fandomhigh | Canada Is Not That Strange And Other Biases | Wednesday

A new term meant a new class and a new challenge for Fraser. He was fairly confident he would rise to the challenge but new things always brought nerves. He was waiting in the classroom for the students to arrive, fully uniformed and posture perfect.

"Good morning," he greeted them all once everyone had assembled and settled down, "and welcome to Canada Is Not That Strange and Other Biases. For those that don't know me, I am Constable Benton Fraser, a native of Canada, so you can rest assured I am qualified to teach this course."

His posture relaxed and he smiled. "As the title of the course says, this is going to be a class on learning and possibly refuting the many, many biases, myths and urban legends that are a part of our different cultures. And, while I don't know everything about every culture, I am fairly confident in saying all cultures have myths, urban legends or biases."

Of course, teaching this class would probably help him learn about different cultures and Fraser was pleased with that. "The definitions for these words are similar but not entirely true. A myth is typically a traditional story usually concerning a hero or an event without any determinable basis of fact or explanation. A bias is a particular tendency that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question. An urban legend is a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror. The similarities are there but the differences are as well. In this class, we're going to be looking at examples of each of these, talking about them, examining them and then deciding if they have any merit at all. This class will be both silly and serious, confusing and easy. And I hope it's interesting."

With that said, Fraser clasped his hands in front of him. "Of course, the first week is almost always for introductions and I think that's a good idea with some new faces. So please, tell me your name and your age and one myth, bias or urban legend you might want to discuss. Let's get started."

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"Actually, around here, people encourage differences, I've found," Warren admitted, smiling a little sheepishly. "It's kind of refreshing."

Freeing. It was freeing.

"I think in other places, it's some kind of mob mentality that gets a chance to fester over time. Around here, you can't single any one person out, because nobody is any one person's definition of normal."

"Yes, exactly. Biases can be helpful sometimes but they're so often associated with negativity that the positivity can be overshadowed," he agreed. "If one person says something, it trickles down until it's so widespread and people are believing things without knowing why the believe it."

And it happened everywhere. "It's nice to be in a place that's an exception to the rule."

"I hope it stays that way, here," Warren replied, nodding a little. "Fandom is full of people who wouldn't know what it's like to live without that bias, anywhere else."

"Indeed, they do," he agreed, somewhat sadly because it was unfortunate that some of those that thrived here wouldn't thrive elsewhere. "And convincing someone of something is easy. Once they're convinced, it's a lot harder to change their mind."

"But that doesn't make it any less important to make the effort," Warren noted. "Different isn't always bad. The trick is in proving it."

"Agreed, again," Fraser said, nodding. "And while you won't convince everyone, you can almost always convince someone. It's a matter of, like you said, having the determination to make the effort and sticking with it."

Canada Is Not That Strange And Other Biases | Wednesday | Period 2

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]

Re: Class Activity | Introductions [Canada 09/01]