It has been more than a generation since those horrors of World War II, but in our current war on terror--or whatever the terminology is today-- how are the same values that were in play in the 1940s still active?
Friday, April 24, 2009
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The value that dominated the post World War II era was technology. It was glorified by government beureaucracy. The Atomic Bomb (the cloud of smoke) was the symbol of this new technology generation dominance. This started the decline of human values, again. The destruction that the Atomic Bomb caused was never envisioned. The total destruction was way beyond anyone's imagination. Most scientists didn't even know if it would work. The Atomic Bomb represented the values of power and control over individuals. Government over the individual. The value of efficiency took over no matter what the cost.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans and their use of genocide, is another example of the values of the government over the individual. Of technology backed by bureaucracy, over human values. Over 11 million human beings, probably more, were killed or executed in WWII by the Germans. The German government lead by Adolph Hitler, thought that by eliminating the members of society that didn't match up to the German specifications of a "true" German race was, the right thing to do. That's the values of technology backed by bureaucracy, and control over human values and life. The German government had the whole German Army convincted that slaughtering over 11 million humans was OK. The government created robots, killing machines.
The only thing that I think proved that technology defeated the values that oppposed technology, was the fact that the Atomic Bomb ened WWII. It's kind of ironic that the effect of the Atomic Bomb, killing hundred of thousands of people at one time, over murdering or executing over 11 millioin people over 6 years proved that the backers of this new technology age, were right in allowing the destruction that the Atomic Bomb caused.
Bigger toys (atomic bombs), more speed ( killing humans by the hundred of thousands), size ( the amount of destruction one Atomic bomb can cuase) and information (propaganda) won, no matter what the cost.
The values of WWII are the exact values that are in existence in today's war on terror. 911 is a great example of how war brings out the worst in humans. 12 men, of MIddle Eastern decent, board 4 modern day jets (toys). In a matter of hours (speed), they cause billions of dollars in damages (size) and bring the United States and our economy, down to it's knees. The news picks this terrorist act up and spreads it all over the world, (information). There was no regard to the value of life. The values of big toys, speed, size and information wins again.
Over 55 years later, man found a way to prove that modern technology rules over human values. Power over the individual. Control rules over human beings. The value of a government over human beings and the value of life, didn't matter again. It was done for "the cause" or "their cause". And "the beat goes on", just the names and the places have changed to protect the innocent.
Adios!!
The Holocaust and the usage of the Atomic Bomb are pure examples of the values in support of technology. When you look at it the Holocaust was bascially a genocide a killing off of a large group of people from the same racial background. There was control exhibited by the government and the Germans. Size, information,and speed where all seen in the Holocaust. The size meaning the numbers of individuals placed in concentration camps or killed. Information meaning how the Germans documented everything that took place in the concentration camp. Speed meaning what it took to get rid (kill) as many people as possible. In terms of the Atomic bomb once again killed off a large group of individuals from the same racial background. The bombing showed the values of speed, size,and information which support technology. In terms of today, I would say that those values are still seen that control is seen. That value of information is still seen along with size and speed; they are in a sense more advanced now than they were in the past.
ReplyDeleteI think with the atomic bomb it shows the emphasis on the value of material things because even though we were at war self-conciously we wanted to show the world we had the biggest and best of everything. THE VALUE OF SIZE also because we were able to take out an isolated area in an instant. Some objective values are the personal because when it come people in masses being killed for nothing in both instances you just feel guilty its like were is the humanity, quite frankly its unfathomable that people could do that. I believe all the values above apply today and the reason i say that is because it just seems like we are repeating the same mistakes as previous generations. There is always an excuse to go to war and the reasons not to go to war never prevail and probally will only get worse as natural resources decrease and population increases.
ReplyDeleterThe values exhibited by the Holocaust were mainly toys, speed and size. The ways in which the Nazis killed so many people showed that speed was important. Without gas chambers and incinerators (I forget the term), so many lives could not have been taken. The size of the gas chambers was immense so that more people could be gassed at one time. So in a sense, size and speed worked together in this case.
ReplyDeleteThe atomic bomb could be seen as a toy of some sorts that just did things that were not conceivable. The size of the atomic bomb was huge of course, or it couldn't have done as much damage. Toys, speed, and size are definitely the top values in the making of the atom bomb.
Nowadays those same values exist, but they have spread out into other areas besides weapons. Technology today is mainly about communication and entertainment on the homefront. People want toys and they want things to move at the speed of light. But the value of size has changed in that people are starting to want everything to be smaller or thinner. Flat screens and ipod nanos are just a couple of examples.
Kimesha,
ReplyDeleteWe both saw the supporting values of technology in the Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb. I didn't mention information in my blog response because I didn't really think about documentation, but I'm glad you mentioned it. It reminded me how the Germans kept such great records of something so horrible.
During the Holocaust the objective values that support technology, such as size and control defeated the subjective concepts of personal thoughts and feelings. The Nazis did not care about the thoughts and feelings of the Jewish people they placed in concentration camps. The Nazis were only concerned with the technological principles of size and control. Therefore, most of the Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz’s concentration camp had numbers tattooed on their arms. To the German soldiers the Jews were nothing more than a thing to be counted. Furthermore, the soldiers had absolutely no respect for the feelings of the Jews. Jews were dehumanized through atrocious methods with no signs of remorse or mercy. The Jewish prisoners were stripped of all their belongings. Their clothes were taken away. Their hair was cut off. Some of them even went through cruel experiments. The German soldiers had the power and they controlled everything that happened to the Jews.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the atomic bomb also represents the defeat of the subjective values of thoughts and feelings. Through the atomic bomb we revealed our values for size and control. The atomic bomb was the first one of its kind. No one had seen anything like it before. The United States wanted to show that it had the power to end Japanese fighting in its hands. However, there was no real concern about what would happen to the thousands of innocent people. The bombs purpose was to frighten the Japanese, but there was no real conscience of what would happen. The Holocaust and atomic bomb combined killed millions of people.
In today’s society we also value the technological principles of size and control. However we are more concerned with material products, such as cars, televisions and cell phones. Whenever a new version of a cell phone comes out we rush to the stores to buy it.
The atomic bomb and the Holocaust advanced the organic values that oppose technology in society. Society began to focus more on the value of life and the value of the individual then the values of technology and advancement. The creation of the atomic bomb and the holocaust were done in the name of technology and human advancement but they ultimately led to the extermination of numerous human lives.
ReplyDeleteI think the organic values that were brought about by the atomic bomb and the holocaust are still present in today’s society’s war on terror. I think to some degree the organic values that oppose technology in reference to the war on terror have declined since the initial attack on 9/11. These events demonstrate society’s hatred of violence. All of these events foster value of human life.
I pretty much agree with everyone on the basis of the Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb showing values that supports technology. There were some of you who seen that size, speed, and control were also seen in these two dark images of the World War 2 Cultural Matrix. I know someone commented that the Atomic Bomb showed the value of a toy. I didn't think of it that way and that gave me another perspective of how to view the A-bomb.
ReplyDeleteKimesha B., I totally agree with you! On Tuesday I didn't post my blog b/c I wasn't seeing a connection (I was totally blank LOL) but, now I see and can link everything together! I agree with your connection between the Holocaust and all the technology values, and with your additional view on the Atomic Bombing. I think that the way in which those values were used is horrifying and an action which, should never ever be repeated! I believe that the most horrible of the 4 are the values of size and speed. It is totally grotesque how the values of size and speed were used to kill as many people as fast as possible (in both the Holocaust and the Atomic Bombing).
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I basically agree with everyone’s view of the values demonstrated by the holocaust and the atomic bomb. I really liked the way Kimesha pointed out all of the values of the atomic bomb and the holocaust. Both events were fostered by cultures who strongly believed in the value of technology and its supporting values. I do wish that the organic values that there brought about in opposition of these two horrible acts had more of a worldwide impact and longer strength. Sadly our world is still filled with mass killings and war (though there has never been another atomic bomb there has been numerous horrible acts committed in the name of war).
ReplyDeleteYeah i agree with Karla on he fact the values of speed and size were used in a horrifying way to kill millions of people. I also agree with Amy empHasizing the point that during ww2 the emphasis on the individual and advancement of technology became the focus. I personally believe technolgy is good thing i just think humans overall cant control themselves and will end up going to far. THere are some things that we have created that are not neccessary.
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