Platoon Quote and Review

To start analyzing Chris’ quote we have to take a look at the two main people he mentioned, Elias and Barnes. Chris said in his quote that he felt like a child born of these two fathers. I think he means that each of them have left an impression on him good or bad. At sometimes, I felt that Elias and Barnes had some similarities also. This may be why Chris felt they were both teaching him and not just good Elias or just bad Barnes. Let’s start with Barnes. Barnes is probably viewed by the majority as the villain of the movie, and there are many reasons why it is that way. First he kills an innocent woman and then threatens to kill a child, and finally he kills a fellow American purposefully. What could Chris have possibly gotten out of that? Well, he rushed into battle towards the end of the movie probably taking what Barnes said about death and that everybody dies someday. Also, Chris ends up killing him while Barnes tells him to do it almost as if it is a final lesson or if it was just simply avenging Elias. Speaking of Elias, let’s go to him next. He is probably more believable as being a father from Chris’ quote. He really wanted to show everyone that who they were fighting was also human and that they were going to win. This can clearly be shown when he stops Barnes from killing an innocent child. In return, Chris stops some of his fellow Americans from messing with the village teens and children. Next, Elias talks to Chris telling him that they aren’t going to win this one because they’ve won so much and what goes around comes around.  Surely, Chris would not have run out on a rampage if he really believed they were going to lose which is why I believe that was Barnes’ impression on him. Then the other part of the quote is about the enemy being themselves which is proven multiple times. First you have Barnes killing Elias, then the whole group splits into two groups and then Barnes tries to kill Chris but Chris kills him instead. Also, I think that he means that we all have an enemy inside us and Chris was trying to battle for his soul from Elias and Barnes. That is how I analyze the quote.

                Now I am going to review the movie. I enjoyed the movie and how it showed that we are not the good guys either.  I really enjoyed the way they showed that we weren’t going to win fighting on the enemy’s home ground. How could we possibly win in a jungle we are unfamiliar with? It would be like a maze with every turn being a dead end, almost literally. The Vietnamese definitely knew the jungle as they were able to sneak up on the Americans countless times. I reminded me somewhat of when we would lose battles against the Native Americans. They didn’t seem as intelligent or good as us but they would beat us and sometimes badly. I liked the movie and acting overall and would give it probably an 8 out 10.

11.22.63 JFK Assassination

Innocence Loss

                I believe that on November 22, 1963, our American government showed its true colors. I believe that the innocence of our government was loss the moment JFK’s motorcade went off course. People had a great deal of disbelief and confusion from the shots that kill Kennedy and it didn’t help that the government told them what they heard and saw was a lie. The future of the United States may have been different and maybe in a bad way, but what was done was not right.

9/11

                It can be said 9/11 was a similar incident to JFK’s. I believe that this was also a conspiracy to get the American people to distrust the world around them and focus on what our government wants them to do without them knowing.

Who Killed John F. Kennedy, and Why?

Everything is so mixed up and confused that we may never know the exact person who killed JFK, but we can narrow it down and point to a group. It seems that the government wants us to have only one person on mind and that would be Lee Harvey Oswald. I am strongly against Lee killing the President but I am not against him being a part of it somehow. I believe he was at the School Book Depository for a reason, I mean why not go out and see the President? I believe his wife and children were threatened by a branch of government and he had to listen to them. My reason for believing this is a note he wrote to the FBI that was later burned on order of someone’s superior. Also Marina Oswald moved in with a friend and Lee visited them. People say they saw him four floors down from the top drinking a Coke as calm as an innocent person. Now how could he shoot off three shots from a bolt action rifle, run down four flights of stairs and be calm and not out of breath. Not a single drop of sweat was seen on him, he was calm. The reason he was chosen to be the scapegoat in my opinion is because he was friends with someone I believe to be either an FBI or CIA agent. That person is George de Mohrenschildt. If de Mohrenschildt was with the FBI or CIA, then he could easily tell them all about the once American, now Russian returnee and how to get him involved. The way he was arrested and later killed just seemed too perfect and planned out weeks ahead of time. When he was arrested, the government did not hesitate to say he did it. The biggest reason I believe Lee Harvey Oswald is innocent is that almost all of the shots came from in front of JFK. The School Book Depository was behind JFK. So, I don’t think Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer but I think he was the scapegoat. The real killers would have had to have been military and hired. They wouldn’t have done because they disliked him, no they would have had to get something out of it. There have been a lot of presidents before JFK and some of them were terrible but America survived.

Now that I have explained who I believe killed JFK let’s go into why he was killed. I believe that he was killed because he didn’t want the Vietnam War to continue and war is good business. The moment Kennedy stopped listening to his advisors and others he was the top subject on their minds. I think the Vietnam War was the main cause but Cuba may have had a part in it too.

JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy), RFK (Robert F. Kennedy), and MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) are all murdered around the same time for trying to bring peace to the world. I don’t think this was a coincidence. Now day’s people talk about world peace but I think it is just a disguise and reason for more wars. It is a never ending cycle. One thing I keep seeing is that each of these people has last names that start with “K”. KKK, could they have been involved or is it a well-planned out hint towards a great world power that could very well be behind these assassinations and they threaten our government to cover it up and take the blame if it comes to that. Maybe that is why the government came up with stupid things like the “magic bullet” to tell us that they are being controlled. Why, they could have come up with something easier. They could have sided with the people and said that there was more than one shooter. That would take the pressure off of them and they could just get a few more scapegoats. Why would they make it look ridiculous with one shooter behind Kennedy who fires three shots which manage to hit Kennedy multiple times in the front, why?

Trump vs. Nixon

Well, the first comparison that can be said straight away is that they both have riots and protests against them. Now this helped Nixon greatly by getting elected for the most part and the article is saying that this may do the same for Mr. Trump. A similarity that goes alongside this is that they both supported the police. Nixon was the law and order when he was running against Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Trump has stated, “Police are the most mistreated people in the country.” Another similarity between the two was that they are both republicans. One last similarity is that they both realized that the protest would grow as their votes rose.

                Now some differences. Donald Trump has “Black Lives Matter” protesters against him and Nixon had multiple people against him and not just a certain group. Another difference is that Nixon blamed African-Americans for all the crime that was rising while Trump hasn’t blamed anyone, yet.

Asian Auschwitz Reaction

           I am shocked that our government would go that far. I knew that they have done horrible things in the past, but this is terrible. They wanted it kept a secret as much the Japanese who worked there so they could also get the knowledge. The people that were alive when they were dissected have all died in vain because justice was not brought upon there executioners. They should have been punished for their crimes but instead our government just told them that they were allowed to keep a secret. We have better technology then they do. We could figure this stuff out using mice and rats. Why did it have to be the prisoners? Our government will do whatever they want as long as they get something out of it. It isn’t right but what can you do? This was 70 years ago and we are just finding out today. There was more than one group keeping this a secret and one of them was our own government. How could they allow their own people, Americans, to be tested as to whether a sword is sharp enough to decapitate them our whether they be used to find a cure for frostbite and so many other things. This was the worst thing I have read about. At first it was just talking about the Japanese but then when I read that our government took part, even if it was to just keep it secret, I was shocked. Japan wouldn’t even apologize to China because they didn’t have to because of some treaty. They know what they’ve done and they are still cruel enough to ignore it. This is something that everyone should know about and not just the people who survived and were able to tell about it but everyone.

Enter the Great War!

In order to persuade the American people to side with entering the Great War, we need to tell them how it started. It started in such a small area, probably why this moment is known as the “spark” of the war. The small area was Serbian and it was under the control of Austria-Hungary. Of course no one likes being controlled and when Austria-Hungary crossed the line a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip gunned down Franz Ferdinand, the Arch-Duke of Austria-Hungary. Each country declared war on each other and the fire was growing. The point is we are a country that fought for our freedom because we were being controlled and we should help those who want that same independence.

                Alliances are being formed and we seem to be the only major power left out. Obviously we should side with the Triple Entente. We would be fighting against Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy. We would be siding ourselves with Great Britain, Russia, and France. We also need to look at the pros and cons of each choice in this war. If we don’t join and the Triple Alliance (enemies) wins, then we could be looking at an invasion and imperialistic takeover. If we do join we could be the final push that stops a rising world power. There seems to be only one good choice and that is to join and get it over with. We are Americans, we cannot allow this to just pass by as we watch.

Current Muckraking

Picture of Don Black above.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/don-black-stormfront-legal-fund

                Catherine Thompson publishes an article on July 8, 2015, about an incident that takes place a month before. The incident is a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, was a target for a shooting. The FBI suspected and visited a founder of an online white supremacists forum called Stormfront.org. Shortly after the visit, the founder started soliciting donations for a legal defense fund. The man who founded the online forum was the Ku Klux Klan grand dragon and his name was Don Black. He stated, “My free of speech site was attacked and we have to protect ourselves.” He also said that, “We aren’t going to just sit there and let the government do what they want.”

                Soon the man who was involved in the shooting was revealed. His name is Dylaan Roof and he was an online associate. Don Black said he was concerned that federal investigation on his site would scare off the commenters.  He also said that the truth they write is being attacked when the government calls it “hate speech” and tries to shut it down. Dylaan Roof was known to have killed nine people in the church. To read more click on the link above.

Muckrakers

http://www.ushistory.org/us/42b.asp

            A muckraker is someone that exposes corruption in a business or group. In the article, linked above, it is explained when muckraking came about and why. It also has three muckraking incidents straight off the bat. I will give a little summary of each.

            The first one is done by a man by the name of Lincoln Steffens. He exposes city officials working alongside large businesses to stay in power so they could corrupt the public treasury. He exposed them to the public by writing an article called “Tweed Days in St. Louis” in a magazine. It was published in 1902.

            The second one takes place only a month after Steffens’ incident. A woman by the name of Ida Tarbell started her muckraking with a series called “History of the Standard Oil Company.” She mainly wrote about John Rockefeller and his “cutthroat” methods.

            The final one is probably one of the better known. Upton Sinclair, a socialist, wrote a book titled “The Jungle” to show the horrible effects of the meat packing industry. His exposure of the spoiled and dirty meat was huge on the public. Food regulations were formed to what we have today.

            To read more click on the link above. For a slideshow of pictures of muckrakers and reformers, click the link below.

http://www.shmoop.com/muckrakers-reformers/photos.html