Eric Detweiler's blog

Technological Nostalgia and the Academic Year to Come

Submitted by Eric Detweiler 15Aug
XKCD comic "Time Ghost"

I feel so out of touch when it comes to video games.

Over the Hedge with Nate Silver and Jacques Derrida

Submitted by Eric Detweiler 18Feb
Photo of a labyrinthine hedge dividing a grass yard from a gravel path

In October 2012, statistician and New York Times blogger Nate Silver was predicting up a storm. He was aggregating, calculating, and tabulating poll results in order to determine the probable outcomes of the upcoming presidential election. By the end of the month, he had President Obama’s reelection chances at 79%. MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough was not amused:

That, Those, and the Other

Submitted by Eric Detweiler 04Sep
President Obama speaking to a little girl who's built a block tower, words You Didn't Build That imposed over image

"[H]ere. Where? There." — Jacques Derrida, "Signature Event Context"

When I think of the concept “technology,” I think of computers. Well, I think of other things too—mostly things with screens and occasionally things that explode—but if I were asked to draw a picture of “technology,” it’d probably resemble a laptop. 

Community and the Rhetoric Classroom

Submitted by Eric Detweiler 13Aug
Photo of Jeff and Britta from the sitcom Community

Jeff Winger is Socrates’ worst nightmare. As an former lawyer disbarred for having a phony bachelor’s degree, and whose central skill on the NBC sitcom Community is manipulating others’ emotions with his words, Jeff bears out almost all of the concerns Socrates expresses in the Phaedrus and Gorgias about what can happen when training and skill in rhetoric is divorced from a strong moral code.

Trust Me, I'm a Teacher: Some Reflections on Teacher-Student Power Relations

Submitted by Eric Detweiler 13Aug
Stick figure comic from XKCD

Let me immediately note that I’m not intending to demonstrate universal truths with the following anecdotes. My intent is just to share a couple of particular rhetorical situations and the reflections to which they’ve led.

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