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We Didn't Start the Fire

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We Didn't Start the Fire
Society has been molded by a variety of influences upon it. Looking back in time, society has changed drastically within the recent years, and continues to change as time moves forward. Time creates history, and history is the recording of events that have brought an impact upon society. In the year of nineteen eighty-nine, Billy Joel, a musician, released the song, “We Didn’t Start The Fire.” The lyrics of this song name events that the majority of people knew and talked about in the time period those events happened. The musician put forty years of history into a song, starting from the year nineteen forty-nine of which he was born, and ending at nineteen eighty-nine when the song was written. The term “fire” is metaphorically used for the power to create, and the power to destroy. It has provided a major way of life for humanity, and it is still used today. “Fire” used in Joel’s song relates to the influence of events from times before, and recently. Events in history have made both a positive and negative impact on humanity.
The Profumo Affair has become a major impact on humanity’s views of how far politicians can go through corruption. The Profumo Affair, which was recognized in nineteen sixty-three, is represented in Joel’s Song as “British Politician Sex.” He obtained his position in the House of Commons in nineteen forty when he was twenty-five. John Profumo was the Secretary of State for War in Great Britain. He was married to the actress Valerie Hobson, and was well liked in the House of Commons. Profumo was considered a “rising star in Harold Macmillan’s Troy Government, and a regular guest at the Buckingham Palace.” During his time as Secretary of State for War, he met Christine Keeler, a teenage prostitute, at Lord Astor’s Mansion. John Profumo first laid eyes on her as she came out of the Mansion’s pool naked. Through he had had an ideal life; Profumo had an affair with Keeler. The only person who knew of the affair was Johnny Edgecombe, an



Cited: for Life on Mars, But Some Demur." NY Times 21 Feb. 2001. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/27/science/27MARS.html?ex=1206244800&en=651a80db35cafcfa&ei=5070>. Beardsley, Tim. "A Clone in Sheep 's Clothing." Scientific America 3 Mar. 1997. 23 Mar. 2008 <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=0009B07D-BD40-1C59-B882809EC588ED9F>. “Berlin Wall." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 20 Mar. 2008 Briggs, Helen "British Present New Evidence of Life on Mars." Associated Press 1 Nov. 1996. <http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9611/01/mars/>. "Glenn, John H., Jr.." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 24 Mar. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037029>. “Greenberg, Bradley S” The Kennedy Assassination and the American Public. California: Stanford UP, 1965. 2-27. Hakim, Danny, and William K. Rashbuam. "Spitzer is Linked to Prostitution Ring." NY Times 10 Mar. 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/nyregion/10cnd-spitzer.html?hp>. Johnson, Donald. A Cassandrea at Westminster. Great Britain; Morrison and Gibb LTD. 1967 “Kennedy, John F.” Encyclopedia Britannica Sommerlad, Nick. “Scandal That Wouldn’t Die; Spy Affair Haunts Profumo to Grave” Daily Record 11 Mar. 2006 Sullivan, Bob Wadman, Meredith. "Special Report Cloning Special: Dolly: a Decade On." Nature (2007): 800-801. <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7130/full/445800a.html>.

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