Category: Knowledge and Politics

Why Oklahoma Lawmakers Voted to Ban AP U.S. History

February 20, 2015

This is a story that pops up in the United States periodically but also around the world. Because public education is funded by various governments, elected officials have a say in what gets funded and what does not and by extension, what gets taught and what does not. History is an interpretation of past events and not simply a summary of all things that ever happened. What happens when a curriculum does not suit your interpretation of past events? What happens when you believe history serves one agenda and not your own?

Some further questions to consider:

  • How should we decide what gets taught in schools?
  • What makes one historical interpretation more “correct” than another?
  • What is the purpose of learning history? Should it be to promote patriotism?

From the article:

“The new AP U.S. History framework emphasizes ‘what is bad about America’ and doesn’t teach ‘American exceptionalism.’ It’s a complaint that’s been spreading among mostly conservative state legislatures in recent months and has some calling for a ban on all AP courses.”

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/02/why-oklahoma-lawmakers-want-to-ban-ap-us-history.html?wpsrc=nymag

Inside the U.S. Torture Chambers: Prisoner’s Guantánamo Diary Details 12 Years of Abuse, Terror

January 29, 2015

“After a seven-year legal battle, the diary of a prisoner held at Guantánamo Bay has just been published and has become a surprise best-seller. Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s diary details his experience with rendition, torture and being imprisoned without charge. Slahi has been held at the prison for more than 12 years. He was ordered released in 2010 but is still being held.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/22/inside_the_us_torture_chambers_prisoners

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/americas/guantanamo-bay-prisoner-book/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/arts/guantanamo-diary-by-mohamedou-ould-slahi.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-middle-span-region&region=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region&_r=0

Christopher Hitchens, Waterboarding, and Torture

January 29, 2015

After the September 11th attacks and for much of the war on terror, the CIA widely used waterboarding as a form of “enhanced interrogation” to get information from suspected terrorists. Waterboarding is widely considered a form of torture and raised a  lot of ethical and moral concerns about how we were conducting ourselves in this war on terror. Questions that were raised: Is waterboarding torture? If so, is torture ever justified?

For a basic description of the technique take a look at the wikipedia page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding

In 2008, Vanity Fair writer, Christopher Hitchens, volunteered to be waterboarded because he did not believe the technique constituted torture. Below that is the article he wrote about his experience and below is a video of his experience that changed his mind on the technique.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808

The Price of a 50-Year Myth: The Consequences of the Memory of the Cuban Missile Crisis

January 29, 2015

“The ‘eyeball to eyeball’ imagery made for great drama (it features in the 2000 movie “13 Days”), but it has contributed to some of our most disastrous foreign policy decisions, from the escalation of the Vietnam War under Johnson to the invasion of Iraq under George W. Bush.”

How do you frame the Greek bailout? Was it irresponsible Greek borrowers or Irresponsible German lenders?

January 27, 2015

Much news has focused on the bailout of Greece’s government. Along with that much finger wagging along with condescendingly toned speeches directed at Greece however the bailouts Greece is receiving are actually mostly going to German banks that gave Greece the money. How you frame the issue changes where you lay the blame. Framing the language is an important aspect of the way these issues are received and thought about and discussed.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2012-05-23/merkel-should-know-her-country-has-been-bailed-out-too

Nothing friendly about it: Orwell’s Ministry of Peace would envy the US military’s use of newspeak

January 27, 2015

“Should we allow generals and politicians to hide behind phrases such as ‘friendly fire’?”

“As revelations of deaths of coalition troops caused by allies surface in Iraq and Afghanistan, an issue for editors is whether the phrase “friendly fire” should have quote marks around it.

“It is a military term, designed to shield the horrors of death and prevent animosity towards a war mission, argues one camp; so why should we be the agents of the phrase’s recognition? It is as if we accept its premise – that it is just one of those things that happens in war, and we should just, you know, get over it.”

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/oct/29/friendly-fire-mind-your-language