Prostitution is pregnant with disease, a disease infecting not only the guilty, but contaminating the innocent wife and child in the home with sickening certainty almost inconceivable; a disease to be feared with as great a horror as a leprous plague; a disease scattering misery broadcast, and leaving in its wake sterility, insanity, paralysis, the blinded eyes of little babies, the twisted limbs of deformed children, degradation, physical rot and mental decay.
--The Chicago Vice Commission
Please remember, as you read this, that America is becoming more and more un-American every day. Each ship, each train Westward or Eastward bound, is now daily dumping into our Land . . . thousands of the scum and vice criminal element of South Eastern Europe, Asia and the Orient, and remember too that a short five-years of residence here converts the filthiest criminal from Turkey, Arabia, Syria, Italy, or any place else where vice and brutality reign supreme, into an American citizen with the right to vote into office men who will and are sworn to protect and aid in every possible way the Jewish, Russian, French, or Chinese whore-master as he rents a shanty and proceeds to fatten on the very life-blood of the young girlhood of this and other lands.
--Dr. Jean Turner-Zimmermann, Chicago Rescue Mission and Woman’s Shelter
The Mann Act
James Robert Mann circa 1917 | Library Of Congress
One of the landmarks of Progressive Era legislation was the White Slave Traffic Act — better known as the Mann Act for its author, Illinois congressman James Robert Mann. The Mann Act made it a crime to transport women across state lines "for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose." While designed to combat forced prostitution, the law was so broadly worded that courts held it to criminalize many forms of consensual sexual activity, and it was soon being used as a tool for political persecution of Jack Johnson and others, as well as a tool for blackmail.
The Mann Act was born during the "white slavery" hysteria of the early 20th century. Along with other moral purity movements of the period, the white slavery craze had its roots in fears over the rapid changes that the Industrial Revolution had brought to American society: urbanization, immigration, the changing role of women, and evolving social mores. As young, single women moved to the city and entered the workforce they were no longer protected by the traditional family-centered system of courtship, and were subjected to what Jane Addams called the "grosser temptations which now beset the young people who are living in its tenement houses and working in its factories."
As Progressive Era social reformers (many of whom did not distinguish between sexually active women and prostitutes) began to call attention to what they saw as a widespread decline in morality, foreigners emerged as an easy target. Unfettered immigration provided an endless supply of both foreign prostitutes and foreign men who lured American girls into immorality. Muckraking journalists fueled the hysteria with sensationalized stories of innocent girls kidnapped off the streets by foreigners, drugged, smuggled across the country, and forced to work in brothels.
Millenarianism
the doctrine of or belief in a future (and typically imminent) thousand-year age of blessedness, beginning with or culminating in the Second Coming of Christ. It is central to the teaching of groups such as Plymouth Brethren, Adventists, Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Jehovah's Witnesses. Dictionary.Com
Millenarianism or millenarism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenarianism exists in various cultures and religions worldwide, with various interpretations of what constitutes a transformation. These movements believe in radical changes to society after a major cataclysm or transformative event.
Both millennialism and millenarianism refer to "one thousand". They both derive from the Christian tradition. Neither term strictly refers to "one thousand" in modern academic usage.
Millenarianism is used to refer to a more cataclysmic and destructive arrival of a utopian period as compared to millennialism which is often used to denote a more peaceful arrival and is more closely associated with a one thousand year utopia.
Christian millennialism is part of the broader form of apocalyptic expectation. A core doctrine in some variations of Christianity is the expectation that the Second Coming is very near and that there will be an establishment of a Kingdom of God on Earth. According to an interpretation of biblical prophecies in the Book of Revelation, this Kingdom of God on Earth will last a thousand years (a millennium) or more. Wikipedia
millennialism, the belief, expressed in the book of Revelation to John, the last book of the New Testament , that Christ will establish a 1,000-year reign of the saints on earth (the millennium) before the Last Judgment. More broadly defined, it is a cross-cultural concept grounded in the expectation of a time of supernatural peace and abundance on earth.
Millennialism offers a version of the fundamental eschatological belief that at the end of time (the “End,” or “Endtime”) God will judge the living and the resurrected dead. This belief in ultimate divine justice provides a rationale for theodicy, the reconciliation of God’s goodness with the existence of evil in the world. In providing solace for the suffering of countless generations of believers—Jews, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists—millennialism has had immense appeal in every age. Although its name comes from the 1,000-year period mentioned in the Revelation to John, millennialism is primarily concerned with the earthly nature of the coming “new world.” This radical transformation promises an end to existing institutions of power and, therefore, infuses millennial beliefs with a revolutionary quality that threatens those in authority. Britannica
To understand millenarianism, consider the following points:
Adventism
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (Second Advent) of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the US during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher William Miller first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as Millerites. After Miller’s prophecies failed, the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement. Wikipedia
Adventist, member of any one of a group of Protestant Christian churches that trace their origin to the US in the mid-19th century and that are distinguished by their emphasis on the belief that the personal, visible return of Christ in glory (i.e., the Second Coming is close at hand, a belief shared by many Christians. While most Adventist groups remain relatively small, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has become a significant global body, with congregations in more than 200 countries and a membership of more than 14 million.
Adventism is rooted in the millennial expectations recorded in the Bible. From their biblical study, the Adventists came to believe that, at the Second Coming, Christ will separate the saints from the wicked and inaugurate his millennial (1,000-year) kingdom. The Adventists’ emphasis on the Second Coming led many of them to predict the date of its occurrence.
Britannica
Great Pumpkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Pumpkin is an unseen character in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.[1] According to Linus van Pelt, the Great Pumpkin is a legendary personality who rises from the pumpkin patch on Halloween carrying a large bag of toys to deliver to believing children. Linus continues to maintain faith in the Great Pumpkin, despite his friends' mockery and disbelief.[2]
The Great Pumpkin was first introduced in the strip dated October 26, 1959,[3] and Schulz subsequently reworked the premise many times throughout the run of Peanuts, notably inspiring the 1966 animated television special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The strips of October 30, 1977 and October 26, 1986 both include a thematical illustration of the Great Pumpkin in the title panel, which is not part of the story of the strip.[4][5]
While Schulz usually avoided outright politics, he enjoyed his Great Pumpkin strips and incorporating religious references in many comics and animated cartoons.[6]
Premise
Linus awaits the Great Pumpkin with a sign welcoming it.
Each year Linus awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin in a pumpkin patch deemed most sincere and lacking in hypocrisy. The following morning, each year, an embarrassed yet undefeated Linus vows to wait for the Great Pumpkin again next Halloween. Linus acknowledges the similarities between the Great Pumpkin and Santa Claus (in the television special, Linus writes to the Great Pumpkin that Santa Claus has better publicity). Charlie Brown attributes Linus's belief in the Great Pumpkin to "denominational differences."
In the comic strip dated October 25, 1961, Linus explains: "There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."[7] This quote would later be said by Linus in the TV special. A few days later, Linus claims previously reported official sightings of the Great Pumpkin in Connecticut and Texas,[8] and Charlie Brown hears of a sighting in New Jersey.[9]
Linus remains faithful to the Great Pumpkin, even devising a Great Pumpkin Newsletter in comic strips dated October 1998.[10]
Religious metaphors
The Great Pumpkin has been cited as a symbol of strong faith and foolish faith, leading to vastly different interpretations of creator Charles Schulz's own faith. As described in the book on Schulz's religious views, A Charlie Brown Religion, Schulz's views were very personal and often misinterpreted.[6] Linus' seemingly unshakable belief in the Great Pumpkin, and his desire to foster the same belief in others, has been interpreted as a parody of Christian evangelism by some observers. Others have seen Linus' belief in the Great Pumpkin as symbolic of the struggles faced by anyone with beliefs or practices that are not shared by the majority.[11] Still others view Linus' lonely vigils, in the service of a being that may or may not exist and which never makes its presence known in any case, as a metaphor for mankind's basic existential dilemmas.[12]
Schulz himself, however, claimed no motivation beyond the humor of having one of his young characters confuse Halloween with Christmas. In the 1959 sequence of strips in which the Great Pumpkin is first mentioned, for instance, Schulz also has Linus suggest that he and the other kids "go out and sing pumpkin carols",[13] something which he also asks the trick-or-treating kids in the special itself.
The end is near jokes
Every time a little boy went to his
friend's house, he found the that his grandmother was always deeply engrossed
in her Bible. Finally his curiosity got the better of him.
“Why does your grandmother read the Bible so much?” he asked.
“I don't know,” said his friend, “but I think she’s cramming for her finals.”
A local priest and deacon stood by the
side of the road holding up a sign that read, “The End is Near! Turn yourself
around now before it’s too late!” They held up the sign to each passing car.
“Leave us alone you religious nuts!” yelled the first driver as he sped by.
From around the curve they heard a big splash.
“Do you think,” said one clergy to the other, “we should just put up a sign
that says ‘bridge is out’ instead?
