War Poetry
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
, 5:53 PM
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Task 1: Hubert Wilson was a SSG in the USAF from 1968 - 1972 He fought in the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. The wars: Casualties - 4300 US soldiers - 241 UK soldiers - 100000 Iraqi civilians Previous Wars - 935 US soldiers - 179 UK soldiers - 30000 Iraqi cilvilians Financial Cost 3 Trilion warpoetry.co.uk Task 2: 1. Point of View Evidence: Toll on the innocent and unborn Expecting others to pay a high price? Elaboration: From the first piece of evidence, we can see that the speaker in this poem has actually encountered the war before, this can be seen as he says, Toll on the innocent and unborn. From this, it is evident that the speaker and poet was in the war, and thats how he knew about America killing those innocent and even unborn babies, we can see that the speaker is a soldier as he has first hand experiacne,not like the citizens in America, where the government propoganda them to believe that war is a great and righteous thing. We can also see that the speaker is sacarstic about the government in America, from Expecting others to pay a high price? we can see that the speaker has lost many friends and comarades in the war and is sceptic about the government as he think that they are waging a war for nothing and that war would only birng more disaster with both sides paying a high price. 2. Situation and Setting Evidence: Reflective about the all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead. Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri! Elaboration: Here, we can see that the setting is on a battlefield, where the war caused by America resulted in lots of deaths. Also, we can see a typical battle scene here, where soldiers rush to kill innocent civilians, Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead. Also, we can see bombings, where Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri! This shows that the situation was really bad at that time as the war made the soldiers so numb that even the bombs thrown by America look bight and happy to them, they might have also still be under America Propoganda, and thus still think that bombing the innoccent Iraqis were good and 'righteous'. 3. Language/ Diction Evidence: Execrable effect of orange spray Elaboration: Here, the poet is using a metaphor, the orange spray is actually blood, but since America has been led astray by propoganda, even the innocent blood spilled by the US troops look so cheerful and happy to them, making think that spilling innocent blood like this is good and right. By doing so, the poet is emphasizing on the fact that the war is not as glorious and victorius all the time, it is not like the fairytales children, war is really and both sides suffer heavy losses. 4. Personal Response In my opinion, I think that this poem is right, we should stand up to a wayward government, war is a horrifying thing and the government should not keep it under wraps and portray it as such a glorius thing to their citizens. I think that war should be avoided at all costs and not waged on every whim, war is dangerous, but what is even more dangerous is the governments propoganda of war, this propoganda makes people think that their sons and husband will just do fine and emerge victorius, giving the people false hope, this propoganda also portrays each own country to be superior, thus this might also infulence the younger generation, resulting in them waging war when they finally take over the country. |
To Kill A Mockingbird Lingustic Approach
Monday, March 1, 2010
, 5:08 AM
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Interview with Tom Robinson Q: Good evening Mr Robinson, I have heard that you have been accused of rape, may I know how you feel about this matter? A: I think that it is very unfair, Mayella herself invited me to her house, then she herself kissed me. We being blacks are subject to the whites, although I did try to stop her, I could not as she was a white and if things ended up like they were now, nobody would believe me. (sobs) Q: I am sorry to hear that, may I know how your wife feels about this issue? A: My wife knows that I would not do anything like that. She knows that I love her and that I work hard everyday to bring home money to support the family. I even have children, why would I even think of touching a white women. Besides, even brushing against a white women is taboo for us blacks, so it is quite obvious that I have been framed. Q: I hope the court understands and let you off, may I know more about how and why you were caught? A: Well, just after Mayella grabbed hold of me and kissed me, her dad Bob Ewell stormed into the room and shouted at me. After that I was not sure what was happening as I just ran and ran and tried to escape. I could hear Mayella crying and her dad running after me, so I just kept running until I reached home. I think Mayella told her father what happened and both of them tried to cover it up by accusing me of raping her. I think hey just wanted to get rid of the evidence as they knew that it would be my word against theirs, a black against whites. Q: May I know your view on the racial discrimination between blacks and the whites? A: I think it is very unfair, it is like they are given all the privileges and all the good things. However, who are the ones who enabled them to survive, who are the ones who have done all the odd jobs and hard labour jobs for them? It is us, the blacks, the racial discrimination is just like us working but having our pay go to someone else just because we are of a different skin color. Q: Mr Robinson, do you think you will win this trial? A: Of course not, even if all the evidence points to someone else being the culprit, I will still be convicted and throw into jail or even killed. It is the word of a white man against a black, which means everything they say will be believed and I may not be entertained at all. I tell you, even if Atticus sir manages to win the case, I will still have to face a form of punishment, because I am a black. |
To Kill A Mokingbird Assignment Naturalist Approach
, 4:30 AM
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Mockingbird Reasearch Mockingbird: A species of New World passerine birds. Habitat: Residental areas, city parks, farmlands, open land, forests, woodland edges, farms and thickets. Food: Ripe berries and garden insects. Preferable: hackberries, mulberries, cherry and crab apples. I think that Maycomb in the To Kill A Mockingbird novel was a piece of open land with farmlands bordering the edge. I also expect to find thickets, berry bushes and trees in Maycomb. We should be able to find thickets as Mockingbirdslike to reside in thickets and the vegetation stated above. Also, we can see that there were trees in Maycomb from an incident that happened in the novel, Boo Radley left presents for the children in the knothole of a tree. We can also tell that Maycomb was built on fertile soil as there were people like the Cunninghams who were working as farmers. There is also another piece of evidence that shows that Maycomb has trees, this can be seen from: 'it was the wind rustling the trees. But there wasn't any wind and there weren't any trees except the big oak.' (Page 267) This shows that there were trees, even Oaks in Maycomb. In my opinion, I think that Mockingbirds live in Maycomb partially because there are people there. Mockingbirds, like any other animal may become dependant on humans and take food from us instead of finding their own food in the wild. Therefore, where humans go, the Mockingbirds will follow. Secondly, Maycomb is a open land and Mockingbirds like open land which has shurbs and thickets where they can reside in. This fits Maycomb exactly, besides, Maycomb would probably have lots of insects which Mockingbirds feed on as it has farmland nearby and farms attract insects. |
Multiple Intelligence Test
, 4:15 AM
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I have just taken the multiple intelligence test, according to the statistics, it shows that I am: - About 90% Kinasthetic - About 80% Naturalistic - About 60% Visual - About 90% Musical - About 80% Intrapersonal - 50% Interpersonal - 70% Logical and Lingustic well, I think that the test is quite right about me, I usually do not understand people well and do not make friends easily. For example, it usually takes me a few months to get used to a person and acctually 'loosen up' and get to know him and accept him. In my opinion, this test on me is very accurate and show most of character, for example, I like the outdoors a lot and this test shows me as 90% kinasthetic. I think that this test is quite good as it acctually help you to get to know yourself better and also helps you to reflect on how you have been like for the past few years and if you have treated your friends badly. Overall, I am not very surprised about the results as I have taken another test like this already and expected it to be almost the same. |
Herd Instinct
Thursday, February 18, 2010
, 3:34 AM
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My friend once said:" The herd instinct in Singapore is very strong, monkey see monkey do" Firstly, Herd Instinct is defined as a group of individuals working together without a planned direction, however, each individual is only acting out of his own interests and the entire process is not planned beforehand. For example, when people buy stocks from the stock market, they do it out of their own interests, it is not planned beforehand and is done purely out of his own interests. Next, I would like to emphasize on where this is often seen in Singapore, in Singapore, the herd instinct is indeed very strong. When we see a huge crowd gathering somewhere, we often rush off and try to see what they are doing there and try to get the best deals we can. For example, this is usually seen in heartland hawker centers, when someone passes by you when you are eating, he usually 'checks out' your food too, also, when we see a huge crowd at a hawker stall, we immediately rush to queue up. This is due to a mentality of:"If everyone is buying from that stall, the food there must be good". Although there are advantages of the Herd Instinct, I would also like to point out some prominent disadvantages. For example, due to the Herd Instinct, people become less likely to try and strike out on their own and tend to just go with the flow. This may prove dangerous in a country such as Singapore as people are our best resources, if everyone just follows another, everyone would be the same and nobody will be able to make a breakthrough in anything. Therefore, one big difference between Singapore and other countries such as America is that Singapore has a very strong Herd Instinct, thus everybody just wants to blend in and is afraid of having different thoughts or even different dressing as they will stick out and be stared at. Therefore, although there there are some advantages of the Herd Instinct, it should be moderated before it becomes a culture in Singapore, if not, we might never see a major breakthrough in Science invented/founded by a Singaporean scientist.
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Reflections on the debate (Right to die)
, 3:23 AM
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In my opinion, I believe that everybody has a choice whether they want to live or die, I think that this debate is very interesting and enriching in this category. However, I also think that life is very precious and should not be given up just because of financial troubles or a decision made during the spur of the moment. I think I would agree more with the opposition as I do not believe in taking a person's life no matter what suffering he is going through. I also agree that giving a person the right to die is inhuman and is very similar to helping a person commit suicide, however, I have to admit that the proposition also has some very good points, eg. we should let the patient make their own choice. Although , to me, every life counts and every hope, no matter how small is worth hanging on to, therefore, I feel that as long as there is hope for a cure, the patients should hold out and not give in and take their own lives. I think that both the opposition and the proposition have put forward very good points and have presented their cases very well. However, I think that the proposition were more persuasive and rather ruthlessly battered their opponents aside. The opposition tended to repeat their points and try to drive it home whereas the proposition used various methods to get to the audience while rebuking the opposing team. Overall, I think the debate was very exciting and interesting and kept the audience at the edge of their seats, I think it was a very enriching experience as it was my first time seeing such a heated debate.
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Right To Die (Debate)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
, 12:09 AM
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Proposition 1st speaker -Doctors only give people the right to die when they are are brain dead or suffering from a chronic and painful disease. -Everyone has a choice, society gives you a choice, thus when people wish to die, we should respect their decision as they should have the freedom of deciding what they want to do with their life. -Family members do not constitute the policy about a patient's right to die. -A patient that is suffering from a terminal disease should be allowed die if they do not want to suffer anymore or bring anymore grief to their family. -Since we have the right to live, we should also have the right to die. Opposition 1st speaker -Patients might actually die when they can get cured in the future. -Some insane patients or mentally unstable patients may ask for the right to die in a fit of depression. -Family members do constitute the policy as most patients are so sick that they cannot even speak or think properly, thus the family members actually make the decision for them. -The right to life is very precious and the patient should not have their life ripped away from them when they could be cured in the future. -Medical Science is improving every day, therefore no patient is permanently ill and patients do have a future and many other precious things to do in life.
Proposition 2nd speaker -Patients would become guinea pigs. -What if the patients die without getting cured, will they still be willing to be sick for 20 to 30 years and endure all the emotional and physical suffering. -The government should constrain rights like this. -People under emotional duress can actually make rational decisions. An example given by the speaker was that he was under a lot of emotional duress then at the debate but he still could think properly. -People who get cured do not happen very often, thus we should debate on the majority and not the minority. -Many of our policies are built on the principle of mercy, thus the right to die is also built on the principle of mercy. Opposition 2nd Speaker -By giving the person the right to die is inhuman. -Proposition gives you an analogy on why choice is important and not how choice is important. -When you kill yourself, there will be no future at all. -When your life is on the line, you will be under a lot of pressure that will cause you to make the wrong decision. -The family would not want the patient to suffer, however, the patient would want to live, but because of the fact that the patient's life becomes dependant on other's decision, he has no choice. Proposition 3rd speaker and summing up -It is cruel to let the patient suffer for 20-30 years in false hope that he will be cured. -Next of kin should be allowed to decide as the next of kin decides all other medical treatments. -Opposition does things on probability. -We should have the choice where our life goes. -80% of the patients may live if you do not give them the right to die, 80% of the patients will be suffering for years and the 20% remaining may just die anyway without being cured. -Every time you deal with a medical treatment, we have emotional duress and pressure even if it is just temporary. -The doctor actually has a policy that allows you to override the next of kin's decision. -Opposition makes things sound simple but the are not in the position of the patient. -Stand on the side of individual choice -This is a society built on mercy, thus we allow patients to mitigate their suffering if they want to. Opposition 3rd speaker and summing up -When you let people kill themselves, there is no respect for life -The right to die is like suicide. -The right to die is like reducing the patient to a lesser life form, like giving the dog medicine to let him die. -They are allowing the devil to whisper in their ear and make them depressed enough to choose to die. -There is hope, we should let patients live in hope of a cure. - Fundamental respect for life -It is human to restrain a person from committing suicide. -This is world where people can kill themselves on every whim. -Always stand on the side of life. |
