Current Affairs [Thursday, September 5, 2013]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh looked up from his iPad as his students arrived in his non-Danger Shop classroom, but he went back to reading and drinking his coffee until they'd gotten themselves settled in.

"Sorry, I was just catching up on the latest out of Syria," he said with a light smile, putting his coffee down next to the cake that had inexplicably appeared on his chair when he'd arrived. "Welcome to Current Affairs, or as I guess should be made clear on this island, current affairs for the United States in September of 2013 where as far as I know, aliens, vampires and giant robots have not invaded. And I'd know: I worked in the White House for the last twelve years, so I've got a clearance so secret I can't even tell you the name of it and have the diplomatic rank equivalent to a four star general."

So there.

"Since you've signed up for this class, I'm gonna assume it's because you want become slightly more informed about the world around you than internet trolls on news sites who blame everything on Obama or Bush in poorly spelled all caps comments, and because of that, you're gonna have to do some reading. We had a team of interns at the White House who would go through all of the major newspapers and websites to put together daily clips for us to read. It looked something like this--" he pointed to a giant stack of papers on his desk, "--and we got it on our desks every morning. In addition, I read the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, and a couple of politically-centered papers as well: Roll Call, The Hill, the National Journal...and a bunch of blogs, too. I'm also following a number of news sites on Twitter, which is a great resource to plug into non-American source of news."

He paused. "I realize now that makes me seen a little obsessive, but my job as a professional political operative was to know this stuff, and to understand how what we were doing was being spun by the media. You only have to pick one source of news--or Buzzfeed and another source of news because every story can't be summarized with cat gifs and start reading it before class each week."

Josh glanced at the iPad again. "The Washington Post has a really handy article called 'Ten Things to Know Today.' I'll read off the issues and then we'll just go from there--ask me any questions you have, start a discussion with your classmates...I want you to mix it up and I expect people to clash on their opinions." His expression turned stern for a moment. "But please stay polite...ish." This was from a man who'd told a Senator to cram his legislative agenda up his ass, so Josh's definition of polite wasn't everyone's. He scanned the news. "Okay, we'll talk about eight of these because I can't think of anything I care about less than who Scarlett Johansen is marrying and sports isn't really the focus of this class. Everything else is fair game."

With that, he read off the other eight news snippets that are linked above because Jesus, Josh talks forever.

Comments

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"'We' as a globe full of people who agree being gassed is bad or 'we' as in the United States because no one else wants to be involved?" Josh asked a little dryly.

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[notajaegerbomb.livejournal.com]

"We as in everyone," Raleigh replied. See, this right here is why he ends up joining a multinational organization dedicated to beating up monsters with mechs. "If we stand around and do nothing, then we're no better than the guys gassing people."

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"But who are the guys gassing people?" Josh asked. "Is there compelling evidence that proves it was Assad, or is he just a dick and so we figure it was probably him?"

You can tell why State didn't let Josh conduct negotiations ever.

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[notajaegerbomb.livejournal.com]

Well, he was doing better than Raleigh? Congrats, Josh. Better than a teenager.

"Then we investigate it," Raleigh replied. "Instead of waiting around for more people to die."

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Oh, there won't be a time-out or anything for people to look around and take their time," Josh said. "The UN went in and looked around--they got about an hour and a half on the ground before the government took them away because they couldn't confirm their safety. They say that, yeah, there were weapons used but they can't tell who fired them."

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[notajaegerbomb.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's not shady at all."

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh nodded. "That's why the administration is getting a little impatient. What do you think should happen?"

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[notajaegerbomb.livejournal.com]

Making him think about things. God. What kind of teacher were you, Josh?

"What's stopping everyone else from wanting to get involved?"

Re: Your News Choices Today [9/5]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Several things," Josh said. "There's a 'none of my business' crowd, a fairly large 'fighting violence with violence is going to get us nowhere' crowd, a whole bunch of countries who just don't have the money or the militaries to get involved, even if they wanted to, which not many do."