Blog Assignment #5

July 18, 2008 mjbisign

After doing a lot of research and coming across many different blogs and websites created, I am still not 100% about the specific topic I want to further research and pursue. A lot of my unit 1 essay focused on the liberals and their views on the war as well as how they are in some ways terrorist agitators.  Although this topic is very interesting to me, another thing that I came across is the amount of people that have been injured and killed during this war. Taking the movie Alive Day for instance, each person discussed their injuries they obtained and their experiences fighting in the Iraq war. Aside from knowing that during war many soldiers will be injured and killed, seven to eight million were killed during World War I, why continue to fight this war? Is the deaths of all of these Iraqi and American soldiers as well as civilians really worth it? And for what reason? All of these questions are still up in the air for me. When looking at the ideas and views of the liberals however, I wonder why they “are against” our country. People can disagree with the war but I do not understand why they are essentially in support of the terrorists. All of these ideas branch out of my unit 1 paper.

If following through with the idea of the amount of people killed during the Iraq war so far and how this is affecting our country I feel that the documentaries I have seen will help to emphasize my thoughts. Seeing people talk about their experiences such as in Alive Day, really got me thinking about their futures from this point on and how many people are actually dying and getting injured. I personally do not think we should be continuing to fight in this war especially with the amount of people who are coming home injured as well as the civilians in Iraq who are being harmed. I possibly intend to research this topic because I feel that many people think they know a lot about the war and what is going on in Iraq when in reality, they don’t know much at all. By digging deeper into the motives behind the war and figuring out why we are still fighting in lieu of all of the soldiers that are dying, I feel that it will help to answer a lot of questions about the war.

Research is obviously an ongoing thing in any research assignment. I have already found many blogs created by veterans that express their feelings and attitudes towards the war. Since my unit 1 paper is still a work in progress I could use sources then I find for that obviously for this. There have been a few news articles as well as blogs created with the views and ideas of the liberals, especially during this war. I think that any of the sources I come across will be slightly opinionated and because of that, I don’t know how creditable they will be. Veterans view the war a lot differently than us civilians do and although the ideas are based off of the events, having been there first hand and seeing the harsh realities can easily impact someone’s attitude towards the situation as a whole. The liberals as a general group of people have a set of ideas and beliefs. it would be interesting to me to find someone who is a liberal and hear their personal opinions and views. I think that any first hand encounters although they are probably mostly opinion, can be useful.

Either of these topics obviously will interest anyone who has feelings and interest towards the war. For people that don’t know as much about what is going on in Iraq it will also interest them. Whether it is the reason we are fighting, about the the amount of soldiers and civilians who are getting injured, or the views of the liberals in this country based on the current war, I feel that it can enhance any information people already know, or teach them a lot about what is actually going on overseas related to our country.

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2 Comments Add your own

• 1. sraisner  |  July 18, 2008 at 10:57 pm

  It seems as if you really did some good research from your first topic in order to formulate some ideas for this paper. I think you are on the right track here but I am worried you are going to need a little more to write about if you follow up with the why we are fighting this war after all of the deaths that have occurred. The veteran blogs are going to be very useful for you no matter what you decide your final topic to be because their firsthand experience might be opinionated, but more or less, it is going to be true and emotional. One of your ideas that jumped out to me more than anything is how you said people are against our country. If we are in a democracy that means that we chose it to be that way, for someone to make our decisions. I think it is a very good question why people are against the country compared to just the government. Could that be something you could explore more? I am also a little confused on what you meant when you said, “People can disagree with the war but I do not understand why they are essentially in support of the terrorists.” Who are you talking about here that are in support of the terrorists? I think this might be a good question to lead you to good question about the war but I was wondering if you could explain it a little more for me. Thanks!

• 2. rhetoricsofwar  |  July 21, 2008 at 3:44 am

  Morgan. I agree with Sally in that it might be interesting to research why there is a growing lack of anti-sentiment toward the U.S. among U.S. citizens. You need to be careful about the claim that liberals are in support of terrorists. That is an accusation made by some conservatives who buy into “You are either with us or against us” mentality and rhetoric that the Bush administration has pushed. There has been a lot of material written on the rise of anti-sentiment toward the U.S. among foreigners but I am not sure how much as been written about the growing anti-U.S. sentiment among U.S. citizens. I think it would be very interesting to think and write about. For primary research, you might find blogs of people expressing a lack of respect for the U.S. and begin communicating with them. You might also try to find a blog of expatriates who have left the U.S. in recent years. I might be able to distribute a questionnaire to friends who have a growing dislike of U.S….(Maybe). The point is that it will be very interesting for you to inquire: Why does nationalism and/or patriotism seem to be on the downfall in the U.S. since 9-11?

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