tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post4014807736799320200..comments2024-03-28T22:02:16.520-04:00Comments on Politics and its Discontents: We All Have An 'Opinion'Lornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-17425183574864342832017-07-09T17:53:28.720-04:002017-07-09T17:53:28.720-04:00It would be my pleasure, Karen. Please send me you...It would be my pleasure, Karen. Please send me your email address via the blogger contact form, (located in the upper left hand side of this blog) and I will see if I can reconstruct things. Unfortunately, most of my old stuff is on an old defunct computer, so it will take me a bit of time to try to get things together.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-26533754074114075122017-07-09T16:21:29.221-04:002017-07-09T16:21:29.221-04:00Lorne, that sounds like a fascinating course! Migh...Lorne, that sounds like a fascinating course! Might you consider teaching it via email to an aging carpentress?karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11131927710530023725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-21237623903178784662017-07-09T09:31:09.674-04:002017-07-09T09:31:09.674-04:00I always regard the MSM as a starting point, not a...I always regard the MSM as a starting point, not an end in itself, but an important link in the journey of self-education and critical thinking, Sal. The wealth of alternative but very reputable media with critical analyses and informed, reasoned opinion are there for all who care to look, and therein seems to lie the problem. The antidote to 'bread and circuses' is there, but too few are moved to seek it out.<br /><br />Some of my best memories in teaching, and I know I have written about them before, revolve around the language and critical-thinking unit I taught to seniors that began with Orwell's "Politics and the English Language." Even though they weren't used to it, I made my students analyse articles for their misuse of language and their logical fallacies. I don't know if the unit had any long-term benefit in their lives, but I took a great deal of satisfaction engaging in what more conservative folks and neoliberals might have regarded as a subversive act. Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-17950130302389260112017-07-09T08:48:57.888-04:002017-07-09T08:48:57.888-04:00.. btw .. who is WK .. ?
I have a vague recollecti..... btw .. who is WK .. ?<br />I have a vague recollection re the lush view from an aircraft ..<br />perhaps that same person needs to fly over the border<br />of Dominican Republic & Haiti .. <br /><br />But back to The Khadr Affair.. <br />Few are willing to read or absorb source documents & background.. or context or history for that matter. Afghanistan.. should I rely on my childhood reads of Rudyard Kipling or delve further.. out of curiosity? Do I understand what a 'firefight' entails.. or how Khadr ended up with massive exit wounds on his chest? Do I give a fig for the opinion of Andrew Scheer vs a field commander like Dallaire?<br /><br />Owen had a blog entry the other day.. about media.. Michael Harris.. and it had me thinking about how polarizing the story is. Kinsella who's first name starts with W had an astonishing number of comments re how his family is divided<br /><br />I began many many years ago, to recognize how irresponsible mainstream media could be.. A key to defeating that, or defending ourselves.. is education and enhancing our ability to READ .. yes, read.. So at home, in school.. wherever.. that is a prime directive. If you cannot read, comprehend or understand facts you are probably prone to accepting non nutritious baloney, fiction, fabrications or complete falsehoods.. This aint science fiction.. dumbing down the population is an age old trick.. stretching back to the initial copy editing of the scripture & bible by monks.. Along came Gutenberg eh !the salamanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853337802990122289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-10945799813812882402017-07-08T13:44:35.080-04:002017-07-08T13:44:35.080-04:00I wish more people saw the value in good journalis...I wish more people saw the value in good journalism, Owen. When I read stories that reflect the depth of research and analysis put into them, I realize how impoverished we would all be without those who tell our stories.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-82948405946014549602017-07-08T13:42:04.658-04:002017-07-08T13:42:04.658-04:00Seeing what we want to see seems to be an entrench...Seeing what we want to see seems to be an entrenched part of our natures, Mound. True critical thinking requires that we try to surmount the kind of blinkered and absolutist thinking that Mr.K displays. It is never easy, and we often fail, but we must never stop trying.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-35922307098214596982017-07-08T13:29:14.853-04:002017-07-08T13:29:14.853-04:00Delacourt reminds us that good journalists start -...Delacourt reminds us that good journalists start -- first and foremost -- with a story, Lorne. That's where the facts are to be found. Everything else comes after that.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-78885187363874012472017-07-08T12:27:19.279-04:002017-07-08T12:27:19.279-04:00Interesting that the self-styled progressive, WK, ...Interesting that the self-styled progressive, WK, castigates those who suspend their critical faculties to chant "Charter rights" and "child soldier." He asks what of the constitutional rights of the US soldier Khadr may or may not have killed if he was the one who threw the grenade that killed the sergeant. This guy never misses an opportunity to prove that his progressive instincts are mere pretension. <br /><br />It reminds me of his travelogue on his visit (junket) to Israel. He wrote how, as his aircraft descended for landing, he could discern the lush productive Israeli territory from the barren scrub land of the Palestinians. The stupid bastard had no clue that the Israeli army controls access to water from the Palestinian aquifer and supplies Palestinian water freely to Israeli settlers while denying it to Palestinian farmers whose family have worked their land for centuries.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.com