Summary Ever notice how political speeches and ads always mention “the worst,” “the best,” “the largest,” “the most”? It’s effective to use superlatives, but it isn’t always accurate. For instance, President Barack Obama has said that “we import more oil today than ever before” – but do we? How can …
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Summary You’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, but which words? What are the images we see daily – in magazines, on billboards, on TV – really trying to tell us? Pictures and other visual elements can pack a lot of rhetorical punch, enhancing verbal arguments or …
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Summary They’re two of the most common refrains in election season: “Candidate X will raise your taxes!” “Candidate Y will take away your health care!” In the hotly contested 2008 presidential election, one ad from Democrat Barack Obama created the perfect storm of election themes, accusing Republican John McCain of …
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Summary Remember the good old days, back in January 2007, when gas cost just $2.20 per gallon? Some of you might even remember those four months in 1998 – 1999 when it dropped below $1 per gallon. And your parents (or your grandparents) can likely tell you stories about filling …
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Summary Take a quick stroll through the Congressional Record, and you’ll see that there’s nothing straightforward about legislation. The bills themselves are complicated: They have many parts; they go through numerous revisions, and they use jargon and language that’s tough to understand. The conversations surrounding the bills are complex too, …
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Summary It’s a classic American film: the young, idealistic new senator, Jefferson Smith, heads off to Washington where he finds that his boyhood hero, Sen. Joseph Paine, is accepting bribes. Worse still, Mr. Smith finds that none of the other senators really care all that much. In Hollywood, the solution …
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Summary It seems like fewer and fewer things bear that label anymore. Toyota outsells two of Detroit’s big three automakers and may soon pass the third. Our televisions and DVD players are mostly made elsewhere. And Wal-Mart imports about 50,000 pounds of merchandise every 45 seconds. As if that’s not …
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Summary You find the perfect hiding spot and you wait, hoping to hear that magical sound, to hear whoever is “it” call out in frustration, “Olly Olly Oxen Free!” You know that you’re safe, that your hiding spot – your sanctuary – can be used again the next time you …
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Summary Good reasoning doesn’t come naturally. In fact, humans are instinctively terrible reasoners — most of the time, the way our brains work isn’t rational at all. Even with exceptional training in reasoning skills, we still have to overcome instincts to think simplistically and non-analytically. This is the second of …
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Summary When we hear a piece of information that surprises us, we often react by saying, “Where’d you hear that?” It’s a good question, and one we should ask more often, because some sources are better – sometimes much better – than others. In this lesson, students will learn to …
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