Hitler Youth

       The Nazis used the Hitler youth groups to shape the way the German youth think.  The Hitler Youth group was established in 1936 with the original purpose to train boys to enter the Storm Troopers, but later they wanted to get them involved in the Nazi national committee or to become soldiers. It became mandatory in 1936 for all children in between the ages of ten and seventeen to join the Hitler youth and League of German girls. As the years went on more and more children were registered to attend the Hitler youth groups. In September 1939 over 765,000 pre-teens/ teenagers had a leadership role in these organizations. They would attend after school meetings and go to sponsored camping trips. Both groups combined sports with ideologies to encourage and convince the youth that the way of being faithful to Hitler is the only way to live. “Their public displays of these values encouraged young men and women to abandon their individuality in favor of the goals of the Aryan collective.”  The League of German Girls used rhythmic gymnastics to persuade young girls because it was less stressful on their bodies and would prepare them for motherhood.

Inhumanity of war

   
   

    Liam O'Flaherty's short story The Sniper and Jason Russell, director of the video KONY 2012 share a common theme; that soldiers are forced to kill and become desensitized to killing others and corrupts the way they think which leads to great inhumanity in war.

    One way that this is shown is by soldiers killing loved ones and people that they know. In The Sniper the main character (the republican soldier) is injured. To escape he must kill the enemy soldier or else he may be caught by enemy forces in the morning. "The enemy on the opposite roof covered his escape. He must kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle." He decides to kill the soldier even though there is a chance he may have known him before the split in the army. In the end it turns out the enemy soldier was his brother. In the video KONY 2012 Joseph Kony leader of the LRA (Lord Resistance Army) abducts kids for his rebel army. Joseph Kony forces the kids to kill their own parents and other loved ones unless they want to be badly beaten or killed. In both cases, in order to stay alive the soldier and the kids kill loved ones. The soldier and the children become desensitized to killing people that they may know since they do it so often. This proves that there is a great inhumanity in war.


    Soldiers’ harming innocent people is the second reason why war is inhumane. In The Sniper the main character kills an old woman when he spotted her informing a man in an enemy car. She was an innocent civilian that posed no threat to the main character. The main character shot the old women before she had a chance to escape. "The woman darted toward the side street. The sniper fired again." In the video KONY 2012 Joseph Kony forces his child soldiers to kill and mutilate innocent people’s faces. The children are severely punished if they do not obey to his orders. Due to fear of being spotted, and being forced to kill by their leaders innocent people are killed during war. The soldiers and children become use to the fact that they have no other choice but to kill innocent people and learn not to feel any regret for their actions. This kind of thinking mentality leads to unnecessary actions which causes inhumanity in war.


    The last way that inhumanity in war is shown is by killing and harming people on impulse in order to maintain something dear to them. In The Sniper the main character kills the man in the enemy car and the old lady upon seeing them. He is so use to pulling the trigger that he didn't consider not killing them. "His eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death." In KONY 2012 Joseph Kony wants to maintain his power. He has settled down with the fact that the only way to maintain his power is to kill and abduct people and now does it on impulse. Kony is the only one that kills on impulse; the children he abducts do the same. They are scared of being hurt and killed and no in order to avoid this they know they must kill and do it on impulse without questioning their actions. In both cases, the soldier, the children, and even Joseph Kony are used to the fact that they must kill people and have become desensitized to this fact. They are all forced to kill on impulse in order to maintain something dear to them. In the case of the soldier he knows it is his duty to kill people in order to stay true to his role. The children that Joseph Kony abducts are trying to stay alive, and Joseph Kony is trying to maintain power. Killing on impulse in order to maintain something leads to inhumanity in war.


    In conclusion, both texts show that killing people that you care about, harming innocent people, and killing on impulse to maintain something cause inhumanity in war. Soldier’s ideas are corrupt and they lose their inhumanity. They use those reason to justify their actions for killing people, and it is for those reasons that war is inhumane.

A miracle

I chose this video because I find it very inspirational. Her reaction to being able to hear for the first time really moves you, and shows you to never think anything is impossible. I also find it veyr fasinating how much technology has improved. Today's techonology can make someone hear for their first time.

Introduction

Hello. I am doing an independent blog assignment for my english class, and I will be adding posts for the four units that we study. My posts will relate what I am learning to the media.