To Show or Not To Show?
I’m thinking about talking briefly about the whole Danish cartoon business in discussion sections today and tomorrow – just at the beginning of section as a relevant international events sort of thing. But I am conflicted about one thing.
Do I bring in the offending cartoons to show the students?
On the one hand, these cartoons are the source of all the controversy. And since they are certainly not being widely published, a classroom environment might be a good place for students to see them and come to their own conclusions.
On the other hand, though, the cartoons are actually quite offensive to many Muslims. And it could be seen as somewhat gratuitous pandering on my part, I suppose.
On the other other hand, though, the person who has been trying to convince me not to show the cartoons also very much wanted to see the cartoons herself.
I don’t know. I’m still conflicted. Any thoughts?
Do I bring in the offending cartoons to show the students?
On the one hand, these cartoons are the source of all the controversy. And since they are certainly not being widely published, a classroom environment might be a good place for students to see them and come to their own conclusions.
On the other hand, though, the cartoons are actually quite offensive to many Muslims. And it could be seen as somewhat gratuitous pandering on my part, I suppose.
On the other other hand, though, the person who has been trying to convince me not to show the cartoons also very much wanted to see the cartoons herself.
I don’t know. I’m still conflicted. Any thoughts?
posted by OleNelson at 1:21 PM
7 Comments:
It depends on who your students are. Do you have any Muslim students? If so, you’ll at least have to preface the presentation by acknowledging that images of Muhammed are forbidden in Islam—and that such iconoclastic anxieties exist in the histories of other cultural/religious systems.
Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, though. You’re teaching a class and observing and discussing the fallout from recent events. (In other words, you can’t un-shit the bed, but you can think about how it happened without re-shitting it.)
If you're worried about fallout, you could print copies of the cartoons, talk about them in the abstract at the beginning of class, and tell them that you have print-outs for anyone that would like to stay after to see them. No one will feel like you're forcing the cartoons on them, but the curious (if they haven't already seen them online) won't feel like you're cheating them out of it.
Do you teach at a school where the students have internet access? I'm going to guess that you do. Therefore, since those cartoons are plastered all over the internet now it is pretty safe to assume that everyone who wants to see them has already done so and everyone who does *not* want to see them hasn't. So by bringing them along and showing them to the class, the odds are good that the only people who will see them for the first time are those who have chosen not to seek them.
I'd just discuss them. I've seen them myself and I don't think that they cartoons themselves are all that important - it's the idea that's the cause for discussion.
There's also this - http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18066746-1702,00.html?from=rss
I'll add my agreement with the Bro. When I was in high school, my European history teacher discussed Holocaust deniers and handed out some of their literature. Given that my high school was heavily Jewish (at least for MN), that was a pretty gutsy thing to do. She actually made us promise not to tell anyone we'd talked about it (we couldn't take the handouts out of the classroom), even though she made it clear that she thought their arguments were crap. Needless to say (and getting to the point), there were no mass protests, so I think the students here can handle it.
In addition to having the cartoons available to view by choice, you may also want to provide a brief description of why they're offensive for those who are less attuned to the news.
It turns out that you can use me as an example about the foolishness of making blanket statements. Time to pretend I didn’t—so I can maintain my air of superiority for class.
I stand by the rest of my advice, though, and echo what has come after: frame the debate, then show away!
I wouldn't show them. grrrbear makes the best point. and you can easily describe them to get the point across. Also, the concerns don't end if you don't have any Muslims in the class. Would you bring in examples of pornography that some feel is offensive to women even if there were no women present?
When I discussed this issue in section last week (to illustrate the tension between rights and utility, a la Mill), I used the following article to try to provide some context:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_prophet_drawings_5
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