War Artifact: Propaganda Posters

 

These posters are both from World War 1. These, and many others, made me realize that people were not that smart before as they would be manipulated and convinced to join the army. These posters would make them think that it was their duty to join and often times if they didn't, they would be penalized for it, just like the Quebecois were for not agreeing to go to war. War propaganda posters made it seem like going to war was the right and honorable thing to do.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Retell: This deep and powerful movie starts off with the protagonist, a young boy named Bruno, hearing the news about his fathers promotion in the German Army. Bruno then finds out about having to move to the countryside. Upon moving into his new home he discovers a concentration camp with Jewish prisoners in the distance, or what he believe to be a farmers and playful children. Finding no other neighbors in sight he decides to sneak out and find the farm to play with the children, despite knowing his mother denied him permission to go as she said "they're strange, they're different". His curiosity leads him to find a young boy on the other side of the fence of the "farm" named Shmuel. Being clueless to who this is he continually keeps coming back to visit him. Even after learning more about Shmuel and getting a sense that they weren't supposed to be friends, his loyalty kept him coming back. He would bring him food, toys, and have long talks with him. One night he defied his Nazi identity for his close friend and tried to help him find his father by sneaking into the concentration camp and dressing up as one of the Jews. The innocent boys tried and tried but failed. By the end all the Jews get put into the gas chamber, and mistakenly even Bruno. Not knowing where they were going, both boys died.

Reflect: The message behind this movie is to show the innocence of children; to show that we are all the same and children are taught to hate. We are all born the same on the inside and this movie shows what people behaved like in the period of the holocaust. Despite knowing the superior role of his Nazi father, and being taught antisemitism and propaganda by their tutor, he could not get himself to hate Shmuel, his best and only friend, as well as the servant working in their home. The point of the story is that everyone is the same, no matter your religion, beliefs, eye colour, etc.

Both boys share the same tragic fate at the end of the movie.

Relate: This movie is based on, and relates to the real events that took place in the 1930's-1050's. The execution of nearly 6 million Jews occurred around this time. In this movie, the boys become friends despite what they were both taught to believe growing up, Although the tragic events that took place at the end of the movie, it shows what people were actually like in those days. It shows the horrific and traumatic things that would happen inside concentration camps, to Jews. Bruno had the same heartbreaking fate as his friend Shmuel.

The Sniper Theme and Summary

Summary of The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

            This short story takes place during the civil war (between the Republicans and the Free Staters). The ‘sniper’ in this story is a Republican who seems emotionless as he has grown accustomed to being in this war.

            After having a quick meal the sniper risked lighting a smoke, and almost instantly there was a bullet shot at the parapet he was standing behind. After one more quick puff he put out the cigarette and peered over the parapet, as another bullet flashed above his head from across the street.

            He saw nothing but the outline of the opposite building in such darkness, but he did look down and discover an enemy car and realized that shooting at it would be pointless. Next a lady walked up to the car and informed the man inside of the enemy sniper laying on the rooftop as she pointed in his direction. As the man came out of the car the sniper shot him immediately, followed by the woman. Out of nowhere the enemy from the other rooftop shot the sniper in his forearm. At this instant he crawled back to the parapet, and sanitized and wrapped up his wound.

            His plan of escaping this rooftop was to trick the enemy opposite of him into thinking that he had shot him dead. After being shot at and faking his death the sniper changed his location on the rooftop and successfully shot down his enemy.

            Seeing him hit the ground and lying there made the sniper feel remorseful. He then tossed his revolver and as it accidentally went off, the shot zipped past his head and due to the shock woke him up, returning him to his original state of mind.

            He escaped the rooftop and walked over to the corpse of the man he had shot down, out of curiosity. As suddenly bullets broke the peaceful sound he threw himself down beside the dead body; only to realize that his had shot his own brother.

  

Themes of The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

            The theme I found in this short story is division r in political terms, partition. The Sniper shows the irony of how brothers got pitted against each other in the civil war. “Brothers” in this case meaning those within the same country, fighting each other. This story delivers the message that violence in often self-consuming, and that in the civil war they killed their own people. Another strong message delivered through this piece is that war turns people into mere objects. In war, you have no identity, hence why none of the characters were identified with names. Also, the sniper ended up killing an old lady, and his own brother; war has no boundaries. 

Slam Poetry Pt. 2

"Power Corrupts"

To cause those beneath you suffering and pain
To act dishonestly for money and personal gain
They all want power
But can't handle the responsibility
They don't care about leadership
But just do it for the glory
Just remember 'power corrupts'
And 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'

Blog Post #3

Power and Corruption

A picture inspired by the classic novel Animal Farm by George Orwell
Shows how powerful leaders show inequality due to corruption.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/03/25/is-everybody-in-the-obama-administration-corrupt-sure-looks-that-way/

This article describes the corruption in the American government in current times. This relates to Lord of the Flies as the young boys face many problems due to frequent disputes regarding leadership between the protagonist, Ralph, and the antagonist, Jack. Jack gains power, over the littluns especially, and the more power he keeps attaining, the more corrupt he becomes. He takes advantage of being looked up to by these boys, who in my opinion don't know any better due to being only 5-12 years old, and starts causing damage and wasting valuable time. In the same way, this article talks about political leaders in the US being unethical or immoral. This message is implied using many astonishing facts. Similarly, William Golding shows the immorality of human nature through Jack. Jack showed several traits of savagery as he begins to forget how to be civil, for example, when killing the pig with very little hesitation. This article reminded me of how Power has the ability to cause corruption, and in Lord of the Flies, how corruption further causes savagery among the young, stranded boys on this empty island.

Blog Post #2

Lord of the Flies has several different themes and issues so for this blog post I chose a poem with a different theme.

Savagery VS Civilization

• by Merizzz, Apr 2, 2011, 7:43:09 AM
• 
  

Ever since humantity began,
A battle started within man.
Two instincts equally strong,
Have been inside us all along.
Each trying to take control.
Different desires and different needs,
Possessing our thoughts and our deeds;
Two instincts control them all.

Savagery is the vicious one.
Thirst for blood and inclination to destroy.
The end justifies what to be done.
Our premitive desires. Our own selfish joy.
An instinct so brutal and reason-free.
Inside our being it will forever be.

Civilization is the disciplined one.
Longing for sociality and inclination to know.
Forming our heritage in the long run,
As we desire for law, morals and life to grow.
An instinct that fulfills our social nature,
Distinguishing us from any other creature.

Two insticts battle within man,
Ever since humanity began.

The IRISH TIMES

CIVIL WAR: WAR AGAINST BROTHERS

Sukhmani Grewal, Staff Reporter 
Sunday June 6, 1864

An unidentified Free Stater found dead on sidewalk Sunday
morning. 

DUBLIN- Statement released today that the Free Staters sniper was shot and killed by his ownbrother, a Republican sniper near River Liffey late last night.

                     

“I heard a shot and looked out my window to see an ascetic young boy above a lifeless body sobbing”, says a local. The whereabouts of the Republican sniper described as killing his brother are currently unknown.

Investigator Conner O’Malley reported two additional bodies on the crime scene. “One woman in a tattered shawl” who remains unidentified, “and a man named Berit Flannigan were also pronounced dead on the scene”. The findings in Free Stater Berit Flannigan’s “monstrous” gray vehicle (which was left on the scene) indicated that he was a Free Stater. The bullets found in all three dead bodies on the scene were from the same, Republican sniper.

Other investigators on the scene revealed shocking information after investigating the surrounding rooftops. An identification badge left behind on the rooftop of the building opposite to dead bodies proved the sniper responsible for the three deaths to be in fact, the brother of one of the dead victims. 

This news appalled many. It is evident the situation between the brothers, who cannot be named at the time, was accidental as The Republican sniper was witnessed with tears and a face of regret. This is the most bizarre incident in the past three years of this war. When will all brothers stop killing each other.

Blog Post #1

"Leadership Is About Emotion"

        To me this article seemed like a good fit to show the main theme of the novel Lord of the Flies. This piece written by Meghan M. Biro discusses the tools that make a good leader. 

        Most of the tools mentioned reminded me of Ralph for example, collaboration. Ralph desired to collaborate with everyone, hoping to have all the boys doing something productive and positive (aiming towards the goal of being rescued), and this is mainly evident in chapter 4.

        Another tool from the article which applies to Ralph is emotional intelligence. For example, although his initial instinct when he came across the boar shows internal savagery, he was intelligent enough to recall civilized manners; he did not have the courage to kill another living thing. I feel like everyone faces situations in life where they must choose between right and wrong, good vs. evil, etc. but it takes more than just willingness and restraint to make the 'right' decision, it takes intelligence as well. In my opinion Ralph is definitely one of the more brighter boys in this novel simply because of this.

        Although Ralph may be the more favorable and liked character, he is not the perfect leader. He was unable to get control of the boys (specifically the littluns) and had he the capability to make them follow his plan, perhaps they would have been rescued already. It is clear that Ralph aimed for rescue (which i believe should have been the common goal) while Jack aimed for pointless fun and did things for pleasure, like hunting. However it is not entirely Ralphs fail at being leader which caused havoc as they are just little kids. 

       

Contrast in leadership styles as Ralph displays good leadership traits, while Jack only impacts the boys negatively and is unable to motivate them for success.

Lord of the Flies Wordle

Inside the Minds of Child Soldiers

Connections:
To Real Life
It is hard for me to make a real life connection between Ishmael Beah's story, or the article and my own life, as i myself have played violent and do not feel any desire to go into war killing people. I have, however, witnessed many boys who start playing such violent games at a very young age and these boys become evidently far more aggressive compared to other children. Perhaps video games do cause effects on the minds of the youth and we should stop using the stereotypical excuse that all boys will be violent.

To the Article
A similar concern i discovered in both the article and the interview is how easily children adapt to their surroundings. Ishmael Beah spoke about how "constantly witnessing this violence" makes one feel more accustomed to the setting of war (guns, blood, death, etc.). However, one does not have to actually experience war with their own eyes in order to get influenced by it. Teaching Kids to Kill explains how evidence shows that when children are shown fictional violence, whether it be on TV or in video games, they cannot differentiate it from real life.

Another connection I made between the article and the interview is looking at the role of the leading men in the Army. Ishmael Beah talks about the Commanders appearing as "father figures, or brothers" overtime due to the fact that they (the children) had lost everyone and these men seemed to be the only ones protecting them in a way. I think this might be because they told them who the 'enemies' were and exactly who to kill, so they probably got the illusion that the Commanders and other leaders were trustworthy and responsible people. In Teaching Kids to Kill there is a section that speaks about Role Models, which directly relates to how Ishmael describes seeing his Commanders; "In the military your role model is your drill sergeant".

Challenges:
The only thing i would challenge in this video is when Ishmael said he was faced with 2 choices: to kill or to be killed. Of course it is in human nature to want to live and putting your life before anything, fighting for survival. However, being a kid while faced with this decision is a different story. Although he chose the option that let him remain alive (physically speaking), it was the child within that they had killed. They took away his youth and innocence, and stripped him of his childhood. So in spite of the fact that he got to live, he was psychologically affected so greatly that due to these events, he never got to live as a child.

Concepts:
I took away two main ideas which i learned from both the interview and the article.
a) When children are young, they cannot think for themselves so they need people watching out for them constantly. Also, the minds of  children grasp onto things quickly, and look at most things in a real life perspective until they mature.
b) The psychological effects of going to war remain with a person for a very long time after the war, sometimes a life time. The psychological effects of those who went to war as children are far worse, and on top of everything else, these victims never get back their childhood.


Changes:
I believe the most common change after reading the article/watching the interview would be the way society looks at video games, television, and all other media. Of course corporations will continue creating these games and there will definitely be many more Hollywood movies filled with gore and violence. Nonetheless, people should look at all these things differently, and with far more consideration, especially parents of younger children. It has been shown beyond doubt that violence effects the minds of younger children the most, and it is the responsibility of the parents/guardians of these children to ensure they are not seeing anything that will make them mentally unstable.

"World Peace"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/world-peace-these-are-the-only-11-countries-in-the-world-that-are-actually-free-from-conflict-9669623.html

Summarization:
This article really opened my eyes as I realized just how ridiculous the idea of "world peace" really sounds. I am lucky to live in the one of only 11 countries that are in reality free from conflict. The latest study by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), out of 162 countries covered, only 11 are not involved in conflict while the rest face external conflicts which have lead to 25+ deaths. This article provided me with a lot of new information, but at the same time had me shocked and appalled.

Connection:
While reading this article I recalled a countdown referring to Canada as being #8 in the top 10 list of safest countries to live in (http://www.miratelinc.com/blog/10-safest-countries-to-live-in-the-world-2014/). Both made me realize the safety we have here, and how we should appreciate it as conditions in other places such as Sudan, North Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo and many, many more are disastrous.