The Last Rotation in Summary

This past Rotation we covered issues of denial, media coverage of genocide, and we began to prepare for our debate.

9/28: We looked at newspaper articles from The New York TImes that covered the Armenian genocide and noted trends in the articles. We then split into groups to discuss the areas of denial that we covered and to read our letters to the editor about Ahmadinejad. Some class members also participated in petitioning for media coverage of Darfur in the San Francisco Chronicle.

10/2: Prior to this class meeting, Ms. Finn had removed the youtube video of "modern-day Hitler" rapping. We discussed issues of censorship and of appropriate material for our blog, keeping in mind that others besides our class see the blog, including speakers that come to our class who may be descendants of genocide victims. Some also expressed opinions and concerns, asserting that this blog is run by us and we should be able to control what is posted and removed.
We also read "Never Again?" to get background for our upcoming debate and to get more information about the Genocide Convention. Then we watched two short clips - one of Allan Ryan and one of Samantha Powers - and discussed the definition of genocide according to numbers.

10/4: Today we went over citation formatting. Afterwards, we discussed Senate committees and the process required to get a bill passed to be voted on by the House. Then we met in our separate option groups to prepare for our debate.

LINGERING QUESTIONS
1) How can genocide be detected in war time? How can war be used to cover genocide?
2) What is appropriate for the blog? When do we cross the line (such as in the Hitler video)?
3) Is humor ever appropriate when it comes to genocide?
3) When can we violate other countries' sovereignty? Does this put us in danger of having our sovereignty violated?
4) Should the definition of genocide be based on numbers?