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11 15 pm pdt [ what were guns invented for? ]
"If you go to racing school with me, will it just be to
humor me?"
"I like shooting guns and driving fast."
"I'm glad you like driving fast. The idea that guns
are really for killing animals or people is yucky to me."
"Well I obviously don't like killing animals. I like
shooting at targets. Plus, I think guns were invented for killing people.
Hmmm, do you think guns were invented for killing people or animals? I
think people."
"That's a good question," he answered.
"That is a good question," I agreed.
Were guns invented for killing people or animals?
Which reminds me, I joined a high traffic mailing list
for "exploring the intersections among teaching, learning, communication,
community, and the new literacies." It seems to mostly consist of
educators who are happy to use computers in their [mostly Englist and/or
writing] classrooms. Anyway, the list members have gotten into a big
session of bashing WebCT [Web Course Tools], which is a program for
providing supposedly easy-to-use discussion lists, grade lists, chat
rooms, etc. for class materials. So, some people are saying that people
who use WebCT are supporting old pedagogies. And I quote,
Here's where I have to confess that I felt the
discussion was really pointless. They were having a very old argument
about a rather new technology.
The argument is whether or not guns are inherently
evil. Guns are made to shoot animals/people. But you could use a gun as
a hammer or a doorstop. So the argument is whether the ill intent comes
from the production of the gun or from the act of someone pulling the
trigger.
And here we have all these academics arguing about
whether this poor technology signifies a continuation of the old methods
of teaching in and of itself or whether using this poor technology
signifies a continuation of the old methods of teaching.
As I prefer to say, guns don't kill people; bullets
kill people.
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