Regained Their Freedom

From China View:

Gunmen hijack oil ship in Nigerian oil region

LAGOS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen on Saturday in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta area attacked two oil vessels and briefly hijacked an oil ship belonging to Canada's Addax Petroleum, local media reported.

Lagos-based Channels TV reports said in its website that a group of oil workers including seven French citizens and ten Nigerians were seized, but soon regained freedom unharmed.



I haven't talked about language in a while...

people "were seized, but soon regained freedom unharmed."

I'm fascinated by language.
The people -- the hostages -- the French and Nigerians -- are the subject of this sentence. They remain the subjects -- but look at what's missing because of that... They regained freedom. Huh? Did they fight back? Did the sneak out? Were they released? Were they never the subject to begin with?

When we choose our subjects in English, we choose the doer of the action. When we choose our subjects in a story, we show our view of import...

A lot of hostages regain freedom in Nigeria, it seems to me. Does this mean the militia are really trying to avoid killing? Does it mean that they are really trying to wage war on the machinery? That they are trying to stay true to the moral that people must be taken better care of in Nigeria?

In other news, the government canceled a big soccer game. They said that sports weren't their biggest priority right now... yuh.