Lesson plan
David Blacker
David Blacker is a Sri Lankan author. In the early 1990s, as a 19-year-old, Blacker served in the 6th Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army at Elephant Pass, seeing action in the regiment's heroic defense of the base. In 2001, after being wounded in battle, he went to Europe and took a part-time designing job. Blacker began to write in his spare time, and soon produced A Cause Untrue, a tale of Sri Lankan war. Blacker said that while personal experience formed the basis of the novel, the plot was entirely fabricated. In 2004 the novel in manuscript form was short-listed for the Gratiaen Prize, which led to its publication in 2005. Subsequently, the book won Best Novel at the 2006 State Literary Awards and was on the 2007 long list for the International Dublin Literary Award. Blacker's blog, the Blacklight Arrow, was one of the most popular Sri Lankan websites during the war, and Dr Dayan Jayatillake, Sri Lanka's former permanent representative to the UN in Geneva is quoted as saying “The Blacklight Arrow was way ahead in analysing and projecting the war as it unfurled this time. I have read and met commentators on military and strategic/security affairs from the UK, US, India, Russia and Israel and this guy Blacker is world class, and would be recognised as such except he’s too damn lazy to write. His knowledge of world military history is enormous.…
Article summary
David Blacker is a Sri Lankan author. In the early 1990s, as a 19-year-old, Blacker served in the 6th Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army at Elephant Pass, seeing action in the regiment's heroic defense of the base. In 2001, after being wounded in battle, he went to Europe and took a part-time designing job. Blacker began to write in his spare time, and soon produced A Cause Untrue, a tale of Sri Lankan war. Blacker said that while personal experience formed the basis of the novel, the plot was entirely fabricated. In 2004 the novel in manuscript form was short-listed for the Gratiaen Prize, which led to its publication in 2005. Subsequently, the book won Best Novel at the 2006 State Literary Awards and was on the 2007 long list for the International Dublin Literary Award. Blacker's blog, the Blacklight Arrow, was one of the most popular Sri Lankan websites during the war, and Dr Dayan Jayatillake, Sri Lanka's former permanent representative to the UN in Geneva is quoted as saying “The Blacklight Arrow was way ahead in analysing and projecting the war as it unfurled this time. I have read and met commentators on military and strategic/security affairs from the UK, US, India, Russia and Israel and this guy Blacker is world class, and would be recognised as such except he’s too damn lazy to write. His knowledge of world military history is enormous.…
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.