Representation 1 is almost completely unobjective, mainly due to the fact that it is propaganda, with the sole purpose to persuade the reader to disagree with the war. It also contains an emotive and dark image, of a skeleton in replacement of Uncle Sam, to ignite anger and bitterness from the reader. It lacks any facts, details or figure, it is purely an opinion expressed in attempt to turn people against the war. Also the image of death in the poster is a sensitive topic which is close to a lot of American people, due to the amount of young American men dying in Vietnam. This sensitivity is used as a tool of persuasion, by creating a more powerful and persuasive message against the war.
Overall representation 1 provides an amazing insight into how professional advertising personnel attempted to unsell the war. It accurately portrays a widely felt concern over the high death rate in Vietnam, felt by many Americans, even though it only contains one poster from one group of people. However it lacks detail, and context, it also fails to include facts, and is completely unobjective due to the emotive and sensitive topic, for the purpose of persuasion, that it expresses. However the harsh image, and powerful anti-war message portrayed in this representation, clearly represents the polarised American society, at that time during the war.
Representation 2 gives a clear and vivid view of how Americans with left-wing political opinions, pacifists and liberals reacted to the Vietnam War. This representation has a broad coverage of the reaction to the war from these three groups of people, but it fails to include a detailed explanation of the reaction from any other groups of the American population. However it does briefly mention other groups, for example students, civil right leaders and the tribunal. Even though it explores the reaction of many different groups of people in America, it fails to include any pro-war groups, or explore any pro-war events; this limits its coverage as it only focuses on anti-war reactions from Americans. However it manages to explore the development of the anti-war movement, not just describe one event at one time during the war. It is full of context as it explains exactly why different groups of people were against the war. In addition it includes the reaction from America as a whole, through opinion polls. Even though it only briefly mentions public opinion and opinion polls so it only gives a small insight as to how the American population reacted to the war. It also includes information about many different events for example; the corruptness of the draft and how the civil right leaders and students reacted to it. However it lacks detail in certain areas for example, when mentioning the draft it only presents a vague idea as to how people reacted to it.
This representation is sharply accurate, mainly due to the extensive amount of precise and accurate dates, information and context included. However some events lack detail, for example the exploration of the march in New York was given a very vague and casual date, ‘the late 1960’s’ this is one of only a few instances where the author has failed to include sharply precise detail. Most events, apart from the draft and the march in New York, are explored in great detail with precise figures, facts and dates. It also provides precise detail about how different groups reacted to the war. However it could have used more figures, for example when it mentions public opinion it fails to state the figures to support what it represented. Also when it explores student protest it fails to explain the scale of the protest, as it lacks figures for example, the amount of people that attended the protest. In addition it could have explored some areas in greater depth, for example how different people reacted to the draft. However the source does agree with what I know about how the included groups reacted to the war.
Representation 2 is purely analytical and informative and the writer appears to be completely detached, and overall mostly objective. There is no emotive language used, or opinions expressed to influence the reader’s views. However it is partly unobjective due to it only exploring the anti-war movement and lacks any mentioning of pro-war groups or events.
Overall this representation gives a fascinating insight into how a range of different groups including pacifists, liberalists and students reacted to the war. It explores in great detail exactly how these groups reacted to the war, and provides context as to why they reacted like they did. It also includes the reaction of America as a whole, through pubic opinion polls. Even though some areas lack precise detail like figures and statistics, it contains sharp accuracy when exploring the events and different people’s reaction to the war. In addition it is mostly objective with no intention to manipulate the reader’s feelings, even though it only focuses on anti-war reactions.
Representation 3 explores in great detail the ‘Hard Hat’ demonstration in May 1970. It contains broad coverage regarding what happened in the demonstration and the reaction of the construction workers to the war. But it fails to provide wider coverage to America’s reaction as a whole, as it only explores one event, from a certain group, which were only a small minority of the American population. It provides some context by briefly explaining why the construction workers went on this demonstration, however some areas lack context as it isn’t entirely clear as to why they reacted so violently to the war. It portrays a precise and detailed insight as to how the ‘Hard Hat’ construction workers reacted to the war, however other areas of the representation lack sufficient detail, for example the author only briefly mentions how the police collaborated with the construction workers. However it does provide broad coverage as it mentions the different reactions to the demonstration, including a major American newspaper.
This representation explores the ‘Hard Hat’ demonstration in great precise detail, giving a clear view into exactly what happened on that demonstration, and how the construction workers reacted to the war. Even though it explores the event in great depth it fails to include figures, dates or statistics. It also lacks context and detail in certain areas, for example it fails to mention why the police worked with the construction workers. However it does contain carefully selected quotes which shine further light upon the event, one quote stating that the police were working with the construction workers. The other quote is from a construction worker explaining why he went on the demonstration. In addition the representation completely agrees with what I know about the ‘Hard Hat’ demonstration.
This representation is written in a very professional, analytical and factual style, which is mostly detached, making this piece mostly objective. However it is also quite unobjective, as there is a certain amount of emotive language used, for example ‘mob’ and ‘chased down’. It also contains a quote which arguably justifies the attack, explaining that one of the construction workers was doing it for his brother who was wounded in Vietnam.
Overall this source gives a detailed insight as to how a group of construction workers reacted to the war, however this is only a small minority and their reaction doesn’t represent the reaction of America. It fails to give a broad view as to how America as a whole reacted to the war. In addition the event is explored in great depth and is written in a professional and analytical style. But it lacks precise detail with no use of figures or dates, and contains a significant amount of emotive language, causing it to be quite inaccurate and unobjective.
In conclusion all three representations explore in detail how certain different groups among US society reacted to the war. I have come to the conclusion that representation two is the best regarding the way in which people in America as a whole reacted to the war. It broadly covers in great detail the reaction of many different group among the American population including, pacifist, liberalist and students. The reaction of these groups combined with a survey of public opinion; represent the reaction of a large majority of America. Even though it doesn’t go into as much detail as the other two sources, they only manage to focus on one group of people. This representation objectively and analytically explores in great detail how a number of different groups reacted, and it portrays the best, accurate, most vivid, broad image of how people in America reacted to the war.
