Monthly Archives: May 2021

Book Reviews but make them School Related

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Quick spoiler warning. I’m going to be going into detail about the Chaos Walking series, with spoilers. So, if you haven’t read the books, and intend to, maybe don’t read this.

Over the, well the weekend, I read the entire Chaos Walking trilogy. Amazing series, BTW. Definitely would recommend. It is also very much intertwined in what we are learning right now, so thats super fun.

The premise of the second and third novels are primarily what I am going to focus on, but I’ll touch on the first book as well. These two are the ones that directly deal with the idea of terrorism, and a sort of civil war in this world. There are a lot of parallels between the terrorism we’ve been learning about, and they ways that the characters in the books go about terrorism, which is pretty cool.

I am not sure if you could call what happened in the first book terrorism. They definitely use fear, and have a political goal, and since there is no media, they use word of mouth. I am still hesitant to call it terrorism. I am, of course, referencing the people of Prentisstown, and the ‘army’ they have. In actuality, they are only a few hundred men, but the threat of violence is enough for the people of New Haven to give up their power, as well as cause most of the rest of the population of their planet to flee their homes to New Haven, which was obviously not a great idea. Their ‘army’ did kill people, but not exactly terrorism. I still think it’s important to mention, because it sets up the rest of the story.

The second book is really where we get into the idea of terrorism, and people are directly called terrorists. As the old mayor takes control of New Haven, there are obviously people who don’t support them. Specifically, a lot of the women do not support many of his actions. There is more in the actual book that explains this deeper, so go read that. Anyways, this group of women slowly leave the town, and set up camp. This would be fine if it weren’t for the two people in charge.

On one hand, we have the Mayor. He has like, mind powers, and lots of weapons in the town. He also was part of the group that killed all the women from their old town, which makes him pretty scary. Him and his army occupy the town.

On the other hand, we have Mistress Coyle. She was part of a fighting faction in their old war, and has a lot of power and influence. She is also a healer, but not a doctor. There is a lot of sexism and a strong gender divide in this book, which is important. Sucky, but important. She wants to liberate the town from the Mayor, and will do anything to reach her goals. Her group is called the Answer.

Mistress Coyle, and the Answer, are who we’d call the terrorists in this scenario. The word terrorist is specifically used to describe their group, so I don’t feel bad about using it. The Answer is kinda seen as the good guys, but it is not as black and white as that. The book does a really good job of showing that neither side are good guys, and they both do really bad stuff.

The Answer’s main terrorist thing is their bombings. They have suicide bombers, as well as planted bombs in civilian-occupied areas. They bomb storefronts, symbols, and all the in-between. The Mayor uses that to demonize them, and to gain more support for going after them.

In the last book, it gets a bot more complicated. Theres a whole other army of aliens, who don’t like humans, and they have battles and stuff. It’s not super important. What I think is important is how it ends for both of the leaders.

They both die.

Of their own terms.

They believe in their goals so much that they are willing to die for their cause. The Mayor less so, but still.

I think these books are a really good example of terrorism, and how there are no heroes when you’re killing civilians.

 

People want to believe the best in elected officials

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This post is the same vibe as my last two posts. If you’re interested in more info about the project as a whole, check them out.

We’ve moved into the sphere of music, and how looking at historical events through the lease of music can shed light on a topic. Part of that was to analyze a song, of our choice, and see how that fits in. The idea I found for this particular song fits with other things as well, but for now we’ll focus on the song.

People Want to Believe the Best in Elected Officials

Today, we may not have this exact worldview. Through abuses of power, and outright lies, we have kind of lost that. But in the 1960’s, this was not the case, especially in America. When your president tells you that you have to do your part, you believe him. That’s exactly what Charlie Boy by The Lumineers is saying.

And Kennedy made him believe
We could do much more

Play the bugle, play the taps
Make your mothers proud
Raise your rifles to the sky, boys
Fire that volley loud

This is referencing the Vietnam War, and how so many young men went to fight, because they believed it was the best thing they could do for their country. They thought that the war was important, because their president, the person they trusted to run their country, told them to. Of course, thats not how we view the Vietnam war today, nor how the song continues.

News was bad on Upland Ave
Metuchen mourn our loss
Sons rebelled, while fathers yelled
And mothers clutched the cross

So many of the young people who went into this unwinnable war never made it back home. So many people want to think that people in power always do what’s right, but thats impossible. We can’t think of political powers as heroes, because the mistakes that they can make can be devastating.

History Happens on the Subatomic Level

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Y’all. We are so close.

Like I’ve mentioned in my last blog post (at least I think it did), our last little bit of learning before we take-off into the world is structured a little differently. We have topics that we’re looking at, and ideas that stem from them. That was a really bad explanation, but we’re going with it.

This post is about an idea that I had a little while ago, and my brain continues to make connections as we continue learning. I have a few examples, somewhat odd, but its what I’ve got.

History Happens on the Subatomic Level

This might not make a lot of sense, but I’ll break it down for you. The thing about historically significant events is that a lot of people don’t know how significant they are until after the fact. People are just living their lives, and they happen to be where all these crazy events happen.

First example, the umbrella man. If you are at all versed in conspiracy, which I’ll come back to later, the umbrella man is a prime example of this. Basically, when JFK was shot in Dallas, Tx, there was a man on the grassy knoll who was holding an umbrella. This was seen as odd, because it was actually a nice day outside. People latched onto this oddity, and created a myth around this man, and his involvement in the assassination. In reality, he was just a man who was there protesting something that JFK’s father had done. He was one tiny part of what happened that day, and he couldn’t have known what would spring from his innocent action.

The other example is a wee bit less innocent, but important nonetheless. More important, one might say. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the following ‘quarantine’, submarines were deployed as a precaution by the cubans, supplied of course by the USSR. These submarines had nuclear warheads, and were ready to strike should the US make a move. One October day, a US Navy ship tried to contact one of these subs to get it to come up by dropping a short ranged grenade on them, as they were too deep to contact any other way. Thinking that this meant that they were at war, the crew aboard the submarine readied to fire their nukes. One captain refused to fire the nukes. This meant that they were not unanimous, and could not fire. This one decision may have stopped WW3.

No one really knows what will come from their actions. They might have ideas, but every decision comes with a consequence, and even small ones can have a large impact on the future. Some of these small decisions lead to conspiracy theories, like that kermit the frog was involved in 9/11. Others stop all out war. It’s a fun time being alive.

What makes a legend?

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In honour of Bonnie and Clyde’s murder anniversary, which is in two weeks, I thought I would elaborate on an idea I had while researching them! 

Bonnie and Clyde were Glamourized by the Media

First, what you have to understand is the era in which they were outlaws. This was the 1930’s in America, also known as the Great Depression. People were not doing great. They were tired of hearing about how bad life was, and how much worse it was going to get. 

Enter Bonnie and Clyde, a young couple who took life into their own hands when they started robbing banks and killing people. Side note: it was only Clyde who was charged with the murder of 13 people, but you can’t tell me Bonnie didn’t kill anyone. Anyways. 

Their exploits were published all over the country. Conveniently, in a car that they abandoned, pictures of the daring couple were left behind. Next thing you knew, their faces were on every newspaper across the country. 

People were obsessed. They likened the young duo to Hollywood stars, creating a legend out of some criminals. Everyone wanted to hear about them, rather than how bad the world was doing. If the country hadn’t been suffering like they were, who knows what would have happened to Bonnie and Clyde? Maybe they wouldn’t have had to turn to crime?

Anyways, people were obsessed. These were the great heroes, bringing back the ways of the old west. However, nothing lasts forever. 

In May of 1934, the FBI were brought in because the pair had stolen a car. Yup. Not because they had killed 13 people and had committed several kidnappings and robberies. They stole a car and so they FBI had jurisdiction. 

This was the beginning of the end for ol’ Bonnie and Clyde. They were ambushed fleeing a safe house in Louisiana, and shot dead in their car. 

The public were shocked. Not because of their deaths, no. that was pretty inevitable. They were shocked at how ordinary they pair were. They were not the young starlets the media made them out to be. They had limps, scars from old bullet wounds, and Clyde even had missing toes. 

The media took this ragtag couple, and made them into legends. They altered public perception, and in doing so, immortalized them. But at what cost to them, and the public?