A teacher in Texas is sent to her boss’s office because of what was reportedly found in her classroom. It’s inappropriate, it’s deplorable, and it’s illegal. It’s a children’s book. Meanwhile, a six year old in Virginia placed his mom’s gun in his backpack and walked right out of the door and into his elementary school.
As censorship in southern states like Florida, Texas, and South Carolina reaches dystopian levels with record numbers of banned books, “Don’t Say Gay” laws, and anti-Critical Race Theory curriculum, schools are being fortified to withstand every possible perceived danger – except the one that is taking tens of thousands of lives every year. Freedom of diversity and inclusion has become freedom from both of those values, and as we shift to become more politically divided, prejudiced legislature just becomes more extreme than ever, even if it is only meant to prove a point.
The real danger, however, is that this radical and symbolic legislature is actually being passed, which only normalizes it and gains support for hatred. As the attention shifts from the issue of gun violence, mass shootings get buried under headlines of the multiplicity of injustices being produced by single states.
There must be definitive and effective action today combatting gun violence through legislature. Will it polarize the nation? Yes, but that doesn’t seem to be a consideration from the people promoting censorship, hatred, and propaganda.
Extremely moving artifact and analysis. I could definitely sense your political frustrations/opinions, but you didn’t let that distract from the attention on the graphic, so great job on that. I think this is such a great example of the “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions” SDG.
Such an important topic here. We let children die and instead choose to focus on banning certain subjects/idea in the name of preventing “indoctrination.” I especially liked the “prejudiced legislature just becomes more extreme than ever, even if it is only meant to prove a point” line. I think sometimes in politics we see legislators push things only to hurt the other party’s goals rather then uplift their own. Spiteful politics is very real.
Fantastic blog and artifact. I saw that advertisement a few years ago, and it says a lot about its message that it is still relevant in today’s world. Things like political polarization that you mentioned in your article are so detrimental to our nation’s values, and the fact that some people considering reading to be dangerous is almost Orwellian. You did a great job of using the rhetorical strategies we discussed in classes and in the readings.
class presentation
I loved how you opened up with a sarcastic/untrue narrative. I think your speaking style was clear and paced well. I love how you kept eye contact while looking at notes. I liked how you included the SDGs in your artifact. Keep speaking, you did great!
I loved the beginning of your speech setting the scene for everyone. I like how you looked at the American flag in the back I didn’t even notice it and would not have related it how you did. I loved how well you spoke about your topic and the passion you had. Great job!
I like how you started the speech by mentioning a past event that happened and using a mocking tone to talk about the problem which helped the audience know that the world they are in right now is not great. I like your analysis and the fact that you are not trying to say people are wrong and instead only striking for more attention from the audience.
Class Presentation: Immediately, the style and delivery of your speech is unique to your pitch and creates an overall serious mood of the topic. You juxtapose the childhood portrayed in the advertisement with the dark undertones the civic artifacts poses to the viewer. The last portion of the speech begs the question of the importance of gun violence and the future of the next generation , making your invention well!