Beyond Bizarre: Nature, Culture and the Spectacular Failure of B.F. Skinner’s Pigeon-Guided Missiles

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Justyna Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
War Machine ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Military ◽  
Type Of Behavior

The article uses posthumanism and animal studies as a framework for making sense of B.F. Skinner’s wartime project of training pigeons to guide missiles, with emphasis on explaining the negative response of the donors and the public. The article first considers the hypothesis that the donors’ incredulity was evoked by the species of the animal. During World War II the United States began a massive program for the training of dogs for the military, and the campaign received unanimously positive publicity in the media. Possibly, thus, dogs were perceived as capable of bravery and sacrifice while pigeons were not. However, messenger pigeons had been traditionally incorporated into the war machine and were perceived as heroic. Thus, the analysis moves on to suggest that the perception of the project as ridiculous was related to the type of behavior performed by the animals: a behavior perceived as trained (artificially acquired) and not instinctive. The analysis then shifts into how the distinction between what is perceived as instinctive (natural) and learned (artificial) behavior influences the reception of different performances involving animals. Performances built around “natural” behaviors generate much stronger positive responses, even if the naturalness of these behaviors is a carefully crafted effect.

scholarly journals Politicizing Religion

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-99
Author(s):  
Uta A. Balbier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter defines Graham’s crusades in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom in the 1950s as powerful cultural orchestrations of Cold War culture. It explores the reasons of leading political figures to support Graham, the media discourses that constructed Graham’s image as a cold warrior, and the religious and political worldviews of the religious organizers of the crusades in London, Washington, New York, and Berlin. In doing so, the chapter shows how hopes for genuine re-Christianization, in response to looming secularization, anticommunist fears, and post–World War II national anxieties, as well as spiritual legitimizations for the Cold War conflict, blended in Graham’s campaign work. These anxieties, hopes, and worldviews crisscrossed the Atlantic, allowing Graham and his campaign teams to make a significant contribution to creating an imagined transnational “spiritual Free World.”

The Creation of the G.I. Bill of Rights of 1944: Melding Social and Participatory Citizenship Ideals

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Mettler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
College Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Unemployment Benefits ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Participatory Citizenship ◽  
Public Consciousness

The G.I. Bill of Rights, formally known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, remains in the public consciousness as one of the most significant social policies ever enacted in the United States. Established for returning veterans of World War II, its terms of coverage were strikingly broad and generous. Fifty-one percent of veterans used the educational provisions: 2.2 million pursued a college education or graduate degree, and 5.6 million attained vocational or on-the-job training. The law also offered extensive unemployment benefits, which were used to the full by 14 percent of veterans. It also offered low-interest loans for the purchase of homes, farms, and businesses, which were used by 29 percent of veterans.

Guardian Angels

2020 ◽  
pp. 267-292
Author(s):  
Dominic D. P. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Effective Strategies

This chapter presents a summary of the findings and explores the implications of the new evolutionary perspective on cognitive biases for international relations. It concludes that the cognitive biases are adaptive in a way that strategic instincts help individuals, state leaders, and nations achieve their goals. It also reviews effective strategies that often differ radically from those predicted by conventional paradigms, such as the rational choice theory. The chapter offers novel interpretations of historical events, especially the American Revolution, the British appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s, and the United States' Pacific campaign in World War II. It examines counterintuitive strategies for leaders and policymakers to exploit strategic instincts among themselves, the public, and other states.

Community Services: Contrasts Between Resident and Nonresident Landowners in the Adirondack Region of New York

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-142
Author(s):  
Robert G. Craig ◽  
Harry P. Mapp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Services ◽  
World War ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The Public

“There is more than enough evidence to show that the states and localities, far from being weak sisters, have actually been carrying the brunt of domestic governmental progress in the United States ever since the end of World War II … Moreover, they have been largely responsible for undertaking the truly revolutionary change in the role of government in the United States that has occurred over the past decade.”–Daniel J. Elazar, The Public Interest

scholarly journals Urban Growth and the Taxation of Agricultural Land in the Northeast

1973 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57
Author(s):  
Donald J. Epp
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
World War ◽  
Rapid Population Growth ◽  
The Public ◽  
Considerable Concern

The rapid population growth of the United States and the well documented concentration of that population into a few major metropolitan areas has caused significant amounts of land to shift from agricultural to urban uses. Since World War II, the shifts in land use have caused considerable concern in the Northeast, particularly in those states containing parts of the BosWash megolopolis. Concern over the loss of open space land and the rapid decline in agricultural firms led several state legislatures to consider methods of halting, or at least controlling, the spread of cities into the rural hinterland. Maryland was the first state to pass legislation to protect open space and agriculture, enacting its law in 1955. Connecticut followed with its law in 1963 and New Jersey in 1964. All of these legislative acts declare that it is in the public interest to preserve open space lands, including farms and forests. The wording may vary from state to state but the intent is clear. These legislatures were trying to hold land in open space uses, or at least to avoid forcing their conversion because of high taxes.

“Self-Interest Well Understood”: The Origins & Lessons of Public Confidence in the Military

Daedalus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew A. Hill ◽  
Leonard Wong ◽  
Stephen J. Gerras
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Physical Defense ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
High Regard ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

In recent decades, the U.S. military has enjoyed high levels of public confidence. We argue that the rise (and sustainment) of public confidence in the military reflects two phenomena. First, the public has a high regard for the military and its mission, arising from a shift to a professional (nonconscript) force that is perceived to be competent, fair, and accountable. Second, the public has little fear of military abuses in the domestic arena, owing chiefly to the reduced domestic presence of the military in the post – World War II era, with less emphasis on the physical defense of the homeland; and to the military's careful cultivation of an apolitical culture since Vietnam. We conclude with a brief discussion of the military's efforts to develop and encourage public-mindedness among its members, and the challenges to replicating the military approach in other institutional settings.

scholarly journals Media’s Portrayal of Homosexuality and Rape as a Reflection of Cultural Acceptance?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina C. Touitou
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Video Clip ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Taboos ◽  
Short Video ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

The study focuses on media’s portrayal of homosexuality as a reflection of cultural acceptance in the society. The first representation of gay men in the United States to a national audience occurred in 1967 with the airing of a documentary titled “The Homosexuals,” which is filled with harmful, derogatory stereotypes etc. The fact that homosexual characters were mostly guest stars as opposed to leading characters also suggests that gay activist were taking a less radical approach by attempting to improve acceptance of homosexual. In Nigeria, homosexuality is a taboo, abnormal and not accepted. The media can and has with some degree of success helped break down the cultural taboos associated with sensitive sexual topics and bridge some gaps in our sexual knowledge. The paper adopted empirical secondary data, and employed cultivation theory. It proved that the media have power in shaping people’ believe and perception, and can form or modify the public opinion in different ways depending on what the objective is. For example, Pakistani media influenced the opinion against the Taliban in Swat by repeated telecast of a video clip showing whipping of a woman by a Taliban. Before that, the public opinion over the military action against the Taliban was divided, but repeated telecast of this short video clip changed the public opinion overnight in favor of the government to take action. The paper recommended that the media should take a firm stand, not playing two-edge sword on  the reportage of homosexuality, and should remain a ‘watchdog’ and the ‘mirror’ of the society.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's Letters to Genevieve Taggard

PMLA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-220
Author(s):  
Sylvia Townsend Warner ◽  
Laurel Harris
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Home Front ◽  
World War ◽  
New Yorker ◽  
The Public ◽  
New York Public Library ◽  
Sylvia Townsend Warner

In september 1941, shortly before the united states entered world war ii, the british writer sylvia townsend warner wrote a note to the American poet Genevieve Taggard, thanking her for sending a poem. An epistolary relationship developed between the two writers, though Taggard also sent material gifts of spices, tea, rice, and seeds to alleviate the deprivations that Warner and her partner, Valentine Ackland, faced in war-battered England. Eighteen letters, all from Warner to Taggard, remain of this correspondence, which ended with Taggard's death in 1948. They are housed in Taggard's papers at the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library. Although Taggard's letters to Warner have been lost, Warner's letters to Taggard reveal a literary friendship that is at once partisan and poetic. These private letters, like the public “Letter from London” columns by Warner's fellow New Yorker contributor Mollie Panter-Downes, vividly portray the English home front to an American audience.

Demilitarization and Democratization in the Post–World War II World

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Trombley Averill
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Atomic Bomb ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
United States Occupation ◽  
The Military

This chapter looks at how, in the former Axis powers of Japan and Germany, the United States occupation authorities initially pursued policies that treated democratization and demilitarization as virtually synonymous. They believed a democracy could not flourish in either Japan or the Federal Republic of Germany until the military traditions had been purged from their national character and consciousness. The former aggressors faced total disarmament. Initial plans—embodied most drastically by the Morgenthau Plan to turn Germany into a pastoral country—were severe and uncompromising. However, once the Soviet Union had successfully acquired the atomic bomb, the United States concluded that measured rearmament in both countries was essential for the defense of democracy and the free world.

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