I thought it was interesting how Fullilove relates urban renewal to war, although this correlation necessitates the question of whether urban renewal causes societal upheaval which facilitates war, or whether urban renewal is the result of societal upheaval which would be the precursor of war anyway. But Fullilove connects the French revolution and the war in Vietnam to urban renewal programs in Paris and the US, respectively. I also enjoyed Fulliloves discussion of the 1950s use of word “progress” to cover up anything. People who had very little political knowledge and analytical ability to foresee consequences of urban renewal would blindly say they agreed with it because they supported “progress,” whatever that even meant. My dad grew up in the 50s and often told me about how he thought the era was characterized by conformity. After the chaos of WWII, people just wanted everything and themselves to be as “normal” as possible. So the question I would ask you is, how what terms today do you think are used similarly to the way Fullilove describes the word progress was used in the 1950s?

-Jesse Geisler