The chapter regarding the interview of Wallace Rasmussen was very thought provoking, It attempts to prove to the treader that social Darwinism is very prevalent in our society today and basically dictates the success of one's economic career. The text contained many examples of how humans are similar to animals in the fact that only the most aggressive will survive when it speaks of the bull elk. Within this paragraph he says "The male does not fight to be fighting; he fights to protect his territory. you could always tell the survivors because they were always in there punchin'. Takes a lot to get them upset. They would swing with whatever comes along. To me, That's a survivor". With this passage he is explaining that the key to success is not only to attempt to defeat every challenge thrown your way, but to attempt to complete it with every force of being within you and with an unconscionable amount of determination. I was at first Skeptical of the reading's main ideas but as i progressed through the pages i found that the ideas did hold truth to the real world.
The chapter containing the interview with C. P Ellis was also very interesting because it told the reader how and why this man became a Klans member. It told the sad story of his childhood and how his family had had enough time keeping their job, paying rent and putting food on the table. Ellis says that while he was going through these harsh time he noticed that people needed something tangible to blame for their problems. He says in the chapter " I didn't know who the blame. I tried to find somebody. I began to blame it on black people. I had to hate somebody. Hatin' America is hard to do because you can't see it to hate it. You gotta have somthing' to look at to hate. The natural person for me to hate would be black people," . This Misplaced hatred, to me, seems to be the reason why racism became so prevalent during this time period. Everybody need somebody to blame for their problems and hardships given to them by the economy and an easy target at the time was colored peoples. It was only made easier for him to have these hateful thought because of the separation between colored people and whites at the time. He had never given a colored person a chance to change his mind and simply blindly believed in his fathers ideas. It was only after working with Ann and finding common ground with was he ever able to consider the idea of liking her and saying " I tell ya, that girl and i worked together good. i begin to love the girl, really."
