'Brit survivor lay on top of girlfriend at Bataclan gig to save her life'
This is the tragic story following the recent shootings at a gig in Paris on Friday night.
Michael O'Connor lay for hours on top his girlfriend, pretending to be dead in order to remain undetected by the attackers.
The story goes on to quote Michael saying 'It was really strange because people looked terribly wounded and they were obviously conscious but they weren’t crying out. They were trying to stay quiet so that they didn’t attract more gunfire
“I thought I was going to die. At one point it sounds like they were firing down from the balcony into the main area where everybody was lying"
The purpose of this story is to: 1, inspire national pride, because the 'hero' of this story is British, its put across that despite the dire times there is still hope and it was achieved by none other that a British person, but also; 2, to remind people that it could just as easily them and can just as easily happen in Britain.
Although the writer, Fred Nathan, has romanticised it a little by including the quote from Michael saying ' He told his girlfriend “I love you”’ as he prepared to die, but she answered defiantly: “We will not die in here.” I like how this story is predominately the account from the survivor. As a reader this makes me believe it more. Furthermore I like how Nathan has included O'Connor's remark about the attackers saying 'they don’t represent anything, they’re not Muslims, they’re just animals' I think this is important because after an incidence like this the media- and the world- are now going to look for a scapegoat to blame all of this violence on, and the most likely it will fall to is Muslim- despite the fact that there are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world so if Islam did promote this cruel acts against humanity, the rest of the world would most definitely be dead.
Many other newspapers such as the Daily Mail have chosen to headline with a recent image of what the scene looked like inside of the theatre, although that image is heartbreakingly real, and I appreciate that it has not be censored from the public so we can all understand the extent the attack reached, I did not chose to report on that story as it seemed to sensationalise the event, which I believe does not show the respect the victims of the attack deserve.
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| Michael and his girlfriend.
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I think you have picked an interesting side of the events to write your response to and you have also written why you picked to write about this side, which I think is effective. However to develop you could have compared this side to that of one that was more sensationalist and evaluate which was a more effective as a news report for example.
ReplyDeleteYour article was very meaningful and I was abke to relate because I also wrote on the Paris Attacks but from another angle. You were able to tell the story of this incident the light two courageous survivors who saved each other possibly through the thought of their live that they shared. Also I can agree with you that they did share to us the public images of this tradgic event. The images were provided but the More dramatic images were censored to an extent which I feel wasn't meant to be because what is in those pictures are included in the Headlines of major papers so why censor the picture if that makes sense. Above all your article was great and you did make use of photographic evidence of the survivors and you clearly stated the source and meaning behind this article. well done.
ReplyDeleteYou have taken a different approach to the event which many of us have chosen to write about, and analysed your particular story well - the inclusion and breakdown of the quotes show a deep understanding of the article. You could have talked about which paper the article was featured in and how that might contribute to the perspective they write from.
ReplyDeleteYou have analysed the article very well and I enjoyed reading it! Its interesting to see a more personal view of the events following the story of this couple. You have clearly understood this article and given your own opinion on it! Well done
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