Writing Homework Help

Culture, as we have learned, is the paradigm through which all our communication takes place. Our understanding of ourselves and others occurs within the context of our cultural experience. The past few months have seen an increase in discussions around issues of bias, prejudice, stereotyping, racism, and other topics we have often been hesitant to discuss openly. As many of us reexamine ourselves and our own experience with these issues, we may find ourselves questioning many of our cultural assumptions and personal beliefs.

Watch one (or all) of the TED Talk Videos/NPR Podcasts in the Week 4 Module: How do we overcome our biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them – Verna Myers , Sally Kohn-What can we do about the culture of hate, or Robin Diangelo and Resmaa Menakem in conversation

Share your thoughts on the video/podcast you reviewed. Include some details about how you felt while watching/listening, what you learned, how you can apply the information to your life, etc. Most important, share your thoughts on the role of hate and/or bias in our world today and how you think we can work to overcome it.

You are welcome to share personal experiences with these issues, as well. Have you experienced prejudice or bias directed toward you? Have you recognized bias or prejudices in yourself that you would like to work on eliminating? Have you seen the impact of these things on people or institutions around you? What are your thoughts on the current dialog occurring on these issues?

This is a difficult and charged topic – I realize that. I also fundamentally believe that only through communicating about it openly and thoughtfully can we work to heal ourselves and our country. I expect you to be thoughtful and respectful in this space. We will not all agree with one another and that is okay, but we can disagree with respect. One of the most important characteristics of good communication is the ability to try to see things from another’s perspective. Engage in dialog with one another. And most important, listen to one another. (Note: another interesting discussion of how to have these difficult discussions in a way that builds common ground rather than dissension can be found here.)

To receive credit for this discussion, you must write an initial thread of at least 3 full sentences and it must be a thoughtful reflection on the topic. You must also thoughtfully respond to at least two of your classmates. Passive agreement or disagreement of someone else’s ideas will not receive credit. If you are not respectful of others’ thoughts and ideas or if you express any ideas that are hurtful or intolerant, I will delete your posts and give you a 0 on the assignment.Note: I will appreciate 2 responses to the same subject.