Then we began 1984. We started with an anticipation guide in which I asked you to respond to several ethical/political statements. One of these statements will form the basis of your 12-sentence paragraph due a week from Thursday. We loosely talked about several of the statements, but you'll need to follow up on your own to cultivate a more dimensional view of your own values. I also distributed a Study Guide, which I will not check. This is for you to make sure you are understanding the details of the reading. If you tend to get a B or below on your reading quizzes, then you should use the study guide to make sure you are getting the larger ideas.
Ultimately, Orwell asks us to take a long, hard look at some of our most unquestioned convictions. Why does any government have a right to exist? For what purpose? What traits and motives make any government legitimate? And once in power, to what extent is it right for that government to want to keep that power? What means are permissable? You will be exploring the very same questions in Western Civilizations in your study of Totalitarianisn, and they are questions you have already loosely entertained in your reading of Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Watership Down, and Farenheit 451. We will apply your burgeoning understanding to discussions which connect the novel to articles and videos about North Korea, Burma (Myanmar), the Taliban and others. This book is not an articfact: it is a vibrant document that addresses some of the most pressing questions of the age. How do we construct stable societies without restricting humanity? Under what circumstances may any power be trusted? These questions shape our own world today, just as they do for our protagonist of this 1949 classic, Winston Smith.
Tomorrow, we will begin class with the question, Why can't Winston remember his childhood? There will be additional questions, but read through page 25 and be prepared to start with this one and to offer several of your own. You'll be driving discussion collectively, and you'll be keeping notes as you go.
Tangentially, we got to some questions about new demands on our government in the wake of 9/11. We looked at some headline grabbers of the past few years that both sides have sought to spin for political gain. Here are links to follow up stories that represent a variety of versions, and homefully, explain the situations better:
Valerie Plame
- Outed agent Valerie Plame's interview with 60 Minutes host, Katie Couric
- The story as the conservative "National Review" sees it
- The story as David Corn of the liberal "The Nation" sees it
- A source verified timeline of events that seeks to avoid bias
US Government wiretapping of US citizens
- An overview of warrantless wiretapping (Washington Post)
- The legal debate over wiretapping (NPR)
- One of the stories that broke the warrantless wiretapping story (NY Times)
- OK, not so much about wiretapping, but an interesting article about how technology is forcing private freedoms/public security conflicts to the forefront (NY Times)
You can find TONS more, both conservative and liberal, on these stories.
HOMEWORK
1. Start thinking about that 12-sentence paragraph. Read a paper tonight. Talk about these statements over the dinner table. Read an op-ed page from any paper.
2. Read 1-25 of 1984. Come ready to discuss. Write down your questions.
3. Study for Thursday's (4&6)/Friday's (2) vocabulary quiz.
In the third paragraph, totalitarianism is spelled "totalitarianisn", and later in the same paragraph, "articfact" is presumably supposed to be "artifact".
ReplyDelete-Meredith M.