3-25 Homework #7 Due. We will look at the essay option for David Brooks’ Atlantic essay “People Like Us.” Homework #8 is to read “Is a Surrogate a Mother?” by Michelle Goldberg write a 3-paragraph essay that explains by commercial surrogacy is rife with legal problems.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2016/02/custody_case_over_triplets_in_california_raises_questions_about_surrogacy.html
3-27 Homework #8 is due about surrogacy. For Homework #9, read Julia Belluz’s “We’re barely using the best tool we have to fight obesity” and write a 3-paragraph essay that defends bariatric surgery.
4-1 Homework #9 Due: We will look at the pros and cons of bariatric surgery. We will also examine Harlan Coben’s essay “The Undercover Parent” and support, refute, or complicate Coben’s contention that parents should install spyware on their children’s computers. For Homework #10, read Linda Tirado’s famous blog post “This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense” and Derek Thompson’s “Your Brain on Poverty” and in a 3-paragraph essay analyze the validity of their claim that poverty is a vicious cycle of helplessness and victimization.
4-3 Peer Edit for Essay #3 and Portfolio Part 1 up to Homework #10
4-15 Essay #3 Due
"People Like Us" and companion piece: "These Are the Americans Who Live in a Bubble" by Emma Green
One. What is Tribalism?
Tribalism is the human instinct to gather in groups that are like us in terms of culture, identity, values, education, economic level, religious beliefs, and political worldview.
We feel more comfortable, less anxious, more connected, more accepted in our tribe. Our tribe also gives us a sense of meaning and reinforces our values and beliefs.
Two. Types of Tribalism
Education Level
Zip Code
Sartorial (fashion)
Hipster
Racial Identity
Politics
Age or generation
Hobbits (comfort seekers who live in ignorance)
Hooligans (purveyors of fake news and fascist politics)
Vulcans (educated, rational thinkers)
Middle-Class Aesthetics and Values (neighborhood rules and regulations about house, lawn, decorations, etc)
Cable TV
Social Media friends
Social Media news feed loop
Causes of Tribalism
Cognitive Bias and Groupthink
People sacrifice their critical thinking skills and create a subjective social reality by filtering information based on pre-conceived biases.
Their biases compel them to seek evidence and reasoning that confirm and reinforce their biases while they avoid evidence that challenges and contradicts their biases. Over time, their subjective social reality crystalizes until it becomes almost impervious to any kind of challenges from the outside. They in effect live in an indestructible bubble.
Naturally, cognitive bias compels people to seek others who are like-minded. As a result, societies exist as tribalistic clusters instead of diverse groups.
Desires to be in Tribe
One. What explains our hunger for sameness in terms of the people we surround ourselves with?
Anxiety and Disconnection Vs. Belonging
We’re anxious and alienated from “people who aren’t like us.” We’d rather feel connection and comfort from being with “members of our tribe,” be it in education, politics, class aspirations, etc. We want to be around people who share our values and our way of seeing the world.
Such tribalism is both comforting and effective in making us happy.
Such tribalism appeals to our ego: "We're right, and the people we hang out with confirm that we are right."
We're Attached to Our Cognitive Biases Than We Are Diversity of Thought
Here’s the killer fact we don’t want to confront: We’re happier by remaining in our tribe. We don’t want to be around people who don’t share our values.
Why?
Because we are hard-wired to be self-segregating based on interests and values.
If we’re hipsters, we want to live in a community of hipsters.
If we’re suburban consumers, we want to be around suburban consumers.
If we’re creative, we want to be around a community of artists.
People who shop at Trader Joe’s are of a certain educated and political ilk.
People who shop at Whole Foods are of a certain educated and political ilk.
People who don’t vaccinate their children hang out with other likeminded parents.
People who watch Fox News hang out with Fox News viewers.
People who watch MSNBC hang with MSNBC viewers.
People who like luxury watches create online watch communities.
The Internet with its millions of blogs is all about consolidating people of common interests. The same can be said with YouTube and its over 500 million channels.
If you’re a college graduate the chances are your friends will be college graduates.
If you’re not college educated, the chances are your friends won’t be either.
If you’re fat, your friends probably are also.
If you’re skinny, your friends probably are also.
If you're beautiful, your friends probably also enjoy a fair amount of pulchritude.
If you’re an MMA fighter or enthusiast, your friends probably are also.
If you’re a vegan, so are your friends.
If you’re sympathetic to civil rights and equal justice, you probably don’t have friends who harbor racist views.
If you’re against guns, you probably don’t hang out with outspoken members of the NRA.
If you’re an atheist, especially an outspoken one, you probably don’t have a lot of Christian friends.
If you think skinny jeans on men look stupid, you probably don’t have a lot of male friends who wear skinny jeans.
Foodies hang out with foodies.
Coffee connoisseurs hang out with coffee connoisseurs.
Gamers hang out with gamers.
Sommeliers hang out with sommeliers.
If you're a gourmand who gorges on camembert, you probably hang out with other gourmands who wallow in camembert.
If you're a member of the cognoscenti, you probably hang out exclusively with other members of the cognoscenti.
If you're a Morrissey freak, you probably hang out with other Morrissey freaks.
We want to live in a bubble with people just like us. We feel comfortable being insulated from the “outside world.”
So let’s get real: There is no diversity. There’s only sameness.
Writing Option
One. Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us” (very popular with students). Is it a good thing, a bad thing, both? Explain.
Approaching Writing Assignment as Argument
Listing the causes of tribalism is too easy and leads to a mediocre essay. Instead, focus on an argumentative essay that answers the question: Is tribalism good for us? It tribalism both good and bad? Explain.
First Sample Outline
Paragraphs 1 and 2, your introduction: For your introduction, get your reader's attention by contrasting your tribe with a tribe you would never belong to. You should be very specific and use humor to get reader's attention. You might write about hipsters, jaded millennials, yoga fanatics, foodies, survivors of some dysfunctional unit or other. You can come up with the term of the tribes involved.
You might even address our society's separation by looking at hooligans, hobbits, and Vulcans.
Or you might carve out a new tribe: Ashamed Rich Kids who wear hobo dreads and, avoiding bathing, pretend they're homeless even though you recently saw them driving a Mercedes to their palatial estate.
Paragraph 3, your thesis: Write an argumentative thesis.
Paragraphs 4-7 would be your supporting paragraphs.
Paragraph 8 would be your counterargument-rebuttal paragraph
Paragraph 9 is your conclusion.
We are tribalists second. We are creatures of opportunity first.
In Southern California, 63% of citizens are renters. 37% are homeowners.
In Southern California, the median income is nearly 70K, which can afford 8% of available houses.
We live in places based on income, not tribe. Tribe comes after the fact.
McMahon's Contrary Thesis or Refutation of David Brooks' Thesis
While I agree with David Brooks that we are tribalistic by nature, I reject his tribalism argument because his claim obfuscates a deeper truth that economic stratification, not tribalism, determines where we gather; we are less creatures of tribalism and more creatures of opportunity; our tribalistic values are not set in stone but as flexible as the financial opportunities we possess; we belong to the tribe as a symptom of the core cause, opportunity.
Student Refutation of Tribalism as Evidenced in David Brooks' "People Like Us"
A student's best friend is not from her "tribe." Her friend is from a completely different tribe, and this makes the student reject the implication from Brooks' essay that we must "stick to our tribe" to maximize our sense of security, belonging, and happiness.
Argument
Tribalism, the instinct to "stick to one's kind," is a disease of the toothy, pinch-faced peasant doomed to a life of hyper-conformity, claustrophobic, oppressive traditions, close-mindedness, and blindness to the tribe's prejudices and other defects.
In contrast, a cosmopolitan, a student of the world, sees that integrity, values, and respect are not owned by one's tribe, but the individual. Therefore, we should value the individual, not the tribe.
Second Sample Outline for Refutation of Tribalism
Paragraph 1: Outline David Brooks' essay and explain the appeal of tribalism, that is to say living in communities of "people just like us."
Paragraph 2: Write about a close friend you have who is outside your tribe and explain the reasons for your closeness.
Paragraph 3, your thesis: Argue that while tribalism offers comfort and belonging, one must face that tribalism is larded with liabilities that compel us to reject tribalism in favor of cosmopolitanism, the belief that we are members of the world, not a closed tribe.
The liabilities of tribalism you might cover in your thesis' mapping components:
One. blind conformity
Two. complacency
Three. blindness to the tribe's flaws
Four. narcissism
Five. close-mindedness
Six. closed-off effect to rest of the world
Seven. diminished value of the individual in favor of the tribe
Eight. Traditional fallacy: valuing tradition for tradition's sake but no real justification
Counterarguments: Legit Reasons for Staying Within the Tribe
One. Being with people who share our values is our natural default setting.
Two. Being with people who share our values gives us a sense of belonging and greater happiness.
Three. Being with people who share our values gives us more communal trust and less stress.
Four. It's futile to exist with people who are our antithesis. For example, if you're an intellectual, do you want to associate with anti-intellectuals? If your a feminist, do you want to break bread with misogynists? If your passionately anti-racist, do you want to hang out with racists?
Fiction that refutes tribalism: H.G. Well's "The Country of the Blind"
Movie that refutes tribalism: The 1998 film Pleasantville.
Body Paragraphs 4-7
Counterargument-Rebuttal, paragraph 8
Conclusion, paragraph 9
Argumentative essay based on idea that Brooks is overreaching:
One. Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us” (very popular with students).
Consider these critiques of Brooks:
David Brooks speaks the truth, but his thesis is overreaching. Tribalism, the desire to live among "our kind," takes second seat to money and privilege:
If you have money, you want to live in luxury. You care less about the tribe that surrounds you in your new rich neighborhood.
If you have money, you move to rich neighborhood with better education opportunities (good schools) even if the people who attend those schools are repulsive snobs whom you wouldn't normally hang out with.
If you have money, you live in a safe place even if the neighbors aren't your ideal neighbors in terms of values.
If you have money, you move to a gated community with pools, security services, good schools, a well-oiled infrastructure. You don't think much about the tribe that lives in your neighborhood.
If you have money, you choose a neighborhood that has good technology (cable, data speed) rather than a tribe.
Tribalism is disappearing or taking a back seat to social media-induced depression or the social media zombie state.
The attention economy has stolen people's attention so they are too fragmented to belong to this or that tribe.
Social media has spelled the death of tribal identity because our attention is too fragmented to develop any kind of meaningful identity.
Tribalism Is Shrinking in Favor of Social-Media Driven Depression
In 1999, the movie The Matrix prophesied that the entire world would succumb to The Blue Pill, a form of brainless intoxication in which people disappeared into a cocoon of blissful ignorance.
2011 a Turning Point in History as Tribalism Shrinks in the Face of Social Media-Induced Dopamine Addition and Depression
The prophecy became evident in 2011 when the smartphone, an opium drip machine hooked to the brain 24/7, started to build critical mass.
Now people are losing their tribal roots in favor of Casual Nihilism, the narcissistic exercise of curating fraudulent facsimiles of one’s existence, of fragmenting one’s brain, and of being ignorant of the insidious despair that ensues.
Casual Nihilism is poison for the human individual to blossom and find the real bliss: focusing for long periods of time and working hard on one’s craft.
That Casual Nihilism has replaced Meaningful Work as the paradigm of modern life is a tragedy that will ensue unspeakable disasters, including the failure to detect fake news, the failure to know how to repel marketing and government manipulation, and the general failure to grow up and be a fully realized human being.
See YouTube video about how social media controls our brains. The video title is "You Will Wish You Watched This Before You Started Using Social Media."
Sample Thesis in the Age of Social Media
We live in a post-tribalism world where tribalism has been replaced by the Big Me, a universe of one where I am fragmented in my attention, depressed from dopamine overload and "digital dementia," miserable because even 20 million followers isn't enough to fill my empty soul, and too dysfunctional in my concentration skills to achieve or master any kind of craft that would give me a sense of meaning and purpose. Therefore, while David Brooks has a lot of truth in his essay about tribalism, much of society's tribalistic tendencies are now me-directed tendencies to the point that every person is a person unto himself.
5 Types of Claims
Thesis statements or claims go under five different categories:
One. Claims about solutions or policies: The claim argues for a certain solution or policy change:
The citizenry needs to organize and unite to force the issue of global warming because global warming is an existential crisis.
America's War on Drugs should be abolished and replaced with drug rehab.
America's War on Drugs is an ineffective and morally bankrupt policy evidenced by _____________, ____________, ________________, and _____________________.
Genetic editing needs regulation to keep the ascent of designer babies in the realm of health while not allowing genetic editing to become solely a consumer product.
As long as Americans refuse to do America's dirty work and as long as America relies on immigrant labor for billions of dollars in revenue, America must adopt a sane, moral, humanitarian immigration policy that gives rights, decency, and dignity to the immigrant labor it uses on a daily basis.
A critical thinking professor seen gorging shamelessly at one of those notorious all-you-can-eat buffets should be stripped of his accreditation and license to teach since such a display of gluttony evidences someone whose lifestyle contradicts the very critical thinking skills he is supposed to embody, such hypocrisy has no place in higher education, and educators in such high-profile positions must be sterling role models for their students and the public at large.
Two. Claims that critique the success, failure, or mixed results of a thing that is in the marketplace of art, ideas, and politics: a policy, dietary program, book, movie, work of art, philosophy, to name several.
Book Review
In her book iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us, author Jean Twenge attempts to analyze the causes of a dysfunctional generation, but her analysis lacks rigorous support, is larded with over simplifications, and ignores economic factors that are afflicting our youngest generation.
Jason Fung's The Obesity Code is an invaluable book for learning to incorporate a ketogenic (low-carb, high-fat diet) to regulate one's insulin, stave off diabetes 2, and live a more healthy, vibrant life.
Essay Critique
James Q. Wilson's polemic in favor of more access to guns is a catastrophe waiting to happen. If Wilson's gun laws are enacted, legal gun owners will kill innocent people in the line of fire, more and more legal guns will get into the hands of criminals, and the police will get so beefed up with guns and search and seizure policies that our country will turn into a military state.
Three. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that a person, thing, policy or event caused another event or thing to occur.
The desire for the death penalty resides in the child's fantasy that revenge can turn the tables, the delusion that sociopathic murderers will be deterred by the threat of capital punishment, and the primitive believe that society needs public spectacles of death in order to maintain the social order.
Notice in the above analysis of the causes behind some people's support of the death penalty there is an implicit argument against the death penalty.
Another Thesis Example
In spite of being proven grossly ineffective and even harmful to education, standardized testing remains the darling of administrators and politicians because it makes billions of dollars for the test makers, it provides a false bandage hiding deeper, systemic problems of structural inequality in education, and it makes know-nothing administrators and politicians feel like they doing something valuable when in fact the contrary is true.
Four. Claims of value: These claims argue how important something is on the Importance Scale and determine its proportion to other things.
Global warming poses a far greater threat to our safety than does terrorism.
Passive use of social media is having a more self-destructive effect on teenagers than alcohol and drugs.
Five. Claims of definition. These claims argue that we must re-define a common and inaccurate assumption.
In America the notion of "self-esteem," so commonly taught in schools, is, in reality, a cult of narcissism. While real self-esteem teaches self-confidence, discipline, and accountability, the fake American brand of self-esteem is about celebrating the low expectations of mediocrity, and this results in narcissism, vanity, and immaturity.
"Connecting" and "sharing" on social media does not create meaningful relationships because "connecting" and "sharing" are not the accurate words to describe what's going on. What is really happening is that people are curating and editing a false image while suffering greater and greater disconnection.
Narrowing Your Thesis
We need to write an analytical thesis with specific language, not broad.
General Thesis
Giving first graders homework is bad.
Specific Thesis
Giving first graders homework violates the spirit of education when the homework is simply busy work designed to make the teacher and parents feel less guilty, when the homework has no logical connection to what the children are learning in school, and when the amount of homework given puts undue pressure on overworked parents and sleep-deprived children.
General Thesis
Standardized testing is horrible.
Specific Thesis
Standardized testing must be abolished because it does not give an accurate measure of student learning outcomes, the tests are biased based on race and class, and because the profit motive continues to be more important than high standards and accountability.
General Thesis
The death penalty is a bad policy.
Specific Thesis
Even reasonable people can agree that the death penalty creates more problems than it allegedly solves because of racial discrimination in sentencing, the failure of deterrence in violent criminals, and cost of the costlier court costs.
Essay #2 Due on 10-3-18
For Essay #2, you need 2 credible sources minimum for your MLA format Works Cited page.
Option One: In the context of Debra Dickerson’s “The Great White Way,” develop a thesis that evaluates the assertion that race is not an objective reality but a malignant fabrication designed to enable a history of American kleptocracy in order to give power to one group and take away power from other groups. I recommend you consult the online essay “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Major Points
One. Definitions of race change over time to accommodate the power structure or power hierarchy.
Two. There is no biological definition of race. Race is a social construction and shows to be arbitrary over time.
Three. Being granted a white identity is like having a hall pass to privilege and money, so that southern Europeans, once denied white status, conformed to the "ways of whiteness" to get their privilege card.
Four. The racial hierarchy has worked in the service of a kleptocracy, a malevolent government that allows one group of people to steal from another.
Option Two. Compare the theme of kleptocracy in Debra Dickerson’s “The Great White Way” with Jordan Peele’s movie Get Out.
Option Three. In the context of Jamelle Bouie’s “Remembering History as Fable,” develop a thesis that evaluates the assertion that for many Americans the Civil War denies real history and replaces that real history with a pernicious mythology that perpetuates the false doctrine of white supremacy.
Major Points
One. Celebrations of evil, such as reenacting the days of slavery, are to find, but we have them in America because of the insidious tradition of narcissistic misinformation, the practice of massaging history to make your ancestors look good while obfuscating the evils they committed.
Two. Living off narcissistic mythologies designed to aggrandize one's ancestors obscures the sins of the past and therefore makes contrition, repentance, atonement and healing an impossibility. As a result, deep racial divisions will persist and fester.
Three. America's kleptocracy was rooted in slavery. Failure to acknowledge this evil in a country where only 38% of Americans know that the Civil War was a fight over slavery results in the perpetuation of the kleptocracy.
Four. Civil War reenactors want to have their cake and eat it to. They want to celebrate an evil time of their ancestors while denying that such evil ever existed. They engage in this tomfoolery by using a red herring, a distraction technique: "Our Civil War celebration isn't about slavery or racism; it's about honoring our white heritage." But there is no logic in this statement because to celebrate an evil institution and be too cowardly and too narcissistic to acknowledge the sins of your ancestors committed to uphold this institution is to show no honor at all, but to degrade yourself and to reveal the moral cesspool that roils inside you.
Option Four. In an essay of appropriate length, defend, refute, or complicate Cal Newport’s argument from his book excerpt (available online) from So Good They Can't Ignore You that the Passion Hypothesis is dangerous and should be replaced by the craftsman mindset.
Major Points
One. The PH is dangerous because it distracts us from the craftsman mindset, which values building the Tedium Muscle to achieve a high level of excellence. Without the Tedium Muscle, which is impeded by constant social media and smartphone activity, there is no excellence or success in any job. The Tedium Muscle requires long chunks of time in complete isolation and laser-focused concentration.
Two. The PH is a trap because it seduces us into believing in the myth of a dream job: That there is a dream job waiting out there for me like low-hanging fruit. I just need to match this dream job with my personality.
Three. The PH is misleading because is distracts us from the truth about successful people: They didn't follow their passion; rather, their career origins are a complex mix of serendipity (good fortune and good timing), hard work, mentorship, and passion that came AFTER they developed a baseline of expertise in their craft.
Four. The PH is a bunk because a lot of young people haven't developed enough of a skill set in a subject matter to even know what their passion may or not be.
Five. The PH is bunk because passions are capricious, whimsical, impulsive, and too often short-lived.
Option Five. Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us.”
Correct the faulty parallelism by rewriting the sentences below.
One. Parenting toddlers is difficult for many reasons, not the least of which is that toddlers contradict everything you ask them to do; they have giant mood swings and all-night tantrums.
Parenting toddlers is difficult for many reasons, not the least of which is that toddlers contradict everything you ask them to do, they have giant mood swings, and they have all-night tantrums.
Two. You should avoid all-you-can-eat buffets: They encourage gluttony; they feature fatty, over-salted foods and high sugar content.
You should avoid all-you-can-eat buffets: They encourage gluttony, they feature fatty, over-salted foods, and the lard everything with sugar.
Three. I prefer kettlebell training at home than the gym because of the increased privacy, the absence of loud “gym” music, and I’m able to concentrate more.
I prefer kettlebell training at home than the gym because of the increased privacy, the absent gym music, and the improved concentration.
Four. To write a successful research paper you must adhere to the exact MLA format, employ a variety of paragraph transitions, and writing an intellectually rigorous thesis.
To write a successful research paper you must adhere to the exact MLA format, employ a variety of paragraph transitions, and write an intellectually rigorous thesis.
Five. The difficulty of adhering to the MLA format is that the rules are frequently being updated, the sheer abundance of rules you have to follow, and to integrate your research into your essay.
The difficulty of adhering to the MLA format is that the rules are frequently being updated, the rules are hard to follow, and the MLA in-text citations are difficult to master.
Six. You should avoid watching “reality shows” on TV because they encourage a depraved form of voyeurism; they distract you from your own problems and their brain-dumbing effects.
You should avoid watching "reality shows" because they encourage a depraved form of voyeurism, they distract you from your own problems, and they dumb you down.
Seven. I’m still fat even though I’ve tried the low-carb diet, the Paleo diet, the Rock-in-the-Mouth diet, and fasting every other day.
I'm still fat even though I've tried the low-carb diet, the Paleo diet, the Rock-in-the-Mouth diet, and the fasting diet.
Eight. To write a successful thesis, you must have a compelling topic, a sophisticated take on that topic, and developing a thesis that elevates the reader’s consciousness to a higher level.
To write a successful thesis, you must have a compelling topic, a sophisticated take on that topic, and a thesis that elevates the reader's consciousness to a higher level.
Nine. Getting enough sleep, exercising daily, and the importance of a positive attitude are essential for academic success.
Getting enough sleep, exercising daily, and maintaining a positive attitude are essential for academic success.
Ten. My children never react to my calm commands or when I beg them to do things.
My children never react to my calm commands or my lugubrious supplications.
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