That's a very interesting observation. Personally, that's very similar to my individual tipping point, when I realized [or was made to realize] that Jewish jokes were racist. Growing up in New England, Jewish jokes are just par for the course, so it wasn't until I was stationed on a ship with a Machinist who happened to be a Nicaraguan-Jew, that had dealt with more than his fair share of racism on many fronts during the course of his life.
It was a pretty banal joke I made one day that caused him to really break it down to me. For him, the point was that one persons words can [and often do] lead to anthers actions. It was very interesting, but definitely opened my eyes to attempting to see how even little things might effect someone else, and that all circumstances aside those other people are people just the same.
On this point, I also completely agree. I think either sports, the military or some sort of civic/ foreign service could go a long way for people just getting out of high school.
Beg, borrow and steal has been a long running motto of mine for a long time. Maybe it's a survival instinct or maybe it's just the free market at work.
Anyway, I'll have to give the Nietzsche a try in class, it's pretty early in the semester so I'm hoping I'll also have an opportunity to break out with some Voltaire later. His work, God & Human Beings could apply pretty tightly to the topic at hand.
Yes! By all means, Voltaire, it is best to confuse them. There is another Canadian angle, but save it for later. A Canadian philosopher by the name of John Ralston Saul
John Ralston Saul - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
and his quartet "Voltaire's Bastards, The Doubter's Companion and The Unconscious Civilization", Reflections of a Siamese Twin, On Equilibrium.
In Siamese Twin he deals with a very interesting truth about Canada and a core distinction between the Great White North and the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. In it he contends that modern-day Canada has been fundamentally shaped by its First Nations peoples, where the tolerance of not two nations, as is the Canadian myth, but at least five large nations, Iroquois, Cree, Sioux, French and English with another 23 identified nations across the North and British Columbia. It is his observation that unlike the US that warred and conquered, Les Voyaguers chose to adopt native ways and culture. One thing predominant in Canadian First Nations is a general acceptance and lack of Xenophobia, a communal way of living that is reflected in our ways today; buses that say more than "Not in Service", but "Sorry, Not in Service". Our courts reflect their ways, rejecting incarceration more and more in favor of community's harsher judgement. I.e., few of the convicted rioters in the 2010 Stanley Cup riots did time but each paid a greater toll as the Vancouver Police Department assembled all the videos of the accused and posted them on line. They lost their jobs, careers and were shamed out of their homes.
Film maker Michael Moore made a huge point about how Canadians don't bother to look their doors. That's totally First Nations who believe homelessness is a crime against God. There is no homelessness in Newfoundland, people don't lock their doors.
That, sir, leads to the point of tolerance, of acceptance of differences in one another and in cultures; in this case a trade more two way than we had before thought.
That Jew had a damn good point. As half Polish and listening to Pollock jokes all my life I can attest that the result of those jokes often resulted in the need to defend myself. Also, people fail to realize how demeaning it is. "Have you heard the one about the dumb Pollock who...." will get them going, but change the word Pollock to Woman or Negro and you have a major issue on your hands.