I had actually forgotten the theme of the Scholars IS. I was pretty sure it wasn't politics though, because I would never have knowingly signed up for a politics course...then again, it had been a pretty late night when I applied for the program...I've never been all that great at making sure to read the fine print...oh dear, what had I signed up for?!
After the first couple of classes I was pretty convinced that the theme was hating America, or hating people, or hating "the man," or something along the lines of hate and grey and blah. I'm not a completely naive person; I don't think the world is all rainbows and bubblegum and kittens, but the Firefly and Buffy IS classes were starting to look pretty good. (Watching the first episode of Firefly with my friend for his IS homework didn't help; space cowboys?! brawls?! train heists?! WHY WASN'T I IN THIS CLASS?!)
And then back in my class, we were talking about politics. I don't really like talking about politics. Not because I don't have an opinion or don't care about how the country is run, but because people NEVER amiably disagree about politics. They never think about the others' thoughts and actually consider them, not at least during the conversation. They just argue. Not civilly either. It gets nasty. I'm not a fan of nasty.
I shared my dislike of talking politics in class and someone mentioned how the class is about civil discourse and so of course we're talking politics. So just now I refreshed myself on the meaning of civil discourse. Turns out Civil Discourse is
"the language of dispassionate objectivity", and suggests that it requires respect of the other participants, such as the reader. It neither diminishes the other's moral worth, nor questions their good judgment; it avoids hostility, direct antagonism, or excessive persuasion; it requires modesty and an appreciation for the other participant's experiences"
Now I remember all this civil discourse business! I remember telling one of my high school teachers that for my Scholars application, I had to describe how a book could be discussed using civil discourse. I remember thinking, civil discourse, huh? So...I just have to be able do discuss something...civilly.
Note the "something." The class's theme is "civil discourse." Not "civil discourse of politics." So all I have to do is hang onto the hope that we might eventually discuss something besides politics. And it's not like we've been actually using civil discourse anyway. The opposing sides haven't been deeply considering each others' points, they've just been shooting them down.
On a different note, I fed my ice cream cone to a squirrel today. I just set it down in front of him and he started nibbling away. I may or may not have squealed in excitement. Don't judge; it was just cuteness overload. I composed myself...eventually.
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