Ian Chinnery Posted September 23, 2015 Report Share Posted September 23, 2015 Okay, so I am thinking about writing my HI on whether or not Guy Fawkes is a terrorist or a hero. I know from an English stand point he is a flat out hero as I myself am English but living in the United States i have heard otherwise. I was wondering if you guys could help me formulate a better question than "TWE is Guy Fawkes a hero more than a Terrorist" Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcurrant Posted October 11, 2015 Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) Once you've tasted a bit of TOK, you'll see that, taken literally, the question is rather absurd. As always with these dichotomous and highly charged terms, you'll need to discover and debate WHO is applying these terms to the man. The fact that you are in the USA, makes your question a rather compelling one, because, despite serving as a beacon of hope, true democracy and freedom to the world (heroic).... it's equally hard to shake the thought that the US is the number one terrorist state on our planet (terrorist). You cannot ignore the fact that it ENTIRELY depends who you are. Or where you are in the world. There is no other way around it. If you are the unthinking kind of American "patriot", you will claim, quite simply: that the U.S. is heroically conducting its CRUSADE against the Middle East .... acting as a banner for "all free-loving nations of this Earth..." ... yadidadidada .. The other patriots, thinkers like Chomsky, or Kozol, or Hedges, are likely to say something else. So perhaps it would be more productive to investigate IN WHOSE INTERESTS it is to call the man, or America, "terrorist" or "hero(ic)". You could, conceivably, keep the title, and plump for one side or the other (or, far more interestingly, provide an alternative understanding)....but make sure you treat the whole thing as an ideological issue. The question has no single objective answer. And though this luxury of thought will not be apparent to the office workers plopping out of the Twin Towers...(.Pace ....and Pace to all those children in the world who were victims of these very same workers) it will be to you, in the comfort of the IB environment, treating the whole thing as an academic exercise ... Until the world decides to come crashing through your walls. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Nor to what the Canadian Atwood imagines is more likely for the States. That would be far worse. Sorry, we can't actually formulate questions for you. We can just float ideas. Sweet Dreams! Edited October 11, 2015 by Blackcurrant 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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