Difference between revisions of "325--Week 4 Questions/Comments"
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In the Editorial about Railroads and Missionaries, I found what the writer said to be interesting and slightly ironic. He is putting down the religious folks who feel money (apparently American money) should be directed to the conversion of the world instead of building things like railroads. The writer points out that without technology being developed, like the railroad, missionaries would not be able to reach their audiences, which is a good point. However, he takes it a step further in saying that 'railroads and railroads alone' are what will civilize India and China and bring 'proper' Christianity to people etc. This is where the writer starts grasping as railroads bringing missionaries and Bibles probably wouldn't singlehandedly stop massacres from occurring. In fact, as the next excerpt on buffalo and the railroad points out, railroads and other technology can actually help to start massacres. In this instance, railroads brought whites to Native American land and helped to destroy entire ways of life. Obviously there is the question of to what end should progress be pushed in the whole early American technology phase.- Lauren Milner | In the Editorial about Railroads and Missionaries, I found what the writer said to be interesting and slightly ironic. He is putting down the religious folks who feel money (apparently American money) should be directed to the conversion of the world instead of building things like railroads. The writer points out that without technology being developed, like the railroad, missionaries would not be able to reach their audiences, which is a good point. However, he takes it a step further in saying that 'railroads and railroads alone' are what will civilize India and China and bring 'proper' Christianity to people etc. This is where the writer starts grasping as railroads bringing missionaries and Bibles probably wouldn't singlehandedly stop massacres from occurring. In fact, as the next excerpt on buffalo and the railroad points out, railroads and other technology can actually help to start massacres. In this instance, railroads brought whites to Native American land and helped to destroy entire ways of life. Obviously there is the question of to what end should progress be pushed in the whole early American technology phase.- Lauren Milner | ||
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| + | The Plenty Coups memoir stuck out to me the most out of all of the articles. You see a lot happening in that one trip east -- you get a glimpse at how horrible road conditions were during early travel (especially out west) when Plenty Coups mentions the muddy ground after/during the rainstorm, and how much quicker it seemed to be on a train than in a coach. Although it was maybe going only 25mph, it obviously was much more convenient and that is evident in Plenty Coups discussion of "outdistancing the birds." But you can also see how the railroad almost became a tool for the white population of America to expand westward. It was a machine that entranced the Native American population (much like rifles earlier on) and it was almost a way to manipulate them into saying "sure thing, go ahead and rip my tribe to bits and build track on my land." It's interesting to see how much was actually going on at this time and what all resulted from this railroad craze. -Kelly W. | ||
