Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa is receiving criticism for one class assignment on the Cold War. Based on a worksheet handed out in a social studies class last week, many are questioning whether the lesson is promoting communism over capitalism and calling it "communist indoctrination."
The assignment's first page features an editorial cartoon: One side depicts capitalism, with two poorly dressed factory workers with balls and chains on their ankles and a well dressed businessman smoking a cigar, reaping the profits. The other side depicts communism, with two decently dressed, smiling factory workers and the profits from work returning to them.
Critics are finding some of the lesson's assertions objectively questionable.
Media & Propaganda
February 05, 2012
Roosevelt High School Under Fire For Communism v. Capitalism Worksheet
January 16, 2012
The Simpsons, "The Liberal Straw Man Song"
On a recent episode of The Simpsons the show took issue with how Fox News characterizes liberals.
If you're not familiar with the straw man fallacy see here. The basic idea of a straw man fallacy is that a position is (mis)characterized so at to make it look absurd or easily refutable, criticize this distorted mischaracterization showing its flaws, then suppose to have shown that the actual position has been defeated. It's attacking a "straw man" of the position rather than the strongest case for the rival view. In "Politically Inept with Homer Simpson," Homer gets a job as a pundit on a conservative infotainment network. The network execs readily acknowledge that they present a straw man of the liberal position by suggesting it's based on envy of the rich and turning kids into homosexuals. Of course, there are reasonable, principled arguments for the liberal positions on taxation and tolerance of homosexuality or even same-sex marriage that have nothing to do with envy or making kids gay.
January 15, 2012
Colbert Super Pac's Romney Attack Ad
December 12, 2011
Jon Stewart on Fox News' War on Christmas
Jon Stewart illustrates what's wrong with Fox News' reasoning about their phony "War on Christmas."
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The conservative religious types that complain about the "war on Christmas" are, of course, the same ones that often complain about political correctness. But, the "war on Christmas" is just their version of it.
July 28, 2011
Jon Stewart Rips Fox News Religious Hypocrisy
July 26, 2011
Stephen Colbert on Gut Reporting and Accuracy about Norway Attacks
June 29, 2011
Stewart vs. Fox News
The Stewart vs. Fox News saga continues. Ever since Stewart's last interview on Fox they've been trading barbs over who is more biased.
Here's the key point. Fox News presents itself as a news agency. Even if Jon Stewart is not "just a comedian" and engages in political activism on his show the notion that we should hold Stewart to the same journalistic standards of objectivity and impartiality that we expect news agencies to live up to is laughable. So, please Fox News, stop trying to pretend that The Daily Show is equivalent to your one hour of news programing or your many ours of opinion shows like The O'Reilly Factor.
June 28, 2011
Jon Stewart Deconconstructs Fox News
On last night's episode of The Daily Show Jon Stewart deconstructs (in the technical sense of the term) Fox News' pretention to journalistic impartiality and balance to expose the channel's conservative bias.
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Fox News is a conservative political correctness machine.
June 21, 2011
Jon Stewart on Jon Stewart on Fox News
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Fox News even selectively edits their interviews about media bias and selective editing as you can see from the unedited version. However, it looks like Stewart's claim that Fox News viewers is dubious. It's true in my personal experience with Fox viewers though. Regardless, Stewart does a good job of dismantling the dubious pretention to journalistic objectivity of Fox's "fair and balanced" slogan. They aren't fair or balanced. They tend to set up and attack a straw man of liberalism. And, their alleged balance is no more than presenting a particular slant on the news that fits the conservative worldview and that they feel is missing from mainstream media, as Wallace admits. It's more about appealing to a particular demographic than it is about presenting information for citizens to examine and think about.
June 07, 2011
Man posts billboard claiming ex had an abortion, tells courts 'free speech!'
A New Mexico man is fighting a free speech battle over a giant billboard that he set up claiming his ex-girlfriend had an abortion.
Greg Fultz, 35, put up a billboard in mid-May that shows him cradling the black silhouette of a baby with the message, "This Would Have Been a Picture of My 2-Month Old Baby If the Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!"
The towering sign is next to the main road through Alamogordo, N.M., where Fultz lives.
Fultz's ex-girlfriend, Nani Lawrence, took him to court for harassment and violation of privacy.
What a dick.
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