Author: Joshua Corallino

The Turner Diaries…quite the infuriating read. It’s no wonder William Pierce would want to publish this novel under a pseudonym, because why would a neo-nazi and white supremacist be honest about their identity. This ‘novel’ is really just a fabricated series of diaries which spatter hatred towards minorities, particularly black individuals, in a made-up propaganda like fashion. I found heavy similarities to “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” with this text. The whole text feels like a radically far-right utopian text, but a dystopian to anyone else. The text’s main character, Earl Turner, commits heinous acts in rebellion against a system that ‘systematically oppressed’ white individuals. It is, however, impossible to ignore Turner’s use of racial slurs and derogatory language when referring to minorities throughout the text. The end of the “revolution” ends in a White Supremacist ideal where minorities are once again persecuted and killed. It’s clear that this text is a morbid fantasy of a Neo-Nazi’s desire to be the oppressed, so he gets an opportunity to retaliate against the communities he hates. It’s a sort of ‘role-reversal’ which attempts to rationalize murdering minorities. It’s putrid.

The violence within the text did inspire violence in the real world. As his ideas sparked many terrorist attacks including the Oklahoma City Bombing. His beliefs were so right-wing that they inspired the end of this novel to be an ultimate extermination of all non-white people, a Final Solution if you will. Pierce was, unfortunately, a very educated man who had an education in Physics. In my opinion, the most terrifying part of reading this text is understanding that Pierce received an extensive education, and still wound up releasing such hateful and violent rhetoric. Pierce had a gun business which was closed due to the Gun Control Act of 1968, which most likely influenced the Gun Control Act from The Turner Diaries. It’s evident that he didn’t care about the government’s plans even if they were right-wing, he wanted nothing but violence and destruction for the minorities of America. Pierce died of Kidney Failure in 2002, just after delivering his final speech calling for the national alliance of white supremacists and neo-nazis, the speech was given on Hitler’s birthday. After his death, these ideas of national alliance began to dissipate, and Pierce’s son would release a text of his experiences with his father, and the text criticized his father’s views.

Kaczynski’s article poses a detailed social analysis, in which he discusses the sociological and psychological effects of the Industrial Revolution on society. The structure of the text is broken down into sections each continuing a numbered list of his points. I found this text to be quite an interesting read, and his psychological analysis of Leftism and how people respond to “political correctness” was a great introduction to how an industrial society affects people’s mental states. He describes the modern working person’s need for autonomy in their life, and diagnoses the symptoms of a machine of the industrial society. He breaks down the issues of an industrial society as it relates to people’s freedom and spontaneity, and how true freedom is essentially impossible in an industrial world. He mentions, also, the environmental effects of industry—as it relates to people’s mental state. All of this builds up to a call for revolution. He explains that revolution, although it brings much more change than reform, is easier to spark. After all, it was a revolution that brought this Industrial society to form, so a revolution should be the quickest way to make change. However the article soon makes a shift towards Kaczynski’s radical and violent tendencies. He wrote this article hidden away in a cabin after bombing 26 people, and murdering three. It was his understanding that the people he attacked were advancing technology, and therefore contributing to a rise in industrial society. Therefore, this article is truly a manifesto fostered by Kaczynski’s fear and speculation of technologies danger to society. Understanding this context helps to comprehend why his manifesto would end in revolution through terrorism, and why the FBI would grant him the name, the Unabomber. This name was given to him before his true identity was known, and it would be his brother who recognized the writing style of his manifesto, and reported him to the FBI. This, to me, is another example of how fear and speculation can feed into someone’s radicalism and cause them to take extreme measures to make the change they want to see in the world. Although Kaczynski may have made good social commentary, the incitement of violence and terrorism in the text is undeniable. 

The Anarchist Cookbook accumulates everything deadly and fear-striking in an instructional text aimed at the average American citizen. The text truly follows anarchist ideals by providing average people with deadly and powerful information, and the ultimate goal of anarchical revolution. In the first chapter, “Drugs,” Powell claims that the use and sale of drugs is pioneering a new revolution in America. He claims that drug use allows people to see the world freely and reveal aspects they hadn’t seen before, and the restriction of drugs by the government provides an underground for people to take advantage of. The second chapter provides information on surveillance systems used by the government. He outlines methods in which the government watches over underground movements, and commands the subjects of his revolution to remain updated with modern technology. He claims the importance of any revolution is passion and practicality, practicality meaning precision and carefulness. The final chapters are all about weapons that could be used in the revolution. Quite honestly, I feel that this text is absolutely insane. The concept of outlining not only an anarchical revolution, but also outlining the violent weapons and explosives you plan to use in this revolution is wild to me. I find it hard to believe that this is a serious call to action. He literally states how closely the government watches underground movements like this, and then writes a whole book about it! As if the government wasn’t already ‘listening’ as he claims, but then he put it in writing. I think he’s absolutely out of his mind for creating this. However, in context, I believe that this isn’t a call to action, but a protest. Understanding the time in which this text was created, the Vietnam War, makes protest evident. William Powell was a teenager when he wrote it, after hearing stories from Vietnam veterans he decided to write the Cookbook. His ultimate goal for the text was to incite the general population with knowledge, just knowledge. Knowledge of posing threats to fascism, capitalism, and communism. He wasn’t telling people to start throwing molotov cocktails at presidents and senators, but he was informing the public. A text that is purely informational, but still implies outrageous violence and chaos.

The SCUM Manifesto is a complicated and mind-boggling read. It follows a stream of consciousness, from a criticism of men and male qualities to a deliberate call to action. The whole time I was reading this I could only wonder, Is this satire? The provocative and offensive language used throughout the text such as homophobic slurs and statements, foul sexual words, and a tone of pure hatred all seem far too extreme for this to be a serious text. However, the author herself proclaimed that this was a call to action. Overall, the text reflects Solanas’s feminist views, radical. Extremely radical. A form of feminism that seems to transcend all ideologies of equality, equity, and inclusivity; ends up with the eradication of men and an entirely female world. In fact, one of the first points she makes is that women are able to reproduce without men, and therefore men are a strange obscurity of nature. Her points are so far out and so radicalized, but at the same time difficult to argue. She makes herself very clear throughout the text and uses harsh language to shock the readers. Perhaps that’s what this text is about, shock factor. Does she really want to get rid of men in this bizarre manifesto? Or perhaps does she want to shock men; analyze them and ridicule them so sternly that they begin to question their own humanity. There is certainly a psychological aspect to this text. I believe that it isn’t her overall SCUM idea that terrifies me, but it’s her deep rooted—and fairly accurate—deconstruction of men that shakes up the common ideologies of feminism. I suppose this raises a question: how radical is too radical? The discussion of morality in this text opens up a can of worms that makes me anxious to hear other people’s thoughts on this text.

In my paper, I want to focus on women in America during World War II, and highlight their efforts towards supporting the war. With men overseas, women took their places in the work force and even took jobs in the military. All while caring for their children and their homes. Propaganda began to spread during Hitler’s rise to power, with overdramatic articles claiming that Hitler banned cosmetics. Therefore, patriotic red shades of lipstick became quickly popular and marketed well in America. The attitude towards beauty and cosmetics in America quickly shifted from rebellion against Hitler, to morale. Women were told ‘beauty is your duty’ during the war, and it was crucial to keeping morale up for the men fighting. Beauty became a market during the war, and companies sold cosmetics with patriotic packages telling women that it was their job to present beautifully to support the war effort. Some of the cosmetic products produced during this time revolutionized the beauty industry, both by popularizing certain colors and by evolving the packaging and formulas of makeup. My goal is to investigate the evolution of cosmetics in America throughout the war and reveal the ways that it changed makeup even to this day. Some questions I want to answer: Was it for morale or defiance to Hitler? Did beauty actually support the war effort? How did cosmetic brands use the war to market their products? All of these questions I hope to answer to support my ultimate question. My sources will consist of cosmetics ads, magazines, pictures; letters, newspapers; and journals commenting on the state of femininity at the time. With all of this in mind, I hope to answer the question: How did World War II and American beauty standards in wartime influence and support the cosmetics industry?

World War II is often associated directly with the Holocaust. Rightfully so, as the Holocaust was one of the most detrimental disasters in modern history. It shaped the world and how we look at history today: giving us a lens of corruption of power, racial and religious injustice, and the lasting effects of genocide. Hitler’s rise to power came after his incarceration (of a crime that he committed), abuse of fear and speculation, and targeting a specific group of peoples as his scape goat. Do you see any parallels to today? That’s the importance of studying the Holocaust. 

Hitler’s greed and insatiable desire for control resulted in the near eradication of Jewish people in Europe; by turning his own country and the land he occupied into a machine that tortured, exploited, and killed them. His lust for power extended outward in all directions, and began to affect the people of other countries. Personally, I have read/seen a decent amount of literature and film about the French perspective in WWII. France seemed to be Hitler’s revenge plot during the war, as he toppled buildings, starved the people, and incited fear upon the entire nation. His occupation of the north of France saw no end of demolition, and Vichy France was made into a place of false hope. Vichy France was meant to make people think they were free, but the government fell into direct control from the axis powers. Even in this ‘free zone’ of France Nazi soldiers would quarter in the people’s homes, take food away from the people, and take French Jews away to conversion camps. French police in Vichy would also arrest Hitler’s targets and turn them into the Nazis. France was completely in Hitler’s hands, even the ‘free’ part. 

France is just a prime example of Hitler’s power. In the Eastern European countries he occupied he built his concentration camps. These ‘work camps’ differed in their purposes. People were moved to the camps in terrible conditions: packed into train cars with no room to move. On the camps, families were separated. Typically, women would move one way, and men in the other. The men would be put to work based on their physical condition, and women most likely killed. Even after these men were put to work, they would often be relocated to different camps, sometimes to ‘death camps.’ Death camps are exactly what they sound like —designed to kill the people he captured. Auschwitz was one of the largest, and was actually a conglomerate of multiple camps. The most notable being Auschwitz II – Birkenau, which was a termination camp. Hitler followed a tight routine of exploiting his captives for labor, and then massacring them once they had been worked nearly to death.  

Hitler’s abuse, torment, and murdering of these target groups served as his ‘Final Solution’ of a powerful expansive nation in which there were no Jews, and he maintained ultimate power. His actions caused fear amongst everyone in the world, and more particularly in his nation and the lands he occupied. Fear mongering became his model:  in occupied lands leaflets would fall from the sky and propaganda spread like wildfire. 

When the allied troops landed on the beaches and the Song of Autumn played on French radio stations, liberation began. However, the effects of this war never ended. Its scars are seen all over the world today in modern genocides and governments. The importance of learning and comprehending the holocaust is to understand the ways that fear, corruption, and injustice can dominate and trap the world in a cage of destruction.

Looking into the context of Mein Kampf can seem intimidating until you realise that much of it consists of Hitler’s youth and many issues he had leading up to the text. Being from Vienna, he was surrounded by a lot of news and literature that was written by Jewish authors. The introduction alludes to the idea that Hitler’s exposure to this literature could have inspired his writing style, but that’s neither here nor there. The important part is that Austria-Hungary, particularly Vienna, was considered a ‘cultural mixing pot.’ Hitler’s experience of this culture during his youth gives background to his understanding of the Jewish people, and also could help his bias against them. Additionally, his father served Austria’s Hapsburg state; Hitler’s detest for his father also contributed to his hatred for his home and the people within it. Hitler’s daddy issues are definitely reflected in his writing, as seen in the first few chapters. Also, Hitler’s overall search for validation and power could reflect his issues with his father. When Hitler moved to Munich in 1913, he faced issues with citizenship after he declared himself ‘stateless.’ He appears as a normal working class man for just over a year until The Great War begins in 1914. In the war, he was highly appreciated and even became a corporal. He was awarded several decorations and continued his position in Munich until the end of the war. Perhaps his love for militarism and performance in the war inspired the Nazi party. The end of the war came as a great shock to him—and all Germans. The war reparations, fear in Germany, and the translation of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” all influenced Hitler’s concepts and (frankly neurotic) ideas in Mein Kampf. Soon after, his failed coup known as The Beer Hall Putsch lands him in prison and gives him the wonderful solitary confinement required to write a book with such twisted and paranoiac contents. The book is an amalgamation of his crooked militaristic tendencies and paranoia against the Jews. In addition to his anger stemming from imprisonment, failure at art school, and a rocky childhood.

Chapters seven and eight of Mein Kampf comprise very complicated and nearly nonsensical accounts of Hitler’s experience with his party. In chapter seven, he discusses his issues holding meetings with his party. He details the hecklers and lack of peace in the Socialist party’s meetings and how he twists it into good press.

Firstly, the color of the Socialist party matches the red of the Marxists. Hitler explains that the red color draws in oppositions to the Socialist party in order to accumulate press —bad press or good press. He actually spends a lot of time discussing color in this chapter. He discusses the colors of the German flag, and how they beautifully represent the country. He describes his conflict with the Marxist party and cites a superstition that the Jewish people are in control of it. He draws working class people in using these colors and bad press, and converts them from hecklers to members of the Socialist party. He then complains about the police restricting his party’s meetings, and here we see ‘his struggle.’ He clearly displays egocentric and maniacal views in this section and you can see the cracks forming here. 

In chapter eight, he discusses the comfort that many people find in union. People have desires to form parties, religions, and other groups that connect them with other people. However, these groups separate themselves from each other, meaning that when a common threat appears the individual fighter appears. Those able to break free from their respective groups will grow strength. I think he says this purely to cope with the fact that nobody wanted to deal with him, and he was forced to be alone in prison. Everything he discusses will give you a migraine and make you wonder how he could actually convince anyone that these ideas hold validity. 

The Protocols schematically describe an elaborate conspiracy against the Jewish people —that we know. But where did this document come from? What was the original purpose of its publication? The answer is a Russian newspaper in 1903. Pavel Krushevan was the first publisher of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and it was published in the newspaper he owned. Krushevan was a right-wing imperialist who pushed heavily antisemitic views through his publications. The original publication came during a time of improvement in the world: improvements in communication and printing, for example. After years of antisemitism in the world, particularly in Russia, conspiracies that the Jewish people were responsible for these advancements began to spark. The publication of the Protocols further perpetuated (and expanded on) these conspiracies against the Jewish people. Later, in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution occurred which transformed Russia into its communist state, and Jewish people were then speculated as the root cause of communism. The Protocols were officially published soon after in 1919, and by 1925 the protocols had been translated in multiple languages and spread across Europe and the United States of America. English journalists would soon debunk the Protocols as a false conspiracy, however the case was different in America. Henry Ford would read the protocols and be inspired to write The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, another antisemitic conspiracy. This paired with the rising Nazi party in Germany, Hitler’s speeches and autobiography Mein Kampf, and fear mongering in Germany perpetuated and supported Hitler’s principles in his beliefs. 

In a modern lens, the Protocols still have an effect to this day. In the 1980s, the terrorist organization Hamas cited and endorsed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in its goals of annihilating the Israeli state. This of course would spiral into a long standing conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization, and eventually the stage for the modern conflict between Israel and Palestine. That conflict goes to show how harmful and explosive propaganda can be in a long term sense. Millions of lives were lost in the holocaust due to the Nazi regime and Hitler’s control. Thousands of lives have been lost in Palestine, and Israel continues ongoing assaults on multiple countries in the Middle East. The antisemitism and fear that the Protocols generated may not be the direct cause for these conflicts, but its footprints can be found in all of them.

“The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is frankly one of the most disturbing texts to read on a psychological level. I mean disturbing in the sense that it displays the most manipulative qualities of propaganda. It attempts to build suspicion and false rhetoric throughout.

It immediately begins by dehumanizing the Jewish people and refers to them as “wild beasts which we call men.” The narrative aims to recount every issue the author has with this group of people. He details a political model very similarly to Hitler’s: violence is key, confiscation of property, and producing blind submission. It uses fear and speculation to suggest a fascist model of leadership. The text even details a loss of privileges of people in order for the government to maintain control. The themes of manipulation and corruption are clear as day throughout the text, clear enough to make me wonder about the legitimacy of this text. It almost seems obviously satirical! As if this text was mocking the ideas sprouting up around that time. I feel that this just goes to show the outrageous and dangerous nature of this propaganda.

A text that seems to insist upon itself quite a lot; it aims to build speculation and a false rhetoric of the Jewish people in general. The text was made at a time where fear and propaganda could spread like wildfire, and fear is what Hitler would use to gain power. 

As you progress, it’s chilling how twisted this text truly gets. Something I find interesting is that the text is written in first person, as if the author is including us in this ‘movement’ they are speaking of. They try to trap the reader in this mindset, and manipulate the reader into feeling like they’re part of something. It encapsulates you in its wickedness and exposes you to the sickest form of control: control used to gain power and eradicate an entire people. I didn’t like this text very much.

When looking into Marquis De Sade’s life and actions he committed, it makes The 120 Days of Sodom all the worse. De Sade was imprisoned at the Bastille at the time he wrote it, but that wasn’t his first imprisonment! Marquis De Sade took part in many disgusting and torturous acts involving prostitutes that he would employ, bring to his home, hold them there, and torture them. So much so, to the point that one of these women went to the police and showed the scars she had obtained, and then De Sade was imprisoned. Not for long was he jailed, as he was soon freed to re-indulge in these horrific acts. His wife would become his accomplice, and he would return to this life of debauchery.

Later he would be imprisoned at the Bastille where he wrote that book. After the storming of the Bastille he was moved to an asylum until 1790, then his wife left him, which prompted him to write Justine. De Sade’s legacy soon ends in the early 1800’s, a man related to royalty who spent his life indulging in the deepest wells of sin and sodomy. You’d think The 120 Days of Sodom was a satirical criticism of French elites, but knowing his background and actions one could argue that it’s just his fantasies and twisted thoughts put on paper (toilet paper to be exact.)

In a modern lens, Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Birthday Book’ was just made public. After skimming through the pages, I couldn’t help but see the parallels to De Sade’s work. Cryptic graphic messages and paragraphs detailing him threatening, abusing, and exploiting people. It’s truly disturbing, and the similarities to De Sade are undeniable. All I can say is the coincidence of discussing The 120 Days of Sodom at the same time that Epstein’s ‘Birthday Book’ is revealed only adds to the terror of the original work’s’ context.

The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis De Sade accumulates a disturbing, episodic, and trauma filled story. The text itself could traumatize any person unfortunate enough to read it, but it also opens up a very extreme and tribulated stance on royalty, bankers, leaders, and lawmakers. De Sade’s style of writing irks me, as he spends a majority of the beginning of the text expressing minute and sequential details that truly serve no purpose in the grand theme of the text. 

The descriptions of the characters is an extensive and overexplained section that highlights overgeneralized caricatures that exemplify different traits. Each character is described in a way that could make you fear them, and detest them just as much. Then comes the religious commentary and a (sort-of) explanation to their terrible and torturous deeds they will soon carry out. A lack of religion comes with a lack of virtue, and therefore a freedom to explore and indulge in infinite sin and vice. 

The storytellers function as a primary aspect in the story. They detail the pathway from trauma to prostitution —primarily religious trauma— and how it leads to a life dedicated to prostitution, trafficking, and exploitation of other young women. The act of forcing the children to listen to these horrifying stories whilst the ‘heroes’ listen with nothing on their mind but libertinage is in ways even more horrifying than the physical acts committed on the children. The book is incredibly descriptive in parts, and vague in others. It seems that De Sade’s intention was to highlight the corruption of all of the characters in the text, and comment on the lack of humanity. Overall, the text culminates all of the worst possible things you couldn’t possibly think of. Trying to read more than 10 pages at a time proved to be a struggle, especially towards the end once De Sade goes completely off the rails and starts spitting absolute nonsense.

“A Modest Proposal” is quite the journey when reading it for the first time. Luckily, I read it in high school prior to this, so I knew what I was getting myself into. Reading for the second time did, however, give me the opportunity to really analyze the progression of the satirical elements and really focus on the dramatic shifts in the text. 

In the beginning, the text seems to be an analysis of overpopulation and poor people. It opens a simple — yet maniacal take on the issues — it reads almost completely serious. Then, a shift occurs where he begins discussing abortion, and alternate means of preventing poor people from having children. This section, although sensical (sort of,) makes it clearer to the reader that this is a satirical and extreme take on the subject matter. The author was surely meticulous in his construction of the text; he makes every topic seem wild and outlandish, but not unrealistic. This creates a natural progression of the satirical elements and builds the suspense for his final conclusion in his proposal. The text, at this point, mimics many solutions brought up by people for ‘handling’ oppressed or lower class people, and this section reveals the satirical elements more clearly. 

The ending to this text truly takes a turn for the bizarre and paramount, when it is said that we should eat the poor children! This becomes a satirical slap-in-the-face in case you didn’t already feel that this proposal was incredibly unorthodox. This section is almost laughably toyish with such a serious topic, it sets into stone the overall point of the text. Satire is meant to make a humorous comment on a serious topic. Satire does this not only to lighten the mood per se, but also to reveal issues with their dependent topics. A good satire, but a terrible proposal.

Reading these required extensive historical context, and the in class discussion helped clarify very well. I dwelled heavily on the words from the savior in these texts, specifically their contradiction to Christian practices. These comments heavily affected my interpretation of the texts, as nearly gnostic points of view. 

The Gospel of Mary of Magdala comments not only on sexism and the denial of women’s statements, but also on the concept of sin. I resonated heavily with the concept that sin does not exist, but that searching internally is the optimal approach to spirituality and religion. In Mary’s vision, Jesus describes the traits of wrath when discussing his views on sin (or the lack of it.) The reaction of the men in this text even further addresses their lack of genuine self connection. Levi coming to Mary’s defense by accusing Peter of displaying traits of wrath is an interesting and referential defense, which stems from the Savior’s words in Mary’s vision. This statement not only defends Mary, but also affirms the words of the Savior (the same words that confused the other men in the story.) All in all, I can see why this text is forbidden, and was so difficult to find. The contention around Christianity at the time that this text was written further adds to the reason behind why this text was written, and I’m glad that I read it!

I personally interpreted The Gospel of Judas as a commentary on the glamour of Christianity, and the many sacrifices that are made in the name of God. Jesus nearly mocks the disciples and their lack of true spirituality. The concept that some may practice religion rather than truly experience spirituality, is incredibly contradictory to many Christian normalities. Overall, the individual texts provide alternative points of view that I find quite interesting and very enjoyable to ponder!

This is hello.