13 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2022
    1. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own

      I agree with this. All ideas should be expressed and taught in school regardless because that is reality. The world is filled with all different thoughts, beliefs, and ideals, so I would think that schools would want to use all different types of novels and books that express this and can teach young people what others experience in real life.

    2. ratlike people who enjoy making money from poisoning the minds of young people

      I find it sad how the school thought that it was okay to burn books and think just because they thought of them as “evil” and “poisonous”. I don’t understand how the school does not rather appreciate different perspectives and types of books, which can truly be a great learning experience.

    1. They are tangible, personal and real, in every sense of the word.

      I agree that letters are personal and real; they show you care and want to put more effort into the conversation.

    2. For those few minutes, you will live entirely in the present moment and in the thoughts you're putting on paper

      I love the aspect of being more in the present when writing something to someone through a letter, which truly expresses how you feel and think at the time.

    3. Research has shown that the general act of writing by hand can promote quite a few physical and mental benefits

      in middle school letter writing helped me feel less alone when my best friend moved to California. We wrote letters to each other because i did not have a phone, so I was able to stay in touch.

    1. Even those aware of the manipulation still felt propaganda’s pull

      I was shocked how Tokyo rose tried to persuade Japanese and Nazi causes through a radio station and the GI’s were encouraged to stop fighting, as the radios claims were false.

    2. It was best to appeal directly to the emotions

      this is scary how manipulative US propaganda is; Seeing colorful misleading posters everywhere, implied that becoming a troop will be an “honor” to America but they were false visuals with no truth in how much death was actually occurring.

    1. I live in a world of death

      this was the most moving quote. Showing the true emotion of Aanenson, it makes you understand the reality of the war and the impact it had on the troops’ lives. They were surrounded by death and destruction most of their time serving and it eventually became hard to continue to have positivity and hope when writing. Living with constant fear of your life and the life of others that can be taken away at any point; it hard to keep inside. Although Aanenson wanted to initially reveal how he was truly feeling to the girl he loved, he knew it was best to not tell her, as she cannot prevent or do anything about it. He didn’t send the letter to keep his hope in their future. These troops crave comfort from their loved ones and writing letters probably relieves some of their suffering at least a little bit. Keeping messages and letters from family and friends allows them hold on to something that they know will always be safe with and bring them joy from reading it, so it was probably best to always write with positive outlooks in order to keep the hope and dreams of a better future and end to the war.

    2. Every day I hear of some person doing strange things

      This revealed the truth behind how people had felt in the Japanese imprisonment camps. Being confined caused people to loose themselves and get caught up in negative thoughts. Forced into camps, people needed to endure the emotional and mental trauma of this, which clearly changed people.

    3. We couldn't have won the war without it. It was terribly important as a motivator of the troops

      This is my favorite quote from this article. It reveals how important and valued letters were to the soldiers and families/friends at home who received them. The troops specifically probably held on to them, treasuring what was from their loved ones, giving them hope and a drive to keep fighting in order to go home to them.

    1. In the coming years more newsreels and photographs were released showing increasingly graphic images of death and destruction

      graphic movies and films of the war horrified people and I find it interesting how effective and powerful they were to engraving scary truths of what troops were actually living through.

    2. These sources played a vital role in connecting the home front with the war front and kept Americans informed about the progress of the fighting overseas as well as its impact on their communities

      This is an impactful meaning behind the radios and movies. They showed the true reality of what troops were going through and how everyone needs to keep having hope. Even though this caused worry, it also kept everyone informed and not clueless to what was occurring.