I thought that Leuchtenberg’s quote about the need to appeal to the masses of the world is actually a very interesting concept. This is an issue that we still deal with today. He hits upon various negative aspects of Communism, Fascism, and Capitalism all at separate times. Though in the quote on page 39, it doesn’t necessarily matter what political system is implemented. What matters it the fact that the people that are ruled by this system can live a life that they determined is worthy of living. Each different system has its perks and disadvantages, and ultimately make them the enemies. Though from Leuchtenberg’s quote, I feel as though he believes it isn’t a matter of what you believe is right, its is a principle of what the people who are witnessing it believe.

Leuchtenberg does make a good point in showing the perks and negatives of capitalism. While capitalism does have its obvious issues, such as the repetitive issues of inflation, supply, demand, and employment, there are ways of getting around such issues. There are multiple arguments that can be made for the individual programs that were created for the New Deal. Though in theory, the combination of all the above is what truly helped the United States recover from the economic crash.

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Strange_As_It_Seems_Singles

Strange As It Seems Episode 18.

The episode began with about 2 minutes of a commercial that was solely related to a laxative and its ability to treat smoothly. After this, it went into an intro, just like an other television today. It truly reminded me of the ‘Twighlight Zone’ without the visual. This episode was about the transport of a huge diamond across plains, deserts and oceans. Its journey was from South Africa to England for King Edward.

I can not tell if this radio episode intrigued me because of its entertainment qualities or because how it is a form of entertainment I haven’t necessarily interacted with before. I was thoroughly surprised with the dialogue that existed in these programs. It wasn’t just narration, but it consisted of interactions between characters. I could see how the country became infatuated with the radio, for I can even see it rivaling modern day cinema and other forms of entertainment.

I did not initially realize that this episode would have multiple stories in it. It did a very good job at keeping the attention of its audience. I did not necessarily suspect that it would be able to keep my attention for 20 minutes, and this is one of the main reasons why I think it became such a successful form of entertainment in the early 20th century.

The second story of this incorporated a story about Robert E. Lee and provided some insight about his spot in history. I think this was an interesting concept because while subtle stories still may exist, this episode went out of its way to explain the historical relations of this. It implemented a rudimentary form of mass education. Its third story also taught its audience how to tell the temperature by the chirps of a cricket. This casually morphed into a thermometer ad, and then back into the laxative ad. It was an interesting ending, and I feel as though the commercials were just as pestering back then as they are now.

James Oppenheim had some very interesting ideas in the ‘Twilight Idols’ chapter of Untimely Papers. Some of these ideas, I would say, are beyond the comprehension of the public today. A main point he focused on was the War and the country’s and its politician’s views on it. This ‘poison’ that Oppenheim talks about spreads through the public like a virus. It seems as though the whole country gets obsessed with the idea of the war, and not the actual action of fixing what caused the war.  Oppenheim focus’s on James Dewey, a professor who seems to have focused on the high amount of pacifists in America. He doesn’t understand this concept, for the wastefulness of war. Though, Dewey seems to be gathering a large following.

The large argument that is caused here is the ignorance of intellectuals in the thought of war. Oppenheim is obsessed with the idea that the education system and intellectuals, including the current politicians are not able to actually end the war. I found this argument to be very one sided, which may have created the confusion while reading this article.

‘… and then let war, not education, be chosen, at the almost unanimous behest of our intellectual class… But nations, of course, are not rational entities”.

I think this statement is good at summing up Openheim’s views, as there is almost this sense of brainwashing within the academic field in his era. I would disagree with this statement. You do have a form of cookie cutter education forming in the time he wrote this piece. Though politicians are still coming from various areas, and I do not think that this form of identical politicians would need to be created through identical universities. With Oppenheim’s organization and wording, there is a chance that I missed the main point of this piece. Though with what I extracted, I would disagree with its severity.

I found it very interesting in the literary devices that Elizabeth Cady Stanton used. Her speech starts off, and ends both in a religious light. Though what I found to be a large substance of her speech was about the social norms that were associated with the feminist movement of the early 20th century. Stanton even seems to contradict herself in the following paragraph with the following quote “… in the religion she is asked to believe”. While I do believe her actions align with the Protestant movement, I think her designation of her movement and religious beliefs are flawed.

A large theme in Stanton’s speech was also the idea of self dependence. This correlates to many of the progressive movements, especially the feminist like Stanton. From birth to death we are taught how to rely on ourselves. Throughout lives we have times of dependence on other people, though. This process is ongoing. As children, we are more susceptible to the evils of societal nature. As we learn, we grow, and this aligns itself with the suffrage movement that Stanton supports so much.

Woman are brought up not only learning how to do the Domestic necessities in a home, but are also taught a myriad of other items in the process. Man is taught to protect his woman along the way, as well as his children. Now women must pass along these moral, ideas, and behaviors to their children. Inferring from Stanton’s speech, this process in itself is more than enough to show where women can fit in on an educated and intellectual basis. This process is not for the common soul, rather for one that is evolved and able to properly teach. I think Stanton has a good point with the aspect of her speech. If one would like to accurately teach their offspring certain ideals, than they must possess it themselves primarily.

Fredrick Winslow Taylor’s piece on scientific management is very interesting is the way it deals with the workforce of its time. The Principles of Scientific Management thoroughly discusses the ways that the current workforce can evolved into a more efficient group with certain policies. Taylor wrote this in 1910, just as major industrial progressions were occurring, showing the shifts that were occurring in the employer-employee relations.

Taylor made many points The Principles of Scientific Management,  some better than others. One quote that I found to be somewhat misleading was found in Chapter 2. “… and since we are dealing with our men in masses, but are trying to develop each individual man to his highest state of efficiency and prosperity.” Fredrick Winslow Taylor portrays this style in which each man is individually treated to determine their more efficient qualities. Him stating that they are not being treated in the masses though is false in the sense. This ‘individual effort’ is being portrayed, though it is happening to each individual within the masses.

The story about the Pennsylvania Dutch man at the Bethlehem Steel Factory showed the effects on to get the masses into a more efficient process while working with the individual. For example, this man was only being paid $1.15 an hour. If he was able to become a ‘good working man’ and load more pig iron, his pay rate would increase into one like the ‘high priced man’. This wasn’t to help out the individual, but to help out the company as a whole, through increased mass efficiency. The man was doing about 3.5x of his original work in one day, with only 1.5x the money. Employees just became pawns in the workforce and Taylor hits that nail on the head. Not only did they only do what they were told, but employment became full life dedications.

W. E. B. Du Bois was able to cover a large amount of racial issues in the South within The Souls of Black Folk. Some of his opinions were very interesting, including the “Talented Tenth”. This aspect I found to be radical, though I believe it was a theory that could potentially work to be true. Du Bois actively understood that black men were being educated directly to understand how to make money. While it may be demeaning to deem 90% of the black population as inept of being educated, it look for the overall increase in success of Blacks. The people that were being educated by the tenth would no longer be stuck in the vicious cycle of sharecropping, which Du Bois argued to just be an extension of slavery.

I found it interesting that Du Bois went against the political ideals of Booker T. Washington. In this time, when Black politics was suppressed, I would have expected that ideals would try to stay aligned amongst leaders as much as possible. Du Bois even went as far as to call the election of Booker T. Washington to role of the ‘spokesman of the race’. The main issues that Du Bois seemed to have with Washington was his acceptance of race, segregation, and many other racial issues.

Finally, I think the poems that started off each chapter are very important while reading Du Bois’s work. It appropriately sets the mood of the book, and each chapter individually. Du Bois saw all of these hardships in his life, and wanted to show his readers the sorrows and mood that came along with it. The lyrics were able to promote those feelings and lead his audience down a path that emphasized the sorrows.