Key Concepts – Truth and Interpretation
KQ
- In what ways is factual evidence sometimes used, abused, dismissed and ignored in politics?
The Milgram Experiment
The Khmer Rouge and Killing Fields
Khmer Rouge and Cambodia’s years of brutality
Chairman Mao’s Red Guards
According to Frank Dikotter, a prominent historian on the life of Chairman Mao, the period of the Cultural Revolution saw the intelligentsia attacked and sometimes killed.
- Teachers targeted by students, encouraged by Mao. These students would form the Red Guards. The attacks on the teachers aimed to remove the ‘Four Olds‘ – Old Culture, Old Customs, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.
- Dikkoter explained that there were two periods, the Red Years 1966-68 where the Red Guards look for their teachers and the intelligentsia. In the Black Years 1968-1971, the army takes over. It looks for potential rivals and the educated. Millions are ‘re-educated’ by sending them to the countryside. After Lin Bao dies (in a questionable plane crash) the Grey Years set in, the army no longer in charge.
Covid-19
KQ
- Why have political leaders sometimes tried to control or eradicate specific
bodies of knowledge?
Should experts make the decisions in their country or elected officials? Whose knowledge do you trust, what are the limitations of each? In this time of Covid, are politicians absolving themselves of responsibility by giving scientific and medical experts the platforms to address the nation? Does it all depend on the results? What makes an ‘expert’?
- Why would you trust a health secretary/minister more than a scientific/medical ‘expert’?
- Why would you trust the expert more?
- Who would listen to the expert more? Why?
- Where do people get their information from regarding Covid?
- Can the public gather sufficient information to develop a judgement?
- Which logical fallacies are used when judging the threat of Covid?
- Is building up herd immunity a moral act? Should a government adopt a utilitarian approach?
- How can a political situation within a country affect Covid?
Why replacing politicians with experts is a reckless idea
Coronavirus advice ignored by Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro
Coronavirus bombshell: Real reason Sweden is ignoring rest of Europe exposed
The Internet and the News
KQ
- Has technology changed how and where our political views are shaped?