English 1C
Essay 1: How to Think
How to Think
Backfire Effect, and “Unfollow”
See Atlantic critique of binary thinking.
Essay 2: God and Morality, Opioids, Arming Teachers, Democracy and Epistocracy
Option One: Elizabeth Anderson: Do We Need God to Believe in Right and Wrong?
Option Two: Andrew Sullivan talks about opioid epidemic.
Option Three. Arming schools and gun culture
See John Oliver discuss NRA. And Oliver’s more recent video. And most recent John Oliver video.
See NYT critique of comparing America to Australia.
Gun Culture and white privilege in Atlantic
David French defends gun culture: Any counterarguments?
Option Four. Defend, refute, or complicate Jason Brennan’s claim that traditional American democracy should be replaced by an epistocracy. The texts for this option are online. You can refer to John Oliver video on Alex Jones.
Brennan critique from Notre Dame
Brennan review from Washington Post
Option Five: See Tristan Harris’ argument about how social media hijacks our brains.
See Tristan Harris video.
Essay Three: Smartphone generation, AA effective treatment for addiction, Facebook, Fallacies of Happiness
Option 1: Option 3: Smartphone Ruining Generation essay.
Option 2: Her Best Kept Secret; teach with her Atlantic essay about dogma of AA. (teach in 1A?)
Option 3: Facebook and democracy. Develop an argumentative thesis about Facebook and American democracy. Consult the following:
“Facebook Cares Only About Facebook.”
What Facebook Did to American Democracy
How Teens in Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters with Fake News
Social Media Is Making Democracy Less Democratic
Economist: Social Media Nemesis to Democracy
Facebook trying to correct their bad ways.
Also a related topic: We may be heading for an information apocalypse.
Option 4: Address the claim that happiness is a deception that often leads to moral bankruptcy in the context of the two stories: Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and Chekhov’s “Gooseberries.” See analysis by George Saunders. Also consult John Oliver video about child labor for clothing. And compare to “Shipping Out.”
The self-indulgent man is not happy.
Happiness is a drug, a delusion, a Faustian Bargain, a mindless descent into ecstasy, a loss of control, a chimera, a misguided passion. There are different types of happiness, George Saunders tells us, in his Atlantic essay.
Essay Four. Gourmet food in colleges; David Brooks and social mobility, Twitter mob, UBI
Option 1: Has Malcolm Gladwell been intellectually dishonest by presenting a “moral problem” about a college that serves gourmet food?
“How Malcolm Gladwell Choked on College Food”
Bowdoin college rips Malcolm Gladwell
“Should Colleges Serve Crappy Food on Purpose?”
Option 2: Address the claim that David Brooks’ essay “How We Are Ruining America” uses deception and logical fallacies to arrive at an erroneous conclusion.
Consider the real reason for educational inequality is not a lack of tests, a smokescreen to the real problem, but the privileges of the top economic tier discussed in David Brooks' essay "How We Are Ruining America."
Slate critique of Brooks' essay.
Slate's Osita Nwanevu writes "David Brooks Almost Gets It" as a response to Brooks' infamous essay.
“It’s Not the Fault of the Sandwich Shop: Readers Debate”
Option 3: Develop an argument about Rachel Dolezal. Is her black identity an expression of individual freedom that should be embraced or a work of fraud that should be condemned? See Buzzfeed Essay List.
Cass Two. Jack Phillips debate in NYT, LA Times, National Review, and The Atlantic
Option 4: Twitter Mob
Defend, refute, or complicate Jon Ronson’s claim that Justine Sacco was unfairly demonized by social media, which creates a failure of critical thinking. See Big Think, Rolling Stone interview with Jon Ronson; Guardian article about how Jon Ronson was targeted and demonized; Washington Post article about how Sacco is “wrong poster child.” See Jon Ronson’s Ted Talk. Also see “Excesses of Call-Out Culture” in Atlantic
Option 5: UBI
Option 1: Support, refute, or complicate the argument that radical changes in the job market over the next 20 years due to robots and high-tech will compel country's to provide their citizens with a Universal Basic Income.
Vox argues UBI hurts the elderly.
A brief history of Universal Basic Income in The New Yorker.
Arguments in Support of Universal Basic Income (UBI)
One. 47% of the jobs will be lost in the next 10-20 years. We have a new paradigm that requires a new way of providing a livelihood to our citizens.
Two. UBI, which is a monthly stipend to everyone regardless of income, would be nearly a trillion dollars cheaper a year than current welfare system.
Three. UBI would eliminate need for minimum wage. Lower minimum wage would encourage more hiring.
Four. Because UBI doesn't give more money for children, UBI doesn't reward one lifestyle over another.
Five. Citizens would have more time and resources to train and get educated for more career options presuming they used their time and money wisely.
Six. Most stay-at-home parents are women who have not been justly paid for their domestic work over the centuries. UBI would help remedy that injustice.
Seven. UBI gives citizens an escape valve from an abusive job or relationship. Having guaranteed money makes it easier to bail when you have to. "This is jacked up, man. I've got to bail."
Eight. 13K a year isn't so much that you would be content to retire in your house. Most people would want at the very least to supplement their meager income with part-time or full-time work. More enterprising citizens would use their free time and money for education and job re-training.
Nine. UBI would eliminate welfare abuses and welfare fraud because UBI spells the death of welfare as we know it.
Ten. Providing for the citizens with UBI would lessen the risk of the kind of discontent that leads to nationalist nativism, a racist political movement that makes one ethnic tribe hate on immigrants as scapegoats for the country's woes.
Eleven. Addressing the counterargument that not having to work would make us lazy depressed slobs, some would argue that technology is forcing us to change and adapt. Just as coal workers are inevitably going to become extinct in the next century, we must adapt to a new employment landscape. We must either adapt or die. We must not be chained to our "Calvinism hangover," the deeply American notion that work is salvation and unemployment is a sign of sin and depravity.
Twelve. The rich know they have to share their wealth because the throng with torches and pitchforks will be knocking on their doors. In other words, UBI is much needed pacifier, a form of social control that augments the safety of the rich.
Thirteen. The open debate about UBI--the biggest debate--is the philosophical question about the nature of work. Some say UBI will kill work and that without work people will descend into depression and pathology. Others say we will adapt to this new economic landscape. One argument in favor of UBI is that even if we don't know the answer to this question definitively, we HAVE NO CHOICE but to adapt to a world where close to 50% of jobs will be lost.
Fourteen. Technology will change the human animal on a chemical level and we will be able to adapt to the new work environment as evidenced by Elon Musk's exploration into his new neural lace company. Such technologies will make us smarter and more adaptive as human beings.
Fifteen. Even if we concede that not working will turn us into lazy bums, that is the lesser evil of the economic injustice social chaos resulting from not having UBI.
Arguments Against Universal Basic Income (UBI)
One. A dependent society is a dysfunctional society. Dependence, in other words, leads to laziness.
Two. A lack of self-reliance diseases the soul and corrupts society. The dependent will drag down the producers.
Three. Acute dependence leads to totalitarianism and dehumanization. Once you take a government handout, you become vulnerable to the government's control over every part of your life. See The Giver.
Four. Acute dependence breaks down the family unit. Parents aren't responsible for their children; the government is. Why stick to your family, when you don't rely on them?
Five. Being "off the grid" makes one chronically depressed, non-productive, and unemployable. Our identity and sense of well being is tied to having a job.
Six. There is no increment for children. Why not? Because you're not encouraged to have children to get more. Some find this a form of lifestyle control. Others like it.
Seven. The estimated 13K a year isn't enough though some say that still puts people in the top 12% of all global earners.
Eight. Unless all countries had equal UBI, the more desirable UBI countries would be a magnet for people of other countries who'd swarm into "healthy UBI" countries to bilk their system.
Nine. UBI is giving 15% of average national income. This would require tax revenue of 15% of national income. That is too much tax, some say, for such a small income.
Consult the following:
Universal Basic Income: Side Effect of the Tech Revolution?
The Progressive Case for Replacing the Welfare State with Basic Income
We can afford UBI, but is it a good idea?
Why Universal Basic Income Is a Terrible Idea
A Primer or Introduction to Universal Basic Income
Economist gives us an introduction to UBI.
Psychology Change Needed for Universal Basic Income
Arguments for Universal Basic Income
3 Reasons for Universal Basic Income from Brookings Institute
Pro-Work Argument for UBI
Washington Post article that argues UBI won't make America great again.
Challenging the American Work Ethic
There is a notion in America, from the beginning of its European history, that being a hard worker means being noble, virtuous, and successful.
The contrary is also assumed: If you're poor and unemployed, your life is evidence that you are a member of the damned. You are morally depraved and bankrupt.
This notion comes from a form of Protestantism called Calvinism. John Calvin said evidence of being a member of God's elect was being a hard worker. German philosopher Max Weber said this became the "Protestant Work Ethic," the fuel of American capitalism.
Read "The Protestant Work Ethic Is Real"
Perhaps the American Work Ethic is Based on Unexamined Opinions
Inherited opinions: These are opinions that are imprinted on us during our childhood. Robert Atwan writes they come from “family, culture, traditions, customs, regions, social institutions, or religion.”
Involuntary opinions: These are the opinions that result from direct indoctrination and inculcation (learning through repetition). If we grow up in a family that teaches us that eating pork is evil, then we won’t eat at other people’s homes that serve that porcine dish.
Considered opinions. Atwan writes, “These are opinions we have formed as a result of firsthand experience, reading, discussion and debate, or independent thinking and reasoning. These opinions are formed from direct knowledge and often from exposure and considering other opinions.”
Some questions to consider about the work ethic for your UBI paper:
Should we really have a work ethic for menial, repetitive jobs that reduce us to human routers?
Don't jobs prevent us from spending time on our real interests and passions?
Have we been brainwashed by the Protestant Work Ethic so that we are contented "rabbit workers" for our employers?
Support, refute, or complicate the argument that radical changes in the job market over the next 20 years due to robots and high-tech will compel country's to provide their citizens with a Universal Basic Income. Consult the following:
Big Think video (7 minutes)
The Nation asks if UBI could work
Arguments For and Against in Futurist
Case for and against in Vox
UBI rejected in the Federalist
Dissent calls UBI a false promise
Argument That UBI would increase poverty
Washington Post refutation of UBI
Guardian defends UBI with reference to Finland
“Why Don’t We Have Universal Basic Income?” in New Yorker
“Is Free Money the Answer?” in the NYT
“Future of Not Working” in NYT magazine
“Why Finland’s Basic Income Experiment Is Not Working”
“Free Money at the Edge of the Tech Boom” in Atlantic
Universal Basic Income: Side Effect of the Tech Revolution?
The Progressive Case for Replacing the Welfare State with Basic Income
Why Universal Basic Income Is a Terrible Idea
Arguments Against Universal Basic Income (UBI)
One. A dependent society is a dysfunctional society.
Two. A lack of self-reliance diseases the soul and corrupts society.
Three. Acute dependence leads to totalitarianism and dehumanization. See The Giver.
Four. Acute dependence breaks down the family unit. Parents aren't responsible for their children; the government is.
Five. Being "off the grid" makes one chronically depressed, non-productive, and unemployable.
Essay 5. Lifeboat Ethics, Winter Dreams, genetic modification, education
Option 1: Address the claim that Garrett Hardin’s essay “Lifeboat Ethics” relies on logical fallacies to arrive at erroneous public policy conclusions.
Option 2: Support, refute, or complicate the claim that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams” is about a woman, Judy Jones, who destroys the life of Dexter Green and therefore he has no agency or free will to control the outcome of his empty existence.
Option 3: Address the claim that genetic modification technology is growing so quickly that we don’t have the moral capacity to address the moral problems that such technology creates.
See film Gattaca. See “Case Against Human Gene Editing”; Pro and Con
More pros and cons from Business Insider
"Building Baby from the Genes Up"
One of your lessons for Winter Dreams.
Here’s an earlier lesson for Winter Dreams.
Option 4: Address the claim that parents are morally obliged to send their children to racially integrated schools. See “Choosing School for My Daughter in a Segregated City” and “Are Private Schools Immoral?”
Option 5: Argument about private and public schools in The Atlantic.
Option 6: See the value of education to Atlantic essay “The World Might be Better Off Without College for Everyone” by Bryan Caplan.
Essay 5:
Option 2: Happiness is a deception that often leads to moral bankruptcy in the context of the two stories: Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and compare to theme of happiness in Chekhov’s “Gooseberries.” Address analysis by George Saunders. Also consult John Oliver video about child labor for clothing.
Option 2: Support, refute, or complicate Conor Friedersdor’s assertion in “Why Can’t People Hear What Jordan Peterson Is Saying?” that straw man arguments corrupt our ability to think fairly about contentious ideas.
Rejected Material Follows
Option 2: Class Two. Show 5-minute spanking debate video on Steve Harvey. Spanking Debate; see Stacey Patton’s “Stop Beating Black Children.” See “What If Spanking Works?” in the Boston Globe. See “The Debate on Spanking Is Short on Science, High on Emotion.”
Class Three. “Winter Dreams” (and Dombeck’s Emptiness?)
Class Four. “The Other Woman” by Sherwood Anderson
Class Five.
“Cat Person” and the Impulse to Undermine Woman’s Fiction
How the Internet Can Ruin Fiction
Week 3 Lifeboat Ethics in context of “Choosing School for My Daughter in a Segregated City”--see below
One. Five. What Facebook Did to American Democracy
How Teens in Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters with Fake News
Social Media Is Making Democracy Less Democratic
Economist: Social Media Nemesis to Democracy
Two. “Cat Person” or “Why Happy People Cheat” and “Lady with the Pet Dog” moral absolutism and moral relativism
Four. “Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner” or College Should Not be for Everyone.
Five.
Three. Essay 5:
Blood at the Root? Or teach in 1A?
Dwight Garner review is helpful
Blood at the Root and this NYT review
Addressing Linda Gordon’s The Second Coming of the KKK and any Andrew Marantz New Yorker article about the Alt-Right, develop a thesis that address the claim that while many of us would like to believe that the KKK ideology is a fringe movement, that it is actually connected to American society in a way that makes us vulnerable to its racist abuses.
Class Three: Colin Kaepernick. See NYT, Eric Reid,Vox, New Yorker, Atlantic, The Ringer, Inside NFL Debate video, Politico, and consider the fallacies of “universal love.”
Class 4: Develop an argumentative essay about Chekhov’s “The Bet” and read provided comments for material for your argument.
Class 5: Compare story from Tim O’Brien’s July, July with Gogol’s “The Overcoat.”
Classes Four and Five. Support, refute, or complicate David Benatar’s nihilistic argument for his anti-natalist view of willful extinction. David Benatar’s case against procreation and “The Case for Not Being Born.” See Benatar interview. See critical study PDF. See Reason review of Benatar’s book. See New Yorker article. And see the following: Strange Viral Saga of Keaton Jones as an exercise in failed critical thinking.
Option 1: Argument about Erik Killmonger
See Guardian
See Washington Post
See Forbes
See The Ringer
(Does Killmonger represent an justified or misguided ideology?)
Option 2: Should we arm teachers? Here’s related essay from Slate: https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/02/im-a-teacher-who-went-through-firearm-training-and-it-was-an-absurd-disaster.html
From Andrew Marantz:
“Birth of a White Supremacist”
“The Alt-Right Branding War Has Torn the Party in Two”
“Is Trump Trolling the White House Press Corps?”
Comments