Schedule
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Expectations:
Complete and discuss a weekly reading assignment.
Turn in eight weekly entries in a reflection journal (in a Google doc shared via link) by the deadline.
Attend screenings of 2-3 related films.
Write one formal essay.
Students who don't want to do the writing and don't need to get the course credit for college should consider auditing the course.
Assigned readings are in the book of photocopies.
Weekly discussions
We'll meet every Sunday night at 7 p.m. beginning on March 24 to discuss the week's assigned readings.
Writing
Keep an online journal of your time in DC. Entries due every Saturday if you are writing about the office; Sunday at 4 if you are writing about the assigned readings. Assessment of the journal will be based on meeting the 8 weekly deadlines; meeting minimum length of the journal entry (500 words); relevance of topics: at least two of the entries pertain to your work on the Hill and at least three on the readings (the other three can be on either of those topics); entries about policy issues you are studying, the weekly alumni seminars, or current political news connected to your work on the Hill or the assigned readings are looked upon particularly favorably. I encourage you to use your journals to deepen the learning that you are doing this term in DC. See "Writing is Thinking."
One formal essay on something you learned about American politics from the readings and your experiences. No essay will be accepted after May 19.
Reading Schedule
March 24. In the appendix at the back of the reader, read the three chapters from Allen, Talking to Strangers. Start with Chapter 11, pp. 161, 165-169 & then read Chapters 3 and 4.
March 31. Congress part 1: "The Man who Broke Politics," and "The Pact Between Clinton and Gingrich."
April 7. Congress part 2: Excerpts from Master of the Senate in the Appendix. "Introduction," xii-xxiv; "The Working Up," 886-894; and "Hell's Canyon," 895-902.
April 14. "You Do It," 910-911; and "Yeas and Nays," 944-967. Class won't meet on Sunday. Instead we will watch a film on Monday night. This film is required for the class.
April 21. "Yeas and Nays," 967-989, "Omens," 990-998.
April 25 & 28, "Politics and the Media," pp. 50-85. (For the latest on the NYT, you might take a look at the Wall Street Journal article "New York Times Bosses Seek to Quash Rebellion in the Newsroom," 4-14-24. If you don't have it yet, ask me for the free PEA password to the WSJ. There has also been a big controversy in recent weeks around NPR reporter Uri Berliner's article in the Free Press, "I've been at NPR for 25 Years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," which says the network suffers from a bad case of liberal group-think).
Some things to think about.
Were Lowery and Baer correct to suggest that the ideals of journalistic objectivity and campus free speech just excuses to tolerate hateful speech, silent minority viewpoints, and indulge the biases of privileged white people--and is cancel culture really just a matter of silencing bigots and holding powerful people accountable for victimizing the voiceless and the powerless?
Or are "post-objectivity" journalism and DEI just well-intentioned but misguided efforts that exaggerate harms, polarize the polity and even makes those it's intended to help "feel less welcome instead of more" (67). Is there anything wrong with this headline: "Known Liar Trump Lies Again"?
DeBoer's critique of Nick Confessore' s article would be easier to follow if you had read the piece. In case you are so inclined: "'America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade," Jan. 20, 2024
How is the concept of Harm used to suppress speech (on the right or left?)
What is audience capture and how does it further polarize media?
How have anti-Israel protests led to a collapse of the "campus speech consensus"? How will this change the culture of the institutions you will be attending next fall???
On Sunday, no mandatory evening class session, but there will be banana splits and maybe some spontaneous discussions re: the above great discussion questions I took the the time to come up with.
May 5. "Citizenship and Polarization," 85-123.
May 12. TBA
May 19. We will come together as a group to discuss this reading and process our visit to the Holocaust Museum. "Is Holocaust Education Making Anti-semitism Worse?" 141-166. This reading supplements our visit to the Holocaust Museum this weekend on Saturday. You are encouraged to read before the visit.
What is antisemitism?
A definition advanced by Prof. David M. Schizer during the House hearing on Columbia University April 17:
"Bias against Jewish people which can manifest itself in ethnic slurs, stereotyping, holocaust denial, double standards as applied to Israel, and antisemitic tropes."
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance suggests this "non-legally binding working definition":
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
According to Emily Blount, author of on The Disturbing Rise of Strategic Antisemitism examples might include: Holocaust denial or Distortion--saying it didn't happen, or it wasn't intentional, or even that Jews invented it to create an impression of victimhood--and various conspiracy narratives--saying "Jews are responsible for"...fill in the blank: "Jews control the media" or Banks; then there are the regular trops: "Jews killed Jesus," blood libel, "Jews drink the blood of Christian children," and some types of anti-Zionism. She defines such anti-Zionism as "strategic antisemitism," that is,
"the deployment of the rhetoric of antisemitism to support a nation’s strategic interest--so in the context of the war right now, some countries see the war as an opportunity to advance their national agenda in the region but also visa vis America and other enemies."
She gives examples of how, predictably, Iran does this and China as well in more subtle ways, including on Tik Tok,
According to some reports and surveys 67 of American teens are using Tick Tock. I think it's probably a little higher. But so China has these algorithms within Tick Tock that's creating Echo Chambers. It's putting fabricated accounts of Israeli atrocities into really heavy circulation and it's encouraging Young Americans to take sides on the conflict with little or no understanding or even interest in the history and complexity of the conflict.
Above, paraphrased and quoted from The Gist podcast, April 4, 2024.