Nazi Prince

   To be a good Prince one must accumulate a life time of knowledge and put it to use as intended. This knowledge was made available to everyone as it was condensed into a single book by Niccolo Machiavelli. In The Prince, by Machiavelli, the necessary attributes and actions required to maintain a Princedom are outlined and explained. Several rulers put Machiavelli’s ideals to good use over the centuries, but one Empire that failed to do so was the Nazi Regime. As seen in Maus, by Art Spiegelman, the Nazis failed to follow Machiavelli’s guidelines and as a result quickly lost their power.

            In, The Prince, Machiavelli essentially describes several basic rules on how to maintain a Princedom, and although the Nazis did not call it a Princedom, their respective governments had similarities. As his first rule Machiavelli explains that when invading a foreign country it is important not to weaken and already weak state. To do so would anger enough people to start a revolution, whereas if left alone the people would live peaceable without causing trouble. When the Nazis moved into a country they devastated the people especially the Jewish community. This targeting of specific groups caused enough grief to turn the entire world against the Nazis.

            The second mistake the Nazis made according to Machiavelli was that Hitler, the leader of the Nazis, did not come to reside in the countries he conquered. By coming to reside in a new province a leader would essentially make that province invulnerable to outside forces. However, Hitler for the most part remained in Germany allowing outside forces and the forces of provinces that had been invaded, to retake the land from the Nazis. This mistake of not coming to reside cost the Nazis many of the provinces that they worked so hard to take.

            Another mistake made by the Nazis as seen in Maus, and explained by Machiavelli, is the sending of troops into their conquered provinces. Rather than sending troops who created tension with the town’s residents, the Nazis instead should have setup colonies. A colony would have avoided tensions between the soldiers and civilians and would have allowed the Nazis to save more money for the war as a colony is self-sufficient. However, instead the Nazis sent troops to bully the citizens of their provinces losing the good will of the people.

            Lastly, for a new state to succeed it must have the good will of the people. The Nazis severely messed up in this area as they sought to exterminate the people of their conquered provinces. In, Maus, the Jewish community was rounded up without discrimination and murdered on a massive scale. This treatment of the Jewish community angered many people and the angry people eventually welcomed other powers into their country to take power from the Nazis. These mistakes cost the Nazis their empire as they fought to keep control over their own provinces while being attacked by outside forces.

Genocide: The big picture

After shifting through the blogs of several other students, the reasons for why genocide still happens today is clearer. Genocide usually happens due to a struggle for power fueled by religious differences. However, though these are the main causes for genocide, it can only happen because we let it happen. No one wants to get involved with mass killings because of the likely hood of losing lives to the conflict, and the potential political back lash. In Srebrenica, the UN could not get to involved with the struggle because of the fear of losing their own troops and all they could do was declare a demilitarized zone, which did nothing to stop the execution of some 8,000 people. Again in Rwanda, the UN withdrew from the power struggle between the Hutu and the Tutsi because of Casualties. It is unlikely that genocide will ever end due to the want of power, and the failure to commit to putting an end to it.

Modern Genocide

If you ask someone what genocide is most people will reply with the holocaust. While the holocaust is by far the most well known genocide, and quite possible the worse, it is not the latest one. Since the holocaust there have been a number of genocides taking place around the world one being the Somali holocaust now known as: “Worlds worst humanitarian disaster.”

             Beginning in 1991, Somalia has been in a state of chaos with several groups of warlords each vying for control over the country. After overthrowing the government in 1991 the attending warlords failed to agree upon a new leader for their country resulting in a power struggle between the clans. Somali insurgents with Ethiopian troops backing them are responsible for the displacement of over one millions civilians as well as crimes against humanity. These crimes include murder, rape, use of civilians as body shields, and looting. However, the worst of their crimes include the starvation of some four million civilians who are in need of food aid.

               In response to these crimes several unsuccessful attempts have been made to put an end to the chaos. In 1992 U.S. marines were sent into the capital city of Mogadishu to restore order to the city and protect relief supplies. During their time there two Blackhawk helicopters were shot down resulting in the deaths of eighteen U.S. soldiers. The death of the eighteen soldiers forced the then President Clinton to pull out of Africa and refrain from any future involvement. A UN peacekeeping force later went in but was forced to withdraw shortly after due to heavy casualties. Despite the attempts to bring peace to Somalia the power struggle continues and more innocent civilians die every day.

Sources:

http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/current-conflicts/somalia

http://www.genocideintervention.net/educate/crisis/somalia

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11216325

Fight Club

           The movie, Fight Club, has always been one of my favorites, and it was inevitable that when I made my story change that Fight Club would influence my story. The twist and turns throughout the movie make it unlike any other movie out there and it keeps you wondering until the end. Also, the use of an unreliable  narrator is something I haven't ever seen used in another movie. I think it was this movie that made me want to use an unreliable narrator. I want the reader to be wondering who my narrator is much the same way the viewer is trying to figure out whether they can trust the words of the unknown narrator in, Fight Club. However, I have taken the same idea of Fight Club, and I have tried to scale it down to a lower level so that younger kids are trying to figure it out and can come to the same realization as we do while watching the movie. I got these ideas while watching the movie.

         When I found out that the movie was actually based on a book I was actually somewhat excited to read something as my mentor text. Surprisingly, the movie, Fight Club, is a good representation of the book. However, regardless of how good the movie is, the book is always better. It takes the use of an unreliable narrator to a whole new extent. The book opens up with the un-named narrator explaining his current predicament, which involves him having a gun barrel in his mouth. This immediately puts questions into the readers head, as the reader wonders whether or not a man with a gun in his mouth can be trusted. Another thing I found interesting in this novel was the way that Chuck Palahniuk jumps around within the novels. Sometimes he will start off a chapter on one subject, leave it, then return to it again near the end of the chapter. Other times he will mention a topic in one chapter and return to it chapters later. An example of this is when the narrator mentions that Tyler works part time as a banquet waiter in chapter three. It isn't until chapter ten that the narrator goes on to talk about Tyler working as a banquet waiter. Personally I think that the jumping around is interesting and reminds me of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five. All together I think the novel, Fight Club, was very influential to my own childrens book.