A Sense of Doubt blog post #1653 - Writing about injustice - for Concordia University - Essay One

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1653 - Writing about injustice - for Concordia University - Essay One

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

So, once again the school posts are starting. Here's content that I plan to teach on Friday the 30th.

I will start by asking students to help me uncover what they already know about the aspects or elements of essays and then what they know specifically of argument/persuasive essays. Then we will delve into the meat of the matter (because meat is murder) and get them on the launch pad to start their own work.

Here's what I am asking of my students to start our argument essay.

Let's brainstorm injustices.

With most injustices, someone is arguing for a change to the way things are now because the status quo is unjust. In some cases, like gun control, opponents want things to remain the same while even acknowledging tragedies abounding.

Students should decide how to argue their injustice, but it's best to explore and brainstorm and choose a good one. Suggestions for brainstorming and searching follow.

For next week's class, I want students to select an injustice and then find an OPINION column that addresses that injustice (from any position, which does not have to be the same as the student's viewpoint).

STIPULATION: The opinion column cannot be older than 2015. And so even if the issue is not new or does not have new life, it must be tied to some current event, current argument someone has made, or at least a recent writing on the subject.

Then, I want the student to bring to class a one paragraph explanation of why they care about this injustice, what way they might argue it, how the source argues it, and the data about the source.

In class, I will list all the injustices and veto any that for some reason are not viable choices. For those not vetoed, we will attempt to focus the idea if needed. Then, we will brainstorm some of the elements for an argument regarding that subject. What parts? What topics? What data might be needed? And so on.

So, here's how we do the searching...


First, I searched for "Injustice" which brings up a DC Comics video game and comic book.

So, I refined my search and tried "injustices in the world today." This search worked better.

Top 5 Injustices in our world today

• Abuse. Top 5 Injustices in our world today.
• Gender- Unequality. Starvation.
• Sermon. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” ...
• Racism. Everyone around the world has a gift from God, this could be anything such as being smart, athletic, social out going and many more. ...
• Poverty.

And, I found this:

https://www.inc.com/business-insider/worlds-top-10-problems-according-millennials-world-economic-forum-global-shapers-survey-2017.html

10. Lack of economic opportunity and employment (12.1%)

9. Safety / security / wellbeing (14.1%)

8. Lack of education (15.9%)

7. Food and water security (18.2%)

6. Government accountability and transparency / corruption (22.7%) 

5. Religious conflicts (23.9%)

4. Poverty (29.2%)

3. Inequality (income, discrimination) (30.8%)

2. Large scale conflict / wars (38.9%)

1. Climate change / destruction of nature (48.8%)

AND same thing with pictures


https://www.businessinsider.com/world-economic-forum-world-biggest-problems-concerning-millennials-2016-8#9-safety-security-well-being-141-2

But can we do better? Sure.

I like this one a lot better:

https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/6-global-issues-to-watch-2019/

1. CLIMATE CHANGE REALITY TAKES HOLD – WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMBITION?

2. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AT FOUR YEARS: TAKING STOCK

3. WALKING THE WALK ON FINANCING A BETTER FUTURE

4. A MORE MODERN AND EFFECTIVE UN

5. OVERCOMING INEQUALITIES AND DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS

6. RESPONDING TO HUMANITARIAN CRISES

But still, so grandiose.


How about....

Global warming
Gun Control
Net Neutrality
LBGTQ rights (marriage etc.)
Cyber-bullying
Animal abuse
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Illegal Immigration
Right to Healthcare
#Metoo (sexual assault)
Student Loan Debt
Violence against women in media
Sex Trafficking
Black Lives Matter
Hate Has No Home Here
College athletes should earn a but of the profits

AND FROM this list, I went searching for opinion columns:

Racial injustice in America is worse than you thought

or

Sexual violence should never be the goal of a video game
and some background...
What happens to boys who kill women in video games
or

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1591 - Why it's Fair to Compare the Detention Centers to Concentration Camps
or

#MeToo Has Done What the Law Could Not
Try our Library if you hit pay wall


The unintended consequences of the #MeToo movement


Another way to find a subject is to look at sites that routinely publish opinions and are not restricted by a pay wall.


https://slate.com/                             https://www.vox.com/                         https://heavy.com/

https://www.salon.com/                   https://medium.com/matter                 https://medium.com/

https://www.bitchmedia.org/            https://www.vice.com/en_us               https://arstechnica.com/

https://reason.com/                            https://rethinkmedia.org/                     https://www.wired.com/


And many others...


check this:

George Zimmerman not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

I was appalled to learn that a jury would acquit George Zimmerman.

David Simon, creator of The Wire, who runs a very interesting blog called The Audacity of Despair wrote that he felt "ashamed to be an American" or rather that's how a news service sort of misquoted him. Specifically, he wrote: "anyone who truly understands what justice is and what it requires of a society is ashamed to call himself an American" (Simon, 2013).

Simon's most recent post on the Trayvon Martin case refers back to his original post and a second post that generated over 500 responses of fascinating debate, which is by and large, mostly, unedited. This and his other posts plus the comments are worth reading.

from -
https://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/2018/10/hey-mom-talking-to-my-mother-1126-t.html



SOME OF MY INJUSTICE POSTS

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1081 - Children at the Border

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #371 - I am not afraid of the police; but maybe you should be
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1126 - T-Shirt Reprint: WWKD - People Dying, Bigots, Get me Captain Kirk!

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1577 - It's not getting better - Women in Video Games
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #631 - #PinkOut - We Stand with Planned Parenthood; We Fight Back
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1622 - AFROPUNK: OUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD!

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #815 - White Privilege and sports protests
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #1129 - America is Waiting - again - a music mix and commentary content

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1348 - Maya, Matangi, MIA

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #864 - Patriots of the Highest Order

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #861 - Big companies want to ELIMINATE privacy online

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #835 - How Google and Facebook failed us

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #807 - #Resist #Resistance #NationalParkProtect

GUNS, MURDERS, AND MASS SHOOTINGS

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1629 - WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Too Many Shootings...

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #975 - More on Guns, Trump, and toxic America

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #957 - Gun violence - Gun Homicide Rates by State

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1345 - Anti-Semitism is still killing - 11 Dead in Pittsburgh


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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1908.28 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1516 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.