Radical Pedagogy: An Introduction to "Inductive Learning" in the Classroom
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by James M. Craven/Blackfoot Name: Omahkohkiaayo i'poyi
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Copyright, All Rights Reserved, 2006
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The Number Exercise (Exercise in Eurocentrism and Institutionalization)
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by Jim Craven
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Conduct this excercise with your class, group, or plenary.
Conduct this excercise with your class, group, or plenary.
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1. Think of any three DIFFERENT single-digit integers (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
1. Think of any three DIFFERENT single-digit integers (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
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2. Let a = the first number you thought of;let b = the second number you thought of; let c = the third number you thought of;
2. Let a = the first number you thought of;let b = the second number you thought of; let c = the third number you thought of;
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3. Let the single-digit integers you thought of (in order) = a b c
3. Let the single-digit integers you thought of (in order) = a b c
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4. Now reverse the order of numbers = c b a
4. Now reverse the order of numbers = c b a
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5. Next subtract the smaller three-digit number from the larger:e.g. a b c - c b a (if: a b c > c b a); or the reverse (cba-abc) if c b a > a b c
5. Next subtract the smaller three-digit number from the larger:e.g. a b c - c b a (if: a b c > c b a); or the reverse (cba-abc) if c b a > a b c
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6. Let a b c - c b a = d e f
6. Let a b c - c b a = d e f
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7. Next add the individual integers of the result d + e + f = ?
7. Next add the individual integers of the result d + e + f = ?
You have already written the result (?) on a separate piece of paper
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NOTES TO FACILITATOR:
NOTES TO FACILITATOR:
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1. First students will say this is “magic” and you note there is no suchthing as “magic” only illusion;
1. First students will say this is “magic” and you note there is no suchthing as “magic” only illusion;
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2. Next students will say “How did you do it?” and you answer “You tell me”.
2. Next students will say “How did you do it?” and you answer “You tell me”.
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3. Next students will say try another three numbers? You do it and againcome up with the same number…
3. Next students will say try another three numbers? You do it and againcome up with the same number…
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4. “Students will say now we KNOW how it is done; it is always…” and I’llsay “Yes you may know HOW but do you KNOW WHY is is always…?”
4. “Students will say now we KNOW how it is done; it is always…” and I’llsay “Yes you may know HOW but do you KNOW WHY is is always…?”
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5. Next you show the proof:
5. Next you show the proof:
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a b c- c b a_____________
a b c- c b a_____________
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1. Since a b c are three DIFFERENT singe-digit integers;
1. Since a b c are three DIFFERENT singe-digit integers;
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2 Since a b c > b c a
2 Since a b c > b c a
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3. Then:
3. Then:
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f = c + 10 - a (when a > c then c - a = c + 10 -a)
f = c + 10 - a (when a > c then c - a = c + 10 -a)
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e = b -1 +10- b (borrowing 1 from b; b - 1 - b = b - 1 + 10 - b
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d = a - 1 - c (borrowing 1 from a)
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Adding d + e + f across we get + a - a; + b - b; + c - c;10 + 10 -1 -1 = 18
Adding d + e + f across we get + a - a; + b - b; + c - c;10 + 10 -1 -1 = 18
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OR ANOTHER WAY TO EXPLAIN
OR ANOTHER WAY TO EXPLAIN
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1,2,3 now reverse 3,2,1; next 321 -123 = 198 and 1 + 9 + 8 = 18
1,2,3 now reverse 3,2,1; next 321 -123 = 198 and 1 + 9 + 8 = 18
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and even with 0
and even with 0
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4,6,0 reversed 0, 6, 4; next 460 - 064 = 396 and 3 + 9 + 6 = 18
4,6,0 reversed 0, 6, 4; next 460 - 064 = 396 and 3 + 9 + 6 = 18
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“This is a great exercise for showing how institutions prescribe andproscribe laws, rights, responsibilities, constraints, hidden logic andagenda, relations, values, myths, traditions, power structures, taboos etcso as to condition, reinforce, predict and manipulate human behavior individually and in the aggregate.”
“This is a great exercise for showing how institutions prescribe andproscribe laws, rights, responsibilities, constraints, hidden logic andagenda, relations, values, myths, traditions, power structures, taboos etcso as to condition, reinforce, predict and manipulate human behavior individually and in the aggregate.”
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NEXT
NEXT
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Then you go into a whole thing about how you got them to accept the basic rules and premises of the illusion and from there the rest was easy and quite predictable.
Then you go into a whole thing about how you got them to accept the basic rules and premises of the illusion and from there the rest was easy and quite predictable.
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The facilitator then goes into discussions of Social Structures of Accumulation (SSAs) which are dynamic complexes of interrelated politico-legal, sociocultural and economic institutions, relations andstructures related to the epxanded reproduction of capital and capitalism. Also go into the Stanley Milgram stuff on obedience of authoritarian premises, structures, games etc with little critical thinking or asking why?
The facilitator then goes into discussions of Social Structures of Accumulation (SSAs) which are dynamic complexes of interrelated politico-legal, sociocultural and economic institutions, relations andstructures related to the epxanded reproduction of capital and capitalism. Also go into the Stanley Milgram stuff on obedience of authoritarian premises, structures, games etc with little critical thinking or asking why?
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A Classroom Exercise (Eurocentric Thinking/Geographical Awareness)
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1. Think of a single-digit integer (Z) from the following 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
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2) Multiply the integer Z you thought of by 9; Z times 9 = XY (two-digit number)
2) Multiply the integer Z you thought of by 9; Z times 9 = XY (two-digit number)
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3) Add the individual single-digit integers X + Y = B
3) Add the individual single-digit integers X + Y = B
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4. Subtract 5 from B = ?
4. Subtract 5 from B = ?
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5. Think of a letter of the English alphabet whose position in the alphabet corresponds with that number of B - 5
5. Think of a letter of the English alphabet whose position in the alphabet corresponds with that number of B - 5
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6. Think of a country whose name starts with that letter (usually it is acertain European Country)
6. Think of a country whose name starts with that letter (usually it is acertain European Country)
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7. Think of the last letter of the name of that country
7. Think of the last letter of the name of that country
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8. Think of an animal whose name starts with the last letter of the name of that country
Hint: letter K is commonly is an animal found on only one continent.
8. Think of an animal whose name starts with the last letter of the name of that country
Hint: letter K is commonly is an animal found on only one continent.
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The second exercise, any single digit integer other than Zero, 1-9 when multiplied by 9 yields a two-digit integer (except 1 which yields only 9)that when the individual single-digit integers are added up, they all yield 9 (9 x 2 = 18 or 1 + 8 = 9; 9 x 3 = 27 or 2 + 7= 9; 9 x 4 = 36..
The second exercise, any single digit integer other than Zero, 1-9 when multiplied by 9 yields a two-digit integer (except 1 which yields only 9)that when the individual single-digit integers are added up, they all yield 9 (9 x 2 = 18 or 1 + 8 = 9; 9 x 3 = 27 or 2 + 7= 9; 9 x 4 = 36..
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9 - 5 = 4
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The 4th letter of the alphabet is D and most people think only of Denmark and not say Dominican Republic, Djibouti or Dominica and the last letter of the name ofthe country K, most think of a kangaroo and not say a Krait. This can be used as a test of eurocentric thinking or awareness.
The 4th letter of the alphabet is D and most people think only of Denmark and not say Dominican Republic, Djibouti or Dominica and the last letter of the name ofthe country K, most think of a kangaroo and not say a Krait. This can be used as a test of eurocentric thinking or awareness.
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The Hidden Algorithm and Agenda
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by Jim Craven
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This is a card trick based on Set Theory. I use it to show how hidden algorithms in data or card sets can work like hidden agenda: They prescribe relationships, formulae, operations and steps to be performed leading to predetermined and discoverable outcomes.
This is a card trick based on Set Theory. I use it to show how hidden algorithms in data or card sets can work like hidden agenda: They prescribe relationships, formulae, operations and steps to be performed leading to predetermined and discoverable outcomes.
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1 Take a deck of playing cards with 52 cards (Jokers and Instructions Cards Out)
1 Take a deck of playing cards with 52 cards (Jokers and Instructions Cards Out)
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2. After thoroughly shuffling the cards, start turning the cards face up, each card face up on top of the previous card turned up. You will be forming separate piles of cards.
2. After thoroughly shuffling the cards, start turning the cards face up, each card face up on top of the previous card turned up. You will be forming separate piles of cards.
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3. Each pile of cards is formed in the following way. Suppose you turn up a four of clubs. Ignore the suit of the card. Now mentally, start counting cards from 4 upward with the first card, a four face up then pile on top of it cards (numbers and suits do not matter) 5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K up to King. So if the first card was a four then you should have a pile of 10 cards including the four card. Then turn the pile of cards (as you turned them up) over face down to forma separate pile.
3. Each pile of cards is formed in the following way. Suppose you turn up a four of clubs. Ignore the suit of the card. Now mentally, start counting cards from 4 upward with the first card, a four face up then pile on top of it cards (numbers and suits do not matter) 5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K up to King. So if the first card was a four then you should have a pile of 10 cards including the four card. Then turn the pile of cards (as you turned them up) over face down to forma separate pile.
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4. Suppose your next pile is formed by first turning up a Jack of whatever suit. Then you would think Jack, Queen King (each time counting up to King) in that case you would have three cards in that pile including the Jack. Then turn over the cards face down to form another pile. And lets say another pile is formed by first turning up a 6 of hearts (suit doesn’t matter) then count the next cards starting with the six as 6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K so this pile should have 8 cards including the six. Then, again, turn over the cards (always keeping the order in which you turned then face up in place as your turn the whole pile over face down. If you turn up a King, then that card forms a pile alone.
4. Suppose your next pile is formed by first turning up a Jack of whatever suit. Then you would think Jack, Queen King (each time counting up to King) in that case you would have three cards in that pile including the Jack. Then turn over the cards face down to form another pile. And lets say another pile is formed by first turning up a 6 of hearts (suit doesn’t matter) then count the next cards starting with the six as 6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K so this pile should have 8 cards including the six. Then, again, turn over the cards (always keeping the order in which you turned then face up in place as your turn the whole pile over face down. If you turn up a King, then that card forms a pile alone.
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5. If you are turning cards face up and mentally counting them and if your last pile does not have enough cards to reach up to a King, then leave it as a pile on which you will throw the other cards gathered up leaving three piles of cards.
5. If you are turning cards face up and mentally counting them and if your last pile does not have enough cards to reach up to a King, then leave it as a pile on which you will throw the other cards gathered up leaving three piles of cards.
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5. Next, tell the people watching the trick to gather all the piles of cards up except any THREE piles of their own choosing and that you will leave the room as they decide which piles of cards to leave and which to gather up (to be placed on the pile of cards that did not have enough to count up to a King). Also gather up the piles with a lone King in it. Also tell the participants that they may move the piles of cards so that you do not know which they took and which they left, but, if they do move the piles of cards spatially, then must move the whole pile (show them) in tact without disturbing the order of cards in the piles remaining or the pile being moved spatially.
5. Next, tell the people watching the trick to gather all the piles of cards up except any THREE piles of their own choosing and that you will leave the room as they decide which piles of cards to leave and which to gather up (to be placed on the pile of cards that did not have enough to count up to a King). Also gather up the piles with a lone King in it. Also tell the participants that they may move the piles of cards so that you do not know which they took and which they left, but, if they do move the piles of cards spatially, then must move the whole pile (show them) in tact without disturbing the order of cards in the piles remaining or the pile being moved spatially.
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6. Next tell them to leave THREE piles and gather up the remaining cards and place them on the pile that could not make a full set or pile of cards adding up to a King. Then shuffle the cards over and over. Note to the participants that there is no way you could know which of the many piles of cards they left and which they gathered up.
6. Next tell them to leave THREE piles and gather up the remaining cards and place them on the pile that could not make a full set or pile of cards adding up to a King. Then shuffle the cards over and over. Note to the participants that there is no way you could know which of the many piles of cards they left and which they gathered up.
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7. Next ask them to turn up the top card on two of the three piles of cards noting that not only could you not know which cards they left and which they kept, but you could not know before hand which two of the remaining three piles of cards they would select to turn the top cards face up on.
7. Next ask them to turn up the top card on two of the three piles of cards noting that not only could you not know which cards they left and which they kept, but you could not know before hand which two of the remaining three piles of cards they would select to turn the top cards face up on.
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8. Next, suppose the top cards on two of the three piles of cards are a 7 of clubs and say a Jack of Hearts. Add the two values of those cards together or 7 + 11 (Jack is the 11th card, Queen is the 12th and King is the 13th) = 18.
8. Next, suppose the top cards on two of the three piles of cards are a 7 of clubs and say a Jack of Hearts. Add the two values of those cards together or 7 + 11 (Jack is the 11th card, Queen is the 12th and King is the 13th) = 18.
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9. Now ask the participants to thoroughly shuffle the large pile of gathered up cards. Start counting the cards gathered up starting with 18 (7 + the Jack of the two piles with top cards turned over). Next add another ten (all of this is done mentally). Whatever is left over (number of cards remaining) after 18 + 10 (always 10 added to combined values of top cards of two of the three piles turned up) is what the top card in the third pile (not yet turned over) is. So if you count 18, then another ten, and if, after all of that, you have say 8 cards left, then the top card of the third pile is an 8 (of some suit) and so on.
9. Now ask the participants to thoroughly shuffle the large pile of gathered up cards. Start counting the cards gathered up starting with 18 (7 + the Jack of the two piles with top cards turned over). Next add another ten (all of this is done mentally). Whatever is left over (number of cards remaining) after 18 + 10 (always 10 added to combined values of top cards of two of the three piles turned up) is what the top card in the third pile (not yet turned over) is. So if you count 18, then another ten, and if, after all of that, you have say 8 cards left, then the top card of the third pile is an 8 (of some suit) and so on.
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A Classroom Exercise
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In my classes (Intro to Economics, Economic Geography, Intermediate Microeconomics, and Intermediate Macroeconomics) on the first day of the course I ask my students if they know anything about the author or the text they are about to use. They all say no. I then ask how, with this text or any book or other medium, they can get a sense of what the author/performer is really about and their"rhetorical intention" without getting into the main body of the content.
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I note that what I am really asking is how can people be manipulated without often knowing that that is what is going on. Often they will say the preface will give a hint. Others say to check ther reviews on the jacket of the book and by whom the reviews are being done.
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I then ask them to turn to the index of the book. They ask "What do you want us to look up?" I say I want you to look up and document, for extra-credit, what is NOT there that has to do with economics and I want you to send your list of what is NOT there (constructs, theorists, issues,terms etc) to the author of the text and a copy to me (racism, sexism,imperialism, Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergers, misogyny, Florida 2000, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, fascism, colonialism, neo-colonialism are but some examples of what they come up with)
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For example in Dave Colander's Economics 6th Edition (and I know Dave and have reviewed his books) I ask them to look up the word "power". They will not find it in the index. I ask them what power means: perhaps a set of capabilities that allows/facilitates a person or whole class to impose/dominate its will and interests over and against the will and interests of others?
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I ask does "power" have anything to do with economics? What about buyer's versus seller's markets? Who has the relative "power"when supply and demand for a given commodity are overall price elastic versus overall price inelastic? What about "market power" in the sense of "pure" competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and monopoly?
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I give them the following metaphor to illustrate the "power" of inelasticizing supply and demand.
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A member of the KKK, a hard-core, in-your-face racist, is out in the woods playing militia with his kid Little Johnny, the apple of his in-bred eye. Now little Johnny climbs up a tree to act as a lookout for the forces of the ZOG (Zionist Occupying Government) the UN and the black helicopters.
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Well little Johnny slips, falls out of the tree, lands on his head and suffers a compound skull fracture, subdural hematoma etc.
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Problem for the KKK guy: Not only does he have no health care insurance, and not only is he in a rurul area removed from the kinds of facilities little Johnny needs, but there is only one neurosurgeon within a five-state radius that has the skills to save little Johnny and SHE is a Black, Safardic-Jew(culturally), disabled, Lesbian, Communist...[add here]
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The KKK guy, if he could afford and have access to the facilities and the neurosurgeon, has to get an attitude readjustment real quick or has a dead little Johnny.
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Whose got the "power" and on what basis? I then tell them I have no choice but to give exams but will be giving multiple-choice exams (everyone faces the same scoring key that anyone is free to challenge and is encouraged to challenge) and then I ask why do I use multiple-choice exams?
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The students invariably say because they are easy to score. I explain that I use multiple-choice exams because they take the "power" out of my hands (with essay exams they had better stay on my good side, write what I am interested in and cherry-pick/plagiarize from the sources I like because if they dare to question my assessments, I just put my resume up against theirs and the discussion is over...) but, in the case of extra-credit, my assessments will be subjective but then again if I did not care about them and their learning why would I do extra-credit as in "extra" work for me?
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A Classroom Exercise (Scientific Method: Adduction or "Induction" or from The Specific to The General)
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Induction or Adduction: From the Specific to the General
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I had a class of intermediate Macroeconomics for Engineering students. I give the following class exercise in "inductive learning and how one simple fact can take you into a whole new world of learning and ideas and even general lessons and principles:
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1 Take a ride in the elevator at the school (Washington State University)
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2. Record the name of the company that made the elevator (ThyssenKrupp)
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3. Write a paper (using internet hyperlinking with all sources given and document the exact order of urls/articles discovered)) on the following:
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a) Profile of the present company (Businesses, Capitalization, Officers,Holdings, Origins, etc);
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b) Origins of the Group or Family or Families that originated thecompany;
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c) Outline History of the Group or Family or Families that formed the Company; This is an exercise in inductive [adductive?] learning from one specific fact (the name of the company that made the elevator they ride on) to generalizations (principles, axioms, laws, etc).
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They wind up finding something like this:
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How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power By Ben Aris and Duncan Campbell The Guardian U.K. George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was ad irector and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism. ...the documents reveal that the firm he worked for, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), acted as a US base for the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, who helped finance Hitler in the 1930s before falling out with him at the end of the decade.
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The Guardian has seen evidence that shows Bush was the director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation(UBC) that represented Thyssen's US interests and he continued to work for the bank after America entered the war. Thyssen owned the largest steel and coal company in Germany and grew rich from Hitler's efforts to re-arm between the two world wars.
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One of the pillars in Thyssen's international corporate web, UBC, worked exclusively for, and was owned by, a Thyssen-controlled bank in the Netherlands. More tantalising are Bush's links to the Consolidated Silesian Steel Company(CSSC), based in mineral rich Silesia on the German-Polish border. During the war, the company made use of Nazi slave labour from the concentration camps, including Auschwitz. The ownership of CSSC changed hands several times in the 1930s, but documents from the US National Archive declassified last year link Bush to CSSC, although it is not clear if he and UBC were still involved in the company when Thyssen's American assets were seized n 1942...
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They are also led to Charles Higham's "Trading With the Enemy"documenting hat 380 US Companies continued to trade with "Axis"(Japan,Germany and Italy)nations throughout World War II and made significant"contributions" to the war efforts of the enemy.
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A Classroom Exercise (Management and Hiring, Imperatives of Capitalism)
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In my classes I ask the students:
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"How many of you are training for aposition that involves management at the level of having the power to hireand fire?"
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Almost all the hands go up.
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1. Two candidates for a position. Person A who states he/she is not willing to work for less than $7.00 per hour versus Person B who states he/she is not willing to work for less than $10.00 per hour? Which will you hire?
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a. Person A
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b. Person B
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c. Need more information
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d. None of the above
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Usually about 70% or so say Person A.
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I ask why did they select A and they usually say managers are expected to get "labor" and "all factors" as cheaply as possible;
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Uusally about 10% will give person B.
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I ask why? They usually say if you pay a little higher wages, the workers will be happier, less likely to unionize or join a union, more likely to support your decisions and less likely to leave thus costing the firm more in search and rehiring costs.
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Another 20% or so will answer c or "Need More information".
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I then ask What more information do you need?
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And the answers get interesting:
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a. Productivity: If person A produces only 10 Widgits per hour at $7.00 per hour, his/her unit wage cost is 70 cents per unit whereas the one at $10 per hour if, say producing 30 widgits per hour has a unit cost of 33.3cents per unit. In that case, hire person B.
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b. Gender: If person A is a woman in childbearing age, and person B is a male or a female not likely to bear children, hire person B because long-run Person B will cost less with less chance of quitting, pregnancy leave, benefits for kids, high absentee rates etc.
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c. Politics: If person A has an attitude and is political and the kind likely to join a union or try to form one, and person B is conservative and anti-union, hire person B.
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d. Vulnerability: If person B is vulnerable (age, bad employment history, sick wife and kids) and if losing the job will make him/her even more vulnerable so they cannot afford to quit or make trouble, hire person B.
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e. Connections: If person B has the kind of connections that will bring you favors or access to other connections in return for hiring him/her, then hire person B.
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f. Secrets: If person B has some secrets that can be used as leverage on that person (spying and snitching, productivity, discouraging unions, back-up in group decisions etc) then person B. Must be careful as this type can be used against you by enemies who also know the secrets;
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g. Personality: If person B is a schmoozer, networker, go-along-to-get-along and lacking courage to make "trouble" if fired, then hire person B.
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h. Illegal immigrants: If person B is an illegal and it can be covered-up, hire that person as the threat of being ratted out to INS can keep them in line; or even ratting them out before payday can save some labor costs (must be done carefully so as not to discourage future illegals)
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i. Politics: If person B has same politics as you, less friction, an ideological soul mate, networking possibilities, can use "higher cause" for control etc.;
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j. Predictability: If person B is more rigid and predictable in stimulus and response terms, hire that person as the unpredictable are harder to control and the effects of their reactions are also unpredictable and potentially costly;
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k. Disabled: If Person B is disabled but can handle the job, hire thatperson as they are not only more vulnerable and beholden for being given the job but they can be used in corporate propaganda about "corporate responsibility and caring";
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l. Minorities: If person B is a recognized and recognizable (in photo-ops)"minority" hire that person particularly if you have few minorities and none like person B.
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m. Benefits: If person B is willing to take less benefits (reason why person A willing to work for less per hour) take person B as benefits costs are outstripping wage costs and will likely continue to do so.
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n. Cronyism and Nepotism: If person B is a close friend or relative, member of same church or same fraternity with oaths of allegiance, particularly not likely or able to ever turn against you, why not? Everybody else does it why should friends and relatives lose out because of someone else's"morality"?
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o Qualifications: If person A is "overqualified" (former white collar worker) and may make you look bad or may have a hard time doing work they have never done and staying "in their place", and this is not the profile of person B, then hire person B.
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p. Reasons for Seeking Employment: If person B is desperate, perhaps has asick child or wife, perhaps huge debt from medical bills, then hire person B as they will not only be highly grateful and productive, and back you against the other workers, but they will be likely to keep secrets and not leave until you need to get rid of them and will leave quietly without a fuss when you terminate them;
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q. Memberships in Associations: If person B is a member of the same organization say Kiwanis, Rotary, a church or whatever, hire that person because that is what those organizations are about and you have to give back plus again fellow members are more predictable and controllable and know how to keep confidences.
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r. Veteran's status: If person B is a veteran (depending upon what kind of service and where as you do not want some ptsd'd burnout) then hiring vets is not only good PR but they know all about chains of command and following orders without question from those who have "the bigger picture";
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A Classroom Exercise (Contextual Thinking)
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In my classes, I start out either giving an exam totally in Blackfootlanguage and/or an exam using high levels of calculus etc guaranteed to produce total failures.
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I tell the students they can take the exam home and they have one day to finish it and that they must put some answer down on the scantron, whatever, and that they only "fail" for purposes of their final grade if they put nothing down.
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I sometimes do the same with respect to forcing them to sign a statement that they understand the terms of the syllabus and the statement is in Blackfoot language. (To teach about Treaties and "informed consent")
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I then pass back the scored scantrons showing 100% failure of the tests. I then go over the answers. They scream foul. It was in a language we could't even identify let alone translate. You demanded levels of math we've never been exposed to etc. I then tell them that this is all nothing but rationalization designed to deal with their cognitive dissonance problems (actual performance versus inflated self-image).
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I tell them that if they had real initiative, they would haver taken time to identify the language the test was written in and would have had it translated or would have found a math major to help with the math. etc I tell them if they are whining about looking backward, stupid, inefficient, illiterate, lazy etc because of being set up to fail, this is nothing but rationalization...
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Then we get into it. We get into the fact that from the first socialist revolution in 1917, the imperialist powers attempted to invade the USSRand other socialist nations and strangle that revolution in its cradle. And when the initial invasions and subsequent civil war failed to destroy socialism, this was followed, in the case of the USSR as well as in latter socialist revolutions (Cuba, China,Vietnam, Albania, etc) by protracted periods and intense campaigns of embargos; destabilization campaigns; imperialist encirclements; threats of nuclear annihilation; covert operations; denial of access to global institutions, markets, strategic resources, critical technologies, food supplies, finance and loans, aid, medical technologies etc; all designed to make sure that socialism, as a system could never compete fairly with capitalism and to produce the material conditions and "evidence" for the Cold War syllogisms of asserted "backwardness, inefficiencies and barbarism" of socialism realtive to purported opposities of capitalism.
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The notion of War--to the death of one by the survival of the other--between contending systems, ideologies and fundamental values of socialism versus capitalism has been around and in the inner circles of imperialism since even before 1917.
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We then get into the concepts of "engineering the predicate" or setting up individuals or whole systems under such constraints and imposed criteria and yardsticks of "performance" that they are certain or doomed to "fail" and thus live up to asserted stereotypes of alleged backwardness etc.
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I also use this exercise to illustrate conditioning of First Nations and other children under conditions and constraints--and attitudes--of eurocentrism, sexism, racism, homophobia etc.
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When I translate my tests or syllabae from Blackfoot to English or when Ibreak the math down from higher level calculus to basics, it is amazing how"performance" levels of my students improve dramatically.
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The same applies to systems when allowed access to the resources, information, technologies, absence of war and other factors critical for growth , development and survival. But my students rarely object to my game because at present, I have the power to set performance criteria and examination modalities and they can "choose" to drop out or to play.
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But in China's case, they cannot "choose" to drop out of critical international institutions, markets, sources of critical resources etc mostly controlled or highly influenced by imperialist powers able to cause a lot of misery for a lot of already oppressed and marginalized victims...
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A Classroom Exercise (The Constraints and "Spiral of Success" in Mainstream
Media)
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Thought Experiments (Up to 10 Points Added to Final Grade)
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Thought experiments are critical to scientific inquiry. They involve"What-If ?" questions under given or assumed conditions and often constitute an initial step in formulating potentially refutable--orconfirmable--hypotheses (statements of expected results) that go on to potentially establish or give support to basic facts, generalizations,principles, axioms and "laws".
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Scenario:
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You are a big-name journalist with access to the powerful and to "scoops"other journalists envy. You have spent over thirty-five years doing the kinds of "Faustian Deals", general whoring and sycophancy that made you the big-name in journalism.
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You understood, early on in your career, the typical "Spiral of SUCKcess in journalism:
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a) NOT asking nasty questionsand/or posing softball questions brings you ACCESS to the powers-that-be and "newsmakers;
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b) ACCESS brings you "THE SCOOP" and/or denies "THE SCOOP"to the competition [Note: in Academia it works the same way but instead of"THE SCOOP" read "THE BIG GRANT" OR "CV-ENHANCING PUBLICATION" and in Entertainment read "THE BIG HIT" and in Politics read "THE NOTICE OF MAKERS AND SHAKERS"];
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c) "THE SCOOP"[etc.] brings you EXPOSURE;
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d) EXPOSURE brings/makes you a "BIG NAME";
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e) "BIG NAME" brings ["expanded] "ACCESS";and [expanded] "ACCESS" brings [bigger] "SCOOPS" and ... You are off and running.
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You learned that there are various pathways into the "Spiral of SUCKcess"in Journalism, Academia, Entertainment and Politics:
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a) A GIMMICK (e.g.Milli Vinilli or U2) may bring instant EXPOSURE and then EXPOSURE brings BIG NAME and ...;
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b) a "FORTUITOUS" SCOOP (e.g. Woodward and Berstein) may bring EXPOSURE which then makes a BIG NAME and...;
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c) A lateral move of a BIG NAME in say sports or politics (e.g. Chris Matthews) as an instant BIG NAME in journalism brings ACCESS and that person is off and running;
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d) Toadying and sycophancy in politics brings instant "credentialing" and ACCESS" in journalism (e.g. public Homophobe and closet Gay "Escort" Jeff Gannon aka James Burkart over 100 White house visits--what was Secret Service doing?).
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But in all cases, your learned very quickly that staying in the "Spiral ofSUCKcess" was dependent upon continuing ACCESS which is dependent upon NOT asking nasty (Taboo) questions and/or posing the softball questions.
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Now, at the end of your career, contemplating your own mortality and the years of Faustian Bargains that brought you your BIG NAME and ACCESS, you are going through a "Willy Loman Moment" (see "Death of a Saleman" by Arthur Miller if you don't know what that means) and decide, for once in your life, to pose the kinds of questions that would/will get you killed and/or your career totally destroyed.
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ASSIGNMENT:
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With respect to any culture, any period of history and any person orpersons with real power, present a list of Taboo questions that would, if posed, result in your being killed and/or your career totally destroyed.
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SOME PAST RESPONSES:
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Scenario: Beijing, China 2006, Press Conference with Bill Clinton discussing the work of the Clinton Foundation on Global Aids:"Mr Clinton. As a result of your work with AIDS victims, and seeing personally the devastation brought about by AIDS, has your work given you a new sense of appreciation of just how reckless and dangerous was your obvious unprotected sex(as evidenced by the infamous "Presidue" on the dress)--or whatever it was--with Ms Lewinski and did you have an AIDS test prior to sexual relations with Hillary--assuming you have had marital relations after relations with Ms. Lewinski?
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Scenario: Press Conference with Bush 2006:Mr. [p]Resident: You have referred repeatedly to Saddam Hussein as a thug, criminal and butcher. When did he become a thug etc? Was he a thug and butcher when he was put on the CIA payroll around 1962? Was he a thug and butcher when, during the Iraq-Iran War that he initiated with US encouragement, he was given satellite intelligence and weapons that the US does not even share with the Israelis? Was he a thug and butcher when, even after the gassing of the Kurds in March of 1988, your daddy sent shipments of anthrax and botulism and over $200 million in "loans" under a covert US Department of Agriculture program? Was he a thug and a butcher when US Ambassador April Glaspie gave him a virtual green light to invade Kuwait in 1990?
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Scenario: Berlin, 1936, Reichs Chancellory Press Conference with Hitler: Mr Hitler, in your Mein Kampf and in your speeches you celebrate the supposed "Aryan Ideal" or "Ideal Aryan": Blond, Blue-eyed, Tall, Muscular, Statuesque, Thin; Athletic etc. Yet you are relatively short, fat,non-athletic and with brown eyes and hair. Does you own phenotype not suggest that you yourself are non-Aryan and possibly a candidate yourself for some special measures you have advocated for "non-Aryan" populations?
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Scenario: Press Conference with Bush after his speech to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC 2005: Mr Bush. In your speech you said that the horrors and lessons of the Nazi Holocaust should never be forgotten or hidden. Yet in your speech, you made no mention about--or any apologies for--the fact that your grandfather Prescott Bush and your great grandfather George Herbert Walker were, along with Fritz Thyssen:
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a) principal financiers of Hitler from 1924 onward;
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b) found to be guilty of Trading With the Enemy during wartime by selling nazi securities AFTER Pearl Harbor;
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c) principal investors in a synfuel plant at Auschwitz using slave labor;
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d) involved in a plot to overthrow FDR in 1934 and set up a fascist government;
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e) involved in planting wanted nazi war criminals at the highest levels of the Republican Party and U.S. Government.
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Given that you have never held or attained one position in academia, politics or business that you would have been able to obtain on your own without your family wealth and name, should you not at least apologize, at this venue, for the nazi and other fascist connections and crimes that were instrumental in building your family wealth and name without which you would obviously be nothing given your obvious lack of intellect and talents?
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A Classroom Exercise (On Treaties, Power and "Informed Consent")
One of the classroom exercises I use-for agit-prop as well as pedagogical uses--goes as follows:
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In all my classes, I have waiting lists of folks hoping that during the first week someone registered will drop so that those on the waiting list will be allowed to register.
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On the first day of class I note that there is a waiting list so I give students a "contract" [or treaty if you will] governing our respective teacher-student responsibilities and note that I will take extra-credit only from those signing the contract and/or will only "overload" those students signing my contract.
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But my contract is written in Blackfoot language. When they complain that they do not even know what language it is and can certainly cannot understand it, I tell them it is in a language that any "educated person" should know, if they do not know this language it must mean they are probably not intellectually developed enough to handle the course and further, if they want in the course and/or to have their extra-credit taken, they have one day to find out what language it is written in and have it translated. Most of them never find out what language it is in or have it translated but almost the whole class will sign the contract not knowing what it says or means out of shere expediency.
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We then explore why they were willing to sign this contract not even knowing what language it was written in and not understanding it. I note that even with a relatively small penalty (not having extra-credit work taken) they were willing to sign a contract or treaty they clearly did not understand; imagine what pressure they would be under with guns and cannons pointed at their heads (as in so-called Treaty 7 and the other Treaties in Canada and the U.S.).
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And for those who refused to sign my contract, what if I were to summarily pick--and designate as their "legitimate"representatives--individuals who were willing to sign for those not willing to sign? How would they feel about that? Would they feel bound by such a contract or treaty?, Would such a contract be binding even in bourgeois law? Would the representatives that I summarily designated as their "representatives" be seen by those who refused to sign as indeed that--their legitimate representatives?
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