Breakthrough Writer

1C Lesson Plan: “Shopping for American Culture” by James J. Farrell (248) and “A Social History of Shopping” by Laura Paquet (255)

Part One. Lexicon

 

One. Malls are a Retail Juggernaut: they represent over half of all retail activity. 248

 

Two. The term: “The Malling of America” means (1) the exponential growth of malls, (2) the influence of malls on our thinking, identity, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Three. Farrell’s definition of culture: “Culture is what happens when we’re not paying attention.” In other words, when we’re bovine, passive, mindless creatures, culture imposes itself on us, shapes us, and makes us who we are without even being aware of it. 249.

 

Four. Utilitarian Shopping: We shop out of necessity.

 

Five. Dopamine Shopping: We shop to feed the pleasure centers of our brain and in this manner, the shopping becomes both insatiable and addictive.

 

Six. Symbolic Shopping: We shop because the products represent or symbolize powerful emotional needs: belonging, identity, status, reproductive success, creativity, and rebirth. If you are a marketer and you can’t link your product to one of these emotional longings, then you are finished.  These are the same symbols and emotional needs addressed by religion, so we can conclude that shopping has a pseudo-religious component to it.

 

Seven. What you buy, reflects your values like the different values of an SUV and a Mini Cooper.

 

Eight. To sell things, you must market a fantasy and the fantasy must be uninterrupted. Car salesman will hide your keys because they don’t want you to leave to think about it. The mall doesn’t want you to find the exit signs because they want to remain intoxicated by your fantasy. See pages 264 and 265.

Nine. Life without a fantasy is not worth living. Fantasy is the color that animates and sparkles your drab life. Fantasy is the caffeine that jolts you out of your depressed, self-loathing stupor. You need a fantasy, and by God, the marketers of iPod, Mini Cooper, and True Religion jeans are going to provide one for you.

 

I personally drive a 2007 Nissan Maxima. What fantasy is Nissan selling me? That I am a man who does not compromise. I take my manhood, my masculinity, to the maximum.

 

What’s the fantasy of the Honda Fit? By driving a small, skinny car with good gas mileage, I am getting into shape: I am getting “fit.”

 

 

Part Two. Writing Option

 

Choose a successful product like iPod, Mini Cooper, Diesel, etc., and research the way the fantasy it represents. Your thesis would look something like this:

 

Product X is promoting the fantasy of _______________ by a clever marketing campaign that positions Product X through _____________________, __________________________, ________________________, and ______________________________.

Here are some ads:

iPod

Red Bull

Monster

Mini Cooper

 

 

 

 

 

1A Lesson Plan for “Watching Torture in Prime Time” by Anne-Marie Cusac (109)

 

Part One. Questions

 

One. What do Jack Bauer and many Bush Administration officials have in common? 109

 

Two. In one word, what is the appeal of the TV show 24? See 110 top.

 

Three. In what 2 ways is 24 in conflict with reality? See 110 (impending disaster) and 111 (the efficacy of torture)

 

Four. Why does Cusac praise 24? See 110 bottom.

 

Five. What anti-humanistic and pro-humanistic messages hum through the show? 111

 

Six. Is 24 a powerful influence on Americans’ attitudes toward torture and the rules of war in general? Explain. See 112 top.

 

 

 

 

Part Two. Lexicon for Torture Debate

 

 

1. Torture Lite, also called stress interrogation: relies on sleep deprivation, confusion, discomfort, solitary confinement, mind deception games, sensory deprivation, LSD and other drugs.
2.  “Severe” torture: any torture that results in organ failure
3.  Define your terms: are you arguing for or against all-out torture and torture lite?
4. Geneva Convention: terrorists are excluded from war prisoner rights
5. Unlawful combatant
6. Abu Ghraib: the abuses at this torture center are an exercise in stupidity, cruelty, sadism, sexual humiliation; techniques proved to harm US interests around the world; we looked like brutes.
7. Shaking: putting a dirty stinking bag over someone’s head; part of torture lite
8. Efficacy argument: different studies give different results; it all depends on the expertise of the torturer and the person being tortured; no one size fits all rule applies and this is the problem of the torture debate; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It appears torture worked against the Algerian Liberation Front but it also appears it was ineffective against the Viet Cong.
9. Duress argument; people under duress will say anything.
10. Reciprocity argument; if we torture captives, our enemy countries will do the same to us.
11. Rendition: outsourcing our prisoners to other countries to be tortured so we can officially say we don’t torture while paying other countries to do so under the radar. This is an argument against torture. Why?
12. Torture as social control in Naomi Klein’s article.
13. Anti-democracy argument; torture can be used to intimidate those who oppose the government policies
14. Lazy argument; there are more efficient ways of getting information than torture
15. Fear argument (from Mark Bowden) fear works more than pain; the torturer must use psychological cunning in addition to physical pain.
16. Language and Deception argument (fake an alliance with prisoner’s friends)
17. Good Cop/Bad Cop
18. Morons and Madmen argument; can we trust people in high power to be moral and competent?
19. Sadism argument; sadistic people are drawn to jobs that may require torture
20. Either/or fallacy to support torture

 

 

 

Essay Option for Essay #3:

 

Write a defense or refutation of US policy of torturing terrorist suspects as a way of improving national security. Be sure to show the arguments for both sides, in a about a page or 2, before proceeding with your argument and mapping components. Also be sure to include a minimum of 3 research sources.

A pro-torture thesis with concession clause might look like this:

 

While torture entails many abuses, torture is justified in certain situations, including _________________________, _____________________, ________________________, and _________________________.

An anti-torture thesis might look like this:

While the pro-torture debaters are good at drumming up all sorts of scary scenarios, their arguments for torture collapse under the weight of several fallacies, myths, and misconceptions, which include _____________________, ________________________, ________________________________, ________________________, and _____________________________. 

 

 

A thesis that “rides the middle” might look like this:

 

To embrace a “pro-torture” or “anti-torture” is over simplistic nonsense. The potential for abuse in the realm of torture is huge, to be sure. But sometimes there are in fact extreme conditions that warrant torture. Therefore, torture should be allowed in the most narrow of circumstances and stringent conditions, which include ____________________, ____________________________, _________________________, _____________________________, and __________________________________.

Links:

The most useful, complex, insightful treatment of torture I've read is Mark Bowden's "The Dark Art of Interrogation." 

The most notorious case of American rendition that I know of happened to Khaled el Masri. 

 

 

1A Lesson for "Patriarchy Gets Funky" by Naomi Klein

Part One. What is Klein's definition of "identity politics"?

1. It avoids "pressing issues" such as pay equity and police violence and instead focuses on "representation." Representation becomes the "key," the obsession. See pages 114 and 115.

2. It tends toward vague "loosely defined" notions of media victimization. See page 115.

3. It is the politics of "mirrors and metaphors," focusing on how media projects the wrong ideas and makes grievances of those perceived wrongs. 115

4. It emphasizes the need for strong role models in "powerful social positions." 115

5. It stresses the need for the media to mirror and represent the underrepresented as the way to adequate self-esteem. 115

6. It focuses so much on the personal that it becomes narcissistic. 116 top.

Part II: The Commercialization of Identity Politics

1. Big business takes iconographic images of radicalism and sells its products. 117

2. Companies realize their survival hinges on brand identities, which must exploit the theme of diversity. 118

3. Companies realize their survival hinges on appealing to the youth demographic. 118

Part III: The "Identity Identity Crisis":

1. Turning the marginal into media superstars results in a sort of cognitive dissonance. 120-end. 

1C Lesson Plan for 226-231: “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem by Erich Fromm

Part One: What Is “Noble Disobedience”?

 

One. Noble disobedience; an act of will in which we rebel against our caretakers, regardless of their intentions, when they wish to “protect” us by stagnating our growth and making us like babies in the womb. See the film Pleasantville or The Truman Show. This is a great essay assignment.

 

Two. Smothered by the Caretaker. When an authority figure—God, parents, spouse, community—takes care of all our needs but restrains our intellectual and emotional growth so that in essence we remain like fetuses in the womb. We never emerge and become fully human. Fromm seems to be saying we should be disobedient toward these smothering caretakers and establish our independence, our autonomy, and emerge as fully-realized adult human beings.

 

Three. Disobeying the Herd. Another form of noble disobedience is when we refuse to conform to the Herd, the group who acts cruel against the outsider, insists that we’re not cool unless we buy an iPod or a pair of True Religion designer jeans.

 

Four. Related the number 3, disobedience to Consumer Culture, which says you can’t define yourself as a “winner in society” unless you have a collection of “essential possessions.” For example, some believe, knowingly or not, that there are only two types of people in the world, home owners and renters.

 

Five. Disobedience as the courage to be different, to produce art that is not popular and then over time it becomes popular. This is called having the conviction of genius. Fromm uses the Prometheus myth to illustrate this point.

 

Six. Disobedience means venturing into the Unknown and leaving your familiar lifestyle behind you because though your familiar lifestyle gives you comfort and belonging, it does not give you a sense of meaning or individuality. For example, it may mean leaving a comfortable relationship that languishes in stagnation. I had a student who left her boyfriend and went to UNLV for this reason.

 

Seven. Disobedience means ignoring the expectations of your family and friends regarding your career and marriage plans.

 

Eight. Disobedience means refusing to worship society’s gods, heroes, and myths when you can see the fraud and emptiness behind the icons.

 

Nine. Disobedience means not being so needy as requiring the approval of others even if this absence of approval results in your having to stand alone. Your courage allows you to stand in solitude without the comfort and approval of the Herd.

 

Ten. Disobedience means “saying no to power.” See page 230, paragraph 16. This means from a philosophical point of view that we desire justice for all instead of a few enjoying power over the many.

 

Eleven. Disobedience means disobeying the bureaucracy that demands our dehumanization through unquestioned obedience of routine and sometimes immoral actions. See page 231. 

1C Writing Workshop for Blind Obedience and US Soldiers

US soldiers, some of whom are being charged for atrocities, are a clinical study of the evil that is done in the name of blind obedience. The military is a rich example of the manner in which decent people commit evil acts when certain pressures are put upon them. These pressures include the desire to please one's commanding officer through blind obedience, the desire to "fulfill a mission" in the name of patriotic duty, _____________________________________, and _______________________________________.

1C Writing Workship for Pleasantville Essay

Pleasantville embodies all of the malignant, evil qualities of blind obedience discussed in Chapter 6. The most salient qualities pertinent to the film are ______________________________, ____________________________________, _________________________________, and ________________________________________________.

1C Writing Workshop for Essay #2

Chapter 6 readings give us a bone-chilling account of the manner in which good, decent people often capitulate to the group or tribe and in doing so reveal their evil dark side. I know a young woman, for example, in love with a proud gentleman from a tribalistic part of the world where one tribe hates the other and he obsessively makes the case to his girlfriend that these opposing tribes are subhuman and need to be eliminated. This woman finds herself torn. At some times she feels repulsed by his doctrines. Other times she finds herself agreeing with him. Her conflict evidences the social pressures (authority figures) escribed in Chapter 6 that can make a person compromise her value of "embracing the entire human race." These pressures include wanting to be accepted by the authority figure, __________________________________, _________________________________________, and _______________________________________________________.

1C Writing Workshop for Essay #2

The readings in Chapter 6 explain the evil that results from blind obedience. In contrast, McMahon, commenting on Fromm's essay, says that "noble disobedience" is essential for happiness and personal fulfillment. By "noble disobedience," McMahon is referring to its distinguishing characteristics, which include rejecting peer and family pressure in order to pursue a personal goal or vision; the courage to stand alone when contradicting the group is essential to preserve one's morality; disobedience is important to push forward change in society such as the role of women; independent critical thinking often must break the mold in order to achieve breakthroughs in philosophy and science.

1C Thesis Workshop for the Stanford Research Experiment

The evils chronicled in the infamous Stanford Research Experiment and other selections from Chapter 6 are evident in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. These evils, produced by the dynamic between captive and captor, include ______________________________________, _________________________________________, _______________________________________, ____________________________________________, and ___________________________________________.

1C Writing Option for “Just Do What the Pilot Tells Me” by Theodore Dalrymple

For this writing option, I am providing you the introduction, thesis, and mapping statements. Your job is to flesh out the mapping statements with examples from some of the following: research, current events, history, literature, film, or personal experience.

 

While the selections from Chapter 6 warn us of the evils that result from blind obedience, contrarian thinker Theodore Dalrymple argues that a deeply-rooted hostility toward authority can be just as dangerous. What is needed, he asserts, is a “delicate balance between stability and change.” And this balance requires “necessary, messy compromises of real life.” For to reflexively and mindlessly respond with suspicion or outright hostility to authority, Dalrymple correctly shows, often results in utter chaos. The mindless breakdown of authority results in chaos in several important ways. One, eradicating authority often obscures the important dividing line between the expert and the ignoramus (see paragraph 9). Secondly, the breakdown of authority will result in insubordination of employees who are misguided in their belief that their bosses’ policies should be contradicted (see paragraph 15). Thirdly, the abolishment of authority removes the focus of “ultimate responsibility” on the person who is at the top of the institutional hierarchy and this loss of “ultimate responsibility” and authority can do great harm (see paragraph 16). Fourthly, the irrational impulse to contradict authority often results in denying the loathsome, anti-social behavior of those who are criticized by authority figures (see paragraph 18). A fifth point is that too often those who object to authority are simply infantile egotists who use the anti-authority position as a smokescreen to conceal their own lack of discipline, moral development, and achievement (see paragraphs 19 through 21).