Diana.nu

Have you ever been in class, and suddenly what the teacher is talking about clicks? Not like you were sitting there clueless, but suddenly, what s/he’s saying is relevant to you. So, you raise your hand and try to answer the question s/he just asked.

“Um, yeah, it’s like, yeah. You know? Like… yeah! But not really, because no. You know?”

And the teacher says something like, “So, what you’re saying is that the corporations that report the news are manipulating the truth so that they can cater to their audience’s taste, consequently creating a polarized society? That’s very good.”

Then s/he rushes to write it on the board, and you feel content. That is what you were trying to say, and you’re glad someone can say it in a way that sounds intelligent, and now you know how to say it again but better in case you ever need to!

That’s a cool feeling.

On a surprisingly related note, I’ve gotten my first English assignment! Let me tell you, I am excited. We’ve read one essay on democracy, one on media bias, and one on workers, and the assignment is to ~synthesize~ the sources to say something about American democracy.

Why is it related? Surprisingly related? Because my thesis has to do with people picking and choosing their information based on what makes them feel good.

So, my essay’s going to be on the Um yeah, but noers who feel fantastic when Fox News or CNN reinforces what they believe. I’ve already written a preliminary outline. Yay.

P.S. I imported all my old posts from Omg cake.

I’m trying not to turn this into a “My English class is a disgrace” blog, but it is a disgrace.

We played some kind of game about survival. It was supposed to bring out the things we assume under the arguments we claim. In the book, eleven people were described. Their positives, their negatives, their hobbies. Only seven could live.

The premise was that an environmental catastrophe had taken place, leaving only those people, but just enough to sustain only seven of them.

The professor wrote down the tally on who chose whom. Most people chose a fit man who was in last year of medical school to live. No one but my group chose the prostitute to live, but most chose her three month old baby to live. Many chose another woman, but changed their minds when they figured out what “part of Zero Earth Population” meant, because that’s just crazy.

The reasoning behind choosing the medical student was that we need to repopulate. How blatantly egotistical can you get? Humans are not #1, dummies. I don’t think they took even one second to examine what was coming out of their mouths.

There’s only enough to sustain seven people, and they wanted to bring children into that. Why? Why is it so important to repopulate? (They passed up an older doctor with actual experience for the medical student just because it’s so important to repopulate.)

Like humans are useful to anything in the world besides themselves. The environmental catastrophe could have been our doing. Why would you repopulate at that point? It would be better to just let the planet heal itself.

Oh, and the prostitute. No one chose her, despite the fact that they would leave a baby without his mother, but there were plenty of idiots hollering things about prostitutes.

NO, SHE HAS AIDS.

SHE CAN BE THE ENTERTAINMENT!

SHE CAN BE THE HOT NURSE.

WE COULD SLIP ROOFIES IN HER DRINK.

…Right? They don’t think before talking. Right, huh?

Prostitutes aren’t dirty, low (but hot!) woman who have nothing on their minds but pleasing whoever comes their way. She obviously had a child, and I forgot what they were, but it listed her hobbies and interests. And that fucking ridiculous concept that a prostitute can’t be raped. Fuck my entire class.

Anyway, ~the moral~ of the story. I learned that despite it being an advanced class, the people were not guaranteed to be intelligent enough to examine the shit they say.

I expect that there is no guaranteed location where the concentration of common sense is high. Or low, for that matter. Idiots and geniuses exist everywhere.

On Tuesday, I started my classes for spring. I have English, Math, and Computers. English, the professor pointed out, is going to be a lot like Philosophy class. Math is the easiest math, I’m pretty sure, and Computers is definitely the easiest computer class, but it’s a prerequisite to Programming, so, I gotta take it.

I’m hating taking that computer class. Not because it’s easy—that’s fine, easy A and cool atmosphere, right? But because I know the material, yet I have to pay to be there, and pay for the books ($170. Shoot me?), and basically waste time. The class has nothing to do with programming, either. I learned about the Start button yesterday.

I am taking that math class because I was too lazy to retake the assessment testing that they lost that said I was to take a higher math class. Same thing. Paying for the class and books ($120—Seriously, shoot me) and wasting time. But this time, it’s my fault, so I won’t complain. You know, as much.

English class is the most interesting. It’s all about argumentation. I was flipping through the textbook, and they have an essay about animal rights we’re going to have to read. Which makes me happy that I get to see what others really think about it. (I’m assuming no one’s going to try to be a smartypants on something they’re being graded on. People sure do like to be smartypants when it comes to serious issues.)

The English professor is quite laid-back. We got to choose the late/incomplete work penalty policy today. It made me angry, because it just meant some people in the class will be unnecessarily angry the whole 18 weeks we have the class. I would have liked it much better if he had chosen the policies and had us deal with it. Like every other teacher does. But now, some think what the vote settled on was too harsh, and some think it was too lenient. (“I turned in my work on time, and they turned it in 5 days late, and they only lost 5%? I AM INDIGNANT.”)

But I’m one of those angry people. When it came to the incomplete work, there were four parts he was requiring—final draft, works cited page, rough drafts, and scratch paper. Everyone vetoed the rough drafts and scratch paper being essential. Which is stupid. You can’t write a good paper without them. But all right, good luck to you.

I just have to mention something that made me angry too. Someone was writing on the board, and he wrote, “for each incomplete peice,” and the professor pointed it out. The person writing it fixed it, but someone shouted out, “HA! IT’S P*I*ECE. HA. IS HE REALLY IN THIS ENGLISH CLASS?” The person who made the mistake laughed along, so maybe he wasn’t offended, but really? How fucking rude can you get? It’s a word, and it happened to mix him up. He’s not stupid, and even if he was, again, how fucking rude can you get?