Words as weapons

People are always talking about how books can heal – those Chicken Soup for the Soul books are a good example. But the opposite is also true. Books are often used as tools of propaganda (Hitler’s Mein Kampf) or of more subtle manipulation where the writer’s objective may not be so clear. In this sense, books and words are weapons and can result in both perceived and real damage.

There is a way to defend yourself, and your “W” requirement is part of it. One of the aims of the written requirement is to get university students used to thinking about the written word. By examining books and articles to be used in essays, you can learn about bias, voice, logical progression of thought and tangential arguments. No one publishes anything without a reason and having the skills to decipher that reason means you will be less easily manipulated.

The important thing to remember is that the skills you learn plodding through some seemingly incomprehensible article can just as easily be applied to the newspaper, television, advertising or the internet. Those skills are continually relevant just as someone will continually try to convince you of something. Words are weapons, but education is your armour.

Kris

Welcome to Summer Term!

Welcome to yet another new term! For those of you taking courses, congratulations!! Taking courses in July is a true challenge because the weather is usually quite pleasant, which makes studying even more of an undertaking. But if it is saving you a year or even another term of courses down the road, think of how happy you’ll be then.

Though this is the only time of the year that we at the LAC don’t offer any workshops, we are still open and available to meet you with you in our office at 201 Tier. In fact, July and August are two months where we are often available so students can drop in, but it’s recommended to make an appointment.

We have been busy gathering new resources and writing new material for the Virtual Learning Commons and we’re happy to share them with you. A section on Critical Thinking has been recently added and is beneficial to students taking philosophy courses, to those of you preparing for entrance exams and to those of you interested in improving your thinking skills for a variety of purposes.

To help you stay on track during this high pressure term, we have created a term schedule that is visually useful to remind you of the precious time this term. Check out this downloadable Excel document at https://www.umanitoba.ca/virtuallearningcommons/page/557

Cheers!
Natalie