Weirdness....anomaly?

So yesterday I was visiting with my Freshmen English class after we had watched portions of Fahrenheit 9/11 and we had moved into the topic of language and how it is used in documentaries to influence how we view a subject matter. Specifically, we had gotten into an article that was a rebuttal to Moore’s production.

(And as political as I am here and on facebook, I work quite hard to steer clear of my personal viewpoints and try to present different viewpoints on issues so that students feel more comfortable in their discussions.)

What usually happens with this unit is that the movie influences those who have no opinion of the Bush Administration to think negatively of him, it influences those who dislike the Bush Administration to dislike him even further, and it has little to no effect on those who previously viewed Bush positively (at times it makes them dig in even deeper).

Essentially the video helps to underscore the role of language in our perception of the world around us and how it affects how we interact with it.

As we started discussing the “59 Deceits” (the rebuttal), I tried to make everyone feel comfortable enough to voice their opinion and I ususally get a mish-mash of students who feel one way or another: some feel used, some still don’t like Bush, some still like Bush, some don’t trust Moore, and some feel vindicated -- again, there is a wide range.

Surprisingly to me, in one particular section of my class, not a one felt any sort of positive feeling toward the Bush Administration, EVEN IF they didn’t like Moore and EVEN IF they realized that some of what Moore did was stretching ideas, and EVEN AFTER reading “59 Deceits.”

This is surprising to me because out of a class of about 20 students, all from Kentucky and about half being rural, not a one denied supporting the Democratic Party.

I was floored by this. This has never happened in all the times I’ve taught this unit and this includes my time teaching in California.

Anomaly? Peer pressure? I don’t know, but it certainly was different.