Intro: False Hope and Radical Change

Well, I couldn't really say that I started this new blog post of my own free will; this new blog is actually a large-scale assignment from the digital civilization class that I am taking this semester.  Using a self-directed learning state of mind, we are supposed to be able to use the technology we have today to make connections all throughout modern history to how we learn in this technologically advanced time.

Basically, once we finish learning about learning habits, philosophies, and the big events all throughout history, I should be able to make a big web diagram making connections to digital concepts and different eras.

Not Digital Civilization, but a diagram nonetheless

Or at least something like that.

Right now I am trying to figure out how I should go about this class; I am assigned to the Cultural Revolution of the 20th Century, and also to the Information digital concept.

Quite honestly, when I think of the 20th Century, I immediately think of my AP US History teacher talking to us about Horatio Alger, the man who wrote novels about poor, yet ambitious young boys who work hard and eventually are able to become financially prosperous through diligent efforts.  Through Alger's books, many poor young people were inspired to work hard, believing they could live the lives of Alger's characters.  My teacher also told me about the first edition books being sold for a staggering $10(in the very early 20th Century) because the book had embroidered gold and leather binding on it.

But my focus isn't on Horatio Alger, or even on America for that matter.  I am supposed to become a master of the 20th century Cultural Revolution in China of 1966, which revolved around Zedong leading a faction of communists to overthrow the capitalistic and traditional regime, ending old Chinese traditions, and marking a new social era for the people of China.

A Poster Supporting Mao Zedong

Previous to this Cultural Revolution, the old capitalistic regime had failed to industrialize the country in an unsuccessful attempt to turn farming territory into factories for steel production, and the majority of Chinese were becoming impoverished and angry.  And that is when the revolution began to come into motion.

Only into the precursor of the Cultural Revolution, I wonder if the Chinese people would have reacted differently if they had a Horatio Alger of their own to give the poor people hope.  Alger stressed the ideas of good honest work and cunning being the best ways to become happy and financially stable, not a struggle for political power.  Would the Chinese have become placated due to fictitious stories of poor boys becoming rich?  Even though Alger did sell his books for huge sums of money, and even if his stories spread false hope to the poor of American society, his stories were loved by many, and were influential throughout the entire nation.

Perhaps all the Chinese needed was some figure to tell them that they could become prosperous through hard and honest work in the form of a novel.  I'll make sure to give you my answer by the time I finish studying up on the cultural revolution.

-Eden Johnson