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I decided to work with the collection of speeches/lectures given during TEDTalks events. The three I chose to watch were called “Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery”, “Witness: Illuminating the World of Modern-day Slavery: Lisa Kristine at TEDxMaui”, and “Sunitha Krishnan: The fight against sex slavery”. The topics covered modern slavery in the world today; humans in virtually every country (save, Greenland and Iceland) have slaves in them. Humans are tricked into this system of slavery and forced labor and then are threatened with violence and even death when they try to escape and free themselves.

I, like many of the people who speak on this subject, was completely surprised and mortified to find out that there were so many people enslaved in the world today. Conservative estimates put the number of people in forced labor at around 27 million people; this is more than double the total number of people that were brought into slavery through the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It came as a shock (slightly) that most people are enslaved because of commerce and as a way to gain profit easily, but it is nonetheless a disgusting was to treat a human being.

I don’t believe that the filmmakers or speakers had a bias in any way, because it’s simply a matter of morality; I wouldn’t trust anyone that wasn’t outraged at the idea of there being over 27 million enslaved people in the world. I think that the speakers are definitely passionate about the subject, but they presented conservative estimates and told the stories as accurately and non-withholding as possible which is all that can really be expected.

I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I think that the concept of something like slavery “never again” happening is just a bit too idealistic. For one, it would have had to have stopped at some point for the “again” part to be true. While I think it’s important to persevere in our attempts to emancipate all of these people from forced labor in all of its horrific forms, I think it’s also important to recognize that nothing can completely abolish slavery. Every country in the world has laws that make slavery illegal, and yet there are still more slaves that exist today than have in, arguably, the largest slave trade in human history. It’s difficult to deconstruct a system that has over a $13 billion profit every year from buying, selling, using, and disposing of humans. Activism, donations, and communication are extraordinarily important to decreasing the number of humans in forced labor and caring for the rest of humanity. When it comes to communication, however, I'm not entirely sure how well “hashtivism” works. In theory, it’s a great way to quickly spread information about a topic through our ever-growing digital connectedness. In practice, it works quite well as a way to communicate a topic quickly. However, if nothing is done beyond talking about it — for instance, it’s not acted upon — then sometimes it’s all gone to waste, and it didn’t really serve a purpose other than as a way for people to stroke their egos until the next tragedy trend makes its way around social media.

The documentary I watched was called “Nazi America: A Secret History”. I think it was supposed to be about William Dudley Pelley, but most of the documentary talked about the uprising of Nazi movements and support for Hitler’s Third Reich started and grew in America. The film was very interesting, though, and it had some very interesting information presented. Nazism was first brought to America by German immigrants as, to put it lightly, more of a solution to economic problems rather than the extremism that it is usually associated with. This led to the adoption of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s Third Reich’s beliefs being adopted by American racists and eventually ushered in a group of middle class white Americans who perpetuated their beliefs through group meetings and camps (similar to summer camps) that brainwashed their children with the doctrine they so desperately clung to.

However, William Dudley Pelley was a notorious American fascist and spiritualist who established the Silver Legion (more commonly known as the Silver Shirts) in 1933 and ran for president in 1936 under the Christian Party. His platform was very similar to that of the Nazi Party, and Pelley preached a mix of anti-Semitism, nationalism, and mysticism. William Dudley Pelley desired to change the entire system of government into what he called his “Christian Commonwealth”; there, no paper money would be used, no bankers would exist, no one would live in a big city, and — of course, due to his extreme anti-Semitism — no Jews would be permitted to take part in the system. Eventually being stopped by President Roosevelt in 1942, he was arrested and found guilty on eleven charges of sedition and insurrection. I don’t know that William Dudley Pelley really reminds me of any of the demagogues we talked about in class, just because he wasn’t especially violent. Yes, he led a horrible group of people and believed in something that was completely and utterly morally corrupt, but he never killed anyone. Quite opposite of the demagogues we talked about in class, Pelley was actually born into poverty, but very similarly to them, he had a “spiritual awakening” (this he wrote about in an article called “My Seven Minutes in Eternity”).

I think that the documentary was as informative as it could have been for something that was intending to cover a vast subject in under two hours. Yes, there were parts that were more or less glossed over, but I think the directors and documentarians did a fine job. I do wish that more information was provided on the American Nazi’s interactions with other groups in society, like the Civil Rights Movement, and how they were able to defend their ideals amongst so many war crimes that were very obviously being committed by a party most of them held in high regard (the Third Reich).

It’s regarded, I think, as sort of a by-gone era or a problem of less-developed countries to experience people like Pelley attempting to make their way into political office. Demagogues would hopefully be something that seems impossible in the age of information, where the truth is so accessible; but, unfortunately that isn’t the case. The Republican Party nomination for the President of the United States, Donald Trump, fits the description of demagogue perfectly. He uses hateful, bigoted speech that has virtually no evidence to support it in order to appeal to groups in America that are just as racist, sexist, xenophobic, and close-minded as he is. To see that someone with such an extensive track record of hatred has gotten so close to becoming the actual leader of this country is, frankly — and I don’t mean this lightly — thoroughly terrifying.

I watched the documentary on the Taj Mahal, in India. The beginning of the film touched on how Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal Emperor of India, and the many things he built; his reign of India is considered to be the “Golden Era/Age” of the Mughal Empire. When his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died from complications while giving birth to their fourteenth child he promised her that he would erect for her the greatest monument the world had ever seen. Taking over 20 years and 20,000 artisans to complete, the Taj Mahal is an exemplary representation of Mughal architecture and art from his rule. While I was watching this documentary, I learned a ton of things that I didn’t previously know about the Taj Mahal. I had no idea that there were inlaid semi-precious stones in the marble that created incredibly complex images that were so colorful — I was under the impression that it was purely white marble. I also didn’t know that the sarcophagi in the main chamber of the Taj Mahal were false and that the real ones that have Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s bodies in them were in a lower level of the building.

The architecture and art in the Taj Mahal is influenced heavily by its surroundings, both culturally and the resources chosen to construct it. Different from how previous Mughal buildings were constructed (usually with red sandstone), the Taj Mahal used white marble that was imported from another part of India and was inlaid with semi-precious gemstones that were prevalent in the area — however it is important to note that the outlying buildings at the Taj Mahal are, in fact, made with red sandstone. The way that the marble catches the sunlight at various times of the day is, no doubt, intentional and there was probably a lot of thought put into how the sunlight would “frame” the building. Slight color differences in the marble allow for many different shades and colors to show at once, offering a beautiful display of how grand the building is. Being considered the “Jewel of India”, not only because of its refinement and beauty but because of the way it is “set” in the landscape, I am sure that this was also another architectural idea that was very well thought out (perhaps to reflect the many jewels that were in the area). The various inlaid and painted floral or otherwise plant-based motifs throughout the Taj Mahal are also most probably plants that are from the region. Culturally, the Taj Mahal takes in many ideas and representations of its creators and their beliefs. At the entrance are passages from the Qur’an and throughout the interior there is Persian poetry, both of which are written in calligraphy and representative of the beliefs and cultural values of the people of the area. Not only directly in the architecture of the Taj Mahal, but in how it is laid out as a whole, is clear indication of the region’s beliefs; the Taj Mahal is on one side of the Yamuna River and represents all that is spiritual while directly opposite it is the royal palace, which represents all that is earthly and grounded.

In an extraordinarily unfortunate and offensive way, contemporary American culture intersects with the Mughal culture and art forms through cultural appropriation. Parts of the culture that are considered “trendy” are stolen from them and used as a way for people to feel unique and original. Apart from that, I don’t think that much of their culture (artistically) has permeated into the modern culture of the world — and more specifically, America — which may be due to our Islamophobia as a nation. Perhaps some of the motifs that are present on the interior have managed to sneak their way, however distorted, into American art and architecture but I haven’t witnessed this. However, the Taj Mahal is an engineering wonder and it becomes more evident the closer you get, revealing incredibly complex details. The engineering and architectural concepts of the Taj Mahal went through trial and error before they were perfected and used in the construction of this magnificent structure.