Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Twitter

I give in, and just signed up!

www.twitter.com/chantarose

Friday, March 06, 2009

Questionable Uncertainty

I just finsihed writing a paper for Sociology. I had to answer/address the following question:

"Do you think low-wage factory’s of multi-national corporations represent exploitation or opportunity? Why?"

Once upon a time I would have just answered the damned question, but no, now due to my philosophy and communications classes I began my paper with this:

"Either/or questions in argumentative rhetoric like the one above force a reader to think in terms of black and white, right and wrong, and in this case opportunity or exploitation as if there was not an entire world of thought soaked in gray to be considered. The false dilemma is that there are only two possible answers and life is not that simple, not for the factory workers, or for the multi-national corporations that hire them."

Honestly, I could have written an essay on the fallacies in the question alone. False dilemma, appeal to emotional belief, loaded question, guilt by association, etc, etc.

After my opening paragraph I then went on to define the terms and discuss cultural relativism to come out with a surprising essay, even for myself.

I once read that going to college makes a person move from cocksure ignorance (primary certituide) to questionable uncertainty on issues. I am certainly experiencing this but in so many classes where so much time is spent "unpacking" the meaning of a question we never really answer any. This forces me to ask myself; does college create a world of thinkers when really we need a world of doers? Did you notice, I just committed all of the same fallacies as the question above. Fuck.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Nutrition Mid-Terms

I got my mid-term back, and yep, I did it again. Answered 2 questions wrong because I am a dumb-dumb that races through exams instead of reading the question correctly and giving an answer I know. Majorly pissed at myself. "What condition is associated with H.Pylori?" Easy question. The answer is peptic ulcers, but what did I put? I put GERD like a huge dummy. GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) has NOTHING to do with H. Pylori. There was also a couple of Q's on this exam I flat out did not know, so I got an A-, but this is not going to happen again. That's 2 exams in a row now where I have fucked up 2 question on each, which represents 4% on each because of my own "hurry to get out of there" answering style. From now on, deep breaths, ear plugs (yes, people can be noisy motherfuckers in exams and it bothers me) and reading the Q's properly before answering.