You could almost forget that they’re for executing people.
4 comments:
ENGL1101 Student
said...
It's all fine and dandy if you choose to publish this content on your personal blog, but don't link your students to it in the bottom of your emails. Also, try interjecting the Christian point of view when discussing history in class; it has its merits too. Remember: atheism isn't the only school of thought and you definitely offend others when you fail to consider beliefs other than your own (even though they're obviously wrong).
An excellent point -- no need to leave it anonymously. I do, however, represent not just the Christian but various world religions' points of view in class -- or at least I thought I did! Try to -- especially when it comes to moral philosophy. But if you mean defending physical theories like geocentrism or Creationism, no, I won't do that -- though I did take pains to point out how such theories were, in a pre-scientific age, overwhelmingly commonsensical.
And btw, what's controversial about the "electric chairs" posting? I talk some trash on this site, to be sure -- its title is, after all, "Ecrasez L'Infame" -- but there's nothing in the least bit controversial in pointing out that the cross was used for crucifixion. Quite the opposite: it's a crucial point of Christian doctrine that far too many unserious Christians-in-name-only too easily forget. Don't you think?
The posting about Christians and Viagra spam, though -- um -- there's no defense for that. It might be true, but it's trash talk.
There's also a very interesting conversation to be had here about objectivity, bias and the role of teachers. I personally believe that teachers have a moral responsibility to be rational, but that's not necessarily the majority view. What teachers definitely do NOT have is a responsibility to be impartial -- at least, not in the way that news reporters or judges have. The job of any teacher is to advocate what they see as (and IMHO can defend rationally as) true. That's the whole point of tenure, for example: to insure that teachers are free to openly espouse even controversial and unpopular views. So there's not necessarily any line between a teacher's "public" and "private" views; teachers aren't attorneys. Some radicals dispute that teachers have even a moral responsibility to be rational, but I think that's bad pedagogy and intellectual laziness.
4 comments:
It's all fine and dandy if you choose to publish this content on your personal blog, but don't link your students to it in the bottom of your emails. Also, try interjecting the Christian point of view when discussing history in class; it has its merits too. Remember: atheism isn't the only school of thought and you definitely offend others when you fail to consider beliefs other than your own (even though they're obviously wrong).
An excellent point -- no need to leave it anonymously. I do, however, represent not just the Christian but various world religions' points of view in class -- or at least I thought I did! Try to -- especially when it comes to moral philosophy. But if you mean defending physical theories like geocentrism or Creationism, no, I won't do that -- though I did take pains to point out how such theories were, in a pre-scientific age, overwhelmingly commonsensical.
And btw, what's controversial about the "electric chairs" posting? I talk some trash on this site, to be sure -- its title is, after all, "Ecrasez L'Infame" -- but there's nothing in the least bit controversial in pointing out that the cross was used for crucifixion. Quite the opposite: it's a crucial point of Christian doctrine that far too many unserious Christians-in-name-only too easily forget. Don't you think?
The posting about Christians and Viagra spam, though -- um -- there's no defense for that. It might be true, but it's trash talk.
There's also a very interesting conversation to be had here about objectivity, bias and the role of teachers. I personally believe that teachers have a moral responsibility to be rational, but that's not necessarily the majority view. What teachers definitely do NOT have is a responsibility to be impartial -- at least, not in the way that news reporters or judges have. The job of any teacher is to advocate what they see as (and IMHO can defend rationally as) true. That's the whole point of tenure, for example: to insure that teachers are free to openly espouse even controversial and unpopular views. So there's not necessarily any line between a teacher's "public" and "private" views; teachers aren't attorneys. Some radicals dispute that teachers have even a moral responsibility to be rational, but I think that's bad pedagogy and intellectual laziness.
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