After viewing the first three episodes of Oliver Stone's The Untold History of the United States, I'm curious to know what your thoughts and feelings are about the following... Please respond in short-answer format of at least three sentences or more per prompt. This journal will be due by Thursday, 12/20/18.
1. Analyse Stone's ethos. How does he build his credibility within the documentary? Where does he fall short in establishing trustworthiness as an orator and as a historian? You may wish to recall the opening soliloquy which he provided his audience as a springboard to your reply to this first prompt.
2. Identify and describe the most shocking thing or series of things which you gleaned from watching this compelling, and even frightening, retelling of European, Asian, and certainly American history.
3. Why is it, in your informed opinion, that so much of the "truth" of World War Two has been lost to history here in the West? Recall that those nations in the East, namely Russia, arguably are the reason that Germany's and Japan's military machines were finally stopped. Why then, does the United States teach its citizens falsehoods about the Russian's saving involvement and terrible sacrifice during the war? What purpose does this omission of the historical facts serve within our society? How have these ideas made themselves manifest elsewhere in the world and in what way(s)?
4. Give an honest, open-minded, and heartfelt response to witnessing images of the Trinity atomic bomb test at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Taking this one step further... what were your emotive responses to see actual footage of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
5. Do you feel that America, or certain Americans, should be responsible for the "war crimes" committed during World War II. Who? How should these individuals be punished? What reparations need be made?
