Synthesis Paper: Should Governments and Politicians Meddle

in Cultural Issues
In this Inquiry Path assignment, I examined the ways in which governments
have been involved in cultural affairs both currently and in the past in order to help
better understand the answer to the original inquiry question. I did this while
attempting to keep my own opinion that government should intervene as a nonfactor to my research. There were quite a number of things I found in my research.
By looking at past events such as the founding of this country and the Civil Rights
movement and current events like the confederate flag being taken down, Donald
Trumps comments on Mexican immigrants, and the events taking place in Syria, I found
that whether people like it or not, government does in fact play a large role in the
cultural practices of people both in this nation and across the globe. The purpose of
this assignment was to provide a stand for someone trying to decide whether this is good
or bad for the progression of society. I think that most people will find based on my
inquiry path that government intervention in cultural affairs, for the most part,
accelerates the proper development of our behavior as a society.
When I first heard Trumps comments, I immediately dismissed them as
ignorant and over-generalized. Upon examining several different sources on this
matter, I realized that Trumps argument was not totally wrong, just misdirected.
First of all, unlike many of the media outlets claimed, he did not condemn all Mexican
immigrants, both illegal and legal. More so he blames the majority of illegal Mexican
immigrants for the rise in crime and rape cases. Bill OReilly, a fellow Republican of

Trumps, responds to these claims by telling the American people that Trump spoke too
generally. The vast majority of illegal aliens, as he put it, are not in fact responsible
for the rise in crime as they are predominantly uneducated workers simply looking to
feed their families. He also added that the rape is only due to the gangsters that make
money for their drug gangs by leading immigrants, many of them women, to the U.S.
across the border. Despite this correction OReilly then went on to refute Trumps
argument, stating that the vast majority of non-Americans imprisoned in the U.S. are
from Mexico, linking that to the fact that prisons are funded by the American tax dollar.
Throughout OReillys comments, he corrected Trumps statements and claimed that the
real source of the problem is poor law enforcement at the border. I know that they are
both Republicans and OReilly may be a bit biased but he presented his argument with
reason and justification. The government does have a duty to uphold its laws and the
border is a part of those laws.
Regarding the killing of the 9 black church members and the removal of the
Confederate battle flag that followed, the argument seemed to be whether or not the
government should have enforced that the flag be taken down. We know that many
people across the nation favored its removal and we know why. We also know that there
is a good number of people out there who harbor some racial resentment and want the
flag to be kept up. The rest are those who claim that the flag is not a symbol of hate, but
one of freedom. I think that the fact that the bill to remove the flag was passed so
swiftly reflects how the majority of the nation feels regarding the matter. Although
there were some heated debates within the South Carolina House, Representative Jenny
Horne summed it up beautifully when she said that if the bill was not passed at that time,

it would not be passed for a long time following and that would reflect the backwardness
of South Carolina as a state who after all these years, could still not relinquish the pass to
move towards the future.
The removal of the flag will soon be followed by a KKK rally where it once
stood. Could this legislation lead to a potential uprising? In the past, laws that displeased
people have been followed by historical events that shook the nation. The murder trial of
Emmett Till indirectly played a role in the start of the Civil Rights movement. The loss of
the Civil War by the Confederates led to the assassination of President Lincoln by John
Wilkes Booth. These uprisings, in my opinion, could hint at a future event that is based
on the legislation that was just passed.
The federal government often clashes with state governments, as well as the
governments of other nations. Relating to my original inquiry question, I was wondering
whether it would be best for the U.S. government to intervene in Syria. As of now,
the presence of ISIS makes it a 3-way civil war but in my research I took a source from
2013. The best thing to me about the prospect of intervening is putting an end to the
violence and letting the rebels hopefully spread democracy. On the other hand, one of my
sources strongly suggests that U.S. intervention will not cause an immediate fixture to the
problems, as we are not going to be able to immediately conquer the enemy. Based on
my conclusions from the other topics in my inquiry path, I have deemed that
intervention is perhaps the only way to end the fighting and allow them to progress
forward.

Works Cited:

"Donald Trump Presidential Speech Announcement 2016 - Donald Trump

Bashes Mexico Obamacare." YouTube. Ed. Peter Boyer. Fox News, 16
June 2015. Web. 14 July 2015.

O'Reilly, Bill. "Bill O'Reilly: The Vilification of Donald Trump over

Illegal Immigration." Fox News. FOX News Network, 7 July 2015. Web.
15 July 2015.

Horne, Jenny Anderson. "Rep. Jenny Horne on Confederate Flag Debate."

YouTube. YouTube, 9 July 2015. Web. 14 July 2015.

FAUSSET, R., & Blinder, A. (2015, July 9). South Carolina Settles Its
Decades-Old Dispute Over a Confederate Flag. The New York Times.
Retrieved July 14, 2015.

Grisham, Lori. "Ku Klux Klan Plans Rally at South Carolina Statehouse."
USA Today. Gannett, 2 July 2015. Web. 15 July 2015.

Jalon, Allan. "1955 Killing Sparked Civil Rights Revolution : Emmett Till:
South's Legend and Legacy." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 7
Oct. 1985. Web. 15 July 2015.

Fisher, Max. "Should the the U.S. Strike Syria? These Are the Five
Smartest Arguments." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 3 Sept.
2013. Web. 15 July 2015.