From the third episode, Escaping, it looks like Bowe Bergdahl is at least 60 (and probably much more than that) away from FOB Sharana, in Pakistan. Wherever he is held, especially in Pakistan, it is far from any metropolis, and far from U.S. personnel. In the third episode of the Serial 2, the listener begins to feel a sense of the vast aloneness Bowe felt in captivity, and two escapes he attempted in the first year of captivity. I was much harsher in my opinion of Bowe when I had only heard the first part of the story, but now hearing about this first year and how much he suffered, he was still a young, twenty-three year old guy, not much older than me. I do not think the media treatment of Bowe, the sensationalization of him was at all deserved.
Serial 2 The Golden Chicken Response
In the second episode of Serial 2, issues about freedom of the press and finding reliable journalistic sources is explored through contrasting stories surrounding Bowe Bergdahl’s capture by the Taliban. Narratives throughout the podcast, whether given by the Taliban of Bowe’s capture, or depicted through reactions to his disappearance from fellow soldiers, contrasted with the Wikileaks account, show that even with all the technology at our disposal to search and share information, sometimes factual truth and emotional story have effectively the same outcome.
Serial 2 DUSTWUN Response
This is the first in a series of posts about Serial 2, a podcast focused on the war in Afghanistan. It centered around Bowe Bergdahl, and I wrote responses to the podcast for my first semester International Relations major-required course, Introduction to World Politics. We learned about the international state system, and challenges to international […]
