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

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

As the students filed into the classroom, they'd see Fraser standing at the front, leaning against the desk. The super straight posture he was so used to didn't seem needed right now.

"Good morning and welcome back," Fraser said, smiling at them all. "Today, we're going to get right into the lessons. I don't have a syllabus as I tend to stop following it halfway through so every week is going to be a surprise."

Whether that was good or bad, Fraser didn't know. "Today, we're going to be discussing extraterrestrial life. Now, that particular legend has been refuted time and time again to those of us on the island. There are people outside the island that still might not believe there really are other planets out there beyond our solar system and thus, they probably don't believe some people who are very much alive exist at all."

Fraser paused and pushed away from the desk. "Even if this island and it's amazing properties didn't exist, people would still be pushing the belief that extraterrestrial life existed because the universe is really too vast to just be us. That's just ridiculous, isn't it? Why would a universe that's probably comprised of an infinite number of solar systems, planets and stars be out there but we're the only ones living. Unfortunately, there are those people that believe that's true. They believe we're the only ones that are alive and they believe that the universes are ours."

Humanity was a selfish, selfish species. "Now, why do you think, presented with quite a bit of evidence, people would believe that we're alone in the universe? Isn't that short sighted and narrow minded at this day and age? It's true that Earth scientist might not have discovered extraterrestrial life on the planets in this system but that's not an indicator that they do not exist. Scientists need only to come here and find that other planets, other worlds and other universes truly do exist. So, today's activity is simple. We're all going to assume we're extraterrestrials. There's someone in front of you telling you that you do not exist and you never will. How would you convince them otherwise? Feel free to talk to each other and discuss your answers. Let's get started."

Comments

Sign In [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

Like no one believes you're from another planet!

Re: Sign In [Canada 09/07]

[wwiii]

Warren Worthington III

Re: Sign In [Canada 09/07]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hyuuga Hinata

Re: Sign In [Canada 09/07]

[life_inshadow]

Tara Maclay

During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

Feel free to take notes, chat, daydream, nap or anything else!

Re: During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[wwiii]

Warren was giving the lecture all of the consideration that it was due, but it was still hitting weird little sticky points in his mind. He'd spent his entire life trying to prove to people that he wasn't different from them, after all.

Re: During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Coming from she did as a planet that wasn't aware of--any other planets out there that had life on them, Hinata was frowning slightly as she considered the lecture.

Re: During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[isntabitpretty.livejournal.com]

Sara considered this lecture to be something of a conundrum: on the one hand, it made perfect sense to her, as it certainly was a vast galaxy out there, and the mere idea of entire other civilizations out among the stars was positively intriguing. On the other hand . . . the constable's reasoning, while perfectly sound, was so rational as to take some of the mysterious allure out of the notion for her.

She sat, contemplating the question, and frowning slightly.

Re: During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[glacial_queen]

Karla's people also thought they were alone in the universe. However, unlike this world, they had stars without any visible planets. The only real information about what lay beyond was a fragment of an old poem:

They spiral down into Ebony, catching the stars in their tails,

about the ancient dragons that had created the Blood. All was Darkness, otherwise.

So, hmmm...

Re: During the Lecture [Canada 09/07]

[eyebrowgoesup]

Proof of life on other planets sat in his seat, contemplating the logical arguments for and against each viewpoint at this point in Earth's timeline.

Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"We're all going to assume we're extraterrestrials. There's someone in front of you telling you that you do not exist and you never will. How would you convince them otherwise? Feel free to talk to each other and discuss your answers. Let's get started."

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[wwiii]

"I guess the only way to really convince somebody who's decided to be a non-believer is to give them hard evidence that they can't deny," Warren noted. "Physical differences, maybe, if there are any. Technologies that are well before Earth's time. Powers..."

Warren still wasn't sure why anybody would want to convince anybody that they were so different, when those people were as closed-minded as that in the first place. The next step from there would be riots in the streets, right?

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

Fraser agreed that it was often futile to try and convince someone that was at one extreme. But sometimes some people were just looking for reasons to believe.

"You don't think the hard evidence would frighten some regular person just off the street?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[wwiii]

"It seems to be working for the regular people who end up here," Warren noted, wryly. "But I guess we've already established that Fandom is kind of a special case, huh?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata looked a bit tentative but as he'd said that this was a discussion she hoped he wouldn't mind too much if she went a little off from the question.

Just a smidgen.

"A-Ano," she said, then stopped and tried again. "Does it matter if they believe? Can we not get along without their full understanding of our differences?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps," Fraser said, pleased at the different way of thinking. "If the person in question was a friend of yours and revealed that they didn't think you should exist by nature of not believing in other planets, would that change your way of thinking?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I w-would hope," she said slowly, "that if they were a friend of mine, that they would come to understand. But if someone is against the idea while not knowing you're part of the idea they're against, would it really be the best way to just... shove that fact in their faces?"

She fiddled with her sleeves. "People don't... react well to that sort of thing. It is easy to become defensive then and shut down avenues of communication. If a friend of mine believed that I th-think there are two options? To either withdraw from them without telling them why, or slowly show them over time that it's okay for there to be those differences. A big reveal is too... jarring...?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[life_inshadow]

"I guess," Tara said thoughtfully, "I'd ask why specifically they thought I c-couldn't exist and see if I could persuade them from that."

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"Do you think you could?" Fraser asked curiously.

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[glacial_queen]

"I think I'd want to know who that someone is, first," Karla said thoughtfully. "If it's a friend or someone on the island, I'd probably just do a big reveal. Show them some of my more obvious physiological differences or whatnot." Absently, she rubbed the back of her ring finger with her right thumb. "As my friend, I trust them enough to share my secrets and for someone on the island, they're just going to have to accept the fact that things they knew as Truth are often not as true here."

Much like her demonstration to Claudia about the existence of magic. She's pretty much gone for the in-your-face method of showing that Craft did exist.

"But someone else that I didn't have a tie to? Well, then it would depend. I might not care enough to wish to give them an explanation."

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"There are a lot of variables that would probably change answers," Fraser agreed with a nod. "It's a general question with no real right or wrong answers. Would you, if it was a friend, want to be sure she knew who you were? Or could you go on with the secret and just continue as you are?"

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[eyebrowgoesup]

"It would be illogical to attempt to reason with someone who is clearly delusional," Spock said, "as I am, in fact, an extraterrestrial alien. I do not have to prove my existence. It is fact."

Re: Class Activity | Extraterrestrial Life [Canada 09/07]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"To you, it is," Fraser agreed, nodding. "What about to those that haven't ever visited this island? Maybe they don't think so because they just don't know."

Fraser [Canada 09/08]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

He's around, looking thoughtful!

OOC [Canada 09/08]

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

KABOOM.