Author Archive
As I was reading about how you would improve the understanding of terrorism, I was going to disagree with your method until I saw your last paragraph. I think it would be helpful for the United States to understand terrorism a lot better, because they seem very rash in their reactions to any sort of threats. Read more
I would have like to see an inclusion of how the foreign media portrays 9/11. Like I said before, terrorism isn’t covered as much in my country as it is in yours, so obviously I agree with you that there is a tabloidization of 9/11 and terrorism as a whole. Read more
I wasn’t sure of what questions to ask Altynai since she was very persistent in the fact that terrorism was not often covered in her class. So I asked her to review my “Bloody Sunday” paper and give her reactions. Read more
What I got from reading about your reflection on The Hurt Locker is that the movie doesn’t really address terrorism. Read more
This will be the only blog posting about my pen pal since our communication has been extremely sparse. She is a student from Krgyzstan and in regards to her views of terrorism, she feels that coverage about it is much more prevalent in the United States and the western world much more than the rest of the world. For her, terrorism doesn’t really affect her way of life and she feels her country is not as focused on the coverage of terrorism in the rest of the world.
For me, terrorism is the use of violence in order to achieve personal or governmental needs. Read more
Although portrayed from the viewpoint of a soldier, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker initially appears to be decidedly against the war and confronts the issue of what the definition of terrorism is. Read more
In an effort to commemorate the Munich Massacre during the Summer Olympics in 1972, Steven Spielberg directed Munich, a fictional account of the retaliation attacks performed by a secret Israeli organization. Though the media coverage shown during this crisis is minimal, the use of actual footage provides a fair account of the media during this time. But the most profound effect is Spielberg’s call for peace, with the film focusing on the never-ending cycle of violence that occurs with terrorism and counterrorism. Read more
Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday, the highly acclaimed ‘mockumentary’ of the massacre in Derry on January 30, 1972 is recognized not only for its unique filming style but also for its unique stance on the British side of the conflict. In an attempt to avoid being subjective, the film goes beyond the typical portrayal of the British as heartless murderers and gives them a voice during this conflict. Although the film is not seen as a “fair” portrayal by all, it stands as an exceptional view on the massacre that allows the viewers to be personally affected by the film. Read more
Although my intention is not to be pessimistic, the overly positive theme of 3 Cups of Tea was a little hard for me to handle. My opinion is not to dismiss the works of Mortenson as useless, but I feel the book could have used less objectivity (despite the difficulty the author claimed in this task). The building of schools could prove useful in alleviating international conflicts, but the real effects of the school have yet to be seen. At this time, it is still too hasty to count Mortenson’s efforts as a success. He is certainly to be commended as unique and understanding, but not yet successful. Read more