Posts Tagged ‘paris’
Focus matters
Posted on: December 16, 2015
News outlets focus on the negative because it sells. When they do this, they make the world seem worse than it actually is.
We get almost daily reports about how vile Donald Trump is even though most decent human beings already know how vile he is. It is almost as if news channels want to up the ante.
In the wake of the horrific attacks in Paris, most news outlets do not focus on the efforts of the ordinary people like the ones below.
What we choose to focus on and talk about matters. We can choose the negative, trivial, and unquestioned. We can also choose to focus on the positive, important, and critical.
The first choice is easy and popular while the second is not. Anything worthwhile is never easy. What focus matters to you?
Simplifying or dumbing down?
Posted on: November 19, 2015
There is a thin line between simplifying something and dumbing it down. We do both for kids and students, but I wonder if we know where the line is.
Video source
Original source (removed)
This was a sweet video of a father trying to help his young son deal with the recent and terrible attacks in Paris. In trying to explain that flowers had power over guns, he simplified very complex societal and world issues.
This is an entertaining video about rocket science without using words from rocket science. I think it makes a sneaky point that you can only dumb things down so far.
If we simplify to the point of dumbing down, we might be entertained, but we might not actually learn something useful.
It is easy to dumb down. It is not easy to simplify.
Another dot in the blogosphere? 