Nuremberg Trials

5/23/10
I was very surprised watching the Nuremberg Trials and what took place. I wasn't exactly sure what they were going to be like, I just wasn't picturing them how it was portrayed in the movie. There were so many characters in the movie it was hard to keep track of all of them, but a lot were convicted. To me, it seemed like the set-up of what the court system is like today.
The most surprising line of the whole movie was when they were speaking of Hitler and how he thought killing animals was immoral. That is ironic and shocking to me obviously, for the simple fact that he could kill many humans and not care yet killing animals was not right.

Self-Reflection

Taking AP European history, I believe, has really been beneficial for me. Although I have not been in a college class yet, this class is not like any of my other high school classes, so I am assuming this is going to be how a college class will be. Also for the fact that it is AP. The pace of the class has really helped me with my note-taking skills. Before, I would pretty much write down everything and I tried doing that at the beginning of the year but found it to be impossible, and would actually miss some of the most important items. There was a lot of information covered in a short amount of time so it forced me to be more organized and to mange my time better because I knew I would have to be prepared for class.
Even though I did all the work and read all the material, I never did well on the tests. I was never a good test taker but, I thought that since I did have everything prepared and would study more then I would for another class that I would do better but, that wasn't the case.
What I found most beneficial in the class is all the presentations and learning on our own we had to do. The more presentations I did, the better I got. I never really liked given presentations but since we did so many by the end I did not mind them at all. Preparing the presentations, I think, helped me to better learn the material since I would have to research and read the information. When others gave the presentations, it also helped with my note-taking because I would learn to recognize the important items.
Although the class was a lot of work, in the end it was very beneficial and exciting!!

Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Studying the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and playing the part of an Israelite, made me realize that this conflict will be an on-going conflict. I am not sure of any plan that would satisfy both the Israelites and the Palestinians wants since neither of them are willing to give up much. Both sides believe that their religious cities are most meaningful to them and that they have the right to the religious sites either because they were originally there, or for the fact that they make up most of the population. Each side is going to the extreme to try to conquer the problem and are doing a lot of damage to each other in order to conquer the opposing side and win what they belive is their territory. It will probably take a miracle for someone to come up with a plan in order to settle this conflict.

Image #3

On pages 1056 and 1057 of the textbook, there are two images that capture acts of terrorism taking place around the world. In these images there is a car bomb that takes place on the streets of Spain and then in the other picture, there are Shi'ite's Insurgents leaving Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine. Just within these two pictures, it is shown of the terrorism that is happening around the world and how it is everywhere. Although America is trying to combat it in one spot, there are many other places that still suffer from it. In the caption of the Shi'ite's Insurgents leaving Najaf's Imam Ali Shrine it says how there was a ceasefire and the Americans were fighting against many Muslim groups, more then just one. This images just show the feeling of the people around the world and what terrorism is doing to them and how they feel about it. Even though America may be thinking they are able to conquer terrorism and stop it completely, it has been widespread and on going, but then again, America is the most powerful nation.

America Held Captive to Utopian Ideology

The article, "America held captive to Utopian ideology," by Patrick J. Buchanan, was very interesting to me. The title basically sums up the whole article. It is basically an article about how and why China is so far ahead of the United States in the production area. Since America is too busy being the worlds police, they are not devoting enough of their times and services to what would really help them to excel as a country, since that is the "Utopian" way for the Chinese and America just isn't catching on. "Before the financial collapse, the U.S saving rate stood at zero percent of family income, In China, it ranged between 35 percent and 50percent," that is just one fact used in showing how well China is doing opposed to the United States. Although America is represented as the best and most powerful, in some aspects it really isn't.

Image #2-Ch. 31

Although this is not the exact image seen in the text on page 1036, it resembles the same thing. It is a picture of the falling of the Berlin wall. In the text it actually has a person on top of the part falling, taking it down. I obviously knew that the fall of the Berlin Wall meant that the wall stopping refugees from East Germany to West Germany meant that there would no longer be the wall to divide it but, I never pictured that this is how they took it down. It was probably a very joyous day for the West Germans but I wasn't aware that a crowd would be surrounding it and that someone would physically have to take it down.

In the picture it also shows the graffiti on the wall. The graffiti probably said some very hateful things for those who were against the division of Germany. I guess, its just not how i had always pictured it, thats why it was such a surprise when I came across the image.

Connection Across Time- Ch.31

In chapter 31, many of the images stuck out to me because many of the images still resemble what is going on today. For instance, "Terrorism in Spain" is a photo that was taken and currently terrorism is being fought. There is also a picture of two ladies helping an AIDS patient, and AIDS is still around today and many people are still working to help and find a cure for those diagnosed with it. Although there is not a whole lot seen today in our country with discrimination against Muslims, it still happens in other places around the world. Some Muslims are denied some rights especially Muslim women since they have to wear the scarf around their head. The image in the text shows Muslim women sticking up for what they believe in because some were trying to discriminate against their religion and take away some rights that mean a lot to them.