Friday, November 30, 2012

All Boys, All Blogged: December 3, 2012

Focus: Examining how Ishmael becomes a child soldier in A Long Way Gone

1. Warm-up: Quick whip-around the room to recap Ishmael's journey thus far

2. Examining how teenagers are conditioned to be violent by starting to read "Trained to Kill."

  • Mark which parts interest you (What do you agree or disagree with?  What made you think? What surprised you?).  Explain in the margins why you marked these passages.
  • Mark any parts that could possibly connect to A Long Way Gone.  Explain in the margins how these parts connect to and shed light on A Long Way Gone.

3. Fishbowl #4: Chapters 11-14

HW: 
1. Finish reading and annotating today's article; by Wednesday, please type a 5-8 sentence response to one section of it on the blog (there will be a separate blog posted for this).  
2. Start on this week's reading assignment for A Long Way Gone; be sure to bring your annotations to class each day for random checks.
3. Start looking over List 9 SAT vocabulary words.

68 comments:

  1. When ever the boys make it to a new town they are well fed and taken care of but right after they show up why do the rebels attack? Is this coincidence or are they being fallowed?

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    1. I think they are being fallowed because a few days after they are attacked and then yet they are not killed its not luck but its The ruf's strategy fallow the boys to the villages take them over and the more villages you take over the more you control

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  2. Do some kids want to join the Rebels without being forced to?

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    1. Reply to Chard. I believe that they much rather would join them because its have them kill you or join them and be safe and protected.

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    2. Some kids might be so angry at the world for what's happening that it might turn into violence. The easiest way in my mind to be violent at that time was to join the rebels.

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    3. They may join voluntarily they may believe that it is best to fight against their country for what they believe in.

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  3. Are the rebels and the military more similar than we think? They both seem to force children into violence and desensitize them to do what the military wants.

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    1. The rebels are way more agressive and show no harm when attacking villages and civilians. Well the military is trying to stop them.

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    2. They could be suffering from a lack of military personal and are forced to take kids into military service and these kids easily convinced to fight than an older person.

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  4. I think being desensitized is a hypnotizing weapon and it is happening to Ishmael, he is becoming a weapon which is sad :(

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  5. In the Killology research article, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman says, "It is a learned skill." Do you think anyone, not matter the age or gender can be trained to kill?

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    1. Yes they can. People like Hitler who grew up with war and training, became a man who killed millions.

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  6. What is that white tablet that they give them before they fight.

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    1. I think its a drug that is used to fog their thinking so that they do not have second thoughts about killing people and so that they might think about turning against the rebels now that they are given a weapon.

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    2. It seems to be a pill that shuts off the instincts not to kill people. This is evident when Ishmael kills many rebels and watches his friends die without shedding a tear, but when the pills ware off he starts to cry and reflect on what he has done.

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  7. Page 90 says, "Ah heavy rain followed, with thunder and lightning that lasted for 15 minutes." Earlier in the chapter there was crying and pain from the boys. I just think the rain symbolizes the tears and the lightning and thunder symbolizes the cries of pain or sorrow.

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  8. Do you think that video game makers are trying to recruit people to join the army or to just show what war is like?

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    1. I think that the video game makers are just trying to show younger kids what war is like, cause some of them might not want to join, but they want to have the general idea of what it it like.

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    2. I think that they don't care what the games does to people they are just trying to make the most money possible

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    3. Both but more trying to get people to want to join because in the call of duty commercial it says there's a soldier in all of us.

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    4. If you ever look at gaming magazines they almost always have some kind of military advertisement.

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    5. When people play the call of duty games their is a game mode called combat training. This is put there so you can sharpen your skills but is this making us more violent?

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    6. they are showing what war is like the one exception is you dont come back after dying and you dont get shot a thousand times before death the real connection between video games and war is the bullets flying over hed and sound of friends in agony

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    7. I think the video games are made for peoples enjoyment. They aren't trying to recruit us it is just another game category. That would be like saying Madden 13 is trying to recruit us for the NFL.

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  9. How did the Rebels get started if know one likes them?

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    1. They used scare tactics to get them so scared that they feel they have no choice.

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  10. After the attack on the village, the RUF soldiers are normal and talk to each other as friends. How are they able to be savage murderers one second, and then snap out of it and become friendly?

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  11. "They have lost everything that makes them human" They do not deserve to live. Pg 108 If we try to eliminate the rebels then it will stop growing, even though they are kids they will grow up to kill more people. Why don't people try to expunge the rebels?

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  12. Is it possible to unlearn the killer instincts

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    1. I don't think you can unlearn anything. All you can do is forget but the things that you do that is major is what you remember most.

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    2. i don't think so because when you kill the instinct will stick with you, its just how it kinda works. like when your a kid riding a bike, you never really forget how to do it.

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  13. Pg 118 Ishmael says, " The sun showed flashes of the tips of guns and bullets traveling toward us.Bodies had begun to pile on top of each other near a short palm tree, where fronds dripped blood." To me this quote really stands out because as he describes it he doesn't seem to horrified by what happened. Any other child that sees violence would not be this comfortable around death. Is it because he has become so used to death that he doesn't care anymore?

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  14. Early in chapter 11 they begin returning to their village to see their mother and family. I am pretty sure their village was raided at the beginning right? They were all separated and the boys ended up traveling for a long time. My question is why are all of the people still living in the village when the boys had to jump around the whole country for safety? I mean you figure the parents would have had to travel around too right?

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  15. On page 93 it says "As I was going down the hill, I heard gunshots. And dogs barking. And people screaming and crying." I think this is a worse situation than never seeing your parents again. As he is walking down that hill, he knows he is so close to his goal of finally seeing his parents. But instead he is helplessly watching as he knows his family is dying. I would rather never see my parents again than be this close to seeing them and then suddenly realize that you will probably never see them again.

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  16. "I turned away, and my eyes caught the smashed head of another man. Something inside his brain was still pulsating and he was breathing"(p 100) How can someone do that to a person and let him suffer to his death?

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  17. When the boys make it into the town it acts as a safe haven because its a place they can stop running and relax and eat but it actually turns into the most dangerous place they could be. Do you think the pleasure of having a break took over the mind?

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  18. I really do think Ishmael is desensitised because on page 94 in the first paragraph it said "Gasemu and my friends had followed me, and we all stood looking at the flaming village. i was sweating because of the heat, but i wast afraid to run in between the houses." most people would not just stand and look at a burning village, and they really wouldn't run in between the houses while they are raging with fire. so i think all of the are desensitised in a way.

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  19. On the last page of the article, it says that the parents should have just turned off the TV violence, if they would have done this, do you think the Jonesboro shooting would of happened?

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    1. I think it would have probably still happened because there was probably a lot of violence in the kids family who did the killing.

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  20. On page 111 when it says, "We lined up facing the Corporal, he handed each of us an AK-47." Is this the start of violence from Ishmael? Or is he already use to the shooting already?

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    1. I think he is already use to shooting and violence already. all this violence has been spreed out through the whole book it doesn't just start with him geting an AK-47.

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  21. Zac mentioned how the rebels are enjoying what they are doing to the people and villages. I think they all are sickened by what they do just like any other person would be, but they use laughter as a distraction.

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  22. On page 107 it says "I am sorry to show you these gruesome bodies, especially with your children present. But them again, all of us here have seen death or even shaken hands with it."
    When he says that they have shaken hands with it, it means that they have almost been killed them self's?

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    1. I think it means they have been a second away from being shot in the face just like Ishmael has before.

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  23. On page 5 of the article it says, "...a select few of Japanese soldiers would go into the ditch and bayonet 'their' prisoner to death. This is a horrific way to kill another human being. Up on the bank, countless other young soldiers would cheer them on in their violence." and on page 124 and 125 it says, "The morning after the lieutenant's speech, we proceeded to practice killing the prisoners the way the lieutenant had done it. There were five prisoners and many eager participants. ... The boys and other soldiers who were the audience clapped as if I had just fulfilled one of life's greatest achievements." How does this lead to their violence and and are things like this still occurring? Does this have an affect on them after war? Are they still overly violent and dangerous?

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  24. They are gradually being desensitized. Early in the book he couldn't sleep because he was dreaming of dead/burning bodies. In chapter 11 he is covered in Gasemu's blood as if it was normal trying to save someones life.

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    1. Yes but there is a difference between trying to save someones life and seeing torturing and violence.

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  25. Do you think it is worth the risk of showing people what the war is like knowing that it might affect young kids

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    1. If your talking about the people that make video games, i don't really think they care about what it does to kids, as long as the game is selling and they are making money.. thats all that matters to them.

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    2. yes, Because they are their for protection but some kids sign up cause they have messed up so bad in life they need it and others join to do good and make it they're profession.

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  26. Are these pills drugs or are they sugar pills that provide a placebo affect as energy or motivation?

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  27. I agree with max in the inner circle about how they train them to kill that if they don't start shooting people then they will just shoot you. like kill or be killed. But they also desensitize them and give them drugs which helps them kill to.

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  28. They say in the book that he started to snort " Brown, Brown." witch is cocaine and gun powder. What is the gunpowder do to you and is it safe for your body?

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  29. Are video game companies only worried about making money on the expense of our well-being?

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    1. That is how they make their money and they are not making anyone buy their video games it is a choice if you want the game or not.

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    2. I dont think they know it is affecting us they are just making games with out knowing.

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    3. Maybe it was just a popular topic for Young people and that they would make money from it. It is also only for 17 and older. The parent should be the ones thinking about expense of our well-being.

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  30. when he passes the bodies and tries not to vomit, and the man says you will get used to it, this is an example of being desensitized.

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  31. how did they make 90% of people willing to kill, how long did it take?

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  32. It seems like everything they do at the military camp is desensitize the people. They tell them about rebel atrocities, show them bodies, give them drugs. All of these things seem like they're trying to brainwash the kids so they will fight.

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  33. In killology the author says "15 to 20 percent of individual rifle men could bring themselves to fire at an exposed enemy soldier". What percent of child soldiers fire on other soldiers.

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    1. Probably a high percent because they are trained to kill and dont know better.

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  34. do you agree with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman that video games like cod or any other war game can only do bad

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  35. On page 96 when it says "A group of rebels cam into the village. They were laughing and giving each other high fives." Will Ishmael ever become this desensitized that he wont care about how many people he killed?

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  36. On page 121 he says "We all wanted to be like Rambo; we couldn't wait to implement his techniques." It really shows how much they changed them which is a lot because at the begening of the book he thought it was sickening when he saw all the violence.

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