Mr. Rivers stands in the middle of the class greeting us a usual “good morning everyone” he says “let's jump right in” Going up to the board and starts his lesson picking up where we left off. He opens up talking about how a student in his last class had a differing opinion. “It’s ok” he says having a differing opinion “Disagreement leads to discussion.” Opens up to the new topic today goes up to the board and writes on word MICROAGGRESSION. Some confusion ensues how many G’s how many S’s are in microaggression debate ensues engulfing the classroom we settle on 2 G’s but how many S’s are there no one knows what should we write to halt this debate is there any middle ground. The dust of the conflict settles the word is complete. It was decided that 5 S’s would be sufficient, Crisis averted, Mr. Rivers starts to read the Atlantic article with great haste. Mr. Rivers connects it with us gleaming university students.
Microaggressions are a big thing in our world today with the rise of PC and social justice warrior culture. It’s a hotly contested issue between those who see them as nothing more than small conversational mishaps that some people hook onto and take offence to and those who believe in social justice who feel that microaggressions are caused by institutionalized and normalized racism and xenophobia. It’s important to look at both side’s arguments and decide who’s idea you align most with not just with microaggressions but with any controversial topic. It’s also important to understand where the other side is coming from and not just label your ideological opponents as bigoted insensitive jerks or as little cry baby millennials. In order for there to be a real discussion about any topic there has to be an understanding of the other side because if you can’t see the other side’s opinion as being at least partially valid then there can be no discussion of a problem and no solution
Oh, Mike. I will say that this is probably the first blog I’ve read where the extension outshines the class summary, so let’s start there. The extension is practical and thoughtful, and I think you bring up some good points about learning to understand. It actually extends quite naturally from the disagreement leads to discussion concept, and the paragraph break is a logical one. The first half is hilarious, of course, but we miss out on some of the other learning that happens (esp. w/r/t the article and the connections to Peele’s film).
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