Advanced Essay #4

Posted by Jacob Norman in English 3 - Block - E on

War, war never changes. Throughout time, leaders have used their ability speak to sway large masses of people. In more recent times leaders have used the weaponry and resources they have in order to influence allies and enemies, however, the combination of successful public speaking and frighteningly deadly super weapons creates a dangerous society that may put to much trust in their leader and the use of weapons of mass destruction.

In the United States’ Democratic society, we believe we have elected officials that are supposed to represent the majority of the citizen’s political beliefs. Many politicians do represent the voice of the people who elected them. When politicians give public speeches, their rhetoric can be quite intense. Sometimes, these speeches can get even more heated when it comes to ideas around managing the United States defense system and foreign policy. The combination of overly aggressive politicians and the stockpiling of government weapons such as nuclear bombs can be dangerous and lead to a more aggressive society. This heated debate often leads to violent attitudes in the country’s society.

During the height of the Cold War, in 1960 at a United Nations meeting in New York, Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev grew impatient on the topic of Russian decolonization to fellow world leaders and representatives. Khrushchev banged his shoe against a table to silence the members of the United Nations. Khrushchev then approached a podium in a large room filled with hundreds of his peers. In his speech addressed to the U.S. and the Western world, he said “[the USSR] will bury you.” Although there is debate on the validity of the event of Khrushchev banging his shoe, this moment in history of Khrushchev with the shoe represents the beginning of an increase of foreign hostility in the Cold War that included the threat of nuclear warheads. It was Khrushchev’s line “We will bury you” that set forth the Red Scare and Cold War. Khrushchev’s speech is one of the main contributing factors to the increase of distrust and hate of the U.S.S.R. and encouragement to outdo the Russians in a battle for nuclear power. In the decade before Khrushchev’s speech (1950 -1959) the U.S. spent an average of 147.31 billion dollars per year on military funding and purchases. The average amount of military funding per year in the following decade (1960-1969) was 171.61 billion dollars and even more in the following decade.

In former President George W. Bush’s speech on the possibility of the presence of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, he provided several types of solutions to combat the potential threat. One of the solutions was to increase military spending for soldiers abroad and to increase spending for American nuclear arms. As part of the Bush Administration’s promise to keep the U.S. safe, they tried to increase funding for the “upgrading” of nuclear weapons for things like nuclear “bunker busters.” The combination of former President Bush’s on Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” with attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11th that lead to an increase in military funding for nuclear arms and a vendetta among many civilians against Iraq and people of the religion of Islam. Shortly after the terrorist events on September 11th, Anti-muslim hate crime increased by over 1,000%. The amount of anti-muslim hate crimes per year decreased significantly after 2001 but have yet to get close to the numbers they were before September 11th, 2001.Funding for military research increased in the U.S. during the Bush Administration, at a rate comparable to that of the time of the Cold War, yet the war continued. Peace was not made with more bombs.

Based on a research study performed by Nathan Kalmoe, a political science doctoral candidate from the University of Michigan, found that violent political rhetoric does fuel more violent attitudes, especially in younger people. In Kalmoe's first survey, 412 adults read two political advertisement texts (one violent, the other non-violent) for two U.S. House candidates where certain words related to violence were changed in the text. During the altering of the ads, no person or group of people were targeted. Respondents were asked about their aggression levels and interest in violence against political leaders. It was found that adults who read aggressive advertisements had “strong predispositions to support political violence.” It was also found that young adults were more likely to adopt violent attitudes after exposure than older adults.

The results of speeches given by Khrushchev and former President George W. Bush resulted in an increase of public fear of an enemy of which little was known about. The result of the speeches lead to the stirring up of fear and encouragement for greater military funding especially towards development of nuclear arms. In more recent times, politicians have become more focused on reducing the amount of nuclear arms to create a more peaceful society; not just within their own country but globally as well.


Sources:

khrushchev_shoe
khrushchev_shoe

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