How Odin Prepared Earth for War in the Marvel Movie Universe

Being a historian, I end up looking at things, and trying to understand them, even when I shouldn’t. I have watched the neighborhood dogs for weeks now, and understand how they work their knowledge and thoughts to the other dogs. I have discovered that my dog loves to show off by playing fetch with me. She now has moments, walking past the fence to sort of just stretch, and show off her amazing ball. She may not even bring it back she is so busy showing off.

But enough about my dog, and her ways, this topic is on Comic book movies. I was going to do comics, but then I realized that I haven’t read them all, so there is no way I could do much. Comic book fans can be more factual than some professors I know. I want to talk about the Marvel Movie Universe, and a weird pattern I have been noticing in the films. This pattern then shows us a larger story that may explain the entire universe, and its story line.

The first movies we see are the XMen movies, and we are introduced to a world with a crisis, the people are changing with no real explanation. It is causing people to do all sorts of weird things, like shoot fireballs out of their eyes, make knives come out of their arms, and make an actor mostly known for musicals turn into an ultra awesome character.

These mutations are everywhere, and although people are asking questions, they really don’t know what is happening. Some are using these mutants as weapons, some are trying to pass legislation against the mutants, and others are just getting tired of living in New York where all of them hang out. For the XMen it just sort of happens, and we aren’t really told how or why, we simply accept that they now have these abilities.

Then we get into the other movies, and everything gets explained, but not in the way the writers, producers, and directors meant. It explains that humanity is not human, and now its starting to show.

Let’s start with Spiderman, the story we all know is that he is bitten by a spider. This gives him supernatural powers. In the Tobey Maguire Spiderman, we see Peter Parker walking into a major testing facility, and talk about all of the insects, and animals around him. He knows the scientific equipment, how it works, and the science behind them. In other words, he is a genius. During the tour, they point out that one of the spiders can change DNA. Parker notes this, but he doesn’t act surprised. Even when one of the DNA changing arachnids is missing, no one responds in fear. There is no claxon call, and they are not evacuated from the area. If the spider could cause horrible human mutations, this is what should have happened. It didn’t.

The thing is, the lab would have known this. They would have been testing the spiders, and how they work all the time. There would have been animal testing, and blood sample tissues. They would have had spider beagles hanging on the walls with a ball in their mouth. There would be rats throwing open cages, and webslinging out of the room. There would have been spider Spidermonkeys. None of this happened, the tests did not have any of these mutations at all. In other words, you would have gotten sick, but the spider could not cause the mutation that happened to Peter Parker.

Take a moment to let that in, the spider did not make spiderman. The entire idea was actually from his own response to being bit by a spider, and then noticing he had powers. The spider sense was mentioned as part of the tour. Peter Parker assumed it was the spider, and kept it at that.

The problem continues when you realize that the spider would have bit other people. So far, none of the workers at the lab are hanging upside down near the water cooler. The entire lab did not notice a spider missing, and does not view it as harmful. It has not caused any other human mutations, and very likely hasn’t caused anything else to turn into a spider like super being.

So, the entirety of the event is in Peter Parker’s mind, but he still has powers. We need an answer, and the Spiderman movies don’t really talk about it.

The same thing happens in the Incredible Hulk. Actually, it’s even worse. Bruce Banner is the same as Peter Parker, a freaking genius who studies radiation. He tests himself on a new formula that should make him immune to certain radiations. It turns out to be a superhuman formula, but there is a huge catch. No, not the hulk, we know about that. If he had studied the radiation, he would also have studied the human body, and how it reacts to the formula. Not only that, he would have done non human tests to see if it worked. If he didn’t, the military would have. Once again, there would have been evidence, and lots of it coming from the animals who were suddenly giant green monsters destroying the lab. Nothing happened at all. Banner is so accepting of the idea, he tests the formula on himself. He turns into the hulk, but it is not the formula, or the test that created the monster.

Tony Stark probably said it correctly in the Avengers when he pointed out that the radiation should have killed Banner. The only thing that saved the scientist was the Hulk. It wasn’t the formula, it was already in Bruce Banner the entire time.

Let’s talk about Tony Stark. He is a freaking genius. I think you should be noticing this much of the pattern already, but all of the people involved have above average IQ’s. Stark gets a PhD in robotics at 17. He is also near impossible to kill.

In the first movie, they show his military escort torn to pieces by gunfire. Bullets enter into his truck, and do not kill him. He runs out, and is blown up by a missile he designed himself. He survives with barely a scratch. Although we talk about the lead heading to his body, he has already been blown up, and shot. The lead should have killed him already, and yet he can still function, and build an entire suit of armor with barely anything in the form of technology.

Near the end of the movie, he kills the bad guy by blowing up one of his own buildings. The reaction is actually closer to him than the bad guy. Heck, by this time his suit doesn’t have power, and he has his helmet off. He should be vaporized, but isn’t. Not only that, his arc reactor turns back on after the attack. He is either really lucky, or he can survive a ton of firepower, and hasn’t caught on to it.

Now let’s go to the Fantastic 4. I am sure you have already caught on that if they are in space, doing astronaut stuff, they are really smart. When they are hit by some freak radiation, it turns them into super beings. The thing is, they each have different powers. This is even more perplexing when two of them are siblings. The brother can turn himself into flames, and his sister turns invisible. I won’t bore you with talking about the movies, but it doesn’t look like it was the freak accidents that caused the mutations. As much as Grimm would hate it, a part of him was always the Thing.

If you haven’t noticed this is four different sets of super heroes who seem to be having the same problem. They also have similar abilities, you just haven’t noticed it yet. Spiderman has something he calls his Spider sense. We see it working in the first movie, he can feel or know about everything around him. Daredevil has the same thing, he can’t see, but he still knows what is around him.

Actually, we have seen this with another super hero. Hawkeye in the Avengers can shoot an arrow through a jet turbine, and hit a target inside of the same engine. Even if he knew the schematics, he would have to know more about it in real time to make the shot. He straight up starts shooting stuff down without looking by the time the movie is in its climactic battle.

So we have a fairly good description of the common superhero in the Marvel movies. You are probably asking why I bring this up? The answer is that there is another character with the same abilities, and he is freaking Odin.

Thor pretty much explains to us what is going on, but never says it out loud. We see the story from Thor’s perspective, not his father’s, so we don’t catch on to what Odin knows.

When Thor is being crowned ruler of Asgard, his father stops the ceremony because he knows something is rampaging in the vault. Not only that, while he is just standing there, he activates a monster to attack the threat. Think about it for a minute, and ask yourself how Odin would view this, and then compare it to Daredevil, Spiderman, Hawkeye, and others. I am not saying that Odin fathered all of the mutants now showing up on earth. I am saying that Odin and the mutants are showing the same powers.

Let’s get back to Thor for a moment, we know his powers pretty well. He is nigh indestructible, has super strength, and can control the weather around him. We know he could survive a bullet to the head, because we see him survive things that would be way worse.

You will be stopping me right now, and say that Thor can’t control the weather, Mjolnir his hammer does that. The answer is yes and no. When he was battling it out with the heavies who surrounded his hammer, it started to rain. He knew it would, even though there were moments later when he was nearby it, and the air didn’t even have clouds. In other words, he was activating the rain, and he was using Mjolnir as a way to focus that ability. This works the same as when he controls the flight of the hammer, or summons it to him. His father taught him how to use his powers, by setting the hammer as a way to focus. He couldn’t lift the hammer up with his own strength, he had to use his abilities to do it.

If you watched the movie carefully, you would have realized that Thor in mortal frame had some connection to his powers. He could make it rain while fighting it out with others. In fact, he was hit by a car, slammed in the face by some very big men, and it doesn’t show up on his body. He somehow healed himself from the fights, even though he was mortal.

But it gets even weirder, Odin was controlling Thor’s powers. He set up a way for Thor to feel, and use the powers in a limited way. Odin would know what the average human would be like, and yet he let his son have some control over himself. The only logical conclusion is that Odin knows what is happening to earth, and even supports it in some way.

At one point in the movie, Thor says that Magic and Science are the same thing where he lives. This is pretty accurate since the man can control the weather around him, but perhaps there is more to this. With the powers he holds, he can sense the electricity, and various particles around him. This would give him an edge in the knowledge of science, he could tell how things worked, because his powers allowed him to sense and even control things around him.

Let’s go back to the previous heroes; Spiderman is a genius, who can survive a deadly bite from a spider. Tony Stark is a genius, that seems to have better control of a super suit than anyone else, Bruce Banner is a genius that knows radiation in ways that few others could, and the fantastic 4 could all be described with the same descriptions as well. In other words, these superheroes are likely Asgardians. They have limited control over their abilities, and use them for science, and games of poker. They don’t know what is going on, and just assume that everyone else can do what they can do.

Then the cataclysmic event happens, and their powers turn on completely. In the case of Bruce Banner it is to the point that he is a completely different person. In the Avengers he talks about being a nerve opened up to all the world. He feels overwhelmed, and assumes that it is his own anger that is causing it. To calm collected Bruce Banner, his own powers are pure emotion hitting him at a sudden, and completely overpowering state. It would be like giving a kid who just got off his training wheels, a full man sized motorbike. He really can’t control it at first.

The ability is so foreign to the people who have them, that they only see what it does within their own understanding. Wolverine sees a healing ability, and claws. The Fantastic 4 see their own bodies as changeable, and not even in the same way. Magneto sees his powers as only magnetic. It makes sense in their minds, so they use it in that way.

This brings up the webshooter in spiderman. Whether it is being flung from his actual wrists, or from a device he made, Peter Parker believes it is from spiders. His own mind believes that this is something that spiders do, and since everything was caused by spiders, he must also be able to do this. He can walk on walls, swing on a web, and lift far more than his own weight, because he believes the spider did it.

For every superhero, there is an origin story, and then they use that to constantly remind themselves of their own powers. So it is a recursive thought process that makes them always have the same abilities. There are exceptions like Jean Grey who learned to control her abilities so well that she could control oceans if she chose, but still in her mind, there are limits. At one point she kills herself, because she believes it is the only way to stop a torrent of water.

Within the knowledge of Asgard, these people would be known as magical. Some of them have abilities they can use that are beyond our imagination. One guy is set as the guardian of the land, because he can see all other planets perfectly. He is very likely blind, because he has no need for normal sight.

So, there is a very high likelihood that Odin has been working to get Asgardian blood into humanity. The next question is why?

At this point we need to point out Loki. He looks Asgardian, but is actually Jotun. This doesn’t mean much, except that he also isn’t as tall as Jotun, or as strong. He also has incredible abilities to transform the area around him. His friends call him a sorcerer, because he can change the area around him, change shape, and even control matter around him. When he is crowned king, he seems to have the same powers as his father. Thor even speaks to him directly when the monster from the vault is attacking.

The abilities of Loki show that he is more than just a frost giant. When Odin found him in the church, he was blue. When Loki was held by Odin, the baby changed everything about him to look like Odin. It wasn’t even looking, Loki suddenly had Odin’s abilities as well. Odin caught on to this quickly, and decided to keep the child safe from danger. He raised the boy as his own son, and made sure he had the best childhood possible.

If Loki really can do these things, than he is more than just a Jotun. Laofi, the king of the Jotun knew this, and wanted to use him as a weapon. We know this because the child was placed in a church. We also know that Odin found him. Why would Odin be looking inside of a church after a war? Because his information said that the reason for going to war was right there.

He didn’t just take Laofi’s power, Odin took the reason for the war in the first place.

So what does this have to do with people on earth? The beginning of Thor has an entire invasion of earth by the Jotun. They don’t just jump in, and then leave. The biggest most powerful weapon is pulled out to wipe out the entire planet. The only reason it was stopped was because of Asgard. This part you get. The part you didn’t get was that Earth is also called midgard, or the place that all of the realms connect to.

It isn’t said out loud, but if earth is the central location for the many realms, then it would be important to other planets as well. Earth is somehow the jumping point to thousands of different star systems, making it one of the most dangerous places to live. Laofi didn’t invade earth to take on mortals, he invaded it to take over the other lands.

As you saw with Loki, if he touches someone, he gains their power. Imagine someone like that being used as the head of your war. You would be nearly unstoppable. Laofi was trying to take over everything, and Odin was forced to call forth his entire army to stop him. This was at tremendous expense of lives, and workforce, and Asgard may not be able to survive something better organized.

So, Odin hid Loki away to keep him safe from any more war bands. He raised the boy as his own son as a way to make sure he was always taken care of. He acted surprised when Loki turned out to have tremendoes skills in magic and learning. He even loved the boy, and couldn’t tell him the truth even when the boy was screaming at him for answers. Would you be able to tell your son that he is a nuclear bomb in a war older than even you are?

If this sounds like the best move for Loki, then what about Earth? It is still out in the open, and the civilization sitting on it are still using metal swords, and learning how to use basic musketry. They would be easy prey to any of the more powerful planets. Odin had to do something to protect earth, and not let it destroy his own kingdom. So, he armed earth.

This didn’t go unnoticed. I am sure you have some heroes in mind that don’t fit the Asgardian profile. Iceman, Mystique, and nightcrawler seem to gain their powers from Jotun, or even something like Loki. The game of placing seed in humanity seems to be a part of a larger war going on.

The one playing it the best is by and far Odin, and this is not his only game with earth.

When you watch Captain America, you find out that the Red Skull was looking for specific items left over by the Agardians. They were not just left, they were given. We know this because the church shows symbols of Ygdrasil on it. Heck, the tesseract was inside of the wall carving of Ygdrasil. The priest says it is not for mortal hands to hold.

We are left with an even more difficult question when we see the power of the tesseract in the hands of the Red Skull. He uses it as a purely energy release mechanism. The matter proves to be great as a weapon. Then in the Avengers, we see that it can open portals anywhere in space. Take a moment, and think about everything it can do, and ask yourself if you would leave it on earth.

Would you leave the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in the middle of New York City, with instructions on how to use it? No, that would be dumb. Odin did this, and he is the same guy that is mysteriously letting Asgardians spread their powers throughout the world. He is up to something, and we do have quite a bit of information on it.

First off, we need to follow the Tesseract to see what it does for earth. Schmidt does use it, but it is ultimately Tony Stark’s dad who figures it out. We know he did this because Captain America showed Mr Stark testing it, and then picking it back up in search of Steve Rogers. We then see another glimpse of it, but in a sideways glance in Iron Man II. The entire cure for Stark’s suit, and his arc reactor is a substance that looks remarkably like the material found in the tesseract. Stark Sr. had given his son the information through code, so Tony did not realize what it was at first. By the time we are watching the Avengers, Tony has figured out how to power an entire city with one small arc reactor. The tesseract becomes a scientific breakthrough that changes the entire world.

This leads us to realize what was happening, Odin gave earth the ability to fight back.

In Thor someone makes a comment that visiting earth was where you throw lightening bolts, and declare yourself a god. Keep in mind, Thor was a baby during the war with the Jotun. He had been visiting since. Odin had friends on earth, and treated them well. He even gave them a device, but didn’t explain what it does.

He told Asgardians to enjoy visiting earth on a limited basis. If the mortals thought you were a god, how would they reward you? If you answered with an awesome feast, you would be half right. Earth was treated like Hawaii is today. It was a beautiful spot that was perfect for shipping. The locals start to meet, marry, and have children with the immigrants. Then the immigrants disappear. The people who traveled through become the stories of legend, and myth. Odin made sure of it in fact. Even if an Asgardian shows up, no one would connect the dots back to Odin.

So what does the tesseract do? Nothing, until the people are advanced enough to figure it out. We know they are figuring stuff out when we see Stark Industries main man. He practically runs the company by invention alone.

When Tony Stark shows off his arc reactor, the one he made in a shop without telling anyone else, he out did every single scientific mind in his entire company. The company has brilliant people working for it, but they are nothing to a man that can figure out whole sections of physics overnight.

In other words, the company is run by the Stark mind. Not only that, this is sort of common.

Oz Corp is run by Norman Osborn. Every invention you see, he made on his own, with scientists running to help him. Once again, he is the brains behind every invention, every concept, and every contract they receive. And we know they follow scientific procedure because he directly goes against it when he gives himself the super hero serum. He was told directly that the lab tests show it could cause insanity, and he doesn’t listen.

To fully understand what is being said here, remember that Tony Stark has so much skill because of latent Asgardian abilities. He can control it, but just barely. When Bruce Banner turned his fully on, he can’t control it anymore.

Oz Corp is run by the same ideas, and thoughts as Stark Industries. The response is madness when the powers are fully activated. Norman Osborn only had a little bit of the serum for his testing purposes, and it drove him insane.

The Red Skull has the same thing. It is likely that he was not  just Asgardian when the test was given. Imagine a mixture of Jotun and Asgardian mixed together, and activated at the same time. It destroyed his entire body, and drove him to madness. The powers could only be  activated slowly. Dr. Erskine figured it out, and worked hard to find the right candidates to test on. He likely had been following Steve Rogers for a while, and had people follow him around. They would have seen the tiny kid get beat up by large men, and only have a few injuries. They would have seen him figure stuff out, even when his IQ test showed him lacking. In other words, he had the abilities, and the character Erskine wanted. He only told Rogers about the character part.

And this is the thing, the only way Erskine would have understood the formula, is if he had some of the same abilities himself. Once again, we see brilliant scientists unable to keep up with him in the tests, or understanding of the formula. Then you have to ask how Erskine knew the powers existed. He must have seen that some people were showing super strength, and abilities, and then studied it. Sort of weird to imagine, but Steve Rogers was given a formula that was based off studying people like Logan, who were alive and well at the time.

The powers were activating on their own. It took centuries to happen, but slowly the powers were showing up, and looking completely natural. Tony Stark is not linking himself to Thor. In his mind, he got his brains from his Dad. He is right, it is completely genetic, and he learned how to use it without realizing what it all meant. This creates a serious question about Stark Alcoholism if he has the same healing powers as Rogers.

The tesseract was explored, and studied by people who were using latent abilities. Not only that, it was starting to become common. Peter Parker just thought he was smart. Until something starting activating his powers, he was fairly ordinary. This would not be noticed by obserservers who were watching earth. In fact, it appears that Odin was playing a misinformation game.

During the Avengers, we see an entire alien species, bent on getting the tesseract, and the earth. They invade, and specifically try the God like beings trick again. The vehicles, and warriors were entirely designed to fit into the idea of Gods. They rode around on horse carriages, that flew in the sky. They had great beasts that were used like a barge. They had sticks that would throw men through a wall. In other words, they were trying to make humanity believe they were Gods.

The only problem was that Earth was not what they imagined. Humanity had better weapons, better cities, and a better sense of science than the invaders expected. The grand god like chariots made no sense to the average New Yorker. The giant beasts were not the grand show of power. The weapons did not impress people who could easily out shoot, and out gun the warriors attacking. It was a complete mistake.

Not only that, there were people who had the powers of an Agardian. One of them was a real life Asgardian, and the others were using powers that the Chitari could not even imagine. They were outgunned, and completely out of their league. Even the smallest, and weakest member of the team seemed to never run out of energy, and figure out how to use the chariot with ease. One of them is using the technology of the tesseract to create a suit of armor for himself. Another is so powerful, he has changed size, strength, and survivability.

Now that the earth is able to protect itself, Odin plays his next part of the game. This is the reason why he sent Thor down to earth. He could have taught Thor how to learn humility by sending him anywhere without his powers. The young brash boy was sent to a place where his mortal powers were still a little bit better than the average guy, but completely unimportant to anyone. This is likely part of what broke him, the average person not caring that he could lift a mountain if he so chose. To us, he learned to protect his friends, in reality he saw people choosing to be mortal.

Now that Thor is well known to humanity, there is little doubt that they will start looking up the stories of old. They will want to talk to Odin, and make some form of peace with him. Not only that, they met Loki. The powers of the most dangerous weapon created by Laofi, king of the Jotun, was not proven to be strong enough. In other words, it gives Odin a lot of leverage, and keeps Loki safe.

In Norse legend, the great warriors are sent to Valhalla, and await the day that Odin calls them forth to war. They would be trained by Odin himself, and be able to stop even the worst of attacks. The legend turned out to be true, just not in the way the old norsemen thought it would. Instead, Odin was preparing earth for war.

Hegemony: Pattern of Domination

There is an obvious pattern to one culture dominating another. It can be seen in the school we walk in. The pattern covers every continent and island. It can easily be found and traced in every culture in the world.

It begins with the dominating culture entering into the area. The older cultures are pushed back and made to quarrel among themselves. The dominated cultures slowly gains power back and then dominates. This pattern can take a few months or millennia to fully take place.

The culture that enters may not actually win the great wars and battles. In the beginning, the culture may actually help stop a previous dominant culture. For example, the Manchu empire saved China from bandits and began the Qing dynasty.

The dominating culture may actually seem like the lower culture. Although the Manchu dominated China, the culture was entirely based on Chinese Confucianism. Kang Xi, the second emperor of the dynasty, outlawed footbinding, but near the end of the empire every woman had the broken feet and small high heeled shoes of a Confucian. The entire Manchu culture is nearly gone today, replaced by the Chinese Han Culture.

The next step in cultural domination will actually take a while, but involves the consolidation of power and creating a power myth of domination. The myth of domination is something that doesn’t get explored very often. The dominant culture tells of how they easily took over because of their own great and divine powers. They will place the dominated culture as foolish and stupid within this myth. The Spanish claimed that the Aztecs believed in Quetzalcoatl, a white god that promised to return someday. The myth was made up several years after the fall of the Aztecs.

The idea idea that the dominating culture is naturally better will be promoted throughout the media. Such stories as Tarzan, Birth of a Nation, and our own modern Avatar have stories of a culture proving itself to be dominant and more important. Tarzan and Avatar tell the story where the good guy is better at doing things than even the natives. Birth of a Nation makes a particular culture seem evil and deserving of being dominated.

The promoted idea of the dominating culture would be pious, pure, intelligent, and capable. The dominated will be said to be stupid, lazy, sexually deviant, superstitious,  and evil. An example of this would be Orientalism, or the stereotype ideas of cultures from Arabia to China. Pictures describing these cultures show the women as sensual and at least partially naked. The men are shown as stupid and evil. The cultural beliefs of the culture are given a special mystical power. In fact, when attempting to explain these cultures, the common response is to use the foreignness as the explanation for everything.

The dominant cultures uses this to give the reason for domination and control of the people. During the reconstruction of the South after the American Civil War, many of the former slave owners said that the African Americans were too lazy and stupid to survive alone.

The USSR used the next tactic perfectly. The different dominated groups would be compared to the dominant culture and given perks for being closer than others. One group would be given a great reward for one thing, and then another would be given different praise. The infighting and attempts for other perks kept dominant culture on top and created a caste system beneath it. The reasons for much of the unrest in the Eastern European countries was caused by the USSR doing this. The same pattern can be found in the Philippines, South and Central America, and the entire African continent.

The dominated culture slowly moves up and gains more and more power. Usually the reason for this is the dominant culture has fewer and fewer children to do the more manual labor type of jobs. The dominated culture will have plenty of children and desperation to take any job at all. This will eventually lead to a need for education, and then to rise up in greater and better jobs.

Slowly this makes the dominant and the dominated begin to equalize in power. The closer to equalization the more strange things happen.

The dominated culture begins to assert its own culture as more important and even better. They will use the entire culture and not pick and choose parts. If there is an evil part it will be promoted as good and even better than it really is. This promotion will be given powers so the dominated culture has an excuse to fight back. The leaders will claim powers beyond human to promote their own ideals. Papa Doc from Haiti promoted his ideas by claiming to be a witch doctor that would hurt the people if they went against him.

This comparison has problems with it. Even after the dominant/dominated history goes away, there will be signs of the old thoughts. After decades of work to build black culture up in the United States, black girls still think that the black doll is ugly and evil compared to the white doll.

The next problem with the promotion of the dominated will be for customs that were only in the culture for a certain era. This will be said to be exactly as the culture should be, even though there are examples that the culture has changed since that time. This era will be the promoted golden time that everyone wishes they could return to.

During this equalization the dominant group continues to use the different stereotypes built up about the dominated culture. The mystical powers will be seen in a new light and said to be good. The stereotypes do no change. Likewise, the dominated culture will promote many of the made up stereotypes as important to the culture.

Within the Navajo Rez, and many other reservations the promotion of clothing and cultures that are from a different tribe are promoted. Cherokee tribes dress up in "Chiefs clothing" even though they have no real connection to Chiefs. Tee Pees will be promoted even when no one has or ever will live in one.

There will be a very strange item that needs to be mentioned here. When the dominated culture is able to see the dominant culture at home, there will be problems. The dominant culture promotes itself as better and greater than the dominated. The idea of a near paradise will be promoted as the natural home of the dominant culture. When the culture is seen, the dominated will reject the promotion almost completely. Gandhi was a lawyer in England, he saw London and knew its culture very well. When the English attempted to prove they were greater, he rejected their promotions and promoted his own culture instead.

There will also be attempts by the dominated to equalize that will be rejected by the dominant. This rejection was part of holding power earlier in the dominant/dominated culture but will do the exact opposite when the dominated have actually seen the life the dominant live. The greatest case would be the American Revolution when the higher up land lords of the American Colonies were treated as lower class citizens by England. The attempts to control this were lost, because many of the Colonists had been back to England and knew what the state of life in the country really was like.

When this equalization of the dominant and dominated cultures begin to equalize, there are three things that could happen. The first is the cultures simply stop being seen as dominant and dominated, the dominated becomes the dominant culture, and the previously dominant culture leaves.

The first happens when someone says the name of their culture, and no one negatively reacts to it. There may be odd reactions because of the unfamiliarity of that culture. This would be solved by simply being exposed to the culture without a negative problem.

The PCC helps in this by giving people a way to see the Polynesian cultures without any negative moments. It is only an open door and not a complete experience, so the tourist may be able to learn more later. The cultural rejection will not happen in either way.

Within the United States, an example of equalization would actually be holidays. St. Patrick's day which we just celebrated, Cinco de Mayo, Oktoberfest, and Black History Month are ways to show that everyone celebrates the cultures within these holidays. In the native lands they are usually not seen as important. St. Patrick's Day was a religious day and not the great time to party as is shown today.

Within these holidays you will find promotion of cultural beliefs and attempts to make good stereotypes to others. Oktoberfest is the most prevalent in my mind. The attempt to change the cultural understanding of Germans from that of the horrible Nazis to Bavarian is very much promoted.

The greatest example of equalization is modern TV. We see Jewish, Italian, Scottish, Irish, Black, Asian, and Mexican cultures as just common people. No one would reject an O'Brien today. No one would think twice on seeing a Jahnke -the origin of the term Yankee.

The next cultural response to equalization is the switching of dominant to dominated. The cycle begins all over again and should be feared. The previous group will be seen as the reason for several problems and the dominant culture will promote the ideas of revenge. Many of the people who had been living in the area for generations will be made out to be less than human and foreign.

Zimbabwe has had this problem. The president promotes himself by blaming the formerly dominant white culture. White landowners are kicked out for their land and money.

It was expected that the same thing would happen in South Africa, but Nelson Mandela specifically worked to stop this.

The third option is the dominant culture leaves. This can mean that they physically leave, are kicked out, or are wiped out. This leaves the most mystery in history. The dominant culture remains, and the former dominant culture can be found using archeology. This subject becomes difficult to talk about because it can involve the consideration of genocide. The dominant culture could still be trying to control from a long distance away, it could leave nothing but artifacts and bones. As examples, the mound builders near the Mississippi river are completely gone, along with them are the Anasazi, and then the Olmecs are all lost cultures that at one time dominated the area around them, and for whatever reason left.

In conclusion, the culture understanding of the pattern of domination lets a person see the various stages cultures around the world are in. The future dominant culture arrives, and then slowly takes over. Myths are made up on how this domination happened. The dominated people create a culture of survival and accept they are inferior. Slowly the dominated and dominant become equals. The end result can restart the cycle over again, or allow for an equalization of the people. This pattern continues today.