Monday, September 28. 2020

 Today's classes are: 

9:15 - 11:50 A Block Criminology

12:30 - 3:05  D Block Social and Environmental Sciences

A Block Criminology - Today, we start in the library / learning commons, and your journal / blog entry is to answer the following:

What are the short and long term impacts on victims of Crime? Use both Harper from the Law & Order episode you watched on Friday and Chapter 3 pages 54-7 in CRIM textbook to help.

Next, I'd like you to find an article (news story) about a victim of crime and for that you should outline the impacts of the crime on them. Finally, using the two stories (one fictional and one real) explain what we should do to mitigate (soften the impact) the impacts of crime on victims (be realistic). Don't forget to find stories on crime in Canada check out:  CANOE CNews Crime site...or the Toronto Star Crime site...or  Global News Crime site...or the Huffington Post Canada Crime site...or the Vancouver Sun Crime Blog

In the second part of class, we will focus on the roots of violent crime. So what is violence? The World Health Organization defines it as

“The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal development or deprivation.” 

Now we know what crime is, so violent crime would be an act of force or power against a person or a group which results in injury, death or harm that society sees as repugnant and codifies as illegal behaviour. Okay so why does it happen? Time magazine asked that in 1993

It's tempting to make excuses for violence. The mugger came from a broken home and was trying to lift himself out of poverty. The wife beater was himself abused as a child. The juvenile murderer was exposed to Motley Crue records and Terminator movies. But do environmental factors wholly account for the seven-year-old child who tortures frogs? The teenager who knifes a teacher? The employee who slaughters workmates with an AK-47? Can society's ills really be responsible for all the savagery that is sweeping America? Or could some people be predisposed to violence by their genes?

Today we grapple with those questions. Where does violence and violent crime come from? We'll look at personal traits, ineffective families, evolutionary factors, exposure to violence, cultural values, substance abuse, and firearm availability to see if they are factors that lead to violent crime in Canada.

Now I know it's about War but this Crash Course asks whether humanity is naturally war like (aka Violent)


I would like you brainstorm a list of all the entertainment you can think of that is based in violence. Think of video games (HALO), television programs (CSI), books (30 Days of Night comics), movies (Saw), music (ONYX, Biggie, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), sports (MMA, WWE), and other forms of entertainment. You'll get into two large groups and on chart paper I'll have you list out your top 10 most violent forms of entertainment (be specific). We'll share our lists and ask, "Why is violence entertaining"? To end the class I'll have you work on the following:

1. What is the attraction of violent films and video games?
2. Is there more violent imagery in media now as opposed to the past (think graphic, realistic visceral)? Why / Why not?
3. What kinds of people are drawn to violent imagery and what kind of violent images draw them to that form of entertainment?
4. What is “morbid curiosity”?
5. Are there any equally satisfying substitutions for violent entertainment?
6. What draws our attention to violent media events (news) that are not intended to entertain?

Check out the BBC Podcast "The Why Factor" that asks the question "Why are we so drawn to violent entertainment?" From the BBC...

Why are we so drawn to violent entertainment? Violent films, video games and stories are very popular, as were brutal gladiatorial Roman contests and gory 14th Century jousts. What explains this enduring attraction to violence? Helena Merriman talks to the Mexican director of Heli, a professor of fairy tales and joins one of London’s most gruesome serial killer tours to answer this week’s question. 

D Block Social and Environmental Sciences - Today you're with Benton all afternoon...well kinda; you're in the capable hands of Ms. Petrie. To start today, Ms. Petrie will have you in small groups and you will need to compare and contrast (show similarities and differences) the ideas and worldviews between the BC Government view of water usage and the Assembly of First Nations view of water usage

Young introduced the concept of Worldview with you. Consider the following to help you with your similarities/differences (from Indigenous and Western Approaches to Environmental Science)

Two ways of knowing:

Western approaches to environmental science focus on finding solutions to tackle existing environmental issues through practical data gathering and analysis. These solution-oriented approaches evolve as current technologies or modern equipment evolve for higher efficiency, better pattern recognition and predictability. Sometimes western approaches are viewed as invasive or even hasty; however as far as we can go, sophisticated research studies can deliver evidence-based findings that help form or enhance environmental laws and policies that shape today’s world. But just how fast can we chase after the world’s changing climate and emerging environmental issues?

Indigenous approaches, also known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge or simply Traditional Knowledge, are representations of experience and skills gained over thousands of years co-existing organically in a complex ecosystem. Although these approaches are frequently associated with ontological and spiritual concepts, they are gradually but surely being recognized as proof of practical sustainability, and the finest expression of human survival and adaptation. With one foot outside the world of science, Indigenous approaches remind us of our basic role as part of nature, and of our basic human instinct to strike for survival as opposed to taking it for granted. Now the question is: just how far can we go relying solely on western approaches to solve all the modern-day environmental problems?

From TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE CONCEPTS AND CASES

In general, TEK differs from scientific ecological knowledge in a number of substantive ways:

1. TEK is mainly qualitative (as opposed to quantitative);

2. TEK has an intuitive component (as opposed to being purely rational);

3. TEK is holistic (as opposed to reductionist);

4. In TEK, mind and matter are considered together (as opposed to a separation of mind and matter);

5. TEK is moral (as opposed to supposedly value-free);

6. TEK is spiritual (as opposed to mechanistic);

7. TEK is based on empirical observations and accumulation of facts by trial-and-error (as opposed to experimentation and systematic, deliberate accumulation of fact);

8. TEK is based on data generated by resource users themselves (as opposed to that by a specialized cadre of researchers);

9. TEK is based on diachronic data, i.e., long time-series on information on one locality (as opposed to synchronic data, i.e., short time-series over a large area).

 

For more on worldview differences you can check out Chapter 8 – When Uncles Become Killer Whales: Bridging Indigenous Science, Western Science and Worldviews from the text Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science....or you can wait for Young, because he'll be talking about it all week when we look at the conflict over the DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline or Bakken pipeline).

You will also get time to complete the Field Trip package from the Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association Riparian Zone Rehabilitation / Restoration study we took on last week. Tomorrow we're off for a Traditional Ecological Knowledge field study of fish traps in the Courtenay River estuary. PLEASE have your permission forms in if you've not done so yet

To help with that