the news media is totally disgusting me. They claim they're airing some of this stuff (photos of those injured being carried out of the buildings, all of the dude's photos and video) as if it were some sort of duty. No way. They're airing it to make money, and it makes me want to puke.
Brian Williams, who at other times I've sort of liked, is making me gag with his schmaltz.
I wish all these phonies would give us a break, give us real news, and when there's nothing new, stop trying to milk this for the money, stop trying to pump us full of all the same stuff.
I've been afraid of one of my students before. One of his poems was about harming a woman, and there was the heavy implication of rape and other sexual violence. Everything else he wrote was also extremely violent or, at the very least, extremely angry. Blood, fire, razors.
I feared running into him. Even now, I do.
But I wasn't naive about what I was getting into. In our pedagogical training, before we ever set foot in a classroom as an instructor, I asked what we should do about extremely violent content. If there's no threat expressed, there's no threat. That's how you deal with the work.
Is it weird that I'm sort of glad right now that, while I'm glad that there is passion in the pursuit of mathematics, it doesn't actually carry the emotional content with it, so that there is a whole realm of issues that I'm just not going to see in my students?
I think you're right for the most part, but you know, keep in mind that she and the other people involved are dealing with very irrational guilt. Everyone who caught warning signs are beating themselves up about not doing anything about it, but the reality is, you can't really predict this stuff. A lot of people are just creeps, and nothing catastrophic happens. The only person who deserves blame is dead, and it can be really hard to deal with problems that have no solution and crimes that aren't avenged.
I'm with you all the way. First thing I thought off when I read the news items about him writing violent material was censorship issues, etc. Hell, if violent work is an indicator of future violent behavior, I can think of at least two people in my program offhand who should be carted away post-haste.
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Brian Williams, who at other times I've sort of liked, is making me gag with his schmaltz.
I wish all these phonies would give us a break, give us real news, and when there's nothing new, stop trying to milk this for the money, stop trying to pump us full of all the same stuff.
They all deserve reprimanding. They're so gross.
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I feared running into him. Even now, I do.
But I wasn't naive about what I was getting into. In our pedagogical training, before we ever set foot in a classroom as an instructor, I asked what we should do about extremely violent content. If there's no threat expressed, there's no threat. That's how you deal with the work.
Because, usually, that's the reality.
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Time to break out the thought-police!
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