Media 3 ; Poem

The Man he Killed
By: Thomas Hardy
Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because--
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like--just as I--
Was out of work--had sold his traps--
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.

Good poem, eh ? War poems are usually good because it shows the stupidity of war, just like the war in The Sniper. The poem, The Man he Killed and The Sniper are related because it talks about the inhumanity of war and how you lose your innocence when you're in a war. In The Sniper, the sniper shoots at a human being. Before the war, do you think he would have done something like that ? I don't think so. That situation also applies to The Man he Killed. Without the war, they would have never killed a human.

Can you imagine if every human on Earth walked around the streets, just killing everyone ? In this poem, a man was walking along a old inn when he saw another man. He shot him. Why? Because he was a "foe". He talks about how weird war is and if the circumstances were different, he would have treated the foe with something if he met him near a bar. That last stanza makes him realize how pointless war really is and it's not worth it to kill a human. He could be a friend, someone he could have beers with every week but because of the war, none of that could happen. Also, he says the reason why he killed the man was because hes a "foe". There's no other reason why he killed him. But because he's in a war, all the innocence leaves his body and the only thing that remains is the hate and desire to kill the enemy. Like William James says, “The emotions aren't always immediately subject to reason, but they are always immediately subject to action”.

Poem found at http://www.love-poems.me.uk/hardy_the_man_he_killed.htm

Photo found at http://www.usma.edu/images/CFT2.jpg

Media 2 ; YouTube clip

It's shocking the number of information you can get when there are hidden cameras or recorders. In this video, that's exactly what happens. This video is about the war that happened in Sri Lanka. The video and the story are connected because the themes are similar. The theme is that people don't act like humans when they're in war. War dehumanizes them. In the Sniper, one of the snipers kills the other sniper, and he later realizes that it's his brother. The video also follows this concept. Although they both talk different languages, they are all "brothers" figuratively.

This is first time evidence like this has been released. It was caught on video, on a phone and it was smuggled out. In this video, the Sri Lankan Army attacks poor innocent Tamil civilians. We don't know why but I think it's because they see every Tamil as a LTTE member and so they take all their anger out on innocent Tamils. Also, they explain how 200,000 Tamils are in camps. The video also talks about how the press wants press freedom. This video is another perfect example of actions done without thinking. The Sri Lankan army didn't think about the lives of Tamils. Tamils might not be their blood brothers but they are brothers, figuratively. The treatment Tamils receive is sometimes worse than a dog is treated. They're stepped on and, like in the video, shot. Would you do something like that to your brother, your friend? Even dogs aren't treated like that. Sri Lanka has to stop abusing Tamils because they're what makes Sri Lanka what it is. Without one of the two groups,Sri Lanka won't be the same.


Video found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xqzKj2g25Q&feature=related

Media 1 ; Photo

This photo goes hand-in-hand with the story, The Sniper. They both have the same theme which is the inhumanity of war. In the Sniper, the Republican sniper killed two innocent people because of an assumption. He thought that they were informers but they could also have been a couple, caught at the wrong place, at the wrong time. In this photo, 5 people were killed for God-knows-what reason but the point is that the murderer killed them without even thinking.

In the photo, 5 men are lying on the ground. Almost all have their hands tied behind their backs. There are, what appear to be, whip lashes on the backs of the men and their heads are covered with a black sack. Blood is oozing down the street like water oozes when spilt. You can tell whoever their assaulter was, they didn't care who these men were or what they did or their families. They just wanted to do as much harm as they can to these men. They thought

like monsters rather than think like the humans that they are. Their emotions got the better of them. Emotions is one of the main reasons why people don't think before they act. They're so angry or upset that something has happened and so they just do it and suffer with the consequences later.

Photo found at http://www.riehlworldview.com/photos/uncategorized/pict67.jpg

Welcome to War Sounds !

When you're in war, you hear lots of sounds. It could be the sound of birds flying away or the sound of people running, looking for protection. And of course, the sounds of gunshots firing. It's the loudest and most feared sound in a war. But then, there's another sound that follows it. Its the sound of a person crying out in pain and defeat. It's the sound of death.

Welcome to War Sounds ! Guessing by the name, you probably know that this blog has something to do with war. Well, you're absolutely right! In this blog, we're going to discuss about a short story called The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty. In The Sniper, a war is going on between the Irish Free State and the Irish Republican Army and it describes an encounter that occurred. The theme of this story is the inhumanity of war and how it dehumanizes people and you lose your innocence when you're in war. Soldiers kill each other senselessly, without even knowing who it is. You might have killed your blood brother or your best friend or someone who was really special to you. All for the sake of patriotism.In this blog, we're going to compare the story, The Sniper to other media types. There are many medias that are related to this story but we're going to use the photo of 5 men dead on the road, the leaked footage of the Sri Lankan war and the poem, The Man he Killed by Thomas Hardy. Shall we get started then?