perspective of Scout. In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, the reader is also introduced to the theme of racial prejudice through the experiences of Pecola Breedlove and Claudia MacTeer. The story is told through the perspective of Pecola Breedlove, and Claudia MacTeer. Both of the novels show different ways of illustrating the same theme. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader sees the young and innocent children; Scout and Jem Finch become exposed to the racial prejudices of Maycomb. Scout is not like the typical young girl in†¦show more content†¦People in the African-American community express their self-hatred toward Pecola and degrade her. Pecola’s ugliness has made others feel beautiful, and her suffering has made others feel better about themselves. Pecola is regarded as an ‘ugly little black girl’ who is not worthy of any respect or dignity, and because Pecola continues to live after she becomes insane she serves as a reminder to the town or the ugliness and hatred that they have tried to repress. Claudia’s life is quite different from Pecola’s life. Claudia is a victim of beauty standards, as Pecola is, but Claudia is able to fight back against the standards because she has a stable family life. When Claudia is given a white doll to play with, she despises the doll, and dissects and destroys the doll, and Claudia hates Shirley Temple because Shirley is pretty and white â€Å"I hated Shirley. Not because she was cute, but because she danced with Bojangles, who was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me. Instead he was enjoying, sharing, giving a lovely dance thing with one of those little white girls whose socks never slid dow n under their heels†(Pg. 19). Claudia is not jaded because when Pecola becomes pregnant with Pecola’s father’s child Claudia tries to come up with a plan to save Pecola’s baby â€Å"We have to do it right, now. We’ll bury the money over by her house so we can’t go back and dig it up, and we’ll plant the