EXTRA CREDIT

Did Venice rise? Or did Genoa fell?
While Venice and Genoa experienced success during the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, Venice did indeed rise as Genoa fell in the late fourteenth century. Or rather Venice appeared to rise when in actuality it simply managed to continue to thrive while Genoa simply got the short end of the stick and could not continue to thrive. Genoa's inability to recover from the Black Death and the late fourteenth and then early fifteenth century naval defeats at the hand of Venice contributed to Genoa's fall. Genoa also lost commercial dominance and relevance due to other European competitors infringement upon Genoa's hegemony on the North Sea and unstoppable Central Asian fragmentation and fission disrupted transit trade. On the other hand Venice, which experienced the Black Death and the Great Depression, possessed a southern sea route that fortunately enabled Venice to monopolize the eastern trade- in narrower terms. Overall it was the sea routes that seemed to shape the fates of Venice and Genoa.

What does Hobsbawm mean by exoticism?
According to Hobsbawm, exoticism is a by-product of European expansion since the sixteenth century. Non-Europeans were treated as the moral barometer of European civilizations; they were considered beneath Europeans. Due to increased accessibility and global communication, the exotic became a component of western education on a daily basis in the form of novels geared towards young males (ie, Rohmer and May). Exoticism became an ideology, a reinforcement and justification for imperialism, since it reinforced European superiority. (Exoticism did provide intellectuals the ability to contemplate the differences between the western and the exotic, creating scholarships and theoretical reflections that contributed to the transformations of western social sciences.) Exoticism also permeated the art world and took an equal position in this sphere.

Is American pop culture similar to political propaganda?
American pop culture is similar to political propaganda, especially if one applies the critical approach to pop culture. Propaganda is a type of communication that has the intention to influence the attitudes of a community. Political propaganda certainly uses particular wording and imagery to strongly suggests a point of view to communities in order to solidify power. In terms of pop culture, one can definitely argue (and agree with Ardono and Horkeimer) that this phenomena can be compared to political propaganda: the addictive and influential films and music shaped by culture-producing firms solidify their power and social dominance. Culture is a form of social dominance and capitalism fuels the tools to manipulate culture. Pop culture can be used to highlight certain viewpoints/agendas that communities focus on rather than the reality, which parallels to political propaganda and its ability to influence communities to focus on certain issues that might be irrelevant, nonsensical, and detrimental to the community as a whole.

Why was religion suffering a crisis in the Western culture? How about today?
Religion suffered a crisis in Western culture because of the advancements of science and technology. Prior to the leap of scientific advancements, Western society applied 'intuition', 'common sense', 'essences', 'purpose of nature' etc. to explain the nuances of life. These supernatural or miraculous applications are buttressed in religion. The burgeoning of science divorced such applications and mathematics in particular helped articulate a new way to define the universe. Science simply created a intellectual autonomy that diminished the reliance upon religion which correlates to the rise of materialism during the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, religion is certainly suffering a crisis in Western culture. Today's Western culture (Granted, Western culture is diverse and there are still communities that rely heavily upon religion)- because of the defined secular and religious boundaries set due to the late 19th century- uses morality as the barometer for religious significance in one's life. An example is the Catholic Church and their distasteful cover ups of pedophilia. This causes people who associate themselves as Catholic question being apart of a religion that could participate such evil.

-Lolia