Logic and Girl Power

My sister sent me this video today. (It is the entrance video for this website which I have included below.) I doubt that she wanted me to dissect it for logical fallacies, but I guess that is sometimes what happens with an IB education. I think that video does have a very interesting message behind it. But what logical fallacies are they willing to commit to make a more powerful message?

www.girleffect.org

WATCH THE VIDEO BEFORE YOU READ ON, PLEASE.
The one generalization that bugs me the most in this video is that of the Girl in poverty. Granted, that is often the situation (from what I know) and is how the western media often displays it . . . but aren't they degrading the people which they are fighting to help? Are they dehumanizing them by clumping them all together?

Ethics in regards to law and justice... in a theatrical format

I just went to see Lobby Hero at the Bas Bleu Theatre and found it to be quite interesting to look at from a ToK perspective. The play discusses ethics, the law, and justice - somewhat applicable to our recent discussions, but also interesting of its own right. Just throwing this out to anyone here interested in theatre and ethics, among other things... more information can be found at the Bas Bleu website. [a warning: due to the setting of the show, profanity is very common in the dialogue...]

If/once you've seen the play, let me know what you think in the comments - if you haven't seen it yet and want to, beware of spoilers....

Logical fallacies

I stumbled upon this today while browsing the web, and given our recent lessons on logical fallacies, felt it appropriate to post here....



Source: http://xkcd.com/385/ - xkcd is a webcomic written by a former NASA roboticist and also has several other comics regarding various ToK topics...

Change?

Obama promised change for the government and for the people of America. Is he really going to bring change to Capitol Hill?

Black first family 'changes everything'

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/15/obama.family/index.html

I thought this was a very interesting article, and it certainly brings up some good questions. Is the media still portraying Blacks in a "dark light?"

define: torture

I thought I understood this unit, but apparently not. Perhaps this is because I have accepted the idea that there is an absolute truth to everything, and whether or not we can know it, it is always there. So, if something is, according to absolute truth based on reports from victims, torture, then how can it simply be defined differently, or remain undefined, and be acceptible under the Geneva Convention? Why, if something is not directly labeled by a government as torture, but is, why is it okay? I don't understand.

Torture's Terrible Toll

After reading the two positions on the issue of torture by John McCain and Sam Harris, where do you stand on the issue? Why? Which justifications and Ways of Knowing were the most convincing to you?

Belief-O-Matic

If you have been neglecting the seminar blog, there is an interesting post on religion that I recommend taking a peek at.