Monday
Nov262007
End of America
Monday, November 26, 2007 at 09:46AM
This is not meant to be a political blog and I am sure I will regret posting this, but this interview with Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, is very, very scary.
An open Internet is probably the best guarantee we have of an open society. Do all kids have uncensored access to all political points of view? Do they have the skill to separate the truth from the hyperbole? (Do I?)
Reader Comments (10)
This is really scary! And it's coming from a source I would normally trust. What's even more scary too is that the UK is wandering down the same path...
Hi Linda,
I appreciate the international perspective!
Doug
Thanks, Doug. We out in the hinterlands don't get to hear much from intelligent women (who aren't running for office or don't have a spouse who's running). She's terrific.
And on the issue of being or not being political: I thinbk it's not a sharp line, not white/black, yes/no, but a gradation. And I think along the line of what's acceptable is occasionally pointing to people or ideas that are interesting and worth considering. If this is all one did on his blog, then it would clearly be a political blog. Or,worse, if as an educator one purported to be professionally unbiased but under cover of this showed all left wing "ptropaganda," then that would be wrong.
But in a discussion **among educators** your pointing to this particular video is quite acceptable, as one among your several other pointings.
Thanks, and a Happy Thanksgiving (see http://frombullockscove.blogspot.com on what i think about "thanksgiving.") and it's back to school with a whoop and a holler and a hey ding day!
Interesting read on the second amendment. I've very confused as to how she really understands it.
I confess that I felt much the same way she does during the last years of the Clinton presidentcy. I half expected Clinton to try to invalidate the election and stay in power. Is today worse? Perhaps to some extent it is. But at the same time I think that the national guard are not likely to accept a role in martial law that violates the spirt of the Constitution. I fully expect a new election to clear away a lot of today's problems.
This is an arresting video interview and challenging ideas to take in, Doug. Thanks for sharing this and bringing it to my attention, esp for sharing this via Twitter-- that is how this "crossed my radar screen" today. I have posted some thoughts about how this video raises some important questions that could be used as springboards for student research and digital storytelling assignments in the months ahead.
Hi Jane,
Thanks for your words of encouragement and link to your post. I enjoyed reading it.
All the best,
Doug
Thanks, Alfred. I share your hope (if not your optimism) about the effects of the next election. My cynicism extends to BOTH political parties, I'm afraid.
All the best,
Doug
Hi Wes,
Hmmmm, does this mean I need to keep on Twittering? Yikes!
Enjoyed your post - great extension of this idea. You and your readers might be interested in an old MMS article of mine which is a similar take on the subject of improving "research" projects that echoes some of the same ideas:
http://dougjohnson.squarespace.com/dougwri/designing-research-projects-students-and-teachers-love.html
All the best and thanks for the comment,
Doug
Doug, thanks for sharing this. Scary is right. Bush's policies are fascist, and I'm grateful that smart folks like Naomi are writing books and speaking up. I wouldn't have seen this if you hadn't blogged it.
Grateful,
Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-mGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net
Hi Miguel,
Spread the word. More people read Around the Corner than the Blue Skunk!
Doug