Connections:
One similarity I found in particular would be that the story and the article both discuss the easy influence of violence on children.
In the video, Ishmael talks about how seeing the violence right in front of you desensitizes you and makes you believe that it is okay. You begin to lose yourself and accept the commanders of the army as your family.
The same goes with violence in media that is shown to kids at a young age. Their minds are easily influenced, so, they begin accepting this violence as normal if they are exposed to it when young.
One difference I found was that the article states that media should not show anything related to violence and children. It is said that by seeing or hearing about teenagers in particular who are associated with any sort of violence can lead to the copycat behaviour in other children. However, Ishmael Beah uses media to tell his story of being a child soldier, in order to promote awareness. He wants to educate people about this issue and describes his story, which includes talk about gun violence and murder. The two ideas contradict each other.
Challenges:
One of the ideas presented here is that using child soldiers is bad, but I want to challenge that. Perhaps the use of child soldiers in war can have a positive outcome overall.
Another idea I want to challenge is that once you're pulled into the war and become a soldier, you lose yourself amidst the violence and start believing it is home. I think that you don't necessarily lose yourself, but rather you learn how to suppress the emotions telling you that what you're doing is wrong because your main goal is to survive.
Concepts:
A concept worth holding onto would be the affect of violence on young children and how it can change the way they think for the rest of their life. Another concept would be the use of child soldiers in war. And finally, the ideas and thoughts that run through a child soldier once they are rescued and put into rehabilitation centres because they have been conditioned to think the opposite of what rehab is trying to achieve.
Changes:
Ishmael talked about how he was isolated when he went back to school because he was seen as a killer, despite spending 8 months in rehab to recover. This suggests that we should change the way we react to people, especially the young, because certain situations condition them to become someone else, but we don't give them the chance to show that they are not that person anymore. In Ishmael's situation, it seems that he wasn't given the opportunity to redeem himself.
Another thing that got me to change my thinking is in regards to hostility towards child soldiers. I realize that people are put in certain situations without any choice, but that doesn't give me the right to label them and treat them a certain way because of it. In Ishmael's case, he was forced to become a child soldier, yet, in rehab, all the workers treated him like he was a child instead of a killer. They didn't let that label of "murderer" influence the way they treated him, which I think is something everyone should do and also be given.
One similarity I found in particular would be that the story and the article both discuss the easy influence of violence on children.
In the video, Ishmael talks about how seeing the violence right in front of you desensitizes you and makes you believe that it is okay. You begin to lose yourself and accept the commanders of the army as your family.
The same goes with violence in media that is shown to kids at a young age. Their minds are easily influenced, so, they begin accepting this violence as normal if they are exposed to it when young.
One difference I found was that the article states that media should not show anything related to violence and children. It is said that by seeing or hearing about teenagers in particular who are associated with any sort of violence can lead to the copycat behaviour in other children. However, Ishmael Beah uses media to tell his story of being a child soldier, in order to promote awareness. He wants to educate people about this issue and describes his story, which includes talk about gun violence and murder. The two ideas contradict each other.
Challenges:
One of the ideas presented here is that using child soldiers is bad, but I want to challenge that. Perhaps the use of child soldiers in war can have a positive outcome overall.
Another idea I want to challenge is that once you're pulled into the war and become a soldier, you lose yourself amidst the violence and start believing it is home. I think that you don't necessarily lose yourself, but rather you learn how to suppress the emotions telling you that what you're doing is wrong because your main goal is to survive.
Concepts:
A concept worth holding onto would be the affect of violence on young children and how it can change the way they think for the rest of their life. Another concept would be the use of child soldiers in war. And finally, the ideas and thoughts that run through a child soldier once they are rescued and put into rehabilitation centres because they have been conditioned to think the opposite of what rehab is trying to achieve.
Changes:
Ishmael talked about how he was isolated when he went back to school because he was seen as a killer, despite spending 8 months in rehab to recover. This suggests that we should change the way we react to people, especially the young, because certain situations condition them to become someone else, but we don't give them the chance to show that they are not that person anymore. In Ishmael's situation, it seems that he wasn't given the opportunity to redeem himself.
Another thing that got me to change my thinking is in regards to hostility towards child soldiers. I realize that people are put in certain situations without any choice, but that doesn't give me the right to label them and treat them a certain way because of it. In Ishmael's case, he was forced to become a child soldier, yet, in rehab, all the workers treated him like he was a child instead of a killer. They didn't let that label of "murderer" influence the way they treated him, which I think is something everyone should do and also be given.
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