We began class making sure everyone understood upcoming assignments and what needs to be done. For the week that you are difficultating there is no need to blog that weekend, but you are welcome to for extra credit. Also, it is a requirement to meet with Ben outside of class the week before it is your assigned date to difficultate. Things may seem really hectic right now, but it is just the beginning of the semester so now things will start to cool off from now.
- The reading for Tuesday is Hegel, which is about 20 pages. It is a book that can be bought at the bookstore along with all the other books on the syllabus. This is a requirement.
- Elissa asked if the version of the book is important….
- No, there is only 1 different version of the book, which was done 100 years ago, but isn’t good
- The introduction has been revised a billion times
- The stuff outside of the introduction is not generally taught so it is important to get the gist of the entire book
- Do NOT attempt to read the entire book. Ben is going to e-mail us with a more detailed reading guide as o what pages and certain paragraphs that he wants us to read.
- The reading is not easy, but do not get discouraged. It is Hegel’s purpose to confuse us as a way for him to have a sense of power
- What you don’t get, underline and then ask questions. You are not expected to understand all of it.
- Find some information on the context about Hegel so it will be easier to understand where he is coming from.
- Think about the reading in terms of experience with history we have had in life and what we have learned in this class thus far
- We are going to push watching High Hitler until next Thursday
- Key word review – are terms that structure the work that we do. We will learn all these but won’t be tested on them. We will only be asked to take the ways we are looking at stuff and do more what that. This class is a skill-based class learning how to do stuff. These are then tools that function at once to remind you of stuff you have been talking about (jog memory) and relate to other things you know.
o Historiography – the study of the writing of history
o Metahistory – the history of history
o Intersexuality – looking at one text to look at another text to analyze it. It isn’t quite conscious
§ Way that certain texts get in our head and structure other texts
§ Hegel is an example of this as an inner text. No one has read it before but we know it
o Primary sources – sources that come from the person or the time that you are studying. Stuff that is of this moment. It exists in the present
§ True or false – primary sources are from the past?
· False – it is in the present because we are looking at it. You can infer things that happened in the past. It is the here and now
o Secondary sources – draws on a primary source as it draws and interprets the information
§ Dana Millbank – written about Glenn Beck, not by him
§ Mostly what you have read – they are accounts by historians
o Tertiary sources – once more removed from the primary source. It is further removed information
§ A textbook is an example, as authors will pull from secondary sources, if that.
o “Scientific” History – wie es eigentlich gewesen
§ Ranke
§ How it actually was
§ History as a claim to truth
§ The writing is less important what is more important is getting the facts right which have consequences
o Rhetoric – the way you phrase an argument. The way you communicate in order to persuade people to a given point
§ All cultural production is rhetoric
§ It is the way you make a convincing argument
§ Problem with Ranke is that he doesn’t take this or the appeal to emotion into account
o Confirmation Bias – people prefer information that confirms their preconceptions
- We then all stood up and closed our eyes. Ben then asked for take a deep breath and relax. He then asked us to make a gesture that explained how we felt when we were watching the YouTube videos from Glenn Beck. We then opened our eyes and went around the circle where each person would say their name and do their gesture and then the next person had to repeat the previous persons and their own. Then, depending on the gesture you gave we put ourselves into groups with people of similar reactions.
- How did my group react?
o Elissa asked what did you guys think
o Sophie wondered what the heck is wrong with him. She almost felt like laughing
o Rachel wondered what he was trying to say and if he was actually serious
o Emily can’t believe he had so many followers, which makes you wonder
o Elissa didn’t really get what was going on. There was so much terminology that he could of said anything and she couldn’t even make an opinion
o Jordan that it was hard to keep up with
o Emily made a point that we already come in with thoughts of uncertainty so we already have a preconceived notion about him going into the video
o Emily thought it was interesting how he would pause every time. It was really off and contradicted it. Viewers have an open mind to whatever he says
o Elissa, on the other hand, thinks hat it is so ridiculous that it makes you wonder if his points ever get lost
- If anyone wants to watch a YouTube video about Glenn Beck come in to class 5 minutes early next Tuesday. (11:10)
- Lets talk….
o The head pulling group
§ Reacted to the ridiculousness of beck
§ Instead of being angry we shouldn’t make such a big deal because it would glorify him
§ We shouldn’t give him credit – he is unprofessional, he sounds ridiculous
§ He doesn’t cite his sources, he just takes bits and pieces out to make a collage of what he thinks
§ Ridiculous because the poster like argument he made that says that politics are alike is somewhat over done
o My group
§ What in the world is wrong with him? He drives us nuts and he doesn’t take things as facts
§ Confused because we didn’t know a lot of what was being said because we didn’t understand the meaning of some of the words of what he was trying to prove. None of it really made sense
§ There are just a bunch of conspiracy theories
o Ahaha group
§ He is comparing Nazi Germany to the present and it isn’t necessary
· Everyone knows and has emotions tied to it and comparing it stirs up more emotions
o Confusion/ Shock Group
§ Technically not doing anything wrong – constitution gives you the right to speech
· He has the right to have the freedom to say what he wants, but there is responsibility that he has with the viewers because they take his word and take it how they will
o Also is responsible for the network
· His videos are very radical people get sucked in from confirmation bias (KEYWORD) – the correction video is trying to take this out of it and swing it the other way so it isn’t specially conservative or radical viewpoint
· Ironic how he says that Hitler is from Germany – but really from Austria.
o Is on a news show and this isn’t even true
· Take little parts and make them bigger. Take quotes from when he was a teenager and puts them together to make a story seem larger than It really is
- Hipsterhitler.com
o Godwins law
- Milbank – pg. 118
o “Try to avoid the Hitler accusations. Once you compare your opponent to the Nazis, any form of rational discussion becomes impossible, opponents take offense, and an apology follows.” (118-119)
o Have problems with these ideas to say that there is only one historical event that is outside the realm of discussion is weird
o Can you exempt the Nazis from history?
§ Has an immense amount to explain what we think about history
§ When people produce works where do you draw the lines to distinguish it from not being yours anymore
- Was anybody really convinced?
o His rhetoric was effective and made you feel like it was terrible
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