Task 2

Point of View

Point: The poem is written in the point of view of a person who has had first-hand experience with Agent Orange.

Evidence: He knew about the “Execrable effects of agent orange spray!” and the “ deceit that continues to spread” about Agent Orange.

Elaboration: The poet exhibits a profound understanding towards the consequences and effects of Agent Orange. He knew about the “birth defects” and “prematurely dead”, both of which are the dire consequences of Agent Orange. His knowledge was most likely gained through first-had experience. We know this to be true as he was in fact exposed to this toxin during his time as a soldier.

Situation and Setting

Point: The setting of the poem is after the Vietnam war.

Evidence: The whole poem is in the past tense, such as “America did not foresee” and “now thinking twice”, which means the event (Vietnam war) happened in the past.

Elaboration

Since the setting is after the war, some of the victims of Agent Orange would have surfaced and the poet would know about the actual consequences of Agent Orange. He realizes that war is dangerous not only for soldiers, but also innocent civilians, and even babies not even born! The poet is also able to discern the :deceit” spread by the government, and provide the truth to those who read his poem.

Language and Diction

Point: The poet uses oxymorons and some other interesting words.

Evidence: “Rainbow Death”

“potpourri”

“Nefariously”

“Execrable”

Elaboration: “Rainbow Death” is an oxymoron. Rainbows are commonly associated with happiness, hope and the light after the rain. However, death is sinister, bad and sorrowful. This oxymoron emphasizes the harmful effects of using Agent Orange.

“Potpourri” is a metaphor. It means: a mixture of dried petals and leaves from various flowers and plants that is used to give a room a pleasant smell. However, the context of the poem, I think that it just means dried (or dead) petals and leaves. The killing leaves and petals are actually one of the goals for using Agent Orange. However, just like the flora, many other people were killed by Agent Orange. Also, potpourri also mean an unusual mixture of things. The effects of Agent orange were many, from disabilities to babies with two faces, or missing limbs etc.

“Nefariously” is an interesting word that means evil. The poet is indicating that Agent Orange was just evil, and covering it up was even more so. From here, we can infer that he is strongly anti-war.

“Execrable” also means evil or bad. Again, the poet suggests that war is bad.

Personal Response

The poet is able to make me change my perspective of war. His ominous descriptions of the numerous evils as well as the plight of the victims makes me pity the victims of this horrible weapon. Vietnam is known to still feel the effects of this chemical weapon. Many of the villagers were born with birth defects, although they did nothing wrong. The poet describes this groups of people as the “unborn” and “prematurely dead”. The line “Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn” suggests that America, being powerful both militarily and politically, was bullying a weaker nation, or rather a weaker group of people. America is portrayed as selfish through the line ;expecting others to pay a high price”. Hence, the poet is able to evoke my sympathy for the victims of Agent Orange.

IT Home Learning Assignment: Task 1

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

by Hubert Wilson

This poem speaks of a chemical weapon, called “Agent Orange”, used during the Vietnam war. This chemical weapon was supposed to kill forests such that the Viet-cong could be driven out of hiding. However, this chemical also affected humans. As a result, millions of people were infected, with over 400,000 deaths and disabilities. Subsequent generations of children had many birth defects.

During the war, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the range of “Rainbow Herbicides” employed in the herbicidal warfare program. This groups of chemical weapons not only infected the Vietnamese, but also some Americans. Hubert Wilson was one such victim.

Some of its effects include:

• Prostrate Cancer
• Respiratory cancers
• Chloracne
• Leukemia

As evident, Agent Orange has many detrimental effects to its victims, as well as future generations of children. Furthermore, some of its effects can only be felt 20 to 30 years after exposure. Hubert Wilson suddenly came down with some symptoms associated with Agent Orange. He thus wrote this poem to condemn war and the usage of chemical weapons.

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

http://bhopal.net/oldsite/oldwebsite/agentorange.html

http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/

Lack of Camaraderie- A Pressing Issue Indeed

Hi guys,

Browsing through the pages of 2O1's history, I have come to a conclusion. Our class lacks camaraderie. Short, seemingly harmless, yet pressing and fatal.

The first sign of a un-bonded class is the unwillingness to help out each other in schoolwork. I would like to express my appreciation to those who really help me as well as the other classmates in the class. Yes, that means Martin, Jonathan, Hui Ming, Zhi Xin, Dexter etc. However, I feel that sometimes we are unwilling to help others, including me. Although help is still rendered in the end, I occasionally get a little frustrated or irritated. It is just human nature to be selfish and self-protecting. I promise that I will help everyone to the best of my ability.

The second sign is the flaming of classmates on blogs. From the posts that I have read, many involve unreasonable and often fictional descriptions of another classmate. It is extremely saddening to see fissures forming in the class. I hope that there will not be anymore hatred in the class, especially unjustified ones.

The third sign is the many “social circles” formed in the class. Well, it might not be bad if it was an open social circle, however in the class it is an extremely closed social circle. Somehow I feel as if the whole class has been divided into a few factions opposing each other in subtle ways. There is no sense of belonging to the class.

So how did the lack of camaraderie affect us, you may ask. Well, for one we got into a lot of trouble with our results. Our MSG ranking dropped 10 positions. That is one great “accomplishment”. However, I think this could have been averted if the class had enough teamwork to help each other out. Though it might seem troublesome, you never know when that person might help you in return. Furthermore, by repeating your knowledge to others, you are actually learning yourself! As the Chinese saying goes, revise the old and learn the new, you are able to gain knowledge just by thinking about it again. It is not a disadvantage to you to be helpful to others, in fact it is beneficial to you.

To solve the problem of the lack of camaraderie or the lack of class-spirit, I propose that we have more outings/CIP activities. Having fun is the best way to develop teamwork and camaraderie (unless you prefer the more painful solution-going through very hard times together). It will not be easy, but it is possible. For a better class, it must be done.

Whether you are a member of “fearsome four____” or the “waterpolo brothers” or the “mighty muggers”, I sincerely hope that everyone will be able to put aside their personal feuds and start anew, to rediscover the class in a whole new way.

Thank You

Popularity VS Profit

Hi guys,

I'm sure all of you have heard about the iPad or the iPhone. Much of the talk in the technology world is about these two items, which are both products of Apple Inc. Apparently, Apple has become the most popular and perhaps the most well-known computer + phone company in the world. It has sold over iPhone 3GSs since it came out last year, with over 4 billion apps downloaded from the apps store.

300,000 iPads just on the first day and 450,000 by the first week. So much so that the stores in America ran out of stock and they had to delay international shipping. Reviews of the iPad popped out all over the internet, media, newspapers and even Newsweek and China Weekly. There is so much buzz over the iPad and even the supposed iPhone 4G, which has yet to be even released! Evidently, Apple is receiving most of the attention in the tech world.

However, Microsoft has much of an "unsung success", according to Newsweek.Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system, has sold over 90 million copies in just 5 months. The magazine said that windows 7 is "pretty high quality stuff" and has received "the highest customer-satisfaction scores of any product in its history". Its "revenues in the December quarter hit a record $19 billion", but "nobody seems to care". This is because Apple has captured almost all the computer/electronics market with its high-end Macbooks as well as its cheaper iPads and iPhones. For now, Microsoft is just raking in the money boringly, without receiving much attention.

So now for the question. Is popularity or profit better?

Firstly, I would like to say that both of them are inter-linked. If a company is popular, it will make a lot of money. However, if a company is profitable, it will most likely increase in popularity as its trustworthiness is high.

However, which one would you prefer to start off with? Personally, I prefer popularity. (No, its not because I love Apple more than Microsoft) With popularity, one can easily "convert" the people who are loyalist to your rival. Not to mention the free advertisements on newspapers and online tech blogs dedicated to your product reviews. Popularity will be a faster way to increase profits.

However, being profitable first is not so effective. If one is profitable but not publicized, your customer numbers will never increase as all the customers would be people who already trust your products, without many new customers. In fact, if you rival manages to create much better publicity, your customers would be poached. This is the case for Microsoft. They do not publicize their products much, so most of their customers are the same old ones from before. However, Apple publicizes their products a lot, and more and more people are converting to using Macs rather than PCs, iPhone rather than Windows Mobile, iPads rather than netbooks.

What is you take on this? Please Comment.