Lesson Plan Über Alles

Spring 2023 Teaching Schedule and Office Hours

English 1A, 4605 and 4606 online

English 1C 6486 2:30-4:35 in H209

English 1C 6534 2:30-4:35 in H209

 

Office Hours

Monday Office: 2-3:00

Tuesday: 1:30-2:30 (1-2 because of form)

Wednesday: Online: 2-3

Thursday 12:00-1

Revised Essay 4 Options for English 1A: The Sunken Place

Revised Essay Prompt Options for the Sunken Place in Get Out

 

Dear 1A Students,

 

I’ve simplified the Essay #4 prompt by making 2 simplified essay options if you’re interested. 

 

You can choose one of the following 2 options. 

 

Simplified Essay Options

 

Option A

 

Address the claim that Sunken Place in Jordan Peele's movie Get Out is analogous to the dystopian despair rendered in Childish Gambino's video "This Is America."

 

Option B

 

Address the claim that the Sunken Place in Jordan Peele's movie Get Out is analogous to the states of despair expressed in Frederick Douglass' memoir The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, the Life of a Slave. 

 

You can’t use ChatGPT to “write” your essay, but you can use it to help process your ideas, help establish an essay structure, and help give you a clear vision of the essay as a whole. 

 

ChatGPT Outline of Option A

The Sunken Place in Jordan Peele's "Get Out" and Childish Gambino's "This Is America" music video both serve as powerful metaphors that explore issues of race, oppression, and the marginalization of African Americans in contemporary society. While they are distinct works in different mediums (film and music), they share thematic similarities that reflect the black experience in America.

The Sunken Place in "Get Out":

1. Metaphor for Marginalization:
   
   
• In "Get Out," the Sunken Place is a representation of the marginalization and oppression of African Americans. When the protagonist, Chris, is hypnotized by the Armitage family, he finds himself in the Sunken Place—a dark void where he is powerless, voiceless, and disconnected from reality.
• This metaphorically reflects the historical and ongoing struggles faced by black individuals who feel silenced, disempowered, and marginalized in a society marked by systemic racism.
2. Loss of Agency:
   
   
• The Sunken Place symbolizes the loss of agency and control. Despite being physically present, Chris is trapped in a mental state where he cannot influence or alter his circumstances.
• This mirrors the broader issue of African Americans facing limitations in their ability to effect change within societal structures, as systemic barriers often restrict their agency.

"This Is America" Music Video:

1. Visual Symbolism:
   
   
• Childish Gambino's "This Is America" uses vivid and symbolic imagery to convey its message. The chaotic and often surreal scenes in the video represent the tumultuous relationship between African Americans and American society.
• The sudden violence and juxtaposition of joyful dancing with disturbing events mirror the duality of the black experience—celebration amidst systemic issues and violence.
2. Dystopian Despair:
   
   
• The video captures a sense of dystopian despair, highlighting the harsh realities faced by black individuals. The chaotic scenes and rapid shifts in tone underscore the unpredictability and challenges of navigating a society marked by racial tension.
• The juxtaposition of upbeat music and grim visuals serves as a commentary on how entertainment and distraction can coexist with social issues, often masking the underlying problems.

Common Themes:

1. Loss of Identity:
   
   
• Both the Sunken Place and "This Is America" touch on the theme of loss of identity. In the Sunken Place, Chris loses control and agency, while in "This Is America," the constant shifts in tone and the chaotic environment suggest a struggle to maintain a coherent identity in the face of societal pressures.
2. Symbolism and Commentary:
   
   
• Both works rely heavily on symbolism to convey a deeper message about the African American experience. Whether it's the Sunken Place as a metaphorical representation or the symbolic imagery in "This Is America," they invite viewers to engage in critical reflection on systemic issues.

In summary, the Sunken Place and "This Is America" both provide poignant commentary on the challenges faced by African Americans in navigating a society marked by systemic racism. They use metaphor and symbolism to shed light on issues of marginalization, loss of agency, and the struggle for identity in the face of adversity.

 

 

Show how the Sunken Place in Jordan Peele's movie Get Out is analogous to the states of despair expressed in Frederick Douglass' memoir.

 

 

ChatGPT Outline of Option B

The Sunken Place in Jordan Peele's "Get Out" and the states of despair expressed in Frederick Douglass' memoir share common themes of oppression, dehumanization, and the struggle for agency. Although they belong to different mediums and historical contexts, these narratives offer insightful parallels in understanding the African American experience.

The Sunken Place in "Get Out":

1. Metaphor for Dehumanization:
   
   
• The Sunken Place in "Get Out" serves as a metaphor for the dehumanization of African Americans. When characters are trapped in the Sunken Place, they are reduced to a state of passive observation, stripped of their agency, and unable to communicate or influence their surroundings.
• This mirrors the dehumanizing experiences faced by African Americans throughout history, particularly during times of slavery and systemic racism, where they were often treated as property rather than as fully autonomous individuals.
2. Symbol of Systemic Oppression:
   
   
• The Sunken Place represents the systemic oppression ingrained in the narrative. The Armitage family's ability to control and manipulate individuals to occupy this place reflects the broader structures of power that limit the agency and autonomy of African Americans.
• This symbolism echoes historical and contemporary struggles against institutional racism and serves as a critique of the insidious ways in which systemic oppression operates.

Frederick Douglass' Memoir:

1. Narrative of Slavery's Dehumanization:
   
   
• In Frederick Douglass' memoir, he vividly describes the dehumanizing effects of slavery. His narrative recounts the physical and psychological brutality inflicted upon enslaved individuals, emphasizing the stripping away of their humanity and agency.
• Douglass' experiences parallel the Sunken Place, as he, too, describes a state of despair where individuals are reduced to objects and denied their fundamental humanity.
2. Struggle for Agency:
   
   
• Douglass' memoir chronicles his journey from enslavement to freedom, highlighting his relentless pursuit of agency and self-determination. His escape from bondage and quest for education exemplify the resilience and agency of African Americans in the face of systemic oppression.
• This resonates with the central theme of reclaiming agency seen in "Get Out," where characters resist the forces that seek to subjugate them and assert their autonomy.

Common Themes:

1. Dehumanization and Objectification:
   
   
• Both the Sunken Place and Douglass' memoir explore the dehumanization and objectification of African Americans. Whether through hypnotic control in "Get Out" or the harsh realities of slavery in Douglass' narrative, both convey a sense of being reduced to a state of despair and powerlessness.
2. Struggle Against Oppression:
   
   
• The narratives share a common thread of resistance against oppression. Whether through Chris' defiance in "Get Out" or Douglass' fight for freedom and education, both stories underscore the resilience and agency of African Americans in the face of systemic challenges.

In summary, the Sunken Place in "Get Out" and the states of despair expressed in Frederick Douglass' memoir both provide poignant reflections on the dehumanization, oppression, and the enduring struggle for agency within the African American experience. They serve as powerful narratives that invite audiences to reflect on historical and contemporary challenges faced by the community.

 

 

 

 

The Sunken Place, Lesson #2, Fall 2023

Don't put the movie-goer in the Sunken Place (avoid excessive victimization)

Jordan Peele has by all accounts made a cinematic masterpiece in Get Out. He has taken the horror genre combined with satire to show the horrors of racism and the victimization that ensues.

But this victimization is balanced by in-depth characters, black characters who see how white people perceive them and they overcome the white perspective and are ultimately able to tell their own stories and define themselves.

Because of this, Get Out is never a salacious spectacle of violence against black people. It never indulges in gratuitous racism just for spectacle’s sake. The movie never paints its black characters as helpless victims doomed to misery. For example, Chris Washington uses cotton balls, symbols of slavery, to set himself free, and deer antlers, the symbol of black sacrifice for white economic gain during slavery, to defend himself from his enemies. Ron Williams uses his courage, smarts, and cunning to outsmart Rose and her minions of white racist cult members. Like the celebrated HBO show Watchmen, a superhero TV series based on the Tulsa massacre of 1921, Get Out balances racial victimization with black heroism. There has to be a balance. 

We even see this balance in the Netflix series High on the Hog, which is based on Jessica B. Harris’ book of the same name. Hosted and narrated by food writer Stephen Satterfield, we go to West Africa and see where millions of slaves were forced on ships leaving for the Americas, but this human tragedy is given a story of strength and love: Slaves influenced food culture in the United States and the world and their food preparation was an expression of love and dignity for each other that was denied them from the whites. 

In contrast, the TV series Them focuses on victimization and little else. 

Not surprisingly, many in the black community have been unhappy with the TV series Them, which addresses racism against black people during The Great Migration of the 1950s when many African Americans moved from the South to Los Angeles. 

Vanity Fair critics Cassie Da Costa and Sonia Saraiya discuss their displeasure with the violence “against Black bodies” in their article “Who Is the Racism Horror Anthology Them Really For?”

The critics complain that Them overwhelms the audience with the “suffering of Black bodies” without ample character development and dramatic tension. 

Without sufficient drama and character development, the relentless victimization becomes a form of “violence porn” with no purpose other than to give entertainment spectacle. So whereas Get Out uplifts black people by showing their struggle in the face of racism, Them, many critics point out, degrades black people by showing them as helpless victims for the entertainment of the audience. 

Black Twitter agrees. Them was met with great objection on Black Twitter as participants complained that the endless spectacle of violence against black people was hollow and demeaning. 

Part of the problem is length. Whereas the movie Get Out subjects the audience to two hours of racist microaggressions, slavery allusions, and violence, Them is ten long hours in a TV series format. 

For ten hours, Them “returns to the same beats over and over,” says Sonia Saraiya. 

We can see the challenges of making a horror genre treatment of racism: There must be sufficient character development, in-depth character development, heroism to counter helpless victimization, and dramatic tension. Otherwise, the art denigrates into a gratuitous violent spectacle.

The Need for a Hero

Variety’s Sarah Ahern article “Jordan Peele on How ‘Get Out’ Could Have Had a Darker Ending (Spoilers)” explores Jordan Peele’s artistic considerations that changed the movie’s ending. 

Originally, Peele was going to have the main protagonist Chris arrested for “slaughtering” his white captors. 

But testing this “more realistic” ending in front of a test audience, Peele and the film’s producers realized such an ending was a “downer.” It was missing something. 

But then Peele realized something. In his words: “It was very clear that the ending needed to transform into something that gives us a hero, that gives us an escape, gives us a positive feeling when we leave this movie. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the audience go crazy when Rod shows up.”

Rod Williams is a man who never apologizes for who he is, he is always watching the back of his best friend, and he always outsmarts his adversaries. In other words, Rod Williams is the heroic figure that counterbalances the movie’s racism and racist aggression.  

Not surprisingly, when Rod Williams shows up as the hero and gives a more triumphant ending, the test audience goes wild and Peele and the producers decided to go with triumph over defeat. 

In Collider’s Adam Chitwood article “‘Get Out’ Filmmakers Explain Why They Changed the Ending,” Get Out producers, director, and actors explain the complex thought processes behind changing the ending:

McKittrick: We tested the movie with the original “sad truth” ending where, when the cop shows up, it’s an actual cop and Chris goes to jail. The audience was absolutely loving it, and then it was like we punched everybody in the gut. You could feel the air being sucked out of the room. The country was different. We weren’t in the Obama era, we were in this new world where all the racism crept out from under the rocks again. It was always an ending that we debated back and forth, so we decided to go back and shoot the pieces for the other ending where Chris wins.  Henderson: I remember when they gave the verdict that Darren Wilson wouldn’t be indicted, and you felt defeated. Like, “Man! Can we catch a break?” What the original ending said was, “No, you can’t catch a break,” because that’s our reality. But the new ending gave us a break, and I think that’s why we enjoyed it so much, because we want it so badly. The similarities of the narrative are so parallel to what actually happened in Ferguson. When I have conversations with people about it, we talk about the importance of watching that black body get away to tell his story. Because you know who didn’t get to tell their own story? Trayvon Martin. Mike Brown. Philando Castile. Kaluuya: I love the original ending. It was great because of what it said about life — there’s this black guy who’s really cool and went through this trauma, got through all this racism, and in fighting for himself he gets incarcerated. That really resonated with me, because it showed me how unfair the system is. However, in hindsight, you still have that with the police lights, and Rod saves him through the black ­brotherhood — and also, Chris has a life, you know? He has to go out there even after he’s experienced all this racism, and people expect you to see the world in the same way when they haven’t experienced something like that. I thought that was really honest. Whitford: The original ending was making a statement that I think Jordan felt a white audience might be able to dismiss about mass incarceration. The ending he ended up with does a brilliant thing, because when Chris is strangling Rose in the driveway, you see the red police lights, and then you see the door open and it says “Airport” and it’s a huge laugh, and everybody has that same laugh and release. You understand from Chris’s POV that if the cops come, he’s a dead man. That is absolutely brilliant, non-lecturing storytelling. Peele: I think my improv training just put me in this mind frame of, with each problem, there’s not one solution, there’s not two solutions, there’s an infinite amount of great solutions. That includes the ending. When I realized the original, downer ending wasn’t working, I didn’t freak out. I looked at it as an opportunity to come up with a better ending.

Part of Get Out’s triumph is that Chris survives as a free man and he is able to tell his story from his eyes, not a white person’s.

***

Vox’s Aja Romano article “How Get Out deconstructs racism for white people” explores the idea of deconstructing, or analyzing, racism in a horror genre. 

Romano observes that the film has a rich anti-racism checklist that you won’t find in other films that address racism:

• For one, there is subtle “suburban gaslighting,” civil white people politely exacting one microaggression after another. In sum, these microaggressions equal a giant bloviating cloud of gaslighting, which is exhausting and infuriating. 
• One of the great triumphs of the film is that it is never preachy or strident in its messages. Through satire, making the Armitage family act like believable jackasses, the movie is both entertaining and believable.
• The film relies on experience and drama to deliver the themes, not vice versa.  
• Secondly, the main protagonist Chris Washington is very aware and very “woke” to the point that he knows that the white Armitage family is being creepy in their condescending politeness. Christ knows he is in a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, his instincts to get the hell out of this Armitage Freak Show are tempered by his politeness and his desire to ingratiate himself with his girlfriend Rose. 
• Third, Get Out features no white fantasy of the black person being saved by a “white savior.” You won’t find black victims being saved by well-intentioned white people. You’ll find black people saving themselves through self-reliance, cunning, and self-agency. 
• Fourth, we see the narrative unfold, not through white eyes, but through a black protagonist and as a whole the story is seen through black eyes. Through black eyes, we see the importance of Code Switching, when black people have to change their tone, voice, and persona to make white people more comfortable or less uncomfortable. 
• Fifth, there is no passive, helpless victim motif here. To the contrary, fighting for one’s life, resisting by “any means necessary,” like the deer antlers scene, is one of the film’s most salient messages. 
• Sixth, there must be a dimension beyond human victimization when addressing racism in a movie. For example, Chris Washington is an accomplished photographer whose self-agency causes him to resist. But other artistic venues focus too much on victimization at the exclusion of everything else.

We read in The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis article “Who Wants to Watch Black Pain?” that an overemphasis on suffering and victimization diminishes the art form:

While watching the most merciless moments of Them, moments in which pure racist violence is more menacing than any supernatural element, I found myself thinking not just about other Black viewers’ exasperation but also about something the director Nia DaCosta said last year. Speaking with Wired’s Jason Parham about her new adaptation of Candyman out this summer, she said that adding layers about gentrification, police violence, and lynching was crucial to her process of reimagining the horror film. But she emphasized that the genre also has room for different kinds of Black stories: “I’d love to see Black people in horror films and in horror … that’s not just about this kind of trauma and pain, but can also be about other aspects of our existence.”

***

Through Chris Washington’s Eyes

In The Atlantic’s Lenika Cruz essay “In Get Out, the Eyes Have It,” the movie's plot propels us into the drama. 

Chris is someone who is trained to find detail, composition, light and shade, and to capture what he sees to convey some truth about the human condition. He has trained himself to “know the world” in a very specific way. 

Part of “knowing the world” is to reject being a passive player but rather to be skeptical, questioning, and full of healthy doubts. These characteristics will help Chris as his misadventure takes him to the final climax. 

Lenika Cruz describes Chris as a “trained observer,” someone who can find meaning and composition in a scene that may seem insignificant to the untrained eye. “What is wrong with this picture? Why does something feel out of place? Why is it important that I capture something when it seems askew?” These are the questions of a photographer who becomes a “trained observer.” 

These are the questions Jordan Peele is asked himself when he was on creepy interacial dates that required him to meet liberal white parents who couldn’t keep their microaggressions to themselves. This is the state of mind Peele wants us, the movie audience to share. By sharing this point of view, we develop a strong empathy for Chris Washington. 

Lenika Cruz makes the astute observation that Chris’ camera both brings him closer to people at the Armitage house while at the same time providing the necessary distance. 

He is not only a photographer who uses his artistry to develop a sense of the world, but to know when to make himself vulnerable and to make himself distant and protected.

How to see the world is a theme that brings us to one of the most horrifying parts of the movie. White art dealer Jim Hudson is blind, which Lenika Cruz posits is a metaphor for the useless colorblindness of white liberals.  If Jim Hudson is both blind and colorblind, it does not stop him from his grotesque cultural appropriation. 

***

The Sunken Place is watching the "erasure of an entire people." 

The New Yorker’s Richard Brody essay “‘Get Out’: Jordan Peele’s Radical Cinematic Vision of the World Through a Black Man’s Eyes” examines one of the movie’s central horrors: Erasing an entire people. As Brody writes:

At the time of dramatic crisis, Chris is denied the tools of his art; he has no camera on hand, and, what’s more, he’s being force-fed an audiovisual diet—through a nineteen-fifties-style television console—that is the very essence and tool of his captivity and his subjection. The Armitages aren’t creating slaves; they’re doing something that’s in a way even worse. Slaves are, at the very least, conscious of their situation and can, at least theoretically, if the opportunity arises, revolt. What the Armitages are creating is inwardly whitened black people—black people cut off from their history and their self-consciousness and, therefore, deprived of the power to rebel and to free themselves.

Held captive and forced to watch an “audiovisual diet” of 50s television, Chris is being force-fed the white narrative innocence at his expense. The result of this white narrative, for Chris, is self-erasure. This theme of erasure is explored in the Netflix series High on the Hog, about the influence of slavery on food throughout the world. We learn that history has erased much of the influence slavery has had on food. There are too many examples to chronicle here, but there is one that stands out. The show’s narrator Stephen Satterfield observes that in Charleston, South Carolina, the major port where the majority of slaves landed, most of the restaurants serving “Southern cooking” are owned by whites and “Southern cooking” is really African-American cooking, but this fact has been erased both in history and in restaurant ownership. 

The American narrative of Innocence, which emphasizes American Exceptionalism, the idea that America is a morally superior country and is compelled to shine its Light throughout the world, is challenged by the narrative of Original Sin, which focuses on America’s fast economic expansion as being dependent on slavery. 

The narrative of Innocence has dire consequences. It cancels or erases black identity and culture, and it exonerates America for its sins exacted upon black Americans. 

In Get Out, the Armitage family is an example of white people lost and intoxicated by the narrative of Innocence. They feel entitled to erase black people for their own needs and pleasures. In Richard Brody’s words: “What the Armitages are creating is inwardly whitened black people—black people cut off from their history and their self-consciousness and, therefore, deprived of the power to rebel and to free themselves.”

Seen through the eyes of Chris Williams, Get Out is a movie that, like Black Panther, refuses to silence black voices, identity, and history, and as such, it is a triumph over those who would relegate black people to The Sunken Place. 

***

The Sunken Place and the False Claim of White Innocence

The New Yorker’s Rich Benjamin essay “‘Get Out’ and the Death of White Racial Innocence” explores the way the white narrative of Innocence results in moral bankruptcy and “moral apathy,” a condition seen with keen insight by famous African-American writer James Baldwin. As Benjamin writes:

“I’m terrified at the moral apathy—the death of the heart—which is happening in my country,” Baldwin adds later. In his mordant telling, Americans are consumer zombies struck by an “emotional poverty so bottomless and a terror of human life, of human touch, so deep that virtually no American appears able to achieve any viable, organic connection between his public stance and his private life. This failure of the private life has always had the most devastating effect on American public conduct and on black-white relations. If [white] Americans were not so terrified of their private selves, they would never have become so dependent on what they call the Negro Problem.” Secluded in splendor, the Armitages, too, harbor desolate private struggles that lead them to inflict external racial terror.

In other words, the Armitage family is insulated by their delusion of innocence, and this insulation aids them in inflicting “racial terror” against others, including Chris Washington. 

Indeed, the Armitage family would like to believe they are innocent of racism and that America as a whole has moved beyond racism to the point that America is a post-racial society. As Benjamin writes:

White racial innocence meanders across time and political context. White blindness, as Baldwin saw it, crafted the social illusion that blacks have no reasons for being bitter. This era was followed by one in which whites would giddily talk up a color-blind America. They would avoid discussing race out of a sincere ethical desire to wash the stain of racial differentiation from our nation. These types saw (and still see) themselves as Reverend King’s disciples; they prefer color-blind conversations, policies, and Supreme Court Justices. Other color-blind acolytes, however, dismiss racial debate as a distraction from real issues, such as unemployment, “broken borders,” “law and order,” and “voter fraud.” All lives matter. And, most recently, we’ve witnessed the delusion of those whites who fancy themselves and the country as post-racial: there has been a sea change in racial attitudes, thanks to President Obama’s tenure, and we are going to bury racism in a dustbin, and racial identity and distinctions have become passé.

Part of the terror of the Armitage family is their insistence that black people such as Chris Washington accept the narrative of Innocence even as they’re victimized by the Armitage’s cultural appropriation, microaggressions, and gaslighting. The Armitage family inflicts racial pain on others while maintaining a facade of sweetness, civility, and innocence, but the movie Get Out lifts the veil and reveals the ugliness underneath. As Benjamin writes:

Baldwin could have been speaking today when he said that whites are cruelly trapped between what they might like to be and what they actually are. That moment of understanding, the very instance when whites acknowledge the blunt truths that make their innocence no longer cute, let alone plausible, is what delivers profound horror—or sidesplitting laughs—in a movie as sharp as “Get Out.” What a juicy moment when Rose, on the phone with Chris’s black friend, realizes that the jig is up; her caper is about to be exposed. Rose drops her sweet face and hardens it into a stare. Her stony eyes reveal her about-face from liberal ingénue to calculating racial predator. The Brooklyn theatre exploded in guffaws. Her family’s bloody antics, like this country’s recent racial politics, had careened to that moment when everybody knows what’s what, and all bets are off.

Not only do Chris Washington and his friend Ron Williams lift the curtain to reveal the true ugliness at the Armitage residence, they overcome the ugliness and free themselves. 

***

 

Frederick Douglass and The Sunken Place

It would be irresponsible to discuss the Sunken Place without referencing the greatest American who ever lived, the freed slave, writer, orator, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass who not only articulated the Sunken Place in the anguish he poured out in his descriptions of the inhumanity of slavery but did so in the context of longing to one day be a freeman. In other words, Douglass at the lowest point of his Sunken Place would never give up hope for being free or let go of his identity as a freeman with self-agency and self-determination. We cannot emphasize that the Sunken Place is a powerful tool of instruction only when we see that it is not a capitulation to inaction and surrender to the evil of racism; instead, the Sunken Place is where might and resistance are resolved and we see that resistance to evil is a vital component of the Sunken Place.

The author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass may be one of the first great writers to describe in detail the agony of being owned (body and soul) by other human beings and subject to their whims, greed, and cruelty.

Douglass may be one of the first great writers to describe the agony of forced sleep deprivation, starvation, overwork, arbitrary whippings, and forced illiteracy in order to give life to the white myth of black intellectual inferiority (a myth created to justify the cruelty of slavery itself).  

Douglass may be the first writer to describe the agony of being forced to be a slave with a smile on your face and body language that exuded gratitude to the slavekeeper for enslaving you lest you be beaten to death for looking bored or ungrateful.  

The Sunken Place Feature #1: Letting your oppressors write your narrative to aggrandize themselves and humiliate you

Douglass begins his memoir by observing that the slave masters falsely portrayed slavery to justify their depravity and to sugarcoat the agony that afflicted slaves. 

Not only is slavery physically unbearable, Douglass observes, but to have your captors misrepresent you and your suffering at their barbaric hands creates a spiritual wound for which there are no words. 

Heroically, Douglass defied the slave masters and taught himself to read and write so that he could bear witness to the human rights violations that happened to his people and give voice to his people. Likewise, Jordan Peele’s Get Out is told from a black protagonist’s point of view. The movie, like Douglass’ narrative, is told by a black voice. 

Who gets to describe hell? The tormentor or the tormented? Clearly, the latter is the only moral answer.

The Sunken Place Feature #2: To be a nothing at birth, not human at all but property

Frederick Douglass and his fellow slaves didn’t know their birthdays because their births weren’t recorded. Symbolically, they “didn’t count” as humans. They grew up without a birthday and without knowledge of their age. It had to be estimated or counted by comparing their life circumstances to bookmarks in history. 

Slaves were not allowed to ask their masters their birthdays because to do so was considered “impertinent” and disrespectful.

It was believed that Douglass’s father was a white man, a slaveholder, and he observes that slaveholders constantly fornicated with slave women, impregnated them, and disowned the babies as their children but rather counted them as slaves so these slaveholders could both gratify their lusts and increase their slave numbers at the same time. 

It should be noted that these slave children were bullied more than the other children and often had to be sold because the white slaveholders’ wives were furious with being constantly reminded by these children of their husbands’ infidelity. 

As best as can be known, Douglass was born in 1817 or 1818 during slavery and died in 1895. He lived through slavery, the Reconstruction Era, when the white government tried to give reparations to black people for the sins of slavery, and the ill-named Redemption Era when the white government catered to angry white citizens who resented the government helping black people and persuaded their elected officials to roll back reparations and replace Reconstruction with Jim Crow, an insidious reappearance of slavery under a different name.

The Sunken Place Feature #3: To be torn apart from your parents

Because Douglass was mere property, slavekeepers separated slave infants from their mothers as “a common custom” so no natural family bonds existed for these babies. As cruel as this practice was, it was even more cruel when slaveholders sold older children who were then separated from their parents after a familial bond had been established. 

The Sunken Place Feature #4: To see your loved ones treated with abject cruelty by barbaric monsters

As a small child, Douglass witnessed many times his young beautiful Aunt Hester beaten by her slavemaster and he had to hear her terrifying screams. Mostly, he whipped her for his own whimsical pleasure but his most brutal beatings were for her falling in love with a young black man, which was forbidden because the slavemaster always “desired her presence.” He beat her to let her know she was his plaything, and this depraved cruelty left a permanent scar on the small child Frederick Douglass. 

Additionally, as a child, Douglass witnessed many mothers who failed to wake up in time beaten by the cruel overseers in front of their children while the children begged the overseers to stop whipping their mothers but to no avail. 

Witnessing this kind of human depravity with no guardrails put Douglass and his fellow slaves in the Sunken Place. 

The Sunken Place Feature #5: The anguish and pain of slavery are so deep that words cannot describe them. 

Douglass listened to his fellow slaves walk in the woods from the plantation to the Great House Farm and they would sing songs of sorrow that made him contemplate that the pain of slavery was so deep that the words he used to describe it were futile, that the only way to feel this pain, this Sunken Place if you will, was to listen to the “ineffable sadness” and “bitter anguish” in these songs his fellow slaves poured out in the woods. 

Only by listening to these songs could Douglass get his “first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery.” 

The Sunken Place Feature #6: Being forced to live the lie that your slavemasters made you happy because they were kind

Douglass observes that while the slaves suffered unspeakable agony, they had to pretend that they were happy and that their masters were kind. To encourage this facade, masters would send spies into the plantations to record any stirrings of discontent and these malcontents would be ripped from family and friends and sold to some place of horror even worse than the hell that they lived in. 

The Sunken Place Feature #7: Knowing that the pathway from slavery to freedom is literacy, a condition that the slavemasters prohibited to prevent discontent in their slaves.

When the white caretaker Sophia Auld taught Douglass how to read and write, she was giving him the dignity proffered on any human being, yet her father Mr. Auld scolded her for “spoiling” the child with the gift of literacy, a gift that would make him think he was too good for slavery. 

At this point, Douglass the small child understood that illiteracy was the slavemaster’s “great weapon” in helping “the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”

The slavemaster’s evil woke up Douglass to the fact that he needed to learn to read and write and whatever cost in order to save himself from the Sunken Place. 

In the words of Douglass:

“What he dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved, that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.”

Without a teacher, Douglass gave food, usually his bread, to poor white children in exchange for their grammar and writing books; he found scraps of newspapers in the garbage and taught himself to read.

As an adult while living under the slavemaster Mr. Freeland, Douglass taught other slaves how to read and write and he saw how this gift of literacy gave his fellow slaves the longing to be free and at least one such slave did indeed escape slavery.  

The Sunken Place Feature #8: Unable to remove the thought that you are enslaved, you regret your existence and wish you were dead.

Douglass was desperate to think of anything other than the horrid state of being a slave but the thought would not leave him and tormented him. He writes, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed.” 

His only relief was hearing people talk about the need for the abolition of slavery. 

The very word abolition captured Douglass’ imagination. He studied discarded newspapers to get a handle on what abolition meant and he learned that it meant the death of slavery. 

He learned that an abolitionist was someone who championed the end of slavery through words, oratory, and deeds. 

The Sunken Place Feature #9: To learn that the slavemasters who purported the strongest religious faith were the cruelest and most vicious

Douglass learned that while all slavemasters were cruel and evil, there was an extraordinary meanness attached to those who claimed religious piety; therefore, Douglass had to witness these pious slavemasters bloviating religious passages and larding kindness and generosity on their white guests during religious holidays while starving and beating the slaves with sadistic delight. 

It was the religious slavemasters who would lacerate young slave women for up to five hours at a time.

One religious slavemaster knew a slave child had an injured hand from a childhood fire, yet beat her because she could not perform tasks in a timely manner. 

The Sunken Place Feature #10: Being punished for looking intelligent

Many white people, especially slavemasters, had a special hatred and dislike for Douglass because his intelligence gave him a “city life” look that they found threatening. These masters said Douglass’s “uppity airs” had a “very pernicious effect” upon him and “ruined his good purpose” to be a slave. Douglass’ intelligence threatened his masters who gave him “severe whippings” just to keep him in line. Their objective was to “break” him and consign him to the Sunken Place; however, he resolved to be free and to free others thereby becoming the greatest American in recorded history. 

The Sunken Place Feature #11: To be broken in body, soul, and spirit

Douglass observes that slavemaster Mr. Covey whipped him at least once a week and overworked and underslept him so badly that he was broken. “I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!”

He would watch ships sailing out of Chesapeake Bay and long to be a free man. These moments planted the seeds for his escape plans.

 

It should be noted that Mr. Covey beat Douglass and Douglass fought back and inflicted great pain on Covey and Covey’s assistant, and even though he was a slave for four more years, Douglass was never whipped again. 

The Sunken Place Feature #12: Slavery is not merely physical bondage but a form of brainwashing

Douglass observes that slavery was a state of mind in which the slave had become content with his slavery and had lost the desire to be free. As Douglass writes:

“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”

***

 

Notes As I Reread Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Douglass has no birthday as masters want to erase the history and significance of black people. Erasure is a theme and so is Otherization.

Douglass was born of a white man and a black woman, a slave. He was separated from his mother when he was an infant, a common practice. 

White masters procreated with black women slaves for pleasure and profit, Douglass observes. 

The white master will sell these slaves so he doesn’t see them being whipped, children of his own blood.

As a small child, Douglass witnessed merciless, sadistic whippings and beatings.  

This includes the beating of his Aunt Hester, a beautiful 15-year-old who was forbidden to have relations with black men to save herself for the master presumably. She violated the rule and was beaten mercilessly in front of Douglass. 

Douglass observed that hearing slaves sing songs about their lot in life would do more “to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery” than reading volumes of books on the subject. The “ineffable sadness” in these songs often brought Douglass to tears, even decades later when he wrote his autobiography. 

Slaves were fearful for telling the truth so they usually spoke well of their master and said they were being treated well, so they wouldn’t be sold to some even more hellish circumstance. They learned to be silent or speak little.

By the time we get to Chapter 6, Douglass has moved to Baltimore where the seeds are planted for him to find freedom. He meets his new mistress who is relatively kind for a white person. Sophia Auld taught Douglass the alphabet when he was twelve until her husband forbade her to give him additional lessons. 

Somehow, Douglass knew learning how to read would help bring him to freedom. 

Riya Shankar writes in his essay “Frederick Douglass and the Power of Literacy”: “He was enticed by his master’s fervent opposition to learning, realizing that a slave becoming literate was liberation from his master.” He would no longer be at the mercy of his master. Literacy would give him power to make a deeper sense of the world and have the tools to articulate that deeper sense. Slave masters lived in fear that their slaves would become literate. Forced illiteracy was a tool to oppress their slaves. 

***

One of the things that Douglass hated about slave masters was the disrespect they afforded his grandmother who lived in isolation from her family because her children and grandchildren were sold and dispersed throughout the land so far from her that she never got to see them.

***

Douglass’ intelligence and experience in the city made him a threat to his masters. They resented Douglass’ intelligent bearing; he could not play the role of a dumb complaint slave; he was a tall muscular handsome man who exuded intelligence when he walked into a room. Masters hated him. 

What his masters didn’t know is that he hated them more than they hated him; he knew eventually he would kill one of them and that would result in his death, so he started planning his escape. 

Making an escape was dangerous because slave masters hired slaves to do false flag operations enticing slaves to escape so that the masters could punish or execute the conspirators. A slave planning an escape had to be extra careful and trust no one. 

The turning point in Douglass’ life is when he retaliated against his master Mr. Covey and Douglass thought he would be killed for his punishment. But Covey was too ashamed to report Douglass and Douglass lived, but he knew eventually another fight would ensue and he would be killed. He knew he’d have to plan his escape. 

Another thing about the fight changed Douglass. He knew he could no longer submit as a slave. He would always fight back. In his mind, he was already free. 

***

The Cure for the Sunken Place: Ron Williams

In the movie Get Out, we see that Chris Washington has misgivings about going to Rose’s parents’ house, but he pushes his misgivings aside, he suppresses his instincts to be polite, and this habit of being nice and polite helps the Armitage trap Chris and put him in The Sunken Place. 

Moreover, when he encounters several racist microaggressions at the Armitage home, he doesn’t fight back. To the contrary, he feels apologetic and awkward and blames himself for his predicament. This self-blame and internalizing racist microaggressions is a weapon that pushes him into The Sunken Place.

The movie would be a downer about helpless victimization and a crazy white racist cult, but the movie is not a downer and it offers a message of power and hope. Why? Because of the movie’s hero and cure for The Sunken Place, the great Ron Williams, played with expert panache by comedian Lil Rey Howery. 

TSA agent Ron Williams is the movie’s hero in part because Williams adheres to a code that is conducive to dignity and survival. We can break down this code with the following Ron Williams characteristics:

• Ron never underestimates crazy white racist behavior. He’s seen what Jeffrey Dahmer did, as he says in the movie, so he’s prepared for anything. 
• Ron never goes into a white environment blind. He’s of the belief that you need to do a recon or a surveillance of the situation because as far as Ron is concerned, a white environment is a malicious, hostile place for a lone black man. 
• Ron believes in trusting your instincts. If you feel uncomfortable or startled, “Get the hell out.” Don’t be polite and suppress your feelings. Run. Run like your life depends on it.
• Ron believes in giving 100% of yourself to your friends. Loyalty is a must. Cover your friend’s back. At the end of the movie, when Chris asks Ron how he knew he needed him, Ron says, “Consider the situation handled.”
• Ron is proud of his authentic black identity. He apologizes to no one for who he is. 

Contemplating and admiring Ron Williams is Jelani Greenidge in his essay “In Praise of the Get Out Brotherhood.”Links to an external site. Greenidge describes Ron Williams as a positive, heroic force in the black community for many reasons, not the least of which Ron Williams embraces his blackness, his black culture, his black language, and his black attitude. Ron Williams is proud of being black and apologizes to no one for who he is. This core authenticity in Ron Williams’ personality resonates with Jelani Greenidge. Describing himself as a black man, a Christian, and someone in an interracial marriage who finds it easy lose himself, Mr. Greenidge describes his challenge this way: “As a black man in an interracial marriage in the Pacific Northwest, I know what it’s like to feel so isolated that I’m in danger of losing my authentic sense of blackness.”

In contrast, Ron Williams is someone who never can lose his “authentic sense of blackness.” He has other virtuous qualities as well. As Greenidge observes in his essay: 

But at his best, Rod is a brash truth teller with keen instincts and a fierce sense of loyalty. He keeps it 100, he’s good at his job, he looks out for his people, and he is unashamedly black. As a connoisseur of hip-hop, fried chicken and NBA basketball, I can also relate to Rod. So what I loved about watching their on-screen friendship was that it’s clear that Chris and Rod need each other. You could probably cast Howery and Kaluuya as these same characters in a buddy cop film or as best friends in a romcom, and it would probably still work, because Chris and Rod have what sports analysts often refer to as “chemistry,” a combination of skills, perspectives and attributes that can serve each other well in a friendship. Chris would probably be the one to help Rod write his wedding vows, and Rod would probably help Chris out of a jam.

 

 

 

Get Out and the Managerial Class

Get Out Is an Excoriation of the White Managerial Class 

 

(See Out There Screaming, a horror anthology with Jordan Peele’s introduction, which discusses The Sunken Place)

 

1. White managerial class says all the right things and has all the right policies at HR in the service of window dressing with no substantive change
2. White savior fantasies
3. Virtue signaling by its very nature is fake
4. Condescension; not having the self-awareness to observe that your words of support and justice come across as patronizing and phony
5.  Cultural appropriation through racial fetishism 
6. Racial Fantasy Contradiction: superhuman on one hand and super inferior on the other
7. White mansplaining and gaslighting to keep people in their place
8. White-obsessed view of the world results in “forgetting” other voices.

Loss of Critical Thinking Skills Lesson 4 for Spring 2023

The Assignment:

For a 1,200-word essay, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the forces that cause a societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” 

ChatGPT Response (March 2023):

The societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” is caused by the combination of several forces, including the rise of social media, the decline of traditional media, the polarization of politics, and the weakening of shared cultural norms. These forces have contributed to a decline in intellectual curiosity, a lack of empathy, and a decrease in the ability to engage in civil discourse, ultimately leading to a societal breakdown.

The rise of social media is one of the primary forces that has led to societal intellectual and emotional disintegration. Social media has created a highly polarized and fragmented society, where individuals are exposed only to opinions that confirm their biases, leading to a lack of intellectual curiosity and a decline in empathy. Haidt argues that social media platforms have contributed to the polarization of politics, as individuals are exposed to extreme views that can lead to a lack of understanding and empathy for others who hold different beliefs. This lack of empathy and understanding can lead to the breakdown of civil discourse, which is essential for a healthy democracy.

Another force contributing to societal intellectual and emotional disintegration is the decline of traditional media. Haidt suggests that the decline of traditional media has led to a loss of shared cultural norms, which are essential for a healthy society. Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news programs, played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and promoting shared values. The decline of traditional media has led to the rise of alternative sources of information, which can be highly polarizing and promote extreme views that are harmful to society.

In addition, the polarization of politics is a significant force contributing to the societal disintegration analyzed by Haidt. Political polarization has led to the demonization of individuals who hold opposing views, creating an environment where civil discourse is impossible. This has led to a decline in empathy and understanding, as individuals become more entrenched in their own beliefs and less willing to consider alternative perspectives.

Finally, the weakening of shared cultural norms has contributed to the decline of intellectual curiosity and the breakdown of civil discourse. Haidt argues that shared cultural norms are essential for creating a sense of social cohesion and promoting a healthy society. The weakening of these norms has led to a lack of shared values and an increase in individualism, which can lead to a breakdown in civil discourse.

To combat the societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed by Haidt, several solutions can be implemented. First, individuals can work to broaden their sources of information and seek out opinions that challenge their beliefs. This can lead to a greater understanding of alternative perspectives and a decline in polarization. Second, traditional media can be revitalized to promote shared cultural norms and values. This can help to counteract the harmful effects of alternative sources of information that promote extreme views. Third, political leaders can work to promote civil discourse and empathy, encouraging individuals to engage in constructive dialogue with those who hold opposing views. Finally, individuals can work to strengthen their own sense of shared cultural norms, promoting a sense of social cohesion and a healthier society.

In conclusion, the societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed by Haidt is caused by a combination of several forces, including the rise of social media, the decline of traditional media, the polarization of politics, and the weakening of shared cultural norms. These forces have contributed to a decline in intellectual curiosity, a lack of empathy, and a decrease in the ability to engage in civil discourse, ultimately leading to a societal breakdown. To combat these harmful effects, individuals, political leaders, and traditional media can work together to promote empathy, understanding, and a healthier society.

***

ChatGPT Prompt:

 

Write an argument that addresses the forces that cause a societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.”

 

ChatGPT Response (October 2023):

 

In his thought-provoking essay, "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid," Jonathan Haidt delves into the intricate dynamics underlying the societal intellectual and emotional disintegration that has marked recent American life. While several factors have contributed to this decline, a key argument can be made that the proliferation of social media, the erosion of civil discourse, and the rise of tribalistic ideologies have played pivotal roles in fueling this troubling trend.

Firstly, the pervasive influence of social media has undeniably reshaped the contours of public discourse, nurturing an environment that prioritizes sensationalism over substantive debate. Haidt highlights how the omnipresence of social media platforms has led to the creation of echo chambers, where individuals are exposed primarily to information that aligns with their preexisting beliefs. This selective consumption of information not only reinforces existing biases but also fosters an atmosphere that discourages critical thinking and reasoned analysis. Consequently, this trend hampers the development of a well-rounded, informed citizenry, eroding the intellectual robustness necessary for a healthy democratic society.

Furthermore, the erosion of civil discourse has significantly contributed to the decline in intellectual and emotional resilience within American society. Haidt's analysis underscores how the current political climate has become increasingly characterized by ad hominem attacks, vilification of opponents, and a pervasive 'us versus them' mentality. This hostile environment not only stifles meaningful dialogue but also engenders emotional polarization, breeding animosity and division. Such a toxic discourse undermines the capacity for nuanced understanding and empathy, ultimately impeding the cultivation of a cohesive and emotionally mature society capable of grappling with complex challenges.

Additionally, the rise of tribalistic ideologies has further exacerbated the fragmentation of intellectual and emotional coherence within American society. Haidt's insights shed light on how the amplification of tribal identities has led to a narrowing of perspectives, fostering an 'ingroup-outgroup' mentality that impedes constructive engagement with divergent viewpoints. This tribalistic fervor not only stifles intellectual curiosity but also engenders an emotional myopia that hinders the capacity for genuine empathy and understanding. Consequently, this narrow-minded tribalism engenders a polarized society that is unable to foster the collective intelligence and emotional maturity necessary for effective problem-solving and societal progress.

In conclusion, the forces delineated by Jonathan Haidt in his essay have significantly contributed to the intellectual and emotional disintegration that has plagued American society in recent years. The insidious influence of social media echo chambers, the erosion of civil discourse, and the rise of tribalistic ideologies have collectively fostered an environment that impedes critical thinking, stifles meaningful dialogue, and undermines the cultivation of emotional resilience. To reverse this troubling trajectory, it is imperative to prioritize efforts that foster open-mindedness, empathy, and a culture of reasoned discourse, thereby cultivating an intellectually and emotionally resilient society capable of confronting the challenges of the modern age.

 

 

 

 

***

 

In the context of Sherry Turkle's Ted Talk video "Connected, But Alone?", analyze the causes of loneliness in the social media age.

 

ChatGPT Response:

 

In her Ted Talk "Connected, But Alone?" Sherry Turkle, a renowned psychologist and technology critic, discusses the impact of technology on human relationships, emphasizing the consequences of our increasing reliance on digital communication. Turkle highlights several causes of loneliness in the social media age, drawing attention to how our digital habits and the pervasive use of technology can contribute to feelings of isolation and disconnection. Some key points she makes include:

1. Superficial Connections: Turkle argues that social media platforms and digital communication often encourage superficial connections, creating an illusion of intimacy without fostering genuine emotional bonds. This tendency to prioritize quantity over quality can lead to a sense of loneliness, as individuals may feel disconnected despite having numerous online connections.

2. Fear of Intimacy: She also points out how the use of technology as a buffer can prevent individuals from engaging in meaningful face-to-face interactions, leading to a fear of intimacy and a preference for the controlled environment of digital communication. This fear can inhibit the development of deep, authentic relationships, ultimately contributing to feelings of loneliness and alienation.

3. Constant Connectivity: The perpetual need to be connected, always reachable, and consistently updated with the latest information can also result in a sense of social fatigue and isolation. Constant connectivity can create a pressure to present oneself in a certain way online, leading to feelings of inadequacy and loneliness when faced with the curated, idealized lives of others on social media.

4. Diminished Empathy: Turkle emphasizes how the digital age has the potential to diminish empathy, as online interactions often lack the nuanced emotional cues present in face-to-face communication. This can lead to a decreased sense of understanding and connection, exacerbating feelings of isolation and loneliness.

5. Comparison and Inadequacy: Social media platforms often foster an environment of comparison, where individuals constantly compare their lives to the curated and often exaggerated versions of others' lives. This can contribute to feelings of inadequacy and isolation, as individuals may perceive themselves as falling short in comparison to their peers, leading to a sense of loneliness and disconnection.

Turkle's analysis underscores the need for a balanced approach to technology use, highlighting the importance of fostering genuine, meaningful connections in order to combat the increasing sense of loneliness and disconnection in the digital age.

 

Is this conversation helpful so far?

 

 

 

 

Sentence Fragments 

Sentence fragments are incomplete thoughts presented as dependent clauses or phrases.

A dependent clause or a phrase is never a complete sentence.

Types of dependent clauses:

Whenever I drive up windy mountains,

Because I have craved pizza for 14 months,

Unless you add coffee to your chocolate cake recipe,

,which is currently enjoying a resurgence. 

 

Phrases

Enamored by the music of Tupac Shakur,

Craving pesto linguine with olive-oil based clam sauce, 

Flexing his muscles with a braggadocio never seen in modern times,

Lying under the bridge and eating garlic pepper pretzels with a dollop of cream cheese and a jug of chilled apple cider, 

To understand the notion of Universal Basic Income and all of its related factors for social change in this disruptive age, 

Running into crowded restaurants with garlic and whiskey fuming out of his sweaty pores while brandishing a golden scepter, 

 

Examples

I won't entertain your requests for more money and gifts. Until you show at least a modicum of responsibility at school and with your friends. 

I won't consider buying the new BMW sports coupe. Unless of course my uncle gives me that inheritance he keeps talking about whenever he gets a bit tipsy. 

I can't imagine ever going to Chuck E. Cheese. Which makes me feel like I'm emotionally arrested. 

I am considering the purchase of a new wardrobe. That is, if I'm picked for that job interview at Nordstrom. 

Human morals have vanished. To the point at which it was decided that market values would triumph. 

No subject 

Marie Antoinette spent huge sums of money on herself and her favorites. And helped to bring on the French Revolution.

No complete verb

The aluminum boat sitting on its trailer.

Beginning with a subordinating word

We returned to the drugstore. Where we waited for our buddies.

A sentence fragment is part of a sentence that is written as if it were a complete sentence. Reading your draft out loud, backwards, sentence by sentence, will help you spot sentence fragments.

Sentence Fragment Exercises  

After each sentence, write C for complete or F for fragment sentence. If the sentence is a fragment, correct it so that it is a complete sentence. 

One. While hovering over the complexity of a formidable math problem and wondering if he had time to solve the problem before his girlfriend called him to complain about the horrible birthday present he bought her. 

Two.  In spite of the boyfriend’s growing discontent for his girlfriend, a churlish woman prone to tantrums and grand bouts of petulance.

Three. My BMW 5 series, a serious entry into the luxury car market. 

Four. Overcome with nausea from eating ten bowls of angel hair pasta slathered in pine nut garlic pesto.  

Five. Winding quickly but safely up the treacherous Palos Verdes hills in the shrouded mist of a lazy June morning, I realized that my BMW gave me feelings of completeness and fulfillment.   

Six. To attempt to grasp the profound ignorance of those who deny the compelling truths of science in favor of their pseudo-intellectual ideas about “dangerous” vaccines and the “myths” of global warming. 

Seven. The girlfriend whom I lavished with exotic gifts from afar. 

Eight. When my cravings for pesto pizza, babaganoush, and triple chocolate cake overcome me during my bouts of acute anxiety. 

Nine. Inclined to stop watching sports in the face of my girlfriend’s insistence that I pay more attention to her, I am throwing away my TV. 

Ten. At the dance club where I espy my girlfriend flirting with a stranger by the soda machine festooned with party balloons and tinsel. 

Eleven. The BMW speeding ahead of me and winding into the misty hills. 

Twelve. Before you convert to the religion of veganism in order to impress your vegan girlfriend. 

Thirteen. Summoning all my strength to resist the giant chocolate fudge cake sweating on the plate before me. 

Identify the Fragments Below

Identify the Fragments Below

I drank the chalky Soylent meal-replacement drink. Expecting to feel full and satisfied. Only to find that I was still ravenously hungry afterward. Trying to sate my hunger pangs. I went to HomeTown Buffet. Where I ate several platters of braised oxtail and barbecued short ribs smothered in a honey vinegar sauce. Which reminded me of a sauce where I used to buy groceries from. When I was a kid.

Feeling bloated after my HomeTown Buffet indulgence. I exited the restaurant. After which I hailed an Uber and asked the driver for a night club recommendation. So I could dance off all my calories. The driver recommended a place, Anxiety Wires. I had never heard of it. Though, it was crowded inside. I felt eager to dance and confident about “my swag.” Although, I was still feeling bloated. Wondering if my intestines were on the verge of exploding.

Sweating under the nightclub’s outdoor canopy. I smelled the cloying gasses of a nearby vape. A serpentine woman was holding the vape. A gold contraption emitting rose-water vapors into my direction. Contemplating my gluttony. I was suddenly feeling low confidence. Though I pushed myself to introduce myself to the vape-smoking stranger with the serpentine features. Her eyes locked on mine.

I decided to play it cool. Instead of overwhelming her with a loud, brash manner. Which she might interpret as neediness on my part.

Keeping a portable fan in my cargo pocket for emergencies. When I feel like I’m overheating. I took the fan out of my pocket, turned it on, and directed it toward the serpentine stranger. Making it so the vapors were blowing back in her face.

“Doesn’t smell so good, does it?” I said. With a sarcastic grin.

She cackled, then said, “Thank you for blowing the vapors in my face. Now I can both enjoy inhaling them and breathing them in. For double the pleasure. You are quite a find. Come home with me and I’ll introduce you to my mother Gertrude and her pitbull Jackson. I’m sure they’ll welcome you into our home. Considering what a well-fed handsome man you are.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” I said. “I would love to meet your mother Gertrude and your mother’s pitbull Jackson. Only one problem. My breath smells like a rotting dead dragon. Right after eating spicy ribs. Which reminds me? Do you have any breath mints?”

“I don’t believe in carrying breath mints. On account of the rose-water vape. That cleanses my palate. Making my breath rosy fresh.”

“Wow. Your constant good breath counteracts my intractable bad breath. Making us a match in heaven.”

“I agree. Totally. You really need to meet my mother. Because she’ll bless us and make our marriage official. Since we really need her blessing. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Now let me smell your breath. So I can identify the hot sauce.”

“Why must you do that?”

“So I can use the same hot sauce on our wedding cake, silly. To celebrate the first night we met. Capisce?”

“Capisce.”

She approached me. Affording me a view of her long, tired face. Covered in scales. Reptilian. Evocative of something primitive. Something precious and indelible from my childhood lost long ago. I wanted to run from her, but I could not. Some mysterious force drew me to her, and we inched closer and closer toward one another. Succumbing to a power neither of us could fathom. 

Commas are designed to help writers avoid confusing sentences and to clarify the logic of their sentences.

If you cook Jeff will clean the dishes. (Will you cook Jeff?)

While we were eating a rattlesnake approached us. (Were we eating a rattlesnake?)

Comma Rule 1: Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) joining two independent clauses.

Rattlesnakes are high in protein, but I’d rather eat a peanut butter sandwich.

Rattlesnakes are dangerous, and the desert species are even more so.

We are a proud people, for our ancestors passed down these famous delicacies over a period of five thousand years.

The exception to rule 1 is when the two independent clauses are short:

The plane took off and we were on our way.

Comma Rule 2: Use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase.

When Jeff Henderson was in prison, he developed an appetite for reading.

In the nearby room, the TV is blaring full blast.

Tanning in the hot Hermosa Beach sun for over two hours, I realized I had better call it a day.

The exception is when the short adverb clause or phrase is short and doesn’t create the possibility of a misreading:

In no time we were at 2,800 feet.

Comma Rule 3: Use a comma between all items in a series.

 

Jeff Henderson found redemption through hard work, self-reinvention, and social altruism.

Finding his passion, mastering his craft, and giving back to the community were all part of Jeff Henderson’s self-reinvention.

Comma Rule 4: Use a comma between coordinate adjectives not joined with “and.” Do not use a comma between cumulative adjectives.

 

The adjectives below are called coordinate because they modify the noun separately:

Jeff Henderson is a passionate, articulate, wise speaker.

The adjectives above are coordinate because they can be joined with “and.” Jeff Henderson is passionate and articulate and wise.

Adjectives that do not modify the noun separately are cumulative.

Three large gray shapes moved slowly toward us.

Chocolate fudge peanut butter swirl coconut cake is divine.

Comma Rule 5: Use commas to set off nonrestrictive (nonessential) elements. 

Restrictive or essential information doesn’t have a comma:

For school the students need notebooks that are college-ruled.

Jeff’s cat that just had kittens became very aggressive.

Nonrestrictive:

For school the students need college-ruled notebooks, which are on sale at the bookstore.

Jeff Henderson’s mansion, which is located in Las Vegas, has a state-of-the-art kitchen.

My youngest sister, who plays left wing on the soccer team, now lives at The Sands, a beach house near Los Angeles.

 

Avoiding Comma Splices and Run-Ons 

Two complete sentences need to be joined with a period.

When we don’t use a period, we create a run-on sentence:

There are two run-ons in the following passage: 

Jim Crow 1.0 transformed the post-Civil South into a hellscape however let us not think Jim Crow died it transformed into Jim Crow 2.0.

Another run-on:

She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once.  

A comma splice is different than a run-on. In this case, two sentences are incorrectly joined with a comma:

Klee's paintings seem simple, they are very sophisticated.

Love sneaks up on you, it shows up at your doorstep without warning.

I don’t drink diet soda for my caffeine intake, instead I drink coffee. 

I was strongly attracted to her, she was beautiful and funny.

We hated the meatloaf, the cafeteria served it every Friday.

When You Can Use a Comma Between Two Complete Sentences: FANBOYS

You can use a comma with FANBOYS (for, and, but, or, yet, so), but you can't with conjunctive adverbs (however, instead, to the contrary, in contrast, etc.)

I love ice cream, but I rarely eat it. 

I love ice cream. However, I rarely eat it. 

I don't work out at the gym, but I do use kettlebells at home.

I don't work out at the gym. Instead, I exercise with kettlebells in my garage. 

After each sentence put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct. 

One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner. 

Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer. 

Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain. 

Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can often correct the problem. 

Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline. 

Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives are, what a sham. 

Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading fewer and fewer books. 

Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May. 

Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world. 

Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless. 

Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus. 

Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office. 

Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack. 

Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.

***

Review

Reviewing Jonathan Haidt’s Essay 

Overview:

1. We are living in a fragmented world where we disappear into rabbit holes of social-media curated reality silos. These silos or bubbles cater to our cognitive biases and pre-existing opinions. Living in a world that flatters our subjective reality makes us more stupid.
2. Our societal fragmentation leads to chaos and distrust, which strengthens tribalism. Blind obedience to the tribe makes us more stupid. 
3. Living more and more on social media, we want popularity and attention reflected through likes, reposts, and subscribers. We don’t aspire to create legit content. Rather, we hunger for a dopamine hit of virality. The algorithms reward aggressive, extreme, and obnoxious behavior so that we can be popular with our subscribers and “friends.” In this regard, we no longer build real friendships but create parsocial (imaginary) friendships. This behavior makes us more stupid.
4. The extremism of social media causes us to reject the epistemic reality of science, expertise and norms; instead, we live inside conspiracy anti-expertise bubbles and political purity bubbles; living inside these bubbles makes us more stupid.
5. Social media floods the zone with BS. “Anything is possible; therefore, everything is equally BS.” This false moral equivalency makes us more stupid. This is also called whataboutism. “You still haven’t paid me back the five thousand dollars I lent you two years ago.” “What about the time you took a bite of my peanut butter sandwich?” Whataboutism makes us stupid.
6. Social media learned that outrage sells and gets our attention and since outrage creates dopamine, social media has encouraged us to get drunk on the dopamine of outrage. As a result, we have become more stupid. 

Part 1: Adaptation, Survival, and Cooperation Vs. Animosity and Chaos

Haidt is arguing that living in the Internet, we suffer from the following:

• No context in a world of soundbites and image fragments
• Shortened attention span so that we memory-hole everything
• No sense of history
• Loss of critical thinking skills
• Living in separate information silos or bubbles resulting in political polarization
• Living in digital world more than real analog world tends to make us see other humans as abstractions; we dehumanize them more easily and behave more like barbarians toward one another
• No shared reality or agreement with what reality is so that can’t even agree on facts, statistics, science, studies
• Increased gullibility and eagerness to embrace conspiracy theories
• Loss of trust in major institutions: government, “deep state,” military, CDC, education, media, etc. 
• Polarization leading to animosity, fragmentation, and at the very least a “cold civil war” peppered with violence
• Polarization leads to “mutual incomprehension”: We don’t even speak each other’s language so we can’t connect, resulting in alienation and hostility
• Polarization leading to chaos
• Chaos creating a desire to support an autocrat or totalitarian leader

Part 2, Early Internet of the 90s and the Promise of Togetherness

From 1999 to 2011, the Internet was fun, brought people together in Chat Rooms and promised to spread democracy throughout the world.

However, 2012 was a transitional point when the zero-sum game of political tribalism took over. 

As social media platforms fought for attention in the Great Attention Economy, they realized that setting their algorithm for outrage could suck people into their platforms with the greatest power and potency and turn those people into angry social media addicts. 

Social media personalities didn’t connect so much as perform. These were generally extreme performances of outrage, self-pity, exaggerated self-destruction, and self-righteous indignation. 

Retweeting, reposting, and liking became ways of amplifying one’s alliance with a tribe and society began to fragment into these tiny niche groups governed by their own information silos. 

To create outrage, social media needed to trigger the emotions targeting “anger at out-groups.” 

By pressing people’s outrage buttons, you could go viral and become “internet famous” for half a week. 

The above social dynamics and enraged psychological state is not conducive to a civil society or a functional democracy. 

“Chipping Away Trust”

Trusting their tribal leaders, social media users lose trust in institutions--elected leaders, health authorities, the courts, the media, the scientific community, academia, etc.

Being Obnoxious and Aggressive for Attention

“Trolls and provocateurs” are “silencing good citizens.”

Breakdown of Critical Thinking

“The most pervasive obstacle to good thinking is confirmation bias, which refers to the human tendency to search only for evidence that confirms our preferred beliefs.”

 

We are less inclined to consider opposing views, especially in a polite manner, and it is precisely these opposing views that strengthen our thinking and help us arrive at more carefully-thought positions. 

 

On the Extreme Right, a loss of critical thinking has resulted in a myriad of conspiracy theories regarding masks and even the popular Qanon, which believes that liberals are lizard-people who traffic children for nefarious purposes.

 

On the Extreme Left, a loss of critical thinking has resulted in purity tests and a purity orthodoxy that cancels anyone who slightly deviates from the tribe’s official doctrines. For example, “Karen” became a word that means horrible person. 

 

We need to make changes:

 

Haidt makes this warning: “If we do not make major changes soon, then our institutions, our political system, and our society may collapse.”

 

What changes could be made? The genie is out of the bottle; the toothpaste is out of the tube.

 

Loss of Critical Thinking Skills, Lesson 2, Fall 2023

Reviewing Jonathan Haidt’s Essay 

Overview:

1. We are living in a fragmented world where we disappear into rabbit holes of social-media curated reality silos. These silos or bubbles cater to our cognitive biases and pre-existing opinions. Living in a world that flatters our subjective reality makes us more stupid.
2. Our societal fragmentation leads to chaos and distrust, which strengthens tribalism. Blind obedience to the tribe makes us more stupid. 
3. Living more and more on social media, we want popularity and attention reflected through likes, reposts, and subscribers. We don’t aspire to create legit content. Rather, we hunger for a dopamine hit of virality. The algorithms reward aggressive, extreme, and obnoxious behavior so that we can be popular with our subscribers and “friends.” In this regard, we no longer build real friendships but create parsocial (imaginary) friendships. This behavior makes us more stupid.
4. The extremism of social media causes us to reject the epistemic reality of science, expertise and norms; instead, we live inside conspiracy anti-expertise bubbles and political purity bubbles; living inside these bubbles makes us more stupid.
5. Social media floods the zone with BS. “Anything is possible; therefore, everything is equally BS.” This false moral equivalency makes us more stupid. This is also called whataboutism. “You still haven’t paid me back the five thousand dollars I lent you two years ago.” “What about the time you took a bite of my peanut butter sandwich?” Whataboutism makes us stupid.
6. Social media learned that outrage sells and gets our attention and since outrage creates dopamine, social media has encouraged us to get drunk on the dopamine of outrage. As a result, we have become more stupid. 

Part 1: Adaptation, Survival, and Cooperation Vs. Animosity and Chaos

Haidt is arguing that living in the Internet, we suffer from the following:

• No context in a world of soundbites and image fragments
• Shortened attention span so that we memory-hole everything
• No sense of history
• Loss of critical thinking skills
• Living in separate information silos or bubbles resulting in political polarization
• Living in digital world more than real analog world tends to make us see other humans as abstractions; we dehumanize them more easily and behave more like barbarians toward one another
• No shared reality or agreement with what reality is so that can’t even agree on facts, statistics, science, studies
• Increased gullibility and eagerness to embrace conspiracy theories
• Loss of trust in major institutions: government, “deep state,” military, CDC, education, media, etc. 
• Polarization leading to animosity, fragmentation, and at the very least a “cold civil war” peppered with violence
• Polarization leads to “mutual incomprehension”: We don’t even speak each other’s language so we can’t connect, resulting in alienation and hostility
• Polarization leading to chaos
• Chaos creating a desire to support an autocrat or totalitarian leader

Part 2, Early Internet of the 90s and the Promise of Togetherness

From 1999 to 2011, the Internet was fun, brought people together in Chat Rooms and promised to spread democracy throughout the world.

However, 2012 was a transitional point when the zero-sum game of political tribalism took over. 

As social media platforms fought for attention in the Great Attention Economy, they realized that setting their algorithm for outrage could suck people into their platforms with the greatest power and potency and turn those people into angry social media addicts. 

Social media personalities didn’t connect so much as perform. These were generally extreme performances of outrage, self-pity, exaggerated self-destruction, and self-righteous indignation. 

Retweeting, reposting, and liking became ways of amplifying one’s alliance with a tribe and society began to fragment into these tiny niche groups governed by their own information silos. 

To create outrage, social media needed to trigger the emotions targeting “anger at out-groups.” 

By pressing people’s outrage buttons, you could go viral and become “internet famous” for half a week. 

The above social dynamics and enraged psychological state is not conducive to a civil society or a functional democracy. 

“Chipping Away Trust”

Trusting their tribal leaders, social media users lose trust in institutions--elected leaders, health authorities, the courts, the media, the scientific community, academia, etc.

Being Obnoxious and Aggressive for Attention

“Trolls and provocateurs” are “silencing good citizens.”

Breakdown of Critical Thinking

“The most pervasive obstacle to good thinking is confirmation bias, which refers to the human tendency to search only for evidence that confirms our preferred beliefs.”

 

We are less inclined to consider opposing views, especially in a polite manner, and it is precisely these opposing views that strengthen our thinking and help us arrive at more carefully-thought positions. 

 

On the Extreme Right, a loss of critical thinking has resulted in a myriad of conspiracy theories regarding masks and even the popular Qanon, which believes that liberals are lizard-people who traffic children for nefarious purposes.

 

On the Extreme Left, a loss of critical thinking has resulted in purity tests and a purity orthodoxy that cancels anyone who slightly deviates from the tribe’s official doctrines. For example, “Karen” became a word that means horrible person. 

 

We need to make changes:

 

Haidt makes this warning: “If we do not make major changes soon, then our institutions, our political system, and our society may collapse.”

 

What changes could be made? The genie is out of the bottle; the toothpaste is out of the tube.

 

 

 

1A Essay 3 (Essay Worth 200 Points): What Is Causing the Mass Erosion of Critical Thinking Skills?

Due as an upload on November 18. 

The Assignment:

For a 1,200-word essay, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the forces that cause a societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” 

For research, you must draw from Jaron Lanier’s Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, “You’re Being Manipulated” by Peter Wehner, and, optionally, various works by Tristan Harris. 

Suggested Outline:

Paragraph 1: Using appropriate signal phrases, summarize and paraphrase the major points of Jonathan Haidt's essay "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid."

Paragraph 2: Develop an argumentative thesis in which you support, refute, or complicate Haidt's claim.

Paragraphs 3-7: Your supporting paragraphs. At least one of your paragraphs should cite Jaron Lanier's book and another paragraph should address the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. 

Paragraph 8: Your conclusion, a dramatic restatement of your thesis.

Your last page is the Works Cited page with no fewer than 4 sources in MLA format. 

***

Building Block Assignment #1 for Loss of Critical Thinking Essay

Due October 28 as an upload for 25 points

Assignment Description: First Two Paragraphs

For paragraph 1, use appropriate signal phrases to summarize and paraphrase the major points in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.”

For paragraph 2, develop an argumentative thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates Haidt's claim.

***

Building Block Assignment #2 for Loss of Critical Thinking Essay

Due November 11 as an upload for 25 points

Write 2 body paragraphs.

One body paragraph should connect Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid" to a chapter from Jaron Lanier's book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. 

Your second body paragraph should connect Jonathan Haidt's essay to one of the major points from the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. 

***

Are We Losing American Democracy? Jonathan Haidt, Part 1

“Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”

Overview:

1. We are living in a fragmented world where we disappear into rabbit holes of social-media curated reality silos. These silos or bubbles cater to our cognitive biases and pre-existing opinions. Living in a world that flatters our subjective reality makes us more stupid.
2. Our societal fragmentation leads to chaos and distrust, which strengthens tribalism. Blind obedience to the tribe makes us more stupid. 
3. Living more and more on social media, we want popularity and attention reflected through likes, reposts, and subscribers. We don’t aspire to create legit content. Rather, we hunger for a dopamine hit of virality. The algorithms reward aggressive, extreme, and obnoxious behavior so that we can be popular with our subscribers and “friends.” In this regard, we no longer build real friendships but create parsocial (imaginary) friendships. This behavior makes us more stupid.
4. The extremism of social media causes us to reject the epistemic reality of science, expertise and norms; instead, we live inside conspiracy anti-expertise bubbles and political purity bubbles; living inside these bubbles makes us more stupid.
5. Social media floods the zone with BS. “Anything is possible; therefore, everything is equally BS.” This false moral equivalency makes us more stupid. This is also called whataboutism. “You still haven’t paid me back the five thousand dollars I lent you two years ago.” “What about the time you took a bite of my peanut butter sandwich?” Whataboutism makes us stupid.
6. Social media learned that outrage sells and gets our attention and since outrage creates dopamine, social media has encouraged us to get drunk on the dopamine of outrage. As a result, we have become more stupid. 
7. When social media platforms invented the like and repost buttons as ways of measuring our attention around 2011, they began a successful behavioral modification or manipulation campaign that has changed us for the worse. 

***

ChatGPT:

Write an essay that addresses the question: how persuasive is Jaron Lanier in his book 10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.

 

 

In his book "10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now," Jaron Lanier presents a compelling case for the harms that social media can inflict on individuals and society as a whole. Through a series of persuasive arguments, Lanier demonstrates how social media platforms are designed to manipulate our behavior and emotions, and how they contribute to a range of social, psychological, and political problems. Overall, Lanier's book is highly persuasive and provides a compelling case for why individuals should consider deleting their social media accounts.

One of the strengths of Lanier's arguments is his ability to draw on his own experiences as a pioneer in the field of virtual reality and an early advocate for the internet. As someone who has been involved in the development of digital technologies for decades, Lanier brings a unique perspective to the discussion of social media. He is able to explain how the design of social media platforms is intended to keep users engaged and addicted, rather than providing a space for authentic human interaction. This insight provides a powerful foundation for his arguments against social media.

Lanier's book also draws on a range of scientific research and empirical evidence to support his claims. He cites studies that show how social media can contribute to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, as well as research on how social media algorithms can reinforce political polarization and spread misinformation. By relying on this evidence, Lanier is able to provide a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the harms of social media.

Another strength of Lanier's book is his ability to connect these harms to broader social and political issues. He argues that social media contributes to the erosion of privacy, the concentration of wealth and power in the tech industry, and the rise of authoritarianism around the world. By placing social media in this larger context, Lanier makes a powerful case for why individuals should be concerned about the impact of these platforms on society as a whole.

However, one potential weakness of Lanier's book is that it is largely focused on the negative aspects of social media, without offering much in the way of concrete solutions or alternatives. While he does suggest that individuals should consider deleting their social media accounts, he does not offer much guidance on what individuals should do instead or how society can address the broader issues raised by social media. Some readers may find this lack of solutions or alternatives to be unsatisfying.

In conclusion, Jaron Lanier's "10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" is a highly persuasive book that provides a powerful critique of social media platforms. Through his personal experience, scientific research, and connection to broader social and political issues, Lanier presents a compelling case for why individuals should consider deleting their social media accounts. While the book may not offer concrete solutions or alternatives, it is an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the impact of social media on individuals and society.

Loss of Critical Thinking Skills, Lesson 1, Fall 2023

1A Essay 3 (Essay Worth 200 Points): What Is Causing the Mass Erosion of Critical Thinking Skills?

Due as an upload on November 18. 

The Assignment:

For a 1,200-word essay, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the forces that cause a societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” 

For research, you must draw from Jaron Lanier’s Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, “You’re Being Manipulated” by Peter Wehner, and, optionally, various works by Tristan Harris. 

Suggested Outline:

Paragraph 1: Using appropriate signal phrases, summarize and paraphrase the major points of Jonathan Haidt's essay "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid."

Paragraph 2: Develop an argumentative thesis in which you support, refute, or complicate Haidt's claim.

Paragraphs 3-7: Your supporting paragraphs. At least one of your paragraphs should cite Jaron Lanier's book and another paragraph should address the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. 

Paragraph 8: Your conclusion, a dramatic restatement of your thesis.

Your last page is the Works Cited page with no fewer than 4 sources in MLA format. 

***

Building Block Assignment #1 for Loss of Critical Thinking Essay

Due October 28 as an upload for 25 points

Assignment Description: First Two Paragraphs

For paragraph 1, use appropriate signal phrases to summarize and paraphrase the major points in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.”

For paragraph 2, develop an argumentative thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates Haidt's claim.

***

Building Block Assignment #2 for Loss of Critical Thinking Essay

Due November 11 as an upload for 25 points

Write 2 body paragraphs.

One body paragraph should connect Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid" to a chapter from Jaron Lanier's book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. 

Your second body paragraph should connect Jonathan Haidt's essay to one of the major points from the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. 

***

Are We Losing American Democracy? Jonathan Haidt, Part 1

“Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”

Overview:

1. We are living in a fragmented world where we disappear into rabbit holes of social-media curated reality silos. These silos or bubbles cater to our cognitive biases and pre-existing opinions. Living in a world that flatters our subjective reality makes us more stupid.
2. Our societal fragmentation leads to chaos and distrust, which strengthens tribalism. Blind obedience to the tribe makes us more stupid. 
3. Living more and more on social media, we want popularity and attention reflected through likes, reposts, and subscribers. We don’t aspire to create legit content. Rather, we hunger for a dopamine hit of virality. The algorithms reward aggressive, extreme, and obnoxious behavior so that we can be popular with our subscribers and “friends.” In this regard, we no longer build real friendships but create parsocial (imaginary) friendships. This behavior makes us more stupid.
4. The extremism of social media causes us to reject the epistemic reality of science, expertise and norms; instead, we live inside conspiracy anti-expertise bubbles and political purity bubbles; living inside these bubbles makes us more stupid.
5. Social media floods the zone with BS. “Anything is possible; therefore, everything is equally BS.” This false moral equivalency makes us more stupid. This is also called whataboutism. “You still haven’t paid me back the five thousand dollars I lent you two years ago.” “What about the time you took a bite of my peanut butter sandwich?” Whataboutism makes us stupid.
6. Social media learned that outrage sells and gets our attention and since outrage creates dopamine, social media has encouraged us to get drunk on the dopamine of outrage. As a result, we have become more stupid. 

 

The Assignment:

For a 1,200-word essay, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the forces that cause a societal intellectual and emotional disintegration analyzed in Jonathan Haidt’s essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” 

For research, you must draw from Jaron Lanier’s Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, “You’re Being Manipulated” by Peter Wehner, and, optionally, various works by Tristan Harris. 

Suggested Outline:

Paragraph 1: Using appropriate signal phrases, summarize and paraphrase the major points of Jonathan Haidt's essay "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid."

Paragraph 2: Develop an argumentative thesis in which you support, refute, or complicate Haidt's claim.

Paragraphs 3-7: Your supporting paragraphs. At least one of your paragraphs should cite Jaron Lanier's book and another paragraph should address the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. 

Paragraph 8: Your conclusion, a dramatic restatement of your thesis.

Your last page is the Works Cited page with no fewer than 4 sources in MLA format. 

If McMahon Were Writing the Essay: My Approach

Jonathan Haidt makes a lot of salient points in his essay “Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” He observes our fragmented experiences that have us in our own social media echo chambers, which reinforce our cognitive biases; our deep hatred and animosity for people who are not on “our team”; our loss of trust in institutions; our loss of shared narratives to bond us together as a whole; our replacement of real friendships with parasocial interactions; the “never-ending stream of content” that has fragmented our minds; our addiction to outrage, virtue signaling, and virality; the ubiquity of smartphone devices that are accelerants of addictive behavior; orthodox political tribalism that is more fervent than religious faith and is so virulent that many of us live to “own our political enemies”;  the death of local news; the explosion of trolls in the age of extremist algorithms; the fever swamp of extremist conspiracy theories; weaponized misinformation in the service of autocrats; and a citizenry so confused they shrug their shoulders, say, “I don’t know what to believe anymore,” and surrender to nihilism and apathy. 

While social media has surely been an accelerant to the above problems that pose a threat to American democracy, we would be unwise to overemphasize social media’s role. Like the Gutenberg Press in the fifteenth century, social media will be the cause of much chaos and upheaval, some good and some bad. We would be wise to see that America’s division and acrimony have been baked in long before social media from deep sources of a long-standing cultural war between the city and the country (red and blue states), a generation war between Z and the Boomers; a class war between the haves and the have-nots, and a swath of anti-social males who lacking education, economic ascent, reproductive opportunities, and hope, are drawn to populism and fascism as ways of taking revenge on their imaginary foes. 

Thesis That Disagrees with the Above

While I agree with McMahon that America’s erosion of democracy and stupidification cannot entirely be laid at the hands of social media, the well-intentioned college instructor is in deep error to compare social media problems to the problems presented by the Gutenberg Press before it. Such a comparison shows that McMahon is blind to the unique crises and disasters that social media imposes on society. As Jaron Lanier, the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, and Jonathan Haidt rightly show, social media has profit-driven, built-in mechanisms and algorithms to make us stupid, addicted, narcissistic, tribalistic, and incapable of supporting a thriving democracy. 

Thesis That Disagrees with Both McMahon and Writer X

Let us not toil needlessly to side with either McMahon or Writer X. Both are wrong. In fact, McMahon is partially correct when he observes that the virulent tribalism that is dividing America is a toxic cocktail of social and cultural divisions and the pathologies of social media. Moreover, Writer X is also correct to argue that social media presents unique dangers that cannot be compared to the Gutenberg Press or other disruptive technologies that have come before it. In other words, if we are to restore America’s democracy, we will have to address the built-in disasters of social media and the systemic unrest from class and cultural divisions. In case McMahon and Writer X don’t know how to do this, it’s called walking and chewing gum at the same time. 

Sentence Fragments 

Sentence fragments are incomplete thoughts presented as dependent clauses or phrases.

A dependent clause or a phrase is never a complete sentence.

Types of dependent clauses:

Whenever I drive up windy mountains,

Because I have craved pizza for 14 months,

Unless you add coffee to your chocolate cake recipe,

,which is currently enjoying a resurgence. 

 

Phrases

Enamored by the music of Tupac Shakur,

Craving pesto linguine with olive-oil based clam sauce, 

Flexing his muscles with a braggadocio never seen in modern times,

Lying under the bridge and eating garlic pepper pretzels with a dollop of cream cheese and a jug of chilled apple cider, 

To understand the notion of Universal Basic Income and all of its related factors for social change in this disruptive age, 

Running into crowded restaurants with garlic and whiskey fuming out of his sweaty pores while brandishing a golden scepter, 

 

Examples

I won't entertain your requests for more money and gifts. Until you show at least a modicum of responsibility at school and with your friends. 

I won't consider buying the new BMW sports coupe. Unless of course my uncle gives me that inheritance he keeps talking about whenever he gets a bit tipsy. 

I can't imagine ever going to Chuck E. Cheese. Which makes me feel like I'm emotionally arrested. 

I am considering the purchase of a new wardrobe. That is, if I'm picked for that job interview at Nordstrom. 

Human morals have vanished. To the point at which it was decided that market values would triumph. 

No subject 

Marie Antoinette spent huge sums of money on herself and her favorites. And helped to bring on the French Revolution.

No complete verb

The aluminum boat sitting on its trailer.

Beginning with a subordinating word

We returned to the drugstore. Where we waited for our buddies.

A sentence fragment is part of a sentence that is written as if it were a complete sentence. Reading your draft out loud, backwards, sentence by sentence, will help you spot sentence fragments.

Sentence Fragment Exercises  

After each sentence, write C for complete or F for fragment sentence. If the sentence is a fragment, correct it so that it is a complete sentence. 

One. While hovering over the complexity of a formidable math problem and wondering if he had time to solve the problem before his girlfriend called him to complain about the horrible birthday present he bought her. 

Two.  In spite of the boyfriend’s growing discontent for his girlfriend, a churlish woman prone to tantrums and grand bouts of petulance.

Three. My BMW 5 series, a serious entry into the luxury car market. 

Four. Overcome with nausea from eating ten bowls of angel hair pasta slathered in pine nut garlic pesto.  

Five. Winding quickly but safely up the treacherous Palos Verdes hills in the shrouded mist of a lazy June morning, I realized that my BMW gave me feelings of completeness and fulfillment.   

Six. To attempt to grasp the profound ignorance of those who deny the compelling truths of science in favor of their pseudo-intellectual ideas about “dangerous” vaccines and the “myths” of global warming. 

Seven. The girlfriend whom I lavished with exotic gifts from afar. 

Eight. When my cravings for pesto pizza, babaganoush, and triple chocolate cake overcome me during my bouts of acute anxiety. 

Nine. Inclined to stop watching sports in the face of my girlfriend’s insistence that I pay more attention to her, I am throwing away my TV. 

Ten. At the dance club where I espy my girlfriend flirting with a stranger by the soda machine festooned with party balloons and tinsel. 

Eleven. The BMW speeding ahead of me and winding into the misty hills. 

Twelve. Before you convert to the religion of veganism in order to impress your vegan girlfriend. 

Thirteen. Summoning all my strength to resist the giant chocolate fudge cake sweating on the plate before me. 

Identify the Fragments Below

Identify the Fragments Below

I drank the chalky Soylent meal-replacement drink. Expecting to feel full and satisfied. Only to find that I was still ravenously hungry afterward. Trying to sate my hunger pangs. I went to HomeTown Buffet. Where I ate several platters of braised oxtail and barbecued short ribs smothered in a honey vinegar sauce. Which reminded me of a sauce where I used to buy groceries from. When I was a kid.

Feeling bloated after my HomeTown Buffet indulgence. I exited the restaurant. After which I hailed an Uber and asked the driver for a night club recommendation. So I could dance off all my calories. The driver recommended a place, Anxiety Wires. I had never heard of it. Though, it was crowded inside. I felt eager to dance and confident about “my swag.” Although, I was still feeling bloated. Wondering if my intestines were on the verge of exploding.

Sweating under the nightclub’s outdoor canopy. I smelled the cloying gasses of a nearby vape. A serpentine woman was holding the vape. A gold contraption emitting rose-water vapors into my direction. Contemplating my gluttony. I was suddenly feeling low confidence. Though I pushed myself to introduce myself to the vape-smoking stranger with the serpentine features. Her eyes locked on mine.

I decided to play it cool. Instead of overwhelming her with a loud, brash manner. Which she might interpret as neediness on my part.

Keeping a portable fan in my cargo pocket for emergencies. When I feel like I’m overheating. I took the fan out of my pocket, turned it on, and directed it toward the serpentine stranger. Making it so the vapors were blowing back in her face.

“Doesn’t smell so good, does it?” I said. With a sarcastic grin.

She cackled, then said, “Thank you for blowing the vapors in my face. Now I can both enjoy inhaling them and breathing them in. For double the pleasure. You are quite a find. Come home with me and I’ll introduce you to my mother Gertrude and her pitbull Jackson. I’m sure they’ll welcome you into our home. Considering what a well-fed handsome man you are.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” I said. “I would love to meet your mother Gertrude and your mother’s pitbull Jackson. Only one problem. My breath smells like a rotting dead dragon. Right after eating spicy ribs. Which reminds me? Do you have any breath mints?”

“I don’t believe in carrying breath mints. On account of the rose-water vape. That cleanses my palate. Making my breath rosy fresh.”

“Wow. Your constant good breath counteracts my intractable bad breath. Making us a match in heaven.”

“I agree. Totally. You really need to meet my mother. Because she’ll bless us and make our marriage official. Since we really need her blessing. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Now let me smell your breath. So I can identify the hot sauce.”

“Why must you do that?”

“So I can use the same hot sauce on our wedding cake, silly. To celebrate the first night we met. Capisce?”

“Capisce.”

She approached me. Affording me a view of her long, tired face. Covered in scales. Reptilian. Evocative of something primitive. Something precious and indelible from my childhood lost long ago. I wanted to run from her, but I could not. Some mysterious force drew me to her, and we inched closer and closer toward one another. Succumbing to a power neither of us could fathom. 

Commas are designed to help writers avoid confusing sentences and to clarify the logic of their sentences.

If you cook Jeff will clean the dishes. (Will you cook Jeff?)

While we were eating a rattlesnake approached us. (Were we eating a rattlesnake?)

Comma Rule 1: Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) joining two independent clauses.

Rattlesnakes are high in protein, but I’d rather eat a peanut butter sandwich.

Rattlesnakes are dangerous, and the desert species are even more so.

We are a proud people, for our ancestors passed down these famous delicacies over a period of five thousand years.

The exception to rule 1 is when the two independent clauses are short:

The plane took off and we were on our way.

Comma Rule 2: Use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase.

When Jeff Henderson was in prison, he developed an appetite for reading.

In the nearby room, the TV is blaring full blast.

Tanning in the hot Hermosa Beach sun for over two hours, I realized I had better call it a day.

The exception is when the short adverb clause or phrase is short and doesn’t create the possibility of a misreading:

In no time we were at 2,800 feet.

Comma Rule 3: Use a comma between all items in a series.

 

Jeff Henderson found redemption through hard work, self-reinvention, and social altruism.

Finding his passion, mastering his craft, and giving back to the community were all part of Jeff Henderson’s self-reinvention.

Comma Rule 4: Use a comma between coordinate adjectives not joined with “and.” Do not use a comma between cumulative adjectives.

 

The adjectives below are called coordinate because they modify the noun separately:

Jeff Henderson is a passionate, articulate, wise speaker.

The adjectives above are coordinate because they can be joined with “and.” Jeff Henderson is passionate and articulate and wise.

Adjectives that do not modify the noun separately are cumulative.

Three large gray shapes moved slowly toward us.

Chocolate fudge peanut butter swirl coconut cake is divine.

Comma Rule 5: Use commas to set off nonrestrictive (nonessential) elements. 

Restrictive or essential information doesn’t have a comma:

For school the students need notebooks that are college-ruled.

Jeff’s cat that just had kittens became very aggressive.

Nonrestrictive:

For school the students need college-ruled notebooks, which are on sale at the bookstore.

Jeff Henderson’s mansion, which is located in Las Vegas, has a state-of-the-art kitchen.

My youngest sister, who plays left wing on the soccer team, now lives at The Sands, a beach house near Los Angeles.

 

Jim Crow Lesson 4: Jim Crow 2.0, Racial Wealth Cap, Lost Cause, Great Replacement Theory

Avoiding Comma Splices and Run-Ons 

Two complete sentences need to be joined with a period.

When we don’t use a period, we create a run-on sentence:

There are two run-ons in the following passage: 

Jim Crow 1.0 transformed the post-Civil South into a hellscape however let us not think Jim Crow died it transformed into Jim Crow 2.0.

Another run-on:

She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once.  

A comma splice is different than a run-on. In this case, two sentences are incorrectly joined with a comma:

Klee's paintings seem simple, they are very sophisticated.

Love sneaks up on you, it shows up at your doorstep without warning.

I don’t drink diet soda for my caffeine intake, instead I drink coffee. 

I was strongly attracted to her, she was beautiful and funny.

We hated the meatloaf, the cafeteria served it every Friday.

When You Can Use a Comma Between Two Complete Sentences: FANBOYS

You can use a comma with FANBOYS (for, and, but, or, yet, so), but you can't with conjunctive adverbs (however, instead, to the contrary, in contrast, etc.)

I love ice cream, but I rarely eat it. 

I love ice cream. However, I rarely eat it. 

I don't work out at the gym, but I do use kettlebells at home.

I don't work out at the gym. Instead, I exercise with kettlebells in my garage. 

After each sentence put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct. 

One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner. 

Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer. 

Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain. 

Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can often correct the problem. 

Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline. 

Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives are, what a sham. 

Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading fewer and fewer books. 

Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May. 

Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world. 

Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless. 

Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus. 

Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office. 

Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack. 

Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.

 

Teaching African-American History, Lesson 4

Lesson for Henry Louis Gates’ Essay “Who’s Afraid of Black History”

One. What are Ron DeSantis and others’ objections to teaching African-American history in school?

Indoctrination as a counterargument for your essay

DeSantis is making the claim that African-American history doesn’t focus on facts but is rather concerned with an agenda of “indoctrination.” This doctrine, according to DeSantis, says America is bad, racism is so severe and systemic that only reparations can begin to solve it, and anyone who doesn’t agree with this doctrine is a racist. 

While some adhere to this doctrine, many teachers who present African-American history in their classes are not attaching such a doctrine; nevertheless, these teachers are being reprimanded, canceled, and having their books and teaching content banned in class.

To lump all teachers together in one extreme doctrine is inaccurate and by twisting what they’re teaching, their critics are committing a Straw Man Fallacy in argumentation: twisting one’s words to make that person easy for attack. 

***

DeSantis cries indoctrination and then he indoctrinates:

Gates points out the hypocrisy of DeSantis making a claim of teachers imposing a doctrine on their students when in fact DeSantis is an apologist for racism, The Lost Cause, and erasing Black History, which is a doctrine in its own right. In fact, DeSantis got himself in trouble when he said slavery wasn’t all bad and actually benefited African-Americans.

It is a great irony that DeSantis wants people to teach facts and stay away from doctrines when he himself pushes the false facts that slavery benefited African-Americans as part of his anti-woke agenda. 

Education is a civics lesson: how to debate and argue in a civil manner; how to address opposing views, how to embrace universal laws of human decency:

Gates concedes that education indoctrinates us but he uses different language. He argues that in schools “we learn how to become citizens, that we encounter the first civics lessons that either reinforce or counter the myths and fables we gleaned at home.”

He further counters that we do indeed learn facts about African-American history. We learn about the following:

• Slavery
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction
• The Confederacy’s “Redemption” followed by Jim Crow segregation
• The Lost Cause Myth
• The Great Migration
• Two Americas: Barbaric America Vs. Inclusive America (spiritual warfare)

The above are all facts about the black struggle in American history, a struggle that can be defined by spiritual warfare. Why does the teaching of this history have to be part of some pernicious anti-American doctrine?

Gates finishes his essay by observing the long history of trying to erase and demonize Black history. He writes:

DeSantis is verging into the Lost Cause Lane:

Is it fair to see Governor DeSantis’s attempts to police the contents of the College Board’s A.P. curriculum in African American studies in classrooms in Florida solely as little more than a contemporary version of Mildred Rutherford’s Lost Cause textbook campaign? No. But the governor would do well to consider the company that he is keeping. And let’s just say that he, no expert in African American history, seems to be gleefully embarked on an effort to censor scholarship about the complexities of the Black past with a determination reminiscent of Rutherford’s. While most certainly not embracing her cause, Mr. DeSantis is complicitous in perpetuating her agenda.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so aptly put it, “No society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present.” Addressing these “ravages,” and finding solutions to them — a process that can and should begin in the classroom — can only proceed with open discussions and debate across the ideological spectrum, a process in which Black thinkers themselves have been engaged since the earliest years of our Republic.

Censoring black history is not new:

Throughout Black history, there has been a long, sad and often nasty tradition of attempts to censor popular art forms, from the characterization of the blues, ragtime and jazz as “the devil’s music” by guardians of “the politics of respectability,” to efforts to censor hip-hop by C. Delores Tucker, who led a campaign to ban gangsta rap music in the 1990s. Hip-hop has been an equal opportunity offender for potential censors: Mark Wichner, the deputy sheriff of Florida’s Broward County, brought 2 Live Crew up on obscenity charges in 1990. But there is a crucial difference between Ms. Tucker, best known as a civil rights activist, and Mr. Wichner, an administrator of justice on behalf of the state, a difference similar to that between Rutherford and Mr. DeSantis.

While the urge to censor art — a symbolic form of vigilante policing — is colorblind, there is no equivalence between governmental censorship and the would-be censorship of moral crusaders. Many states are following Florida’s lead in seeking to bar discussions of race and history in classrooms. The distinction between Mildred Lewis Rutherford and Governor DeSantis? The power differential.

Rutherford wished for nothing less than the power to summon the apparatus of the state to impose her strictures on our country’s narrative about the history of race and racism. Mr. DeSantis has that power and has shown his willingness to use it. And it is against this misguided display of power that those of us who cherish the freedom of inquiry at the heart of our country’s educational ideal must take a stand.

***

Why Do We Study African-American History? (Review)

 

• To understand the racist toolbox that today’s Internet trolls are using to weaponize their misinformation for the sake of power. 
• To understand that historical revisionism, The Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and Scapegoating have been in the racist toolbox since the days of Jim Crow. 
• To understand that historical revisionism is a power play, thus the adage: “The winners get to write history.”
• To understand that there are historical narratives by Alex Haley, Dr. David Pilgrim, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, and Frederick Douglass that speak to personal excellence, courage, sacrifice, and contributions to America that are often overlooked or obfuscated by people with sinister agendas. 
• To understand that the great voices of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King presented an inclusive America that fulfilled the promises of the Constitution while condemning The Lost Cause as a grotesque America that makes a mockery of the Constitution. 
• To understand that the drive to obfuscate and erase African-American history vs. the drive to present authentic voices of African-American history represents a form of spiritual warfare. To put it bluntly, the drive to erase African-American history by labeling all of this history as “Critical Race Theory” is the drive to erase an entire people. 
• To understand there are 2 Americas in spiritual warfare: Barbaric America Vs. Inclusive America

Thesis Samples

The Florida governor is wrong to ban the teaching of African-American history under the justification of calling all such history “Critical Race Theory.”

The Florida governor is wrong to ban the teaching of African-American history under the justification of calling all such history “Critical Race Theory” because ________________, ______________, _______________, and ___________________. 

To ban African-American history under the fake excuse that all such history is “Critical Race Theory” is a craven act fueled by a demagogue’s willingness to slake racist appetites, a demagogue's willingness to reach into the racist toolbox of Jim Crow tropes and false narratives, and his willingness to erasing voices, which in turn is a way of erasing an entire people. 

While some displays of Critical Race Theory have proven too extreme in the classroom such as slavery reenactments, which can traumatize small children, such extremes do not negate the urgency to teach African-American history. This urgency is evident in the need to fight back against false tropes and narratives that have found a resurgence in America, to give Americans African-American voices that provide a counter-narrative to that of the racist trolls who swarm social media, and to present Americans with the challenges we face regarding justice today regarding racial violence, xenophobia, and voter suppression.  

Once we start debating whether or not we should teach "African-American history" in the schools, we've already lost because we get got in the language trap that consigns "African-American history" to a pejorative or a negative subcategory: "African-American" becomes a lower-tier division of history when in fact African-American history is, generically speaking, history itself; secondly, by turning real history into a specialization, we implicate African-American history as a form of indoctrination and imply that "regular history" is not indoctrination when in fact all of history requires some degree of interpretation, which is rooted in a moral or immoral point of view; finally, it is offensive to make the category of "African-American history" when we do so as a concession to a special-interest group when in fact we should teach the history of great African-American voices such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and Ida B. Wells, not as a concession, but as a vital part of our understanding of an inclusive America and its spiritual warfare against barbaric America. 

Thesis that opposes teaching African-American history:

While I agree that we must teach great African-American voices to articulate and champion Inclusive America while appropriately condemning Barbaric America, it is naive to dismiss the fact that too many public classrooms from kindergarten through college are rife with radical instructors who use African-American history to impose their radical agenda on their students to harmful degree. Not allowing students to disagree with their orthodox worldview, these teachers shame students by calling them evil for their privilege; they rub their students' noses in racism to such extreme as they preach a "hate America" code that preaches the ugly doctrine that America is beyond redemption; they reenact slavery with cosplay dramas in which small children are forced to relive the cruelty and barbarism of chattel slavery; they are told to embrace the doctrine of reparations unless they want to be called evil; and these radical instructors will piggyback other radical issues to their agenda regarding identity politics, "intersectionality," and other "theories" that amount to brainwashing and indoctrination when in fact the classroom should be a place of critical thinking and free inquiry. 

Thesis that offers a rebuttal to the above:

While I will concede that there are some radical instructors who are guilty of committing the excesses described above, these excesses do not minimize the urgency of teaching African-American history in a manner that is free of any kind of radical indoctrination such as "hate America" or "defund the police." It is not radical to give the real history of Barbaric America and show how those racist toolbox used in the time of Jim Crow is being used today by Alt-Right trolls who weaponize misinformation on various social media platforms; it is not radical to teach the great African-American voices of Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and Ida B. Wells and glean wisdom from their suffering and genius to make an Inclusive America; it is not radical to present to students the spiritual warfare between two Americas, one that is a mockery of democracy and one that is its fulfillment.

 

 

ChatGPT is hit and miss:

Prompt I entered into ChatGTP: Write an essay that addresses the claim that African-American history teaches us how to struggle for a better America while rejecting a grotesque version of America. 

Title: African-American History: Struggling for a Better America while Rejecting a Grotesque Version

Introduction

African-American history is a testament to the enduring struggle for justice, equality, and human rights. It teaches us how to confront adversity and work tirelessly for a better America, all while rejecting the grotesque version of the nation marred by racism, discrimination, and inequality. Throughout its rich tapestry, African-American history exemplifies the unwavering spirit of resilience and the unwavering commitment to a more equitable society.

1. The Struggle for Civil Rights

One of the most poignant aspects of African-American history is the relentless fight for civil rights. From the days of slavery to the Jim Crow era and beyond, African-Americans have been at the forefront of the struggle for equality. Figures like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King Jr. exemplify the indomitable spirit of African-Americans in advocating for their rights. Their actions and words continue to inspire individuals of all backgrounds to engage in the struggle for a better America, where the grotesque version of racial segregation and discrimination is firmly rejected.

2. Embracing Cultural Identity

African-American history has consistently demonstrated the resilience and strength of the African-American community in the face of adversity. The Harlem Renaissance, for instance, was a cultural movement that celebrated African-American art, literature, and music. This cultural resurgence represented a rejection of the grotesque portrayal of African-Americans in mainstream media and a powerful assertion of their cultural identity. It taught us that one's cultural heritage is a source of strength and pride, helping to counter the damaging stereotypes that have often plagued African-Americans.

3. The Fight for Economic Empowerment

African-American history is marked by individuals and movements that aimed to uplift the community economically. Figures like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois promoted differing approaches to economic empowerment, but both shared the goal of rejecting the economic injustices that perpetuated a grotesque version of America. African-American leaders have consistently advocated for economic self-sufficiency and the rejection of systemic barriers to success.

4. Advocating for Education

African-American history emphasizes the importance of education as a tool for empowerment and social change. Leaders such as Mary McLeod Bethune and Thurgood Marshall recognized the transformative power of education in the fight against a grotesque version of America. By promoting education and advocating for equal access to quality schooling, they aimed to break the chains of inequality and discrimination, teaching us that knowledge is a powerful weapon in the battle for a better America.

5. Building Alliances and Solidarity

Throughout history, African-Americans have sought alliances and solidarity with individuals from diverse backgrounds who share the vision of a more just and equitable America. The Civil Rights Movement, for example, showcased the power of multiracial coalitions working together to reject the grotesque version of America perpetuated by segregation. African-American history teaches us the value of building bridges and uniting with others in the common cause of justice, illustrating that the struggle for a better America is a collective effort.

Conclusion

African-American history serves as a powerful guide on how to struggle for a better America while rejecting a grotesque version of the nation marred by racism and inequality. It is a history of resilience, determination, cultural pride, and unwavering commitment to justice and equality. By learning from the lessons embedded in this history, we can be inspired to confront contemporary challenges, work towards a more equitable society, and build an America that rejects the grotesque while embracing the principles of liberty and justice for all.

***

Prompt I typed into ChatGPT: Write an essay that addresses the claim that studying the works of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King helps us struggle for a better America while rejecting a grotesque version of America.

 

ChatGPT

 

Title: Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.: Beacons of Hope in the Struggle for a Better America

Introduction

The study of the works of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. is an invaluable resource in our collective quest for a better America while firmly rejecting a grotesque version of the nation marked by racial injustice, inequality, and division. These two iconic figures in African-American history, separated by time and circumstance, offer powerful insights and inspiration on how to engage in the ongoing struggle for a more just and equitable society.

1. Frederick Douglass: A Lesson in Self-Empowerment

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, emerged as a towering figure in the 19th century abolitionist movement. His autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," is not only a personal narrative but a compelling call for individual empowerment. Douglass's story illustrates how education, self-confidence, and the relentless pursuit of freedom can lead to personal and societal transformation. His life serves as a testament to the idea that one can struggle against oppression while rejecting the grotesque version of America by asserting one's own agency and demanding change.

2. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Pursuit of Equality Through Nonviolent Activism

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a legendary civil rights leader whose advocacy for racial equality and social justice through nonviolent means has had a profound impact. His famous "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered during the March on Washington in 1963, remains a symbol of hope and a vision for a better America. King's message is a powerful reminder that the rejection of the grotesque version of America is not achieved through violence or hatred but through love, understanding, and peaceful protest. He emphasized that the struggle for justice must be rooted in nonviolence, as it is a path to lasting change and national healing.

3. The Power of Civil Disobedience

Both Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. understood the transformative power of civil disobedience as a means to reject the grotesque and fight for a better America. Douglass's life was punctuated by his escape from slavery, an act of civil disobedience in itself. King, on the other hand, was a proponent of nonviolent protest, which challenged racial segregation and inequality. These leaders demonstrated that peaceful civil disobedience can serve as a moral force for change, highlighting the injustice that a grotesque America perpetuated and inspiring individuals to demand a better future.

4. The Universality of Their Messages

The teachings of Douglass and King extend beyond race and ethnicity; they hold universal relevance in the struggle for justice and equality. Their messages are not limited to African-Americans but speak to all who value a just and inclusive society. The idea of rejecting a grotesque version of America transcends racial lines, emphasizing the need for unity and cooperation among all citizens who believe in the principles of freedom, equality, and justice.

5. A Call for Ongoing Activism

Studying the works of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. is not merely an exercise in historical remembrance; it is a call to action. Both figures stood as beacons of hope, urging us to take an active role in the struggle for a better America. Their works inspire us to confront the persistent issues of racial discrimination, inequality, and social injustice that continue to plague our society.

Conclusion

The study of the works of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. provides invaluable lessons on how to engage in the struggle for a better America while firmly rejecting a grotesque version of the nation marred by racial injustice and division. Their stories and teachings underscore the power of self-empowerment, nonviolent activism, and the universal values of justice and equality. In the spirit of these two remarkable leaders, we must continue the fight for a more equitable, inclusive, and just America, embodying the timeless principles of their messages and working to make their dreams a reality.

***

Prompt I put into ChatGPT: Write an essay that compares the dystopia of Jim Crow and the current dystopia of gun violence as these nightmares are portrayed in Childish Gambino's video "This Is America."

 

ChatGPT

 

Title: Dystopian Realities: Jim Crow and Contemporary Gun Violence in "This Is America"

Introduction

Childish Gambino's music video, "This Is America," provides a gripping commentary on the persistent dystopian nightmares that have plagued America throughout its history. In the video, the artist, whose real name is Donald Glover, delves into two distinct yet interconnected dystopias: the Jim Crow era's racial oppression and the contemporary nightmare of gun violence. By juxtaposing these dystopian realities, Glover underscores the profound impact of these issues on the American social fabric. This essay aims to compare and contrast the portrayal of Jim Crow and contemporary gun violence in "This Is America."

Jim Crow: A Dark Historical Dystopia

Jim Crow was a system of racial segregation and discrimination that enforced racial hierarchy and inequality in the United States from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century. In "This Is America," the video encapsulates this dystopian era through the use of symbolic imagery, such as the Confederate flags and the minstrel show, which were pervasive during this time. The video portrays African-Americans in a dehumanized manner, reflecting the horrors of racial caricature, cultural appropriation, and systemic injustice that defined the Jim Crow era.

The video further captures the violence and oppression of Jim Crow through sudden acts of brutality. In a scene where Glover shoots a man who has been treated with care, the video illustrates the arbitrary violence inflicted upon African-Americans during this period. This underscores the unjust violence that was an integral part of the Jim Crow dystopia, where African-Americans were targeted for acts of discrimination, humiliation, and even lynching.

Contemporary Gun Violence: A Modern Dystopia

The second dystopia depicted in "This Is America" is the ongoing nightmare of contemporary gun violence. The video powerfully portrays this issue through scenes of sudden, chaotic violence that erupt in the background while Glover dances and distracts in the foreground. These scenes reflect the alarming regularity of mass shootings and gun violence incidents in the United States. Contemporary gun violence, like the Jim Crow era, is a dystopia characterized by sudden and senseless acts of brutality that leave communities in fear and mourning.

The video's juxtaposition of Glover's cheerful dancing with the scenes of violence serves as a poignant commentary on society's desensitization to gun violence. It highlights the juxtaposition between the joyous facade that often masks the dystopian reality of shootings and the alarming frequency with which such incidents occur, leaving countless lives shattered.

Comparing the Dystopias

Both the Jim Crow era and contemporary gun violence are dystopian realities rooted in systemic injustice, oppression, and violence. While they exist in different historical contexts, the video emphasizes their enduring impact on American society. Both dystopias are characterized by a sense of powerlessness, where individuals and communities are subjected to arbitrary violence and discrimination. "This Is America" draws parallels between these dystopias to underscore their shared legacy of trauma and struggle.

Additionally, the video highlights how societal distractions, often in the form of entertainment and popular culture, can serve as a smokescreen, diverting attention from the pressing issues at hand. This notion is embodied in Glover's dancing, which takes place amidst the chaos, illustrating how distractions can obscure the grim realities of both Jim Crow and gun violence.

Conclusion

Childish Gambino's "This Is America" masterfully portrays the disturbing parallels between the Jim Crow era and contemporary gun violence in the United States. By juxtaposing these dystopian nightmares, the video underscores the enduring impact of systemic oppression and violence on American society. "This Is America" serves as a powerful reminder that, despite the passage of time, the nation must confront these dystopian realities head-on and work towards a more just and equitable future, free from the horrors of racial discrimination and gun violence.

***

Prompt I typed into ChatGPT: Write an essay that addresses the claim that racist iconography such as Confederate flags, statues, and schools that glorify the name of Jefferson Davis reflect the moral degradation that results from a society that is ignorant of real African-American history while feasting on the grotesque lies of the Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and other morally abhorrent forms of historical misinformation.

 

ChatGPT

 

Title: Racist Iconography and the Moral Degradation of Historical Ignorance

Introduction

Racist iconography, such as Confederate flags, statues, and schools glorifying figures like Jefferson Davis, epitomizes the moral degradation that can result from a society ignorant of authentic African-American history while indulging in the grotesque lies of the Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and other morally abhorrent forms of historical misinformation. These symbols and the narratives they perpetuate represent not only an affront to the struggles and experiences of African-Americans but also a broader societal failure to reckon with the darkest aspects of its history.

1. Confederate Flags: Symbols of Racial Oppression

Confederate flags, particularly the notorious Confederate battle flag, serve as powerful symbols of racial oppression and white supremacy. These symbols are rooted in a history of slavery, secession, and rebellion against the United States in defense of slavery. When such flags are displayed today, they perpetuate the grotesque lie of the Lost Cause, which romanticizes the Confederacy and portrays it as a heroic, noble force. This misinformation obscures the true horrors of slavery and the legacy of racial discrimination that still plagues American society.

2. Statues and Monuments: Homage to Injustice

Confederate statues and monuments, many of which were erected during the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights Movement, are tangible expressions of the moral degradation resulting from historical ignorance. These monuments often glorify leaders like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who fought to maintain the institution of slavery. They perpetuate a false narrative of the Civil War as a "noble cause" rather than a struggle to uphold human bondage. By celebrating such figures, society fails to confront the true historical context and the enduring impact of slavery and racism on African-Americans.

3. Schools Named After Confederate Figures: A Legacy of Ignorance

Schools named after Confederate leaders like Jefferson Davis serve as a disturbing reminder of the historical ignorance that persists in some corners of society. These institutions, which should be centers of enlightenment and progress, instead honor individuals who championed a morally reprehensible cause. The namesake of such schools, chosen during periods of racial tension and segregation, perpetuates the narrative of the Lost Cause and the idea of white supremacy.

4. The Grotesque Lies of the Lost Cause and Replacement Theory

The Lost Cause myth, which falsely portrays the Confederacy as an honorable and just entity, is a prime example of historical misinformation. This myth has been used to justify white supremacy, erasing the true horrors of slavery and the suffering of African-Americans. Similarly, the Replacement Theory, which propagates conspiracy theories about white genocide, is based on unfounded claims that contribute to racial division and hatred.

Conclusion

Racist iconography, whether in the form of flags, statues, or school names, is a manifestation of the moral degradation that can result from a society ignorant of real African-American history while feasting on the grotesque lies of the Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and other forms of historical misinformation. These symbols and narratives perpetuate racial injustice, white supremacy, and the erasure of the profound suffering of African-Americans. To confront this moral degradation, society must engage in a more honest and accurate examination of its history, recognizing the injustices of the past and striving for a more inclusive and equitable future. By acknowledging the impact of these symbols and narratives on contemporary society, we can take steps towards rectifying the injustices of the past and working towards a more just and informed future.

 

Not knowing African-American history has consequences:

 

***

What Is Jim Crow 1.0?

Jim Crow was born of white southern resentment to losing the Civil War, losing slavery, and being told by the northerners that their way of life was evil. 

Full of resentment, white southerners scapegoated black people by crushing them with a series of cruel and often ridiculous laws that were enforced by violence. These oppressive laws in the words of Isabel Wilkerson constituted a “feudal caste system” with the privileged and servant classes. 

Jim Crow was a sneaky way white southerners brought back slavery “off the books” by making black people subject to violence and exploitation with no protection from the law. In other words, slavery was illegal but Jim Crow brought it back under another name. 

In other words, the Civil War did not end slavery; it merely shifted slavery into another form called Jim Crow. This shift is chronicled in Douglas A. Blackman’s book Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. 

Perhaps the best book ever written about Jim Crow from the point of view of African Americans is Isabel Wilkerson’s award-winning The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration in which six million African Americans fled the south to escape Jim Crow.

Wilkerson interviewed over 1,000 black Americans who lived in the terror of Jim Crow and fled for their lives to the Northern and Western states between 1915 and 1970. 

Over six decades, six million African Americans fled the Jim Crow south not knowing what was in store for them. By the end of the Great Migration, almost half of all the black Americans in the south were gone. They had no job, no place to live, no assurance of the means to survive, but they went anyway.

That should tell us just how bad Jim Crow was. “I don’t know what’s in store for me, but I’m getting the hell out.” Jim Crow was a 24/7 Torture Chamber. 

All they knew was one thing: Whatever they faced, it couldn’t be worse than living in the Jim Crow states. 

Characteristics of Jim Crow

One. Jim Crow didn’t allow black people to flourish.

In 1953, a black doctor Robert Joseph Pershing Foster got out of Monroe, Louisiana, and headed for California. Why? Because even though he was qualified in the highest medical procedures, the whites wouldn’t let him practice surgery. 

In the Jim Crow south, whites didn’t like to grant any rights to blacks that suggested that blacks were equal to them. Allowing a black man to practice surgery was just too much for the whites to bear. The mere suggestion that blacks were talented and intelligent was a scandal to white southerners and a threat to their carefully curated racist paradigm, so Dr. Foster got in his car and headed for California. 

Two. Jim Crow was a living hell.

Jim Crow was so hellish that it created The Great Migration, the greatest migration ever recorded in America, a migration that far exceeded the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, and yet the Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson points out, is underreported. Not much is known about a migration that completely changed America, sending black people to urban cities in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities. 

Three. Jim Crow was a danger to black lives.

Isabel Wilkerson makes an astute observation: A lot of black people that we know about would not have existed except that their parents got out of the deadly Jim Crow south. She points out that James Baldwin, Michelle Obama, Miles Davis, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, and Denzel Washington were “all products of the Great Migration” and might not exist but for the fact that their parents fled for their lives. 

Four. Jim Crow celebrated the myth of The Lost Cause.

The Lost Cause is a re-imagining of slavery as “a good thing” in which slave owners and slaves were happy in a bucolic paradise where whites and blacks “knew their place” and were blessed by God. Such heinous chicanery was embraced by the United Daughters of the Confederacy who published propaganda books to brainwash children in the Jim Crow public schools. 

The myth of the Lost Cause is so strong that to this day the great military heroes of the North who brought an end to slavery--Ulysses Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Henry Thomas, David Farragut are to this day hated and reviled in the south. 

Five. Jim Crow is a stain on American History that America has tried to sweep under the carpet.

Wilkerson understood that you couldn’t really understand the hell of Jim Crow unless you saw how black people reacted to it: Fleeing for their lives in a mass migration. She was astonished that before her book virtually nothing was written about the mass escape from Jim Crow. It’s as if historians are too ashamed of this chapter or not interested in it. Wilkinson has remedied that by writing a 550-page masterpiece about the subject. 

Six. Jim Crow’s tentacles reached into the smallest areas of black lives to create daily humiliations. Here are some:

• Black children had to learn in separate schoolhouses, always rundown with no resources.
• Black people had to sit in filthy waiting rooms at doctors’ offices while whites enjoyed clean waiting rooms.
• When black people walked opposite direction a white person on the sidewalk, the black people had to step off the sidewalk and walk on the curb.
• Black people had to give all the good parking spaces to white people. Whites parked close to stores. Blacks parked far away.
• No matter how slowly a white driver was going in a car, a black driver was never allowed to pass the white person’s car. 
• When a white person was at fault for a car accident involving a black driver, the fault always was assigned to the black driver. “You’re black so it’s your fault.”
• Blacks and whites couldn’t play chess or checkers together because such a game suggested they were equal.
• In one of Chris Rock's stand-up routines, he talks about his mother born in South Carolina in 1945. When she had a toothache as a child, she wasn't allowed to go the dentist as a black person. She had to go to the local veterinarian. That is Jim Crow. 

Seven. Jim Crow violated the Constitution.

As Wilkerson writes: “The South began acting in outright defiance of the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868, which granted the right to due process and equal protection to anyone born in the United States and it ignored the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870, which guaranteed all men the right to vote” (38). 

The North tried to grant rights to blacks in the south, but by the mid-1870s, Wilkerson observes, the North bailed on the south and stopped their oversight. 

Eight. Hostility towards blacks in the South was so acute that white politicians who fomented racism against blacks enjoyed popularity, which they leveraged for self-gain. 

When political leaders spoke of black people deserving violence, the white masses saw this as “open season” to commit any violence they wanted against blacks with impunity.

Nine. Lynchings of black people became an epidemic that was normalized and glorified by white southerners. 

In one of the most painful chapters to read in Wilkerson’s book, we read that a black man who was merely accused of looking at a white woman would be lynched. Petty crimes were always worthy of a lynching. 

These lynchings, which included beatings, hangings, and being burned alive, were watched by “festive crowds” who brought their children and let their toddlers sit on their shoulders to enjoy the spectacle. 

I’m reading this, and I’m thinking I’d be part of the Great Migration myself. I would be urgent to leave the south. 

How frequent were these lynchings?

Wilkerson writes: “Across the South, someone was hanged or burned alive every four days from 1889 to 1929, according to the 1933 book The Tragedy of Lynching.”

According to Dr. David Pilgrim, there were 4,730 lynchings that we know about but no doubt many more. 

Avoiding Comma Splices and Run-Ons 

Fused (run-on) sentence

Klee's paintings seem simple, they are very sophisticated.

She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once.

A fused sentence (also called a run-on) joins clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence with no punctuation or words to link them. Fused sentences must be either divided into separate sentences or joined by adding words or punctuation.

Comma Splice

I was strongly attracted to her, she was beautiful and funny.

We hated the meat loaf, the cafeteria served it every Friday.

A comma splice occurs when only a comma separates clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can insert a semicolon or period, connect the clauses with a word such as and or because, or restructure the sentence.

After each sentence, put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct. 

One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner. 

Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer. 

Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain. 

Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can often correct the problem. 

Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline. 

Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives our, what a sham. 

Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading less and less books. 

Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May. 

Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world. 

Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless. 

Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus. 

Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office. 

Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack. 

Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.

 

Importance of Signal Phrases in Your Introductory Paragraph

It is important that you show your ability to summarize, paraphrase, and quote Dr. Pilgrim’s points by using signal phrases, which are short phrases you use to introduce quoted, paraphrased, or summarized content. Here are 6 important components to consider when writing signal phrases:

Review Complete 6 Components of Signal Phrases

1. Vary your transitions so you're not only using "say" and "write."
2. Transition from your own writing to quoted or paraphrased material. 
3. Vary your location of the signal phrase, beginning, middle, or end.
4. Provide credentials of the person being cited in your signal phrase.
5. Provide correct in-text citations for MLA format, as provided by Purdue Owl. 
6. Return to what you just cited and analyze its significance to your argument. 

For a fuller explanation of signal phrases, I would refer to my Breakthrough Writer blog post, “Mastering the 6 Components of Signal Phrases.”

 

 

 

 

Teaching Jim Crow, Lesson 3: Fall Semester 2023

 

First Victims of Weaponized Misinformation

Do not think weaponized misinformation is something new.

As we can see in Professor David Pilgrim’s outstanding video “The Jim Crow Museum,” creating a Jim Crow world that exploited black people was the result of weaponized misinformation about the identity of black people, their role, their purpose, their place in white society. 

This weaponized misinformation was developed through an obsessive propaganda campaign that was designed to seep into the very tissue of Southern life whether it be politics, policy, vagrancy laws, segregation, domestic life, and the very smallest of actions of everyday life.

This weaponized misinformation was reinforced by abusive rules that put a dividing line between white and black America in the service of making whites feel superior and to enjoy power over black Americans. To review some of these oppressive Jim Crow rules:

• Black children had to learn in separate schoolhouses, always rundown with no resources.
• Black people had to sit in filthy waiting rooms at doctors’ offices while whites enjoyed clean waiting rooms.
• When black people walked opposite direction a white person on the sidewalk, the black people had to step off the sidewalk and walk on the curb.
• Black people had to give all the good parking spaces to white people. Whites parked close to stores. Blacks parked far away.
• No matter how slowly a white driver was going in a car, a black driver was never allowed to pass the white person’s car. 
• When a white person was at fault for a car accident involving a black driver, the fault always was assigned to the black driver. “You’re black so it’s your fault.”
• Blacks and whites couldn’t play chess or checkers together because such a game suggested they were equal.
• Black people were not allowed to argue with white people. Disagreement was not allowed because if a black person challenged a white person, this mental agility violated the weaponized misinformation that said whites were the superior race.
• White people had a paternal relationship with black people so that whites were the parents and blacks were the children, but this was not a loving relationship between parent and child; this was an abusive relationship, and black Americans wanted out evidenced by the fact of The Great Migration between 1915 and 1970 when black Americans fled to the west and north cities to find a better life. By the time the Great Migration was over, half of black Americans in the south were gone.

Weaponized Misinformation Is a Form of Gaslighting

Demonizing the victims is an old playbook in the United States, fueled by white nationalists who after the Civil War created the grotesque lie and myth, called The Lost Cause, that slavery was a good thing, that black Americans were happy in slavery, and that the South fought the evil North for “state rights.” 

The myth of The Lost Cause, which was weaponized by The United Daughters of the Confederacy by making public school textbooks about it, was a doctrine drilled into the minds of school children.

YouTube video: “How Southern Socialites Rewrote American History”

America has a history of white racists feeding upon weaponized misinformation to promote their agenda.

Racists today enjoy social media to weaponize misinformation. 

Lost Cause and Sandy Hook

In fact, we can draw a line between this gaslighting of white nationalists in the form of The Lost Cause to all sorts of misinformation campaigns, including the demonizing of the innocent parents of Sandy Hook who lost their children in a school massacre that took place on December 14, 2012. The author of Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth, Elizabeth Williamson, rightly connects this Great Sandy Hook Lie to the Great Election Lie that took place during the US Capitol insurrection of Jan 6, 2021. Once again, people with ties to white nationalism were on board with this misinformation, including perhaps most notably conspiracy-peddler and “profiteer” Alex Jones. 

Her book is not a focus on guns but a focus on truth vs. misinformation. Indeed, her book begins with the Robert Musil epigraph: “No culture can rest on a crooked relationship to truth.” This applies to the realities of slavery and Jim Crow in the face of the lies from The Lost Cause and it applies to the realities of the tragedy of Sandy Hook in the face of the mythology created by Alex Jones that Sandy Hook was a staged event designed to create gun legislation. 

Alex Jones, described correctly as a salesman a narcissist, and “a conjurer of dark American impulses,” and others took every small detail of the reportage that had been wrong and used these errors as an excuse to push a myth about the shooting being a hoax, a staged event designed by the government to take away gun rights. 

Marketing Sandy Hook as a “false flag operation” to line his pockets at the expense of Sandy Hook’s grieving parents, Alex Jones milked his conspiracy theory for every ounce as he knew he had a receptive Alt-Right, mostly male audience who are hungry for Alex Jones morally-bankrupt content, including Replacement Theory and the idea that whites are being taken over by others. In Williamson’s credible profile of Alex Jones, he comes across convincingly as a professional pathological liar. Ten years ago, Jones would have been merely a pathetic curiosity, but now with many in the GOP embracing Jones and the most popular podcaster Joe Rogan giving Jones a platform, Jones represents a major force in our post-truth world.

Williamson observes that Sandy Hook represents a turning point: All subsequent tragedies have had a viral conspiracy theory claiming that these shooting tragedies were orchestrated by the government as a pretext for confiscating guns and revoking the Second Amendment. The author points out that by 2020 one out of five Americans believed that every school shooting was a fake. 

Williamson doesn’t claim to know if Jones is sincere in his bizarre claims or not, only to observe that he enjoys making huge profits over his conspiracies regardless of who gets hurt, even the parents who lost their children in a massacre. 

Americans are living in a fever swamp of misinformation, mostly peddled by the Alt-Right. The Lost Cause, Sandy Hook, Pizzagate, The Great Lie, and many Covid conspiracies come out of this fever swamp, and no vital democracy can exist in such a place. 

The Civil War was complicated in its origins, but one of its outcomes was supposed to be freedom and justice for all Americans, an objective that was curtailed by Jim Crow and the weaponized misinformation that supported Jim Crow. 

Weaponized misinformation is a tool that spreads racism and autocracy.

In Childish Gambino’s viral YouTube video, “This Is America,” the singer refers to the cell phone, a “celly,” as a “tool,” and in the social media age of distractions and weaponized misinformation, we see Childish Gambino connecting the tissue of weaponized misinformation to Jim Crow 2.0 in the social media age to the Jim Crow 1.0 in the Post-Civil War Age, so well explained in Dr. Pilgrim’s “Jim Crow Museum” video. 

How is the “celly as a tool” expounded upon in Childish Gambino’s video?

First of all, a choir of black singers are gunned down in what is a reference to white supremacist Dylann Roof committing a massacre at the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. 

Thanks to conspiracy theorists who champion the agenda of the Alt-Right White Nationalists such as Alex Jones, one out of five Americans believed this massacre and other massacres, most notably school shootings, designed to be hoaxes to cause sympathy for victims of gun violence and to compel the government to confiscate guns. 

The thematic richness of “This Is America” was such that Childish Gambino won Best Music Video of the Year for the 2019 Grammys, but he was not in attendance. Perhaps we can infer that the tragedy Donald Glover rendered in that video did not merit fanfare or glory, so he accepted the award in silence and refuses to talk about his video. 

Alex Jones and like-minded white supremacists have a history of gaslighting and weaponizing misinformation. In Jim Crow 1.0, the white supremacists turned the world upside down, blaming the innocent victims for their subjugation and abuse by creating a world saturated by Jim Crow hate propaganda, as evidenced in Dr. Pilgrim’s “Jim Crow Museum” video.

Similarly, white supremacists today, such as Dylann Roof, are cold-blood killers, massacring innocent black Americans inside a church and then they have the gall and moral bankruptcy, such as Alex Jones, to deny such massacres exist at all, that in fact these massacres were a hoax designed to give the government power to confiscate guns. As ridiculous as such a claim sounds, Alex Jones has made millions of dollars propagating such conspiracies. 

Just as Alex Jones and his ilk get rich spreading racist propaganda, white racists during Jim Crow made money off the blood, sweat, and tears of black Americans by creating their own racist propaganda.

Therefore, we can conclude that weaponized misinformation, usually rooted in racist propaganda, is the connective tissue between Jim Crow 1.0 and Jim Crow 2.0. 

***

Suggested Outline

Paragraph 1: Draw from Dr. David Pilgrim's video "The New Jim Crow Museum" and Childish Gambino's video "This Is America" to write an extended definition of Jim Crow.

Paragraph 2: Summarize Henry Louis Gates' essay. 

Paragraph 3: Write your thesis in which you defend, refute, or complicate the argument that teaching about the history of systemic racism, slavery, and Jim Crow is not a radical agenda set forth by some professors to brainwash their students into a Woke ideology. Rather, such teaching is a powerful antidote to historical revisionism and weaponized misinformation designed to oppress the already oppressed, is a powerful part of developing empathy which makes for a better society, prevents us from repeating the mistakes and injustices of the past, addresses the historical connection between American racism and gun violence, and strengthens democracy for all people.  

Paragraphs 4-7 are your supporting paragraphs.

Paragraph 8 is your counterargument-rebuttal. 

Paragraph 9 is your conclusion, a powerful restatement of your claim. 

Why Do We Study African-American History?

 

• To understand the racist toolbox that today’s Internet trolls are using to weaponize their misinformation for the sake of power. 
• To understand that historical revisionism, The Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and Scapegoating have been in the racist toolbox since the days of Jim Crow. 
• To understand that historical revisionism is a power play, thus the adage: “The winners get to write history.”
• To understand that there are historical narratives by Alex Haley, Dr. David Pilgrim, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, and Frederick Douglass that speak to personal excellence, courage, sacrifice, and contributions to America that are often overlooked or obfuscated by people with sinister agendas. 
• To understand that failure to understand history results in large portions of America worshipping racist iconography in the form of Confederate flags and pro-slave statues, an abomination not performed in other countries. 

***

What Is Jim Crow 1.0?

Jim Crow was born of white southern resentment to losing the Civil War, losing slavery, and being told by the northerners that their way of life was evil. 

Full of resentment, white southerners scapegoated black people by crushing them with a series of cruel and often ridiculous laws that were enforced by violence. These oppressive laws in the words of Isabel Wilkerson constituted a “feudal caste system” with the privileged and servant classes. 

Jim Crow was a sneaky way white southerners brought back slavery “off the books” by making black people subject to violence and exploitation with no protection from the law. In other words, slavery was illegal but Jim Crow brought it back under another name. 

In other words, the Civil War did not end slavery; it merely shifted slavery into another form called Jim Crow. This shift is chronicled in Douglas A. Blackman’s book Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. 

Perhaps the best book ever written about Jim Crow from the point of view of African Americans is Isabel Wilkerson’s award-winning The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration in which six million African Americans fled the south to escape Jim Crow.

Wilkerson interviewed over 1,000 black Americans who lived in the terror of Jim Crow and fled for their lives to the Northern and Western states between 1915 and 1970. 

Over six decades, six million African Americans fled the Jim Crow south not knowing what was in store for them. By the end of the Great Migration, almost half of all the black Americans in the south were gone. They had no job, no place to live, no assurance of the means to survive, but they went anyway.

That should tell us just how bad Jim Crow was. “I don’t know what’s in store for me, but I’m getting the hell out.” Jim Crow was a 24/7 Torture Chamber. 

All they knew was one thing: Whatever they faced, it couldn’t be worse than living in the Jim Crow states. 

Characteristics of Jim Crow

One. Jim Crow didn’t allow black people to flourish.

In 1953, a black doctor Robert Joseph Pershing Foster got out of Monroe, Louisiana, and headed for California. Why? Because even though he was qualified in the highest medical procedures, the whites wouldn’t let him practice surgery. 

In the Jim Crow south, whites didn’t like to grant any rights to blacks that suggested that blacks were equal to them. Allowing a black man to practice surgery was just too much for the whites to bear. The mere suggestion that blacks were talented and intelligent was a scandal to white southerners and a threat to their carefully curated racist paradigm, so Dr. Foster got in his car and headed for California. 

Two. Jim Crow was a living hell.

Jim Crow was so hellish that it created The Great Migration, the greatest migration ever recorded in America, a migration that far exceeded the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, and yet the Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson points out, is underreported. Not much is known about a migration that completely changed America, sending black people to urban cities in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities. 

Three. Jim Crow was a danger to black lives.

Isabel Wilkerson makes an astute observation: A lot of black people that we know about would not have existed except that their parents got out of the deadly Jim Crow south. She points out that James Baldwin, Michelle Obama, Miles Davis, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, and Denzel Washington were “all products of the Great Migration” and might not exist but for the fact that their parents fled for their lives. 

Four. Jim Crow celebrated the myth of The Lost Cause.

The Lost Cause is a re-imagining of slavery as “a good thing” in which slave owners and slaves were happy in a bucolic paradise where whites and blacks “knew their place” and were blessed by God. Such heinous chicanery was embraced by the United Daughters of the Confederacy who published propaganda books to brainwash children in the Jim Crow public schools. 

The myth of the Lost Cause is so strong that to this day the great military heroes of the North who brought an end to slavery--Ulysses Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Henry Thomas, David Farragut are to this day hated and reviled in the south. 

Five. Jim Crow is a stain on American History that America has tried to sweep under the carpet.

Wilkerson understood that you couldn’t really understand the hell of Jim Crow unless you saw how black people reacted to it: Fleeing for their lives in a mass migration. She was astonished that before her book virtually nothing was written about the mass escape from Jim Crow. It’s as if historians are too ashamed of this chapter or not interested in it. Wilkinson has remedied that by writing a 550-page masterpiece about the subject. 

Six. Jim Crow’s tentacles reached into the smallest areas of black lives to create daily humiliations. Here are some:

• Black children had to learn in separate schoolhouses, always rundown with no resources.
• Black people had to sit in filthy waiting rooms at doctors’ offices while whites enjoyed clean waiting rooms.
• When black people walked opposite direction a white person on the sidewalk, the black people had to step off the sidewalk and walk on the curb.
• Black people had to give all the good parking spaces to white people. Whites parked close to stores. Blacks parked far away.
• No matter how slowly a white driver was going in a car, a black driver was never allowed to pass the white person’s car. 
• When a white person was at fault for a car accident involving a black driver, the fault always was assigned to the black driver. “You’re black so it’s your fault.”
• Blacks and whites couldn’t play chess or checkers together because such a game suggested they were equal.
• In one of Chris Rock's stand-up routines, he talks about his mother born in South Carolina in 1945. When she had a toothache as a child, she wasn't allowed to go the dentist as a black person. She had to go to the local veterinarian. That is Jim Crow. 

Seven. Jim Crow violated the Constitution.

As Wilkerson writes: “The South began acting in outright defiance of the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868, which granted the right to due process and equal protection to anyone born in the United States and it ignored the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870, which guaranteed all men the right to vote” (38). 

The North tried to grant rights to blacks in the south, but by the mid-1870s, Wilkerson observes, the North bailed on the south and stopped their oversight. 

Eight. Hostility towards blacks in the South was so acute that white politicians who fomented racism against blacks enjoyed popularity, which they leveraged for self-gain. 

When political leaders spoke of black people deserving violence, the white masses saw this as “open season” to commit any violence they wanted against blacks with impunity.

Nine. Lynchings of black people became an epidemic that was normalized and glorified by white southerners. 

In one of the most painful chapters to read in Wilkerson’s book, we read that a black man who was merely accused of looking at a white woman would be lynched. Petty crimes were always worthy of a lynching. 

These lynchings, which included beatings, hangings, and being burned alive, were watched by “festive crowds” who brought their children and let their toddlers sit on their shoulders to enjoy the spectacle. 

I’m reading this, and I’m thinking I’d be part of the Great Migration myself. I would be urgent to leave the south. 

How frequent were these lynchings?

Wilkerson writes: “Across the South, someone was hanged or burned alive every four days from 1889 to 1929, according to the 1933 book The Tragedy of Lynching.”

According to Dr. David Pilgrim, there were 4,730 lynchings that we know about but no doubt many more. 

Lesson for Henry Louis Gates’ Essay “Who’s Afraid of Black History”

One. What are Ron DeSantis and others’ objections to teaching African-American history in school?

DeSantis is making the claim that African-American history doesn’t focus on facts but is rather concerned with an agenda of “indoctrination.” This doctrine, according to DeSantis, says America is bad, racism is so severe and systemic that only reparations can begin to solve it, and anyone who doesn’t agree with this doctrine is a racist. 

While some adhere to this doctrine, many teachers who present African-American history in their classes are not attaching such a doctrine; nevertheless, these teachers are being reprimanded, canceled, and having their books and teaching content banned in class.

To lump all teachers together in one extreme doctrine is inaccurate and by twisting what they’re teaching, their critics are committing a Straw Man Fallacy in argumentation: twisting one’s words to make that person easy for attack. 

***

Gates points out the hypocrisy of DeSantis making a claim of teachers imposing a doctrine on their students when in fact DeSantis is an apologist for racism, The Lost Cause, and erasing Black History, which is a doctrine in its own right. In fact, DeSantis got himself in trouble when he said slavery wasn’t all bad and actually benefited African-Americans.

It is a great irony that DeSantis wants people to teach facts and stay away from doctrines when he himself pushes the false facts that slavery benefited African-Americans as part of his anti-woke agenda. 

Gates concedes that education indoctrinates us but he uses different language. He argues that in schools “we learn how to become citizens, that we encounter the first civics lessons that either reinforce or counter the myths and fables we gleaned at home.”

He further counters that we do indeed learn facts about African-American history. We learn about the following:

• Slavery
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction
• The Confederacy’s “Redemption” followed by Jim Crow segregation
• The Lost Cause Myth
• The Great Migration

The above are all facts about the black struggle in American history. Why does the teaching of this history have to be part of some pernicious anti-American doctrine?

Gates finishes his essay by observing the long history of trying to erase and demonize Black history. He writes:

Is it fair to see Governor DeSantis’s attempts to police the contents of the College Board’s A.P. curriculum in African American studies in classrooms in Florida solely as little more than a contemporary version of Mildred Rutherford’s Lost Cause textbook campaign? No. But the governor would do well to consider the company that he is keeping. And let’s just say that he, no expert in African American history, seems to be gleefully embarked on an effort to censor scholarship about the complexities of the Black past with a determination reminiscent of Rutherford’s. While most certainly not embracing her cause, Mr. DeSantis is complicitous in perpetuating her agenda.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so aptly put it, “No society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present.” Addressing these “ravages,” and finding solutions to them — a process that can and should begin in the classroom — can only proceed with open discussions and debate across the ideological spectrum, a process in which Black thinkers themselves have been engaged since the earliest years of our Republic.

Throughout Black history, there has been a long, sad and often nasty tradition of attempts to censor popular art forms, from the characterization of the blues, ragtime and jazz as “the devil’s music” by guardians of “the politics of respectability,” to efforts to censor hip-hop by C. Delores Tucker, who led a campaign to ban gangsta rap music in the 1990s. Hip-hop has been an equal opportunity offender for potential censors: Mark Wichner, the deputy sheriff of Florida’s Broward County, brought 2 Live Crew up on obscenity charges in 1990. But there is a crucial difference between Ms. Tucker, best known as a civil rights activist, and Mr. Wichner, an administrator of justice on behalf of the state, a difference similar to that between Rutherford and Mr. DeSantis.

While the urge to censor art — a symbolic form of vigilante policing — is colorblind, there is no equivalence between governmental censorship and the would-be censorship of moral crusaders. Many states are following Florida’s lead in seeking to bar discussions of race and history in classrooms. The distinction between Mildred Lewis Rutherford and Governor DeSantis? The power differential.

Rutherford wished for nothing less than the power to summon the apparatus of the state to impose her strictures on our country’s narrative about the history of race and racism. Mr. DeSantis has that power and has shown his willingness to use it. And it is against this misguided display of power that those of us who cherish the freedom of inquiry at the heart of our country’s educational ideal must take a stand.

***

Thesis Samples

The Florida governor is wrong to ban the teaching of African-American history under the justification of calling all such history “Critical Race Theory.”

The Florida governor is wrong to ban the teaching of African-American history under the justification of calling all such history “Critical Race Theory” because ________________, ______________, _______________, and ___________________. 

To ban African-American history under the fake excuse that all such history is “Critical Race Theory” is a craven act fueled by a demagogue’s willingness to slake racist appetites, a demagogue's willingness to reach into the racist toolbox of Jim Crow tropes and false narratives, and his willingness to erasing voices, which in turn is a way of erasing an entire people. 

While some displays of Critical Race Theory have proven too extreme in the classroom such as slavery reenactments, which can traumatize small children, such extremes do not negate the urgency to teach African-American history. This urgency is evident in the need to fight back against false tropes and narratives that have found a resurgence in America, to give Americans African-American voices that provide a counter-narrative to that of the racist trolls who swarm social media, and to present Americans with the challenges we face regarding justice today regarding racial violence, xenophobia, and voter suppression.  

Why Do We Study African-American History? (Review)

 

• To understand the racist toolbox that today’s Internet trolls are using to weaponize their misinformation for the sake of power. 
• To understand that historical revisionism, The Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and Scapegoating have been in the racist toolbox since the days of Jim Crow. 
• To understand that historical revisionism is a power play, thus the adage: “The winners get to write history.”
• To understand that there are historical narratives by Alex Haley, Dr. David Pilgrim, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, and Frederick Douglass that speak to personal excellence, courage, sacrifice, and contributions to America that are often overlooked or obfuscated by people with sinister agendas. 
• To understand that the drive to obfuscate and erase African-American history vs. the drive to present authentic voices of African-American history represents a form of spiritual warfare. To put it bluntly, the drive to erase African-American history by labeling all of this history as “Critical Race Theory” is the drive to erase an entire people. 

Avoiding Comma Splices and Run-Ons 

Fused (run-on) sentence

Klee's paintings seem simple, they are very sophisticated.

She doubted the value of medication she decided to try it once.

A fused sentence (also called a run-on) joins clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence with no punctuation or words to link them. Fused sentences must be either divided into separate sentences or joined by adding words or punctuation.

Comma Splice

I was strongly attracted to her, she was beautiful and funny.

We hated the meat loaf, the cafeteria served it every Friday.

A comma splice occurs when only a comma separates clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can insert a semicolon or period, connect the clauses with a word such as and or because, or restructure the sentence.

After each sentence, put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct. 

One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner. 

Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer. 

Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain. 

Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can often correct the problem. 

Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline. 

Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives our, what a sham. 

Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading less and less books. 

Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May. 

Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world. 

Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless. 

Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus. 

Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office. 

Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack. 

Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.

 

 

Importance of Signal Phrases in Your Introductory Paragraph

It is important that you show your ability to summarize, paraphrase, and quote Dr. Pilgrim’s points by using signal phrases, which are short phrases you use to introduce quoted, paraphrased, or summarized content. Here are 6 important components to consider when writing signal phrases:

Review Complete 6 Components of Signal Phrases

1. Vary your transitions so you're not only using "say" and "write."
2. Transition from your own writing to quoted or paraphrased material. 
3. Vary your location of the signal phrase, beginning, middle, or end.
4. Provide credentials of the person being cited in your signal phrase.
5. Provide correct in-text citations for MLA format, as provided by Purdue Owl. 
6. Return to what you just cited and analyze its significance to your argument. 

For a fuller explanation of signal phrases, I would refer to my Breakthrough Writer blog post, “Mastering the 6 Components of Signal Phrases.”

 

Teaching Jim Crow, Lesson 2: Fall Semester 2023

Essay #2: Why We Study Jim Crow as Part of American History (200 points)

The Assignment:

Addressing Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s essay "Who's Afraid of Black History?" and Dr. David Pilgrim’s video “The New Jim Crow Museum," Childish Gambino’s video “This Is America” and the Netflix documentary 13th, write a 1,200-word essay that supports, refutes, or complicates the argument that teaching about the history of systemic racism, slavery, and Jim Crow is not a radical agenda set forth by some professors to brainwash their students into a Woke ideology. Rather, such teaching is a powerful antidote to historical revisionism and weaponized misinformation designed to oppress the already oppressed, is a powerful part of developing empathy which makes for a better society, prevents us from repeating the mistakes and injustices of the past, addresses the historical connection between American racism and gun violence, and strengthens democracy for all people.  

Be sure to have an MLA Works Cited page with a minimum of 4 sources. 

Suggested Outline

Paragraph 1: Draw from Dr. David Pilgrim's video "The New Jim Crow Museum" and Childish Gambino's video "This Is America" to write an extended definition of Jim Crow.

Paragraph 2: Summarize Henry Louis Gates' essay. 

Paragraph 3: Write your thesis in which you defend, refute, or complicate the argument that teaching about the history of systemic racism, slavery, and Jim Crow is not a radical agenda set forth by some professors to brainwash their students into a Woke ideology. Rather, such teaching is a powerful antidote to historical revisionism and weaponized misinformation designed to oppress the already oppressed, is a powerful part of developing empathy which makes for a better society, prevents us from repeating the mistakes and injustices of the past, addresses the historical connection between American racism and gun violence, and strengthens democracy for all people.  

Paragraphs 4-7 are your supporting paragraphs.

Paragraph 8 is your counterargument-rebuttal. 

Paragraph 9 is your conclusion, a powerful restatement of your claim. 

 

Why Do We Study African-American History?

 

• To understand the racist toolbox that today’s Internet trolls are using to weaponize their misinformation for the sake of power. 
• To understand that historical revisionism, The Lost Cause, Replacement Theory, and Scapegoating have been in the racist toolbox since the days of Jim Crow. 
• To understand that historical revisionism is a power play, thus the adage: “The winners get to write history.”
• To understand that there are historical narratives by Alex Haley, Dr. David Pilgrim, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, and Frederick Douglass that speak to personal excellence, courage, sacrifice, and contributions to America that are often overlooked or obfuscated by people with sinister agendas. 
• To understand that failure to understand history results in large portions of America worshipping racist iconography in the form of Confederate flags and pro-slave statues, an abomination not performed in other countries. 

 

 

Teaching African-American History to Fight Trolls

In today’s political polarization and troll culture, there is a popular thought propagated by political opportunists that teaching about racism, slavery, and Jim Crow in all its forms is Critical Race Theory: radical indoctrination into the wrong-headed belief that America is a hellscape and the CRT minions are obsessed with rubbing our faces in the racist stains of American history.

Such a grotesque oversimplification and caricature of what it means to teach racism is a Straw Man, a misrepresentation of the aims of teaching racism in a classroom. For example, for the last decade in my college composition class, we have a unit on Jim Crow.

I do not teach Jim Crow to rub people’s faces with exaggerated notions of America’s original sin or to promote some radical political agenda. I teach Jim Crow as a countervailing measure to the revisionist mythologies that replace its real history. Such revisionism leads to immoral acts. For example, the revisionist history of The Lost Cause, which outlandishly claims slavery was a good thing, results in over 200 public schools being named after America's worst racist Jefferson Davis, and today revisionism has caused millions of Americans to praise the criminals involved with the January 6 Insurrection as "American Patriots." I teach Jim Crow because the racist ideas that fueled Jim Crow are alive today in the form of social media white nationalists who are spreading weaponized misinformation. I teach Jim Crow because Jim Crow gave inspiration and instruction to racists throughout the world, for example, Hitler learned segregation techniques from America’s Confederacy creator Jefferson Davis. Finally, I teach Jim Crow because a moral inventory is essential for society’s moral reform, a process that the post-World War II Germans have successfully done in a form of soul-searching and atonement for the sins of the past, a process they call Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung. 

Trolls

• Weaponize misinformation
• Have no moral bottom
• Take delight in cruelty toward others
• Are blindly loyal to their racial or some other tribe
• They violate all laws of critical thinking
• They violate all laws of decency
• The creators of slavery and Jim Crow were America's first trolls. They are making a comeback. 

America's first trolls were defenders of slavery and Jim Crow.

• They engaged in historical revisionism, denying the atrocities of slavery and arguing that the Civil War was due to "Northern aggression" and "state rights."
• They gaslighted the oppressed, saying they were happy to be enslaved.
• They relied on pseudo-science to create a racial hierarchy. 
• They relied on Jefferson Davis' racist manifesto to justify slavery. To this day Jefferson Davis' name is on over 200 public schools. 
• They weaponized racist propaganda in an attempt to dehumanize African-Americans with millions of Jim Crow images. 

Why do we study Jim Crow?

• To resist the rewriting of history, which is designed to oppress the very people who suffered under Jim Crow.
• Because rewriting history is morally abhorrent and always has malevolent designs. 
• Because people are still rewriting history with malevolent intent today.
• Because the racist ideas that fuel Jim Crow are alive today in an international cult of white nationalists who are dedicated to using social media to spread weaponized misinformation.
• Because denying representation and silencing voices is morally bankrupt and denies us the truth about ourselves and about people who have been historically oppressed. 
• Because Jim Crow gave inspiration and instruction to racists throughout the world, for example, Hitler learned segregation techniques from America’s Confederacy creator Jefferson Davis. 
• Because a moral inventory is essential for society’s moral reform, a process that the Germans have successfully done in the aftermath of World War II. 
• Historical revisionism kills democracy and inverts morality. For example, the revisionist history of The Lost Cause results in over 200 public schools being named after America's worst racist Jefferson Davis, and millions of Americans praise the criminals involved with the January 6 Insurrection as "American Patriots."
• Because Jim Crow is built on troll culture and we need to build a society on critical thinking culture.

 

 

It seems one can teach American racism in four ways: 

• American exceptionalism, in which racism is minimized as a mere hiccup in America’s grand narrative
• The Lost Cause is the most grotesque perversion of history in which resentful losers of the Civil War cast slavery and Jim Crow as a virtue in which everyone knows their place.
• Radical Fatalism in which the original sin of racism is so egregious that America is an irredeemable hellscape.
• Struggle for Redemption in which we acknowledge our sins of racism and our accomplishments and struggle to find atonement within our country’s contradictions. Working off the past or the struggle to overcome the past is a long word in German: Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung. 

What is the word?

Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Struggle to overcome the past

 

What Is Jim Crow 1.0?

Jim Crow was born of white southern resentment to losing the Civil War, losing slavery, and being told by the northerners that their way of life was evil. 

Full of resentment, white southerners scapegoated black people by crushing them with a series of cruel and often ridiculous laws that were enforced by violence. These oppressive laws in the words of Isabel Wilkerson constituted a “feudal caste system” with the privileged and servant classes. 

Jim Crow was a sneaky way white southerners brought back slavery “off the books” by making black people subject to violence and exploitation with no protection from the law. In other words, slavery was illegal but Jim Crow brought it back under another name. 

In other words, the Civil War did not end slavery; it merely shifted slavery into another form called Jim Crow. This shift is chronicled in Douglas A. Blackman’s book Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. 

Perhaps the best book ever written about Jim Crow from the point of view of African Americans is Isabel Wilkerson’s award-winning The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration in which six million African Americans fled the south to escape Jim Crow.

Wilkerson interviewed over 1,000 black Americans who lived in the terror of Jim Crow and fled for their lives to the Northern and Western states between 1915 and 1970. 

Over six decades, six million African Americans fled the Jim Crow south not knowing what was in store for them. By the end of the Great Migration, almost half of all the black Americans in the south were gone. They had no job, no place to live, no assurance of the means to survive, but they went anyway.

That should tell us just how bad Jim Crow was. “I don’t know what’s in store for me, but I’m getting the hell out.” Jim Crow was a 24/7 Torture Chamber. 

All they knew was one thing: Whatever they faced, it couldn’t be worse than living in the Jim Crow states. 

Characteristics of Jim Crow

One. Jim Crow didn’t allow black people to flourish.

In 1953, a black doctor Robert Joseph Pershing Foster got out of Monroe, Louisiana, and headed for California. Why? Because even though he was qualified in the highest medical procedures, the whites wouldn’t let him practice surgery. 

In the Jim Crow south, whites didn’t like to grant any rights to blacks that suggested that blacks were equal to them. Allowing a black man to practice surgery was just too much for the whites to bear. The mere suggestion that blacks were talented and intelligent was a scandal to white southerners and a threat to their carefully curated racist paradigm, so Dr. Foster got in his car and headed for California. 

Two. Jim Crow was a living hell.

Jim Crow was so hellish that it created The Great Migration, the greatest migration ever recorded in America, a migration that far exceeded the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, and yet the Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson points out, is underreported. Not much is known about a migration that completely changed America, sending black people to urban cities in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities. 

Three. Jim Crow was a danger to black lives.

Isabel Wilkerson makes an astute observation: A lot of black people that we know about would not have existed except that their parents got out of the deadly Jim Crow south. She points out that James Baldwin, Michelle Obama, Miles Davis, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, and Denzel Washington were “all products of the Great Migration” and might not exist but for the fact that their parents fled for their lives. 

Four. Jim Crow celebrated the myth of The Lost Cause.

The Lost Cause is a re-imagining of slavery as “a good thing” in which slave owners and slaves were happy in a bucolic paradise where whites and blacks “knew their place” and were blessed by God. Such heinous chicanery was embraced by the United Daughters of the Confederacy who published propaganda books to brainwash children in the Jim Crow public schools. 

The myth of the Lost Cause is so strong that to this day the great military heroes of the North who brought an end to slavery--Ulysses Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Henry Thomas, David Farragut are to this day hated and reviled in the south. 

Five. Jim Crow is a stain on American History that America has tried to sweep under the carpet.

Wilkerson understood that you couldn’t really understand the hell of Jim Crow unless you saw how black people reacted to it: Fleeing for their lives in a mass migration. She was astonished that before her book virtually nothing was written about the mass escape from Jim Crow. It’s as if historians are too ashamed of this chapter or not interested in it. Wilkinson has remedied that by writing a 550-page masterpiece about the subject. 

Six. Jim Crow’s tentacles reached into the smallest areas of black lives to create daily humiliations. Here are some:

• Black children had to learn in separate schoolhouses, always rundown with no resources.
• Black people had to sit in filthy waiting rooms at doctors’ offices while whites enjoyed clean waiting rooms.
• When black people walked opposite direction a white person on the sidewalk, the black people had to step off the sidewalk and walk on the curb.
• Black people had to give all the good parking spaces to white people. Whites parked close to stores. Blacks parked far away.
• No matter how slowly a white driver was going in a car, a black driver was never allowed to pass the white person’s car. 
• When a white person was at fault for a car accident involving a black driver, the fault always was assigned to the black driver. “You’re black so it’s your fault.”
• Blacks and whites couldn’t play chess or checkers together because such a game suggested they were equal.
• In one of Chris Rock's stand-up routines, he talks about his mother born in South Carolina in 1945. When she had a toothache as a child, she wasn't allowed to go the dentist as a black person. She had to go to the local veterinarian. That is Jim Crow. 

Seven. Jim Crow violated the Constitution.

As Wilkerson writes: “The South began acting in outright defiance of the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868, which granted the right to due process and equal protection to anyone born in the United States and it ignored the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870, which guaranteed all men the right to vote” (38). 

The North tried to grant rights to blacks in the south, but by the mid-1870s, Wilkerson observes, the North bailed on the south and stopped their oversight. 

Eight. Hostility towards blacks in the South was so acute that white politicians who fomented racism against blacks enjoyed popularity, which they leveraged for self-gain. 

When political leaders spoke of black people deserving violence, the white masses saw this as “open season” to commit any violence they wanted against blacks with impunity.

Nine. Lynchings of black people became an epidemic that was normalized and glorified by white southerners. 

In one of the most painful chapters to read in Wilkerson’s book, we read that a black man who was merely accused of looking at a white woman would be lynched. Petty crimes were always worthy of a lynching. 

These lynchings, which included beatings, hangings, and being burned alive, were watched by “festive crowds” who brought their children and let their toddlers sit on their shoulders to enjoy the spectacle. 

I’m reading this, and I’m thinking I’d be part of the Great Migration myself. I would be urgent to leave the south. 

How frequent were these lynchings?

Wilkerson writes: “Across the South, someone was hanged or burned alive every four days from 1889 to 1929, according to the 1933 book The Tragedy of Lynching.”

According to Dr. David Pilgrim, there were 4,730 lynchings that we know about but no doubt many more. 

Lesson for Henry Louis Gates’ Essay “Who’s Afraid of Black History”

 

One. What are Ron DeSantis and others’ objections to teaching African-American history in school?

 

DeSantis is making the claim that African-American history doesn’t focus on facts but is rather concerned with an agenda of “indoctrination.” This doctrine, according to DeSantis, says America is bad, racism is so severe and systemic that only reparations can begin to solve it, and anyone who doesn’t agree with this doctrine is a racist. 

While some adhere to this doctrine, many teachers who present African-American history in their classes are not attaching such a doctrine; nevertheless, these teachers are being reprimanded, canceled, and having their books and teaching content banned in class.

To lump all teachers together in one extreme doctrine is inaccurate and by twisting what they’re teaching, their critics are committing a Straw Man Fallacy in argumentation: twisting one’s words to make that person easy for attack. 

***

Gates points out the hypocrisy of DeSantis making a claim of teachers imposing a doctrine on their students when in fact DeSantis is an apologist for racism, The Lost Cause, and erasing Black History, which is a doctrine in its own right. In fact, DeSantis got himself in trouble when he said slavery wasn’t all bad and actually benefited African-Americans.

It is a great irony that DeSantis wants people to teach facts and stay away from doctrines when he himself pushes the false facts that slavery benefited African-Americans as part of his anti-woke agenda. 

Gates concedes that education indoctrinates us but he uses different language. He argues that in schools “we learn how to become citizens, that we encounter the first civics lessons that either reinforce or counter the myths and fables we gleaned at home.”

 

He further counters that we do indeed learn facts about African-American history. We learn about the following:

 

• Slavery
• The Civil War
• Reconstruction
• The Confederacy’s “Redemption” followed by Jim Crow segregation
• The Lost Cause Myth
• The Great Migration

 

The above are all facts about the black struggle in American history. Why does the teaching of this history have to be part of some pernicious anti-American doctrine?

 

Gates finishes his essay by observing the long history of trying to erase and demonize Black history. He writes:

 

Is it fair to see Governor DeSantis’s attempts to police the contents of the College Board’s A.P. curriculum in African American studies in classrooms in Florida solely as little more than a contemporary version of Mildred Rutherford’s Lost Cause textbook campaign? No. But the governor would do well to consider the company that he is keeping. And let’s just say that he, no expert in African American history, seems to be gleefully embarked on an effort to censor scholarship about the complexities of the Black past with a determination reminiscent of Rutherford’s. While most certainly not embracing her cause, Mr. DeSantis is complicitous in perpetuating her agenda.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so aptly put it, “No society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present.” Addressing these “ravages,” and finding solutions to them — a process that can and should begin in the classroom — can only proceed with open discussions and debate across the ideological spectrum, a process in which Black thinkers themselves have been engaged since the earliest years of our Republic.

Throughout Black history, there has been a long, sad and often nasty tradition of attempts to censor popular art forms, from the characterization of the blues, ragtime and jazz as “the devil’s music” by guardians of “the politics of respectability,” to efforts to censor hip-hop by C. Delores Tucker, who led a campaign to ban gangsta rap music in the 1990s. Hip-hop has been an equal opportunity offender for potential censors: Mark Wichner, the deputy sheriff of Florida’s Broward County, brought 2 Live Crew up on obscenity charges in 1990. But there is a crucial difference between Ms. Tucker, best known as a civil rights activist, and Mr. Wichner, an administrator of justice on behalf of the state, a difference similar to that between Rutherford and Mr. DeSantis.

While the urge to censor art — a symbolic form of vigilante policing — is colorblind, there is no equivalence between governmental censorship and the would-be censorship of moral crusaders. Many states are following Florida’s lead in seeking to bar discussions of race and history in classrooms. The distinction between Mildred Lewis Rutherford and Governor DeSantis? The power differential.

Rutherford wished for nothing less than the power to summon the apparatus of the state to impose her strictures on our country’s narrative about the history of race and racism. Mr. DeSantis has that power and has shown his willingness to use it. And it is against this misguided display of power that those of us who cherish the freedom of inquiry at the heart of our country’s educational ideal must take a stand.

***

 

Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil By Susan Neiman

I’ve been teaching a unit about Jim Crow in my college writing class for the last 10 years. The recent hysteria about CRT has forced me to look closely at why I teach a unit about American racism. 

It seems one can teach American racism in four ways: 

• American exceptionalism, in which racism is minimized as a mere hiccup in America’s grand narrative
• The Lost Cause is the most grotesque perversion of history in which resentful losers of the Civil War cast slavery and Jim Crow as a virtue in which everyone knows their place.
• Radical Fatalism in which the original sin of racism is so egregious that America is an irredeemable hellscape.
• Struggle for Redemption in which we acknowledge our sins of racism and our accomplishments and struggle to find atonement within our country’s contradictions. Working off the past or the struggle to overcome the past is a long word in German: Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung. 

What is the word?

Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Struggle to overcome the past

Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung--working off the past or overcoming the past

I choose the latter category as the only moral and instructive way I can teach a course about American racism. 

See the New Yorker essay by Lizzie Widdicombe: “What Can We Learn from the Germans About Confronting Our History?

Widdicombe writes:

Neiman, an American who directs the Einstein Forum, a public think tank outside of Berlin, has recently published a book, “Learning from the Germans,” that makes the case for an American version of Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, a word that she translates as “working off the past,” which refers to the decades-long process through which Germany has come to terms with Nazism and the Holocaust. Today, the country isn’t free from racism and anti-Semitism, as the recent attack on a synagogue in Halle showed, but its culture and politics remain deeply informed by its history. All of the arts, including TV and film, regularly refer to and treat Nazi history. And the country pauses to perform what Neiman calls “public rites of repentance” around events such as the liberation of Auschwitz, Kristallnacht, and the end of the war. Then there’s the iconography: the Holocaust Memorial sits at the center of a reunified Berlin. There are also the famous “stumbling stones”—small brass plaques placed throughout the city to mark where Jews and other victims of the Nazis last lived, before they were deported. By comparison, she writes, “Imagine a monument to the Middle Passage or the genocide of Native Americans at the center of the Washington Mall. Suppose you could walk down a New York street and step on a reminder that this building was constructed with slave labor.”

The lesson for Americans—particularly those involved in racial-justice work—is that “Nobody wants to look at the dark sides of their history,” she said. “It’s like finding out that your parents did something really horrible. There’s always going to be resistance. It’s normal, and it’s something we should expect.” So what made the Germans change? Neiman writes about a number of historical factors, but the most important, in her opinion, was “civil engagement” by the German public, beginning in the nineteen-sixties. A new generation came of age. “They realized that their parents and teachers had been Nazis, or at least complicit in Nazi atrocities, and were outraged,” she said. A small and often controversial vanguard insisted on digging up history that older generations had refused to discuss. People called them Nestbeschmützer, or “nest-foulers.” But the process they set in motion—a process of uncovering the past and talking about it—eventually reverberated throughout German society.

Her final lesson was about balance. She brought up a charge recently made by conservative critics of the Times’ 1619 Project, which commemorates slavery: that focussing on the worst parts of a nation’s history is depressing and, worse, delegitimizing. “They complained about it in Germany as much as Newt Gingrich and company are complaining about it now—‘It’s going to tear the social fabric, and we won’t have a national identity anymore! People won’t have anything to celebrate!’ ” There’s some truth there, she said. When planning monuments, “I think it’s really important that it not just be sites of horror, that we also remember heroes.” Is this to make us feel better about ourselves? “Yes,” she said. “I make this analogy which may seem a bit hokey: having a grownup relationship to your history is like having a grownup relationship to your parents. As a kid, you believe everything they tell you. As an adolescent, you may be inclined to reject everything. But having a grownup view involves sifting through with some distance, and saying, ‘O.K., I’m glad that my mother had those values, and that’s what I’m going to pass on to my kids. Not the other stuff.’ ” She mentioned a few of her own heroes: Sojourner Truth and Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Brown and Harriet Tubman, Woody Guthrie and Paul Robeson. She said, “It’s like being orphaned if you can’t say, ‘No, there are people, and not a few of them, in my nation’s history whom I really admire.’ ”

***

After World War II and the defeat of Hitler and the Nazis, German went through a soul-search process, acknowledged their collaboration with evil forces, and made a concerted effort to work away their sins. 

Working off the past or the struggle to overcome the past is a long word in German: Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung. 

We cannot overcome the past unless we acknowledge it. Denial of the past causes the past evils to perpetuate. 

To acknowledge evil from our own tribe goes against human instinct. Evil is “out there performed by The Others, but it’s not us.” Such an impulse makes acknowledgment of evil within the tribe very difficult. 

Today in the South, many southerners won’t acknowledge that the South committed sedition and insurrection to defend the evil practice of slavery. There is a different narrative: “The South fought Nothern aggression and defended state rights.”

In post-World War II Germany, there was initial resistance to the acknowledgment of past sins. We read in The Guardian from Alex Clark:

Neiman does not stint on impressing on her readers the details of number one, drawing on a vast body of interviews – half, she estimates, didn’t even make it into the book – to explore how long history’s tail is. It is too easy, she argues, to believe that as soon as the second world war ended, Germany set about the process of atoning for its crimes. It simply isn’t so: after all, 10% of the country’s population had been members of the Nazi party, “and the most shocking, but also important thing, is they were not the uneducated masses. The majority had academic degrees. We like to think that education provides immunity to racist and fascist ideology. And it doesn’t.”

What, then, heralded the start of Germans en masse beginning to face the past? Although some of it can be explained generationally, she replies, as people died off, “that won’t do the trick, as we’ve seen in the United States. And as we’ve seen in Britain where, you know, time has gone by, and people like falling back on national myths of greatness.” In part, she believes the Auschwitz trials marked a moment of change in which the burgeoning of mass travel connected ordinary Germans with other worldviews and there was an emergence of books by Holocaust survivors. She also notes the importance of 1968, “a moment for confronting parents and teachers … and there was a sense of a sudden real wave of disgust and rebellion: what have you done?”

Neiman is also at pains to point out that this work was done more quickly and more effectively in East Germany – much of which went unnoticed because of the relentless focus on West German attempts at rehabilitation. “Whenever you say anything good about East Germany,” she says, “immediately somebody jumps up and says, ‘My God, you’re a Stalinist … ’ I’m not defending everything about it, of course. But I laboured on the chapter that talks about the east. I fact-checked it; I had somebody else fact-check it. I knew that I was going to get a lot of flak for that. But in the beginning, East Germany did a better job. They just did. On every level: in terms of bringing old Nazis to trial, in terms of teaching the period in schools, in terms of building monuments, and restoring concentration camps and making them educational.” Meanwhile, the west was so busy fighting a new conflict – “old Nazis were the best people to fight the cold war” – that efforts at serious denazification went by the board.

As one might expect from a philosopher – especially one who has side-stepped the academy to work across disciplines – Neiman is fascinating and potent on how the Holocaust has functioned on multiple planes, and primarily as an example of pure evil that, by consequence, allows other societies to divert attention from their own misdeeds. “Nothing else even comes close to it. And if you haven’t done that, well, then you’re doing fairly well … you know, it’s as if we would like to have a large black hole that says, this is where you put evil and we don’t have to look at it.”

She has, she says, been shocked by the lack of knowledge in Britain about the Nazi period, which naturally leads us into a conversation about the fondness of rightwing politicians for invoking the glories of the war, “this nostalgia for the empire that you see all over the place with Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg and I suppose Boris Johnson too ... As if the empire really was a wonderful thing, as if it brought nothing but civilisation to the rest of the world.”

***

In the New York Times review of Neiman’s book by Deborah E. Lipstadt, we read:

For two decades after World War II, Germany — East and West – practiced “moral myopia.” Communist East Germany claimed that since it was a postwar antifascist state and all the former Nazis were in West Germany (they were not), it bore no responsibility for genocide. West Germans, in Neiman’s words, “from dogcatcher to diplomat,” falsely insisted that only the Third Reich’s leadership knew of the mass murder. “Our men were gallant fighters, not criminals,” one German told her. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer appointed former Nazis to some of the government’s highest jobs, thus telegraphing the message that, on a personal level, all was forgiven. Even the reparation process, Neiman says, was “meanspirited and arduous.” Auschwitz survivors received a smaller pension than former SS guards and their widows. Simply put, Germans, East and West, refused to articulate the words: I was guilty.

What changed? In the late 1960s West German children and grandchildren of Nazis began to struggle with their families’ crimes. Having watched the televised Eichmann and Auschwitz trials, and inspired by student protests sweeping Europe, young Germans demanded an honest account of past wrongs. That confrontation with history, while hardly complete and now under attack from right-wing forces, remains far more extensive and honest, Neiman says, than anything that occurred in the United States regarding slavery and discrimination.

Born and raised in the South, Neiman moved from Berlin to Mississippi to research this fascinating book. She actively sought people and institutions engaged in “remembering.” She found eerie similarities between the response of the first generations of postwar Germans to their evil past and the response of many Americans, particularly Southerners, to theirs. Many of her Southern informants echoed Germany’s post-World War II mantra. Nobody was in the slave business. Southerners just bought what Northern ship captains sold them. Slavery was unconnected to the Civil War. The conflict was all about taxes.

Neiman notes that while Germany’s past no longer immunizes it against resurgent nationalism and anti-Semitism, there is in the heart of Berlin a memorial to the six million Jews murdered by Germans. “A nation that erects a monument of shame for the evils of its history in its most prominent space is a nation that is not afraid to confront its own failures.” While a museum dedicated to the African-American experience has opened in the heart of Washington, recent expressions of racism not just from the highest office in this land but also from many politicians, pundits and ordinary people suggest that America’s confrontation with its legacy of slavery and racial hatred is far from complete.

Many Americans, in the South and the North, insist that Confederate monuments are historical artifacts that simply honor the region’s history and its loyal defenders. They ignore the fact that most were built 50 years after the war, when the children of the Confederacy were creating the myth of a noble lost cause. Others were erected during the 1960s in protest of the civil rights movement.

How We See the Past Affects Our Behavior Today

If we revise history so that we whitewash brutality in the name of some kind of mythic racial glorification, which is the Lost Cause, then we worship statues of brutal slave-holders who ruthlessly championed the gospel of slavery. This is happening in America today with people giving great sentiment to Confederate iconography, embracing the Lost Cause, and championing the Great Replacement Theory.