What's up with the marking criteria for the Smithsonian website essay?! (1 Viewer)

[YouKnowWho]

"Weaker responses described the content of the website and tended to deal in a fixated manner with how the website was biased because it was pro-American." I don't understand why this is considered a weaker response ? It is in fact a pro-American website. The website pretty much revolves around American pride, and the heroism and their unity. So you would be bound to come across this statement at least once ? Isn't it unavoidable ? Or am I missing something ?

 

[SophxMusic]

Note the 'in a fixated manner'.
Haven't studied the Smithsonian website, but my guess is it has to do with originality and counter arguments. Of course that is one main aspect, but if you can argue from a different side or focus on another aspect of the text you have a one-up on most others doing the same text. If all you have to say is about the pro-american bias, then you are only on par with just about everyone else in the state. You need a more sophisticated analysis and outlook on the text to set you apart. That being said, you couldn't be marked down on taking this view, but you still need some sense of original argument, and perhaps talk about the more technical aspects of bias, like the choices in language, form etc and how all choices carry connotations whether intentional or not. Not all bias comes down to context and intentional subjectivity.
This is just my two cents.

 

[Candidate]

You need to talk about the commemorative purpose of the website and how this restricts its authentic representation of the event, rather than only the inherent bias in the hierarchical nature of historical representations. Contrast this with your related text. Also discuss different webpages and how this creates a nexus between personal experience and historical evidence to create a balanced representation etc.