Here’s the YouTube link. Check my new caftan!
This week, we don’t talk about Spiderman. Hope that’s okay. Mostly, we try and identify what’s wrong with William, seriously mock one of the world’s major religions, and try (and fail) desperately not to talk about politics. Enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Wait, Tony, you mean you don’t like the same movies that I do!
Next, you’ll be telling me that William isn’t that big a fan of Marvel movies, or that you both like horror movies (at least more than I do, which is basically, not at all).
Y’all are dead to me….
*shakes fist* Azuretalooooooon!!!
That question was generated by having to deal with a student who has bought into some conspiracy theories, and I didn’t know how to talk to her about it in some way such that she didn’t just hear something she couldn’t/wouldn’t accept and close herself off.
I just recently talked this through with a colleague who also has the same student and we decided that we needed to encourage her to be less certain and more questioning, and that probably the best way to do that for us is to get her asking questions about stories, and how stories present many more uncertainties than certainties.
So teaching literature may be one alternative for addressing politics.
(The ellipsis before “discuss” was for the question, btw.)
Oh, crap. Yeah, this is way more interesting than what we talked about.
I’ve run into people in similar situations, particularly with teens and/or young adults. I’ve never known a good answer other than yeah, teaching to be critical thinkers. It’s rough… and why I try and avoid young people.
Also, I think I figured out one issue. Hunger. I think society has achieved fairly decent consensus that many people don’t get enough to eat, and that we’re all in general opposed to that. But there is no consensus on how best to fix it. So… that one might count as a universally believed social issue.
Yeah, I actually think that there’s one school of thought that it is not a fixable problem.
That’s reminding me about the question of whether people believe in climate change. I don’t think anyone fails to recognize climate change, but I think there’s still some minority who think it isn’t human caused.
Not that personal experience is a good barometer here, but I do sometimes participate in a climate awareness gathering that my friend runs every Friday afternoon. Every time I’ve been there’s someone who comes by to tell us that we’re crazy, or should shut up and go home. The signs people are carrying are pretty innocuous–like “We only have one Earth”–so the responses seem way out of proportion.
I don’t mean it, Jas. It’s just that me and my shockingly immature peer group get bored on Fridays, and they dare me to do it.
I’m a sucker for that whole “making chicken noises to claim you’re a coward,” tactic.
Hah! Well, I guess one sign of their immaturity is that these folks are all probably at least 25 years older than you? This is a Friday afternoon, so most of the young people are still at work, but you know, we teachers hardly spend any time working at all so we have plenty of time to attend protest rallies and disturb the townsfolk. So it’s just us indolent commie types, and the cantankerous immature ones that are out being “political.”