The Use And Abuse Of History :: essays research papers

The Use and Abuse of History By Friedrich Nietzsche Forward "Incidentally, I despise everything which merely instructs me without increasing or immediately enlivening my activity." These are Goethe's words. With them, as with a heartfelt expression of Ceterum censeo [I judge otherwise], our consideration of the worth and the worthlessness of history may begin. For this work is to set down why, in the spirit of Goethe's saying, we must seriously despise instruction without vitality, knowledge which enervates activity, and history as an expensive surplus of knowledge and a luxury, because we lack what is still most essential to us and because what is superfluous is hostile to what is essential. To be sure, we need history. But we need it in a manner different from the way in which the spoilt idler in the garden of knowledge uses it, no matter how elegantly he may look down on our coarse and graceless needs and distresses. That is, we need it for life and action, not for a comfortable turning away from life and action or merely for glo ssing over the egotistical life and the cowardly bad act. We wish to use history only insofar as it serves living. But there is a degree of doing history and a valuing of it through which life atrophies and degenerates. To bring this phenomenon to light as a remarkable symptom of our time is every bit as necessary as it may be painful. I have tried to describe a feeling which has often enough tormented me. I take my revenge on this feeling when I expose it to the general public. Perhaps with such a description someone or other will have reason to point out to me that he also knows this particular sensation but that I have not felt it with sufficient purity and naturalness and definitely have not expressed myself with the appropriate certainty and mature experience. Perhaps one or two will respond in this way. However, most people will tell me that this feeling is totally wrong, unnatural, abominable, and absolutely forbidden, that with it, in fact, I have shown myself unworthy of the powerful historical tendency of the times, as it has been, by common knowledge, observed for the past two generations, particularly among the Germans. Whatever the reaction, now that I dare to expose myself with this natural description of my feeling, common decency will be fostered rather than shamed, because I am providing many oppor tunities for a contemporary tendency like the reaction just mentioned to make polite pronouncements.

The Man Who Was Almost A Man

Richard Wright’s â€Å"The Man Who Was Almost a Man† is a story of a 17-year-old teenaged boy, Dave, who wanted to be called a completely grown up man.He was though approaching adulthood but still was an adolescent and he was viewed as an adolescent and a kid by the adults. This was the most annoying factor for him. However, Dave possessed certain qualities that really represented childish behavior in him. Because of his childish attitude many people won’t believe in him as a grown up mature man.The story themes are centered on racial differences, poverty and sufferings of a black youth. He’s disgusted at being still too young. He wants to get old and rich and wanted to become a respectable citizen of the society. However, whatever actions the emotional and anxious kid takes are ridiculed and makes him younger in adult’s eyes. David Glover was from a poor family with not enough resources to develop a social status. He lacked economical influence and his social status was negligible because of poverty.In the story he acted in a way to acquire power but was rebuked and threatened by the adults for behaving childishly. He takes the gun to make and think of himself more powerful. â€Å"It was empty if anybody could shoot a gun, he could. He put the gun into his hip pocket and started across the fields. When he reached the top of a ridge he stood straight and proud in the moonlight, looking at Jim Hawkins’ big white house, feeling the gun sagging in his pocket.† (Wright)â€Å"  Ã¢â‚¬ËœWhut yuh do wid tha gun?’ his mother asked.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"’What wuz he doin wida gun?’ his father asked.†He was obsessed with the feelings of adulthood. He finally decides to get apart from a society that does not accept him as an adult. Dave is portrayed as an emotional kid who wants power, fame and high social status. He strives that the society should accept him as a noble man.â€Å"Dave turned and walked slowly. He heard people laughing. Dave glared~ his eyes welling with tears. Hot anger bubbled in him. Then he swallowed and stumbled on.† (Wright) Though people used to laugh on him he was still very serious regarding his actions and to be a man.†That night Dave did not sleep. He was glad that he had gotten out of killing the mule so easily, but he was hurt.† (Wright)He’s a kind of emotional, childish and lacked an understanding that why was he not accepted as a man.Richard Wright himself as a black narrates the difficulties he encounters as a black person while dealing with whites. He encountered whites during is professional career at jobs. He noticed violence and discrimination against blacks.Wright is a deliberate man who struggles through his life years. Other characters in the stories are also vibrant and well-drawn but Wright is shown as the most powerful and influential of all. As we go through the complete book we get more familiar with his charact er and how he’s being hurt. His pain is that why such dishonesty persist in this world.Most of the black characters are usually ridiculed for any of their set backs or made the point of humor. They’re shown as fat and whatever they do as funny. American culture is filled up with racial discrimination from school, education, and business to film, media, screen and shows. Color has become an integral part of our society and we don’t have much to talk about if we would no discriminate between colors and whites as inferiors and supers respectively.   

World War II The Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid was an early American operation during World War II (1939-1945) that was conducted on April 18, 1942. Forces Commanders American Lieutenant Colonel James DoolittleVice Admiral William Halsey16 B-25 Mitchell bombers Background In the weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive that efforts be made to directly strike Japan as soon as possible. First proposed at a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on December 21, 1941, Roosevelt believed that a raid would achieve a degree of retribution, as well as would show the Japanese people that they were not invulnerable to attack. A potential mission was also seen as a way to boost flagging American morale while causing the Japanese people to doubt their leaders. While ideas for meeting the presidents request were being sought, Captain Francis Low, the US Navys Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-Submarine Warfare, conceived a possible solution for hitting the Japanese home islands. Doolittle Raid: A Daring Idea While at Norfolk, Low noticed several US Army medium bombers taking off from a runway which featured the outline of an aircraft carrier deck. Investigating further, he found that it would be possible for these types of aircraft to take off from a carrier at sea. Presenting this concept to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Ernest J. King, the idea was approved and planning commenced under the command of famed aviator Lieutenant Colonel James Jimmy Doolittle. An all-around aviation pioneer and former military pilot, Doolittle had returned to active duty in 1940 and had been working with auto manufacturers to convert their plants to producing aircraft. Assessing Lows idea, Doolittle initially hoped to take off from a carrier, bomb Japan, and then land at bases near Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. At that point, the aircraft could be turned over the Soviets under the guise of Lend-Lease. Though the Soviets were approached, they denied the use of their bases as they were not at war with the Japanese and did not wish to risk violating their 1941 neutrality pact with Japan. As a result, Doolittles bombers would be forced to fly 600 miles further and land at bases in China. Moving forward with planning, Doolittle required an aircraft capable of flying approximately 2,400 miles with a bomb load of 2,000 pounds. After assessing medium bombers such as the Martin B-26 Marauder and Douglas B-23 Dragon, he selected the North American B-25B Mitchell for the mission as it could be adapted to achieve the range and payload required as well as possessed a carrier-friendly size. To assure that the B-25 was the correct aircraft, two were successfully flown off USS Hornet (CV-8) near Norfolk, on February 2, 1942. Preparations With the results of this test, the mission was immediately approved and Doolittle was instructed to select crews from the 17th Bomb Group (Medium). The most veteran of all US Army Air Forces B-25 groups, the 17th BG was immediately transferred from Pendleton, OR to Lexington County Army Air Field in Columbia, SC under the cover of flying maritime patrols off the coast. In early February, the 17 BGs crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an unspecified, extremely hazardous mission. On February 17, the volunteers were detached from the Eighth Air Force and assigned to III Bomber Command with orders to commence specialized training. Initial mission planning called for the use of 20 aircraft in the raid and as a result 24 B-25Bs were sent to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minn.  for alterations specific to the mission. To provide security, a detachment of the 710th Military Police Battalion from Fort Snelling was assigned to the airfield.  Among the changes made in the aircraft was the removal of the lower gun turret and Norden bombsights, as well as the installation of additional fuel tanks and de-icing equipment. To replace the Norden bombsights, a makeshift aiming device, nicknamed the Mark Twain, was devised by Captain C. Ross Greening. Meanwhile, Doolittles crews trained relentlessly at Eglin Field in Florida where they practiced carrier takeoffs, low-altitude flying and bombing, and night flying. Putting to Sea Departing Eglin on March 25, the raiders flew their specialized aircraft to McClellan Field, CA for final modifications. Four days later the 15 aircraft selected for the mission and one reserve aircraft were flown to Alameda, CA where they were loaded aboard Hornet. Sailing on April 2, Hornet rendezvoused with the US Navy blimp  L-8  the next day to receive parts to complete the final set of modifications on the aircraft. Continuing west, the carrier joined with  Vice Admiral William F. Halseys Task Force 18 north of Hawaii. Centered on the carrier USS Enterprise, (CV-6), TF18 was to provide cover for Hornet during the mission. Combined, the American force consisted of the two carriers, the heavy cruisers USS  Salt Lake City, USS  Northampton, and USS  Vincennes, the light cruiser USS  Nashville, eight destroyers, and two oilers. Sailing west under strict radio silence, the fleet was refueled on April 17 before the oilers withdrew east with the destroyers. Speeding forward, the cruisers and carriers pushed deep into Japanese waters. At 7:38 a.m. on April 18, the American ships were spotted by the Japanese picket boat No. 23 Nitto Maru. Though quickly sunk by USS Nashville, the crew was able to radio an attack warning to Japan. Though 170 miles short of their intended launch point, Doolittle met with Captain Marc Mitscher, Hornets commander, to discuss the situation. Striking Japan Deciding to launch early, Doolittles crews manned their aircraft and began taking off at 8:20 a.m. As the mission had been compromised, Doolittle elected to utilize the reserve aircraft in the raid. Aloft by 9:19 a.m, the 16 aircraft proceeded towards Japan in groups of two to four aircraft before dropping down to low altitude to avoid detection. Coming ashore, the raiders spread out and struck ten targets in Tokyo, two in Yokohama, and one each in Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, and Yokosuka. For the attack, each aircraft carried three high explosive bombs and one incendiary bomb. With one exception, all of the aircraft delivered their ordnance and enemy resistance was light. Turning southwest, fifteen of the raiders steered for China, while one, low on fuel, made for the Soviet Union. As they proceeded, the China-bound aircraft quickly realized that they lacked the fuel to reach their intended bases due to the earlier departure. This led to each aircrew being forced to ditch their aircraft and parachute to safety or attempt a crash landing. The 16th B-25 succeeded in landing in Soviet territory where the plane was confiscated and the crew interned. Aftermath As the raiders landed in China, most were aided by local Chinese forces or civilians. One raider, Corporal Leland D. Faktor, died while bailing out. For aiding the American airmen, the Japanese unleashed the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign which ultimately killed around 250,000 Chinese civilians. The survivors of two crews (8 men) were captured by the Japanese and three were executed after a show trial. A fourth died while a prisoner. The crew that landed in the Soviet Union escaped internment in 1943 when they were able to cross into Iran. Though the raid inflicted little damage on Japan, it provided a much-needed boost to American morale and forced the Japanese to recall fighter units to defend the home islands. The use of land-based bombers also confused the Japanese and when asked by reporters where the attack had originated, Roosevelt replied, They came from our secret base at Shangri-La. Landing in China, Doolittle believed the raid to have been a dismal failure due to the loss of the aircraft and the minimal damage inflicted. Expecting to be court-martialed upon his return, he was instead awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and directly promoted to brigadier general. Sources Doolittle Raid RememberedWorld War II: Doolittle Raid