Video Assignment
The videos below present images of war combined with the soundtrack of Blood on the Wire by Jackson Browne. Warning: Some of the images are graphic. Discussion questions are found below.
Video 1
Video 2
Discussion Questions
The following questions can be assigned as desired, depending on your curriculum or reading group interests.
- Sometimes special interests and corporations use their influence to have a nation’s military work to advance their profiteering and empire building. How does that effect each citizen’s perception of what their individual influence in politics can be?
- A nation’s military is intended to protect the citizens, and also uphold principles of democracy and humanitarian ethics around the world. When military is used to promote war for the sake of greed, how does this undermine the democratic process.
- It’s common for thousands of citizens to protest what they believe to be unjust wars fought using tax money from the public trust. Quite often those citizens get arrested and thrown in jail. What is the impact on the democratic process when oppressive police state tactics are used to silence citizens and prohibit their freedom of speech?
- Should a government order the military to go into a war if the citizens are opposed to it?
- Depicted in the videos above were images of children being harmed by war, and some participating in acts of violence. How does the increased militarizaiton of a nation influence how the next generation perceives diplomacy?
A Government of the People 