This morning I decided to tune into the House select committee testimony on the January 6th capitol insurrection, despite avoiding much of the news about the insurrection over the last 6 months. I surprised myself with how deeply moved I was by the testimony I heard from the four police officers on their experiences. All…
Category: News
Teaching Media Literacy
Every year in the course of my teaching I discover that students have been duped by a conspiracy theory or misinformation, typically through social media. From 9/11 conspiracy theories to QAnon and #SaveTheChildren people are susceptible to misinformation and disinformation that alters their relationship to reality. The explosive rise of the internet and various social…
Critical Race Theory Panic
As a teacher of history and politics, I’ve been following the news about conservative objections to the teaching about race and racism in history, as well as the ensuing critical race theory panic closely. What is not so clear from the coverage about this topic is what exactly conservative forces mean by critical race theory….
News & Structural Violence
Last week, a handful of students walked (or logged into) my classes asking about what was happening with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the interesting elements of the news cycle’s return to the conflict is the way the news cycle itself responds to an escalation in violence on the part of Israel or Palestinians, but…