CRTW
Why did I think that way?
Below are two copies of the letter by Siegfried Sassoon, in which he announces his resignation from WWI. The first is segmented and includes the information (in parentheses) I added each time before re-reading the entire passage; the second is the entire text without breaks. Your assignment is to analyze your successive reactions to my reading the letter, each time hearing the letter with a little more information. What words stood out? What information altered your reaction the most? the least? are there some filters / impediments that influenced how you heard and / or read the text? Be sure to use as many of the Nosich "filters / impediments" to analyze your thinking: when did stereotyping impede? egocentrism? personal experience?
Sassoon Declaration
I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
(He is a soldier). I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. (He's a soldier from WWI) I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation. (He’s an officer, over a regiment of at least 40 men)
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.
He’s the most decorated war hero, receiving the Iron Cross for bravery) I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
(He’s a homosexual and one of the most famous poets from the first half of the 20th century). On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize."
Siegfried L. Sassoon. July 1917
Entire Text
I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust.
I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize."
Siegfried L. Sassoon. July 1917