I think Susan explained the main idea of The Tillman Story very well. Her synopsis of the documentary was well spoken and easy to understand. The documentary was about a young, all-American football player who left his athletic career to serve his country in Afghanistan. Sadly, young Tillman was killed during this time. The government decided to use Tillman’s death to bring in more citizen support for the war. They used the media to falsely advertise Tillman’s death, saying that he was killed in an Afghanistan Taliban raid. Citizens became angry that their all-American hero was killed. They began supporting the war even more to get back at the country that had killed their hero. The unfortunate fact is that the government had actually lied about the death of Pat Tillman. The Tillman family was devastated. In reality, Pat Tillman was killed during a friendly fire between United States troops. Those that shot Tillman were actually craving combat and were shooting their guns. Tillman’s death ensued. Mary Tillman, Pat’s mother, fought hard to reveal the government’s secrets, but U.S. army generals released very little information on Tillman’s death. Susan did an excellent job explaining this documentary. Her volume and pacing was perfect, I think. It was very easy listening to her talk. Although she was reading from her screen, I was not bored at all while she was talking. She sounded very natural and it seemed she knew what she was talking about. She was very well informed and sounded confident. There were times I could tell she was not reading from her screen but actually telling me the facts in her own words. That made it much easier for me to understand the story. She was definitely prepared, and went over all the requirements she needed to explain. She connected it to our government class by saying that this documentary reflected the idea that politics is everywhere. The media coverage that reviewed this incident touched most, if not all, Americans at the time. It was extremely easy for the government to put out a false statement to the entire country. This false story then resulted in a higher support for the war. This connects to what we have been recently discussing in class: public opinion. The government used their lies to create higher war support from the public. This film really did sound interesting. I would actually take the time to view this documentary. I cannot believe the government would deliberately put out false information to spike support for the war. The amazing thing to me was that President Busch was being used. The army generals were actually telling the president what to say, and he was following their orders. Susan explained that the strengths of this film included the detailed accounts from Pat Tillman’s family and friends. The weakness of the film, though, was that there was no interview from the government or those who shot Tillman. It was a greatly biased film. Still, I learned that the government can be quite deceiving to bring high hopes to U.S. citizens. Susan did a tremendous job teaching me that.
Susan did a great job explaining the story of Pat Tillman. She clearly explained the main theme of the film that the main point over Tillman’s death was his family’s fight to find out the truth of how their son actually died in Afghanistan and how the government lied to the public about his death and instead used it as propaganda for the public to support the war. The main idea was that this great football player decided to join the army and become a regular person. When he died, the government said it was due to a Taliban raid; however, he was killed by an enemy fire. I understood the main thing to be was how the government uses a scandal and something so unfortunate and twists the story to gain support but, they eventually get caught up in their lies. I felt the general pace of the video was very calm and easy to follow. There was no problem with the volume and was able to hear everything clearly. Susan seemed prepared because she had the documentary on hand and did not seem rushed. Overall, Susan seemed very informed about the documentary, however, she stumbled over some topic that I feel she left information out or was not to confident to explain. It seemed to me that she was able explain things but at some points in the video, not in a very organized way. Two important facts or arguments that Susan provided was that is the government just told the truth about Tillman’s actually cause of death, the war would not have been much supported by American citizens. She argues that the media was able to glorify the death, therefore, making the people feel Tillman was an American hero who got killed. The government was able to lie and limit details about the death to the public. Another important fact was that Tillman himself was treated differently than the other soldiers, but did not want a military funeral. Susan reveals that Tillman received personal letters from the government and general had to keep an eye on him because he was considered “special.” Adding on, the military tried to persuade Tillman’s wife in giving him a military style funeral, but she said no because she wanted him to be viewed as a normal guy. I think the film sounded very interesting. Due to Tillman’s football background and his decision to go into the army would make me want to watch it in the first place, but learning about the lies that went along with it, make me even more fascinated. Some of the strengths and weaknesses that I got from Susan’s summary was that it definably gives the information to how Tillman actually died and one of the weaknesses was that it was very biased. Because the documentary mostly interviewed the family, it does not give the government the chance to explain why they made the decision to lie. Finally, the other information that I thought was noteworthy was that Susan explained how President Bush was influenced by the generals about what to say and how to say things. Also, the people below him were making decisions and telling him what to do. Overall, I thought Susan did a great job explaining the documentary and now I want to watch it!
I think Susan explained the main idea of The Tillman Story very well. Her synopsis of the documentary was well spoken and easy to understand. The documentary was about a young, all-American football player who left his athletic career to serve his country in Afghanistan. Sadly, young Tillman was killed during this time. The government decided to use Tillman’s death to bring in more citizen support for the war. They used the media to falsely advertise Tillman’s death, saying that he was killed in an Afghanistan Taliban raid. Citizens became angry that their all-American hero was killed. They began supporting the war even more to get back at the country that had killed their hero. The unfortunate fact is that the government had actually lied about the death of Pat Tillman. The Tillman family was devastated. In reality, Pat Tillman was killed during a friendly fire between United States troops. Those that shot Tillman were actually craving combat and were shooting their guns. Tillman’s death ensued. Mary Tillman, Pat’s mother, fought hard to reveal the government’s secrets, but U.S. army generals released very little information on Tillman’s death. Susan did an excellent job explaining this documentary. Her volume and pacing was perfect, I think. It was very easy listening to her talk. Although she was reading from her screen, I was not bored at all while she was talking. She sounded very natural and it seemed she knew what she was talking about. She was very well informed and sounded confident. There were times I could tell she was not reading from her screen but actually telling me the facts in her own words. That made it much easier for me to understand the story. She was definitely prepared, and went over all the requirements she needed to explain. She connected it to our government class by saying that this documentary reflected the idea that politics is everywhere. The media coverage that reviewed this incident touched most, if not all, Americans at the time. It was extremely easy for the government to put out a false statement to the entire country. This false story then resulted in a higher support for the war. This connects to what we have been recently discussing in class: public opinion. The government used their lies to create higher war support from the public. This film really did sound interesting. I would actually take the time to view this documentary. I cannot believe the government would deliberately put out false information to spike support for the war. The amazing thing to me was that President Busch was being used. The army generals were actually telling the president what to say, and he was following their orders. Susan explained that the strengths of this film included the detailed accounts from Pat Tillman’s family and friends. The weakness of the film, though, was that there was no interview from the government or those who shot Tillman. It was a greatly biased film. Still, I learned that the government can be quite deceiving to bring high hopes to U.S. citizens. Susan did a tremendous job teaching me that.
ReplyDeleteSusan did a great job explaining the story of Pat Tillman. She clearly explained the main theme of the film that the main point over Tillman’s death was his family’s fight to find out the truth of how their son actually died in Afghanistan and how the government lied to the public about his death and instead used it as propaganda for the public to support the war. The main idea was that this great football player decided to join the army and become a regular person. When he died, the government said it was due to a Taliban raid; however, he was killed by an enemy fire. I understood the main thing to be was how the government uses a scandal and something so unfortunate and twists the story to gain support but, they eventually get caught up in their lies. I felt the general pace of the video was very calm and easy to follow. There was no problem with the volume and was able to hear everything clearly. Susan seemed prepared because she had the documentary on hand and did not seem rushed. Overall, Susan seemed very informed about the documentary, however, she stumbled over some topic that I feel she left information out or was not to confident to explain. It seemed to me that she was able explain things but at some points in the video, not in a very organized way. Two important facts or arguments that Susan provided was that is the government just told the truth about Tillman’s actually cause of death, the war would not have been much supported by American citizens. She argues that the media was able to glorify the death, therefore, making the people feel Tillman was an American hero who got killed. The government was able to lie and limit details about the death to the public. Another important fact was that Tillman himself was treated differently than the other soldiers, but did not want a military funeral. Susan reveals that Tillman received personal letters from the government and general had to keep an eye on him because he was considered “special.” Adding on, the military tried to persuade Tillman’s wife in giving him a military style funeral, but she said no because she wanted him to be viewed as a normal guy. I think the film sounded very interesting. Due to Tillman’s football background and his decision to go into the army would make me want to watch it in the first place, but learning about the lies that went along with it, make me even more fascinated. Some of the strengths and weaknesses that I got from Susan’s summary was that it definably gives the information to how Tillman actually died and one of the weaknesses was that it was very biased. Because the documentary mostly interviewed the family, it does not give the government the chance to explain why they made the decision to lie. Finally, the other information that I thought was noteworthy was that Susan explained how President Bush was influenced by the generals about what to say and how to say things. Also, the people below him were making decisions and telling him what to do. Overall, I thought Susan did a great job explaining the documentary and now I want to watch it!
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